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Archive for the ‘communication’ Category
Monday, April 23rd, 2012
 Many would argue that leading a virtual team requires the same leadership skills and attributes as leading a traditional team. While the key fundamentals of leadership hold true in both cases, virtual leadership scenarios offer unique and significant challenges. Following are five areas where virtual leaders need to focus energy in order to lead effectively.
Communication – Although leaders and team members are not in the same geographic location and cannot have a face-to-face conversation, effective communication is a key to success. The virtual world offers many different means of communication. These can include phone calls, emails, text messages, instant messaging, and video conferencing.
Communication guidelines should be set before communicating with a team virtually. These guidelines could consist of regularly scheduled calls, which mode of communication is used based upon the importance of the issue at hand, and how to handle time zone differences.
Consistent, prompt, and timely communication will help a virtual leader guide their team and create synergy among its members.
Trust – Developing trust in a virtual environment is not as easy as walking down the hallway or going out to lunch to chat, with your team. When building virtual relationships with team members, relationships are built at the individual level. Remember the special needs of each person. It will be vitally important to have an open and honest relationship with a lot of feedback. A virtual leader must be willing to make themselves accessible and available to their team members.
Another great way to develop trust uses personal attention: acknowledge birthdays, anniversaries, successes, and other achievements important to the individual.
Clarity – Team members must have a clear understanding of what is expected of them. When a virtual team is working on a project, there are questions you can ask yourself as the leader to ensure clarity. These include:
- Is there a clear division of tasks?
- Does each team member clearly understand what their specific task is?
- Does each team member know the process for reporting results?
- Are deadlines understood?
Support – Virtual leaders need to understand that working in a virtual environment can be “lonely” at times for team members. They do not have the energy and excitement that is created from working in an office with other team members. As a virtual leader it will be very important to know how team members are doing emotionally. Share your support.
Another type of support that will be necessary involves the work that team members perform. Team members must know that just because they are not geographically located in the same area as their peers and leader, help is readily available from the leader or other team members if they need it.
Empowerment – Team members must feel they have the ability to exercise authority to ensure they can complete their assigned responsibilities. There could be quick decisions to be made without time to go through the communication challenges that virtual teams inherently face. Leaders must allow team members to make decisions and support the decisions that are made.
As virtual teams become more and more prevalent, focus on effective virtual leadership will also grow. As leaders transition from traditional teams to virtual teams, many of their attributes and skills that made them effective leaders will transfer over, but it is important to look at how the miles separating leaders and team members will cause some adjustments to their leadership style. The more effective leaders are at leading a virtual teams, the more they can take advantage of the many benefits virtual teams bring to an organization.
Tags: virtual leaders, virtual leadership, virtual teams
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Wednesday, April 18th, 2012
 The first two tips to improve your communication were providing non-verbal support and being an active listener. These tips will help you engage in an open and honest discussion with others as you will be giving them your full attention and showing them your support with your body language. The final tip to enhance your communication skills is to express your understanding of what you heard.
Tip #3 Express Understanding
Clarification of what you thought you heard is crucial to effective communication. Improve your communication skills by going beyond simply hearing what is being said, to actively participating in the conversation. The best way to involve yourself in a discussion, when the other person is doing most of the talking, is to express your understanding of what they said. This can be done by providing feedback, asking for clarification, or simply paraphrasing what the speaker just said.
In order to gain proper understanding and alignment with the person that is speaking to you, try offering a summary or restatement of content back to the speaker. This will allow them to correct or confirm what they are trying to convey to you. It will also provide a level of support, as they will know that you are engaged in the conversation. Another way to show your understanding is to verify specific facts that you hear. Asking for clarification about names, titles, times, dates, and actions are good opportunities to show that you are interested in what the person is saying. Simply restating important facts comforts the person speaking and keeps the conversation moving forward.
Understanding the meaning of what another person said goes deeper than just the content of their words. It is important to search out the feelings and emotions behind what was said. Express your understanding of what the speaker is feeling and the reasons they feel the way they do. Clarify that you are on the same page.
