Raw unfiltered feedback really sheds light on people or organization issues and often comes out in full force during organizational assessments. A few years ago, CMOE was working with an organization to improve the performance and effectiveness of its managers. We provided an assessment tool to specifically help draw out insight and feedback as to how effective the managers were in their roles, skills, and competencies. Overall, the managers scored well. However, one department wasn’t doing as well as the rest. As we sifted through the data, I came across some general comments provided by an individual in this department. Let me share with you this rare glimpse of someone truly opening up and sharing.

You’ve probably heard jargon such as “He’s got a short fuse,” “I’ve had it up to here,” “She is going to blow up,” or other phrases that equate to irrational behavior and poor emotional control. It is safe to say that many of us, likely all of us have felt this way at one time or another. At some point we have blown our tops and acted irrational in one way or another.

The Tool
For organizations, teams, products, and services to be successful in the business world, continuous improvement is necessary. However, far too often organizations fail to achieve the benefits of change because they don’t know what to change or where to start. The Plus/Delta assessment and feedback tool is quick and effective for both individuals and groups. This brainstorm-type format creates a comfortable atmosphere for openness and honesty. As an added benefit, when people give feedback they often experience a sense of responsibility to the changes and solutions to their feedback.

Organizations invest significant amounts of money, resources and time into training and developing their teams. Skills such as teamwork, coaching and strategic thinking have proven to be invaluable to creating a positive and successful work environment. Training like this can be intimidating because there are so many options and it can be hard to determine what will best fit your organization.

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Many people feel that coaching and mentoring are the same thing. Whenever you ask a group what makes a good coach, someone inevitably says “mentor” or “mentoring.” Likewise, if you were to ask a group what makes a good mentor, you would probably hear someone say that a mentor helps to coach people.

People often comment to me that they are “uncomfortable” coaching employees when it comes to unacceptable performance issues. While this is not uncommon, it often occurs because people haven’t developed their coaching skills and abilities. When coaching, especially around performance issues, it is so important to address an issue when it arises rather than waiting. By waiting to address the issue, you run the risk of making the coaching conversation more difficult. Chances are the behavior will be repeated and will be assumed acceptable.

In order to become comfortable with coaching, I usually offer two simple suggestions to get things moving:

Being a strategic leader requires that you first understand corporate priorities and future agendas as well as have a clear direction on how you can contribute to it in a value-added way. Being an active supporter of the organization’s strategy is only one element of strategic leadership. There are two other very important elements.

Recently, I was at a hardware store getting supplies for a leadership development exercise CMOE was creating for one of our workshops. The store was silent. In fact, it appeared I was the only customer shopping. As I approached the checkout lines, I wanted the quickest way to pay and get out of the store. I had two choices that were placed before me:

Choice 1: Go through the self/automated check-out and interact with a computer and scan my own items.

Choice 2: Go through the regular check out and interact with a person.

When it comes to coaching, most of our efforts are spent with those that report directly to us. This begs the question; what needs to be done when you need to coach your boss on a particular issue? Can you achieve the results you desire and can it really be done effectively? Interestingly enough, sometimes the person who needs coaching the most is your boss, and there are ways you can coach your boss without feeling too much pressure.

Go back a few years and think about the things you did on a daily basis to get results and achieve goals. Would you say your daily tactics, assignments, projects are the same today as they were five years ago? In most cases people I talk to said no. In my own work, while some of the tactical aspects of my job have remained, almost every other aspect of my job is different. Now, think about what duties your job will require in the future. One year, three years, or five years from now, will you be doing the same things you are doing today? Probably not.