Effective two-way communication does not happen by accident. To get the most possible out of a conversation, provide non-verbal support, actively listen and express your understanding. Using these three tips will improve the quality of your conversations and the relationships that you have with others.
Tags: communication, understanding
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Monday, April 16th, 2012
 The first tip to improve your communication was providing non-verbal support to the person you are speaking with. Non-verbal support is sitting up straight, facing the person you talking with and maintaining proper eye contact. This support creates a safe environment for open and honest communication. Although this tip brings meaningful information to the surface it is still dependent on hearing what is being said. This brings us to the second tip for improving your communication.
Tip #2 Be an Active Listener
Epictetus, the Greek philosopher, once said, “We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.” You do not have to talk a lot in order to contribute to a discussion. Active listening plays a large role in the value of a conversation. An active listener tries to understand the content of the message as well as the intentions, expectations and feelings of the sender. Paying complete attention is the biggest obstacle of active listening. Try to remain focused on the conversation and speaker at hand. Don’t pretend to be listening when your mind takes a detour to a different topic. For some of us, this is harder than for others. It is understandable that you have lots of things on your mind. Even at this very moment I am fighting to keep your attention. Avoid thinking about the future or dwelling on the past. Keep your attention in the present and on the person speaking.
Even with your mind on the present, there are still many things that can steal your attention away from the conversation. It is human nature to make judgments and feel emotions about the people you communicate with. Try not to get hung up on irrelevant observations and tune out of the conversation. Just because someone has a zit or their tie is crooked, try not to lose focus on what they are saying. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2cs8gnb42A) Keep your emotions in check. It is hard to stay engaged when you find the topic uninteresting or irrelevant. Don’t let your emotions for or against the topic or person defer your attention from completely understanding their message. Be careful not to miss what is really being conveyed. The objective of the listener is to understand what the speaker is saying and where he or she is coming from.
By using the first and second tips, you have provided non-verbal support and actively listening. The final tip, coming up in the next post, will address the importance of expressing your understanding of what was actually said.
Tags: communication, listening
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Wednesday, April 11th, 2012
 Communication plays a large role in everyday life and is extremely important in the business world. Whether your finding out how your coworker’s weekend went or having an in-depth development conversation, effective communication raises the level of your relationships. Communicating effectively is a learned skill that can be developed with effort and practice. Understanding the full meaning of what you hear is the most crucial part of the communication process. I have three tips that will improve your communication by helping you gather a complete understanding of what is being said. Providing non-verbal support, actively listening and expressing your understanding of what you hear, will add depth to your conversations. Putting these three simple tips into practice will strengthen the relationships you have at work.
Tip #1 Non-Verbal Support
Providing non-verbal support during a conversation allows you to gather valuable social information and creates a safe environment for the conversation to take place. Giving non-verbal support starts with your body positioning. Your shoulders should be parallel to the person you are speaking with. Sit up straight and give them your full attention. Occasionally nod your head in an affirmative fashion to show that you are following what they are saying. Try leaning towards the speaker when crucial ideas are presented. Jot down a quick note of things you want to remember. Do not obsessively take notes or doodle though, as this portrays boredom or non-interest.
By far, the best non-verbal support you can provide is proper eye contact. The right amount of eye contact can be difficult to accomplish. Too much eye contact and you come across aggressive. Too little eye contact and you are seen as having little interest. Find a happy medium by looking at the person you are speaking with, while avoiding intense staring. Pay attention to the speaker, but occasionally, look away. This will help you avoid the awkward stare. However, do not look down when you break eye contact, as this indicates that you are done with your part of the conversation. Instead, look up or to the side as if you are thinking about or remembering something. Maintaining eye contact lets the person speaking know that you are paying attention. It shows them that you have an interest in what they are saying.
When you provide non-verbal support, you create a safe environment to speak. This will encourage the speaker to open up and you will get the deeper information that makes a conversation meaningful. The next article, containing tip #2, addresses active listening and provides helpful hints on listening, not just hearing, the meaningful information that your non-verbal support will draw out.
Tags: communication, verbal communication
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Thursday, April 5th, 2012
 The coaching process is communication between two people to enhance ones’ skills, motivation, attitude, or performance. It is a two-way conversation that requires intelligence gathering, active listening, and flexible objectives. Coaching is an ongoing process, which over time, will lead to permanent improvement of processes and performance. There are many skills that need to be utilized in order to be a good coach. One of the most important coaching skills is the ability to ask good questions.
Questions can be used in a variety of ways and achieve multiple results. Questions are the best way to open up a dialogue and encourage active participation from another person. They are used to gather information and to clarify understanding. Questions can help you propose new ideas and strategies and they can raise the constructive tension between people. There are two types of coaching questions, open and closed ended.
Open-Ended Questions
Open-ended questions promote interaction by drawing out responses, information and ideas. These questions begin with, who, what, where, when, why, or how, and cannot be answered with a simple yes or no. Open-ended questions bring out feelings and opinions, which adds depth to the information that you receive.
Closed-Ended Questions
Closed-ended questions seek specific, brief responses. They are fact finding questions used to gain commitment and to confirm what has been said. They get right to the point and save time in a conversation.
Navigate the Coaching Process
It is important to build rapport and give support while coaching. Questions are the best way to find out what the person being coached thinks and feels about the issue at hand. A good starter question might be, “What are some of the challenges you have encountered?” or “What are your reactions to this issue?” Let them know that you would like to understand their perspective. Create an environment that is relaxed and emotionally safe for open and constructive dialogue. Provide non-verbal support by maintaining eye contact and not multi-tasking during the conversation. Remember to give positive feedback about the person’s successes.
It is also possible to transfer ownership of a situation to the person being coached. Simply asking questions such as, “Do you think your current strategy is giving you the results you need?” or “What is it we are trying to accomplish as a team?” can establish the importance of the topic. Specific impact questions can help eliminate any perceptual blind spots the person being coached might have. They also add relevance to the subject at hand and provide motivation to seek new alternatives.
Use open-ended questions to gain pertinent responses and ideas, as well as the feelings and motivations driving them. Use closed-ended questions to solidify what you have been discussing and confirm your important objectives. Utilizing questions in coaching situations is the most effective way to understand where the other person is coming from, the specifics surrounding the topic at hand, and how to build cooperation and prepare to move on to a plan of action. The best way to navigate through the coaching process is to understand as much as you can about the other person and their situation. Questions provide the road map that will lead you to the end results.
Tags: coaching conversations, coaching process, coaching with questions
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Thursday, March 15th, 2012
 Your future success and that of your team, department, or business unit depends on your ability to become a strategic force and enroll your team in shaping the future. A question we are asked a lot in our training and consulting practice—one that we grapple with in our own organization—is, how do you effectively share your strategic vision with your team, or your business within the business, so you can get maximum support for it? Whether you are leading a team, department, or functional area, developing your capacity to enroll people in your strategic direction will help your area of responsibility enhance its long-term value to the organization as a whole.
Once you have worked through the process of creating a meaningful strategy that will produce the results needed to generate success over the long haul, you will need to cascade your strategy and get every member of your team, or functional area of responsibility, contributing in a meaningful way. Ultimately, you need to prepare your team for what is to come so they can help you gain traction with the strategy in specific areas and align their own strategic thinking and plans with your vision for the future. It is a lot easier to expect your team members to think strategically about their own responsibilities when they have a broader strategic vision to align with and see you as a strategic leader who not only takes care of today’s expectations, but acts on opportunities and issues that will affect future results. Having a clear understanding of what you desire for the future and how you plan to do it will put you in a position to share your perspective in a clear and straightforward way and successfully capitalize on the contributions your team can make to your strategic endeavor. Remember that people are most productive when they understand what is expected of them.
Every year, my team and I go through the rigorous process of articulating our strategic vision (generally for the next 12 months) and setting our critical strategic initiatives that will enable us to execute our strategy. I choose to involve key members of my functional area to help me set the strategic vision, although your situation may necessitate creating it on your own. Year after year, and day after day, it still surprises me how much I have to do to help my team understand the strategy and discover how they individually contribute to its success or failure. I wish it was as easy as printing it up on a nice-looking, one-page document that I hand out to everyone so they can independently discover how they will contribute to it. We all know it is not that easy, and that mindset isn’t what strategic leadership is all about. Fundamentally, sharing your strategic vision is an ongoing leadership process, not a single event. While there is not a surefire way to get everyone aligned, engaged, and in sync with a strategy, I have found that with some rigor in the following areas, you can increase your chances of success.
Are You and Your Team Ready?
Before meeting with your team to share your strategy, test the viability of your strategic vision and initiatives by thinking about your team’s or organization’s readiness and capacity to take on the strategy you have crafted. Make sure what you have set forth can be accomplished with your current team and resources, or decide what you need to obtain or change in order to make it a reality. The last thing you want to do is introduce a strategy that isn’t realistic or attainable, but you also want to test your team’s limits and be able to meet the demands of the future as it unfolds.
Meet With Your Team
Communicating a worthwhile strategic vision and set of initiatives deserves some dedicated meeting time from you and your team. Set some time aside so you can carefully articulate your strategic point of view. Hold a specific, future-focused strategy meeting that signals how important it is to you, and don’t clutter the focus with operational issues or fire-fighting. Many successful strategic leaders I have worked with find an off-site location that is free from distractions to discuss strategy, and you might find this approach is useful for your situation as well. If you have a virtual team, do everything possible to keep team members engaged, and later, follow-up individually to answer questions and clarify the strategic intent.
Vividly Portray the Future
Remember that the purpose of sharing your strategic direction is to help your team or organization focus its energy around a clear strategic vision and put strategic initiatives into place. As you describe the strategic vision and the key initiatives you have constructed, provide a vivid description of the future state of your team, department, or organization. Help your team picture what you see. Articulate the direction you think the team needs to move towards, the key turning points or changes you intend to pursue, and most importantly, the rationale behind why these strategic imperatives will help your area of the business and avoid becoming stale, complacent, or irrelevant. When it comes right down to it, you and your team cannot continue to do things the way they have always been done, so help them see the future you want and that the group needs. Outlining strategic priorities for everyone will help you and them exploit opportunities and minimize threats now and in the future. It is also incumbent upon you as the strategic leader to show them how these strategic directives connect to the broader business strategy.
If at all possible, build your strategy around a few common themes that are easy to explain and reference. Start with a framework and some specific talking points. You can always provide additional detail later. For example, with my team, these talking points are referred to as the “Five Key Levers” to the team’s strategy. This reference provides us with a shared phrase we have incorporated into our team discussions and dialogue.
Strategy can be exciting, so communicate with passion, create some excitement, tap into their aspirations, and engage them both viscerally and intellectually. Be careful that you don’t overwhelm them during the first meeting. Use this introduction as a springboard into other strategically focused discussions as a group and during individual coaching conversations. In setting a strategic focus, it is not unusual to have to break the process up into multiple meetings. I’ve found that you have to communicate something of importance ten times more than you would like, so don’t think that your initial explanation of your strategic direction will do the trick.
 Determine Critical Success Factors
Either in your initial strategy discussion, or during a subsequent meeting opportunity, explain those factors that are absolutely critical and necessary to accomplishing your strategic mission and vision. Identify the operational areas that may need to be adjusted, reorganized, or tweaked in order to produce the desired results. Invite members of your organization to weigh in with their perspectives and frames of reference. These areas may include, and are definitely not limited to:
- Processes, systems, and procedures
- Structures, roles, and responsibilities
- Beliefs and values
- Competencies, skills, and knowledge
- Resources
You will also find benefit in setting the expectation that the team will have to let go of the “old ways” and learn the “new ways.” Without clarity regarding the critical success factors and the new mindsets and beliefs that will be upheld, it will be challenging to engage, optimize, and achieve your strategy. People have to understand that things must, and will, change, but as is the case with most organizational change, this can be difficult to implement without your constant, consistent leadership.
Individual Team-Member Strategies
The next critical part of your strategic leadership responsibility is to get individuals in your team or functional area to discover how to create their strategy within the overall strategy, or in other words, what they can do to add strategic value to the team, department, or organization in addition to their regular responsibilities. The challenge is getting them out of their operational frame of mind in order to adopt a strategic point-of-view, or perspective, concerning how they fit into the strategic space. They need to be able to visualize how the things they do contribute to the strategic space and how their actions help you and the team win. I want my team members to use my strategic vision as a guide for strategically reinventing themselves. Sometimes, I trust that they can diagnose how to do this on their own, but there are occasions that necessitate providing the strategic target or initiative they are responsible for and communicating how that aligns with the overall strategic vision. Can it be frustrating and take time? Definitely. It is easy to get into the mode of assuming that members of your team can identify their strategic contribution, but even if they know what your strategic vision is, they can’t always translate it into what they need to do to add strategic value. Unfortunately, leaders assume the level of their team members’ understand regarding their strategic vision is high when team member understanding is actually quite low, and often times, valuable time, energy, and effort is wasted aiming at the wrong areas—usually those that are not the most urgent strategic priorities.
As you do this, be careful that you do not discourage them from thinking strategically about their own roles and responsibilities and creating a strategic vision for themselves. Rather, encourage them to think of their responsibilities in a new way and reinvent how they operate, as well as contribute, to the broader strategy in a few specific areas. They may have their own ideas about how they can “win” and be effective in the future. Certainly, none of this should replace day-to-day results that have to be generated, but it should give deeper purpose to what they do now, and what they should be working towards down the road. To be successful long-term, everyone has to deliver the business results that meet today’s expectations while also acting on opportunities, issues, and concerns that will affect tomorrow’s outcomes. Do your part in setting them up for success because once you get people on board, amazing things can happen.
Clear Expectations and Support
Because successful execution requires team members and partners, you will need to set clear expectations and gain commitment for their support in carrying out the strategy. Do this up front so you are not in a position where you have to ask for it when you find that things aren’t getting done. Invite them to take ownership and transfer it from my strategy to our strategy. To make it all come together, you will need support with their thoughts, words, and actions. Be patient as things begin to unfold, and know that part of being a good strategic leader means being a good strategic coach as well.
 Execution Is Key
Your efforts in sharing your strategic vision won’t be worth much if you can’t get yourself and your team executing the strategy. Constantly monitor and track progress towards your strategic initiatives. By measuring and monitoring your progress with hard data, you and others will know right away if you are on track or if you need to make adjustments to your strategic journey.
Using the strategy as a litmus test for the team’s daily activities and decision-making processes will provide immeasurable benefits and consistency. It is helpful to regularly ask yourself and your team if what you are doing and spending time on really contributes to the strategy. Don’t be afraid to ask the tough questions and challenge conventional thinking or traditions. Encourage people to experiment, innovate, and take smart risks within the framework of the strategy. Then recognize and reward incremental steps along the path. Successful strategic leaders have their team members locked in, and they apply strategic discipline to their routines in order to make room for strategic thinking efforts. When you do this, your strategy can really take hold.
The future is not as far away as it might seem, so as you and your team embark on your strategic adventure together, attack it with coordinated effort and fortitude. Value your allies and partners, and use these ideas to help them internalize your strategy and unlock long-term success.
Tags: strategic initiative, strategic value, strategic vision
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Saturday, February 18th, 2012
The reality is that most leaders, managers, and employees within most organizations simply don’t communicate with one another very well. Communication is imperative for sound business operations, regardless of whether those conversations happen in person, by phone, through email, or from afar via virtual teams. And the need is not necessarily for more communication, but more effective communication. Click on image to expand.
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Tags: communication, improve communication
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Wednesday, February 8th, 2012
 The concept of employee morale has intrigued me, and I’m sure others, for many years. Perhaps it’s been interesting because morale is so difficult to define. Or maybe because managers in spite of the fact they think it’s a good thing and would like more of it, most have no clue how to create it. Or could it be that morale is interesting because it cannot be managed? Regardless of the reasons, morale remains a largely unknown and misunderstood concept among managers.
I read an article several years ago that defined morale as, “A sense of shared direction, or the enjoyment of succeeding in group goals.” I once had a professor in graduate school who defined morale as the product of team spirit. My good friend and colleague Dr. Marshall Sashkin once described organizational morale as “The existence of managerial fairness in a climate where employees feel valued, productive and satisfied.” If I were forced to give a definition I would say that employee morale is a condition where employees feel recognized for good performance, appreciated for their contributions, receive appropriate and timely feedback for their efforts, and feel reciprocated trust from both management and other employees.” How’s that for a lot of psychobabble? Now you understand why it’s been said that psychologists speak a foreign language.
Regardless of the definition, it’s not difficult for most people to recognize when an organization has high or low morale. Over time most observant people become experts in sensing when morale is present. When you walk into a retail store, how long does it take before you clearly know if the employees in that store want to be there, or have to be there? When you encounter any direct customer contact employee, in person or on the telephone, how long before you know: have to or want to? Only seconds, right?
Many years ago I visited a number of supermarkets with the Senior Executive Vice President of the company for which I worked. I learned many things from this person, but one of the most significant things he taught me was what he called “taking a store’s temperature.” As he entered a store he would stop about 20 feet inside the front door for about a minute and listen, or “feel” as he said, to the temperature of the store. When I first saw him do this I wasn’t sure what was going on. But then he explained that the best way to take the temperature of a retail store was to listen to it. He said this was more accurate from a long-term perspective than looking at the monthly profit and loss statement. Not sure exactly what he meant, I asked what he could hear when he listened. That’s when he said, “Happy, satisfied and productive employees create a sound that is much different from the sound made by unhappy and unproductive employees.” He maintained that the ability to hear the difference was a critical skill in managing a multiple store chain.
So for years I have done the same thing and take the temperature of the stores I visit. And sure enough, stores with high morale sound different than stores with low morale. Now I agree that this technique is highly unscientific and obviously arbitrary. But it does provide a quick assessment that is reasonably accurate. I suggest that you give it a try.
The Genesis of Morale
Where does morale come from? Is it simply the product of team spirit, or is it something else far more complicated? Another critical question must also be how is morale created? Sometimes considering an opposite question and answer can narrow the desired answer down. For example, an airline currently under bankruptcy protection recently wanted to improve the morale of its flight attendants. The method used was to hold meetings of about 200 flight attendants at a time and try to cheer them up. In carefully orchestrated meetings complete with much fan-fare, exciting music, fancy food, and considerable alcohol, the airline executives explained that their goal was to create a friendlier atmosphere and happy employees. This they felt would help them solve their serious financial problems. Then they explained to the flight attendants that to accomplish this goal there would be more “ghost riders” on planes to catch flight attendants making mistakes so they could be summarily terminated. A ghost rider is an airline term similar to a mystery shopper in the retail industry.
Isn’t surprising that most of the flight attendants reacted badly to the meetings and the threat of “be happy and friendly or you will be fired.” There isn’t much difference in the airlines message than the poster that reads, “Firings will continue until employee morale improves.” Although the airline had good intentions in staging the meetings, the people planning the strategy must have believed that morale could be purchased with a fancy meeting and legislated through threats and intimidation. Or is it possible the planners thought that fancy food and drink would give them permission to issue the threats?
“Managing” Morale
Technically, it’s not possible to manage morale because morale is the product or result of many other things. In other words, other things must happen before morale can occur. But it is possible to manage the many other things; so indirectly, so to speak, it is possible to manage morale.
Although there are perhaps dozens of things that contribute to a state or feeling of morale, a few most notable ones can help a manager create that climate. Research indicates that the number one management practice that can generate improved morale is effective communication. That’s no surprise, but keep in mind that few managers have been trained in communication, coaching, listening and leadership. Another element that drives morale is leadership effectiveness. The more effective the employees perceive their leaders to be, the higher morale they tend to have. A climate of mutual trust and respect where employees can count on their managers being fair, reasonable, predictable, approachable and credible can create feelings of morale. When managers organize their activities and prioritize their responsibilities so that tasks can be delegated to employees, those employees demonstrate higher levels of morale. A climate of empowerment where employees are given authority to make decisions and have influence over their work conditions can generate morale. A collaborative managerial style where managers take the time to ask employees for their input, suggestions and opinions can generate morale. And, of course, when employees believe they are fairly compensated they tend to have high feelings of morale.
So what is employee morale and how is it created? The answer is far more complicated than can be explained in one short article, but the answer is important enough for every manager to strive to understand.
Remember, a condition of high morale is not determined by what a few executives think is happening in the organization. Rather, a condition of high morale is determined by the collective perceptions, beliefs, experiences and feelings of a critical mass of the people who snake up the organization. When management and leadership practices value the people and act accordingly, then morale is possible.
Tags: employee morale, managing morale, team spirit
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Monday, November 21st, 2011
Earlier, I described two people whom I have coached in the past year. Both of these individuals have responsible jobs with excellent compensation. The first is a store manager of a large supermarket, and the second is a manager in a large multi-national manufacturing company. They both have the education, experience and opportunity to be successful in their careers. In fact, both of these people have the ability to move up in their respective organizations. The problem is that both of them are about to be terminated due to their failure to perform up to expectations.
The reason I have chosen to discuss these two people is that I come across similar situations fairly regularly where people have everything it ought to take in order to be successful. But for some reason they make a decision to commit “career suicide.” I have every reason to believe that within a year both of these managers could be reading the want ads looking for a new position wondering what went wrong with their last job. They will wonder this in spite of the fact that for over six months I met with, coached, counseled, prodded and even warned them that behavior change was needed immediately. But for the reasons I would like to discuss, these people have decided, “good enough is good enough.” As Larry Hodges, the former President of Mrs. Field’s Cookies, has said, “Good enough is not good enough.”
The reason I selected these people and this topic is that in both of these cases termination does not need to happen. With a little effort and behavior change both of these people could have long and productive careers in their companies. But unfortunately, that may not happen: I think we can learn from their mistakes not only for ourselves, but also for those people who report to us.
Jack Welch, the former Chairman of General Electric Company, once said, “Face reality as it is, not as you think it is, or as you wish it was. Face it head-on as it really is.” That advice is clearly what both of these people need to do, because in both cases they have constructed their perception of reality as they “wish it was,” not, “as it really is.”
First, let me update you on the situation with the store manager. Although his district manager has several complaints, his primary complaint is that the manager is indecisive and procrastinates. This is even true on time-sensitive problems where immediate action is critical. Nonetheless, when given a directive, this store manager nods his head as if he hears what is being said, seems to understand what needs to be done, and even has the ability to do what is needed. However, in too many cases he either can’t make a decision, or waits too long before beginning. Have you ever seen someone like this? These behaviors can drive people crazy!
Procrastination is a complex psychological behavior that affects everyone to some degree or another. With some people it can be a minor problem; with others it can be a source of considerable stress and anxiety. Procrastination is only remotely related to time management, (procrastinators often know exactly what they should do, even if they don’t it), which is why very detailed action plans usually don’t help.
As in the case with the store manager, the procrastinator is often amazingly optimistic about his or her ability to complete a task on a tight deadline. It’s common to hear expressions of reassurance that everything is on schedule. For example, he or she may estimate that a project will take two days to complete. That sounds like a lot of time, so the person delays getting started because there appears to be an abundance of time available.
At some point, the person crosses a point in time where he or she suddenly realizes, “Oh no! I’m not in control. This isn’t working.” And as a result, waits even longer because being out of control is so uncomfortable. Even though it may appear that procrastinators are lazy, actually, one of the most common root causes is a fear of being out of control.
There is no simple solution to procrastination. Improvement takes not only a personal commitment followed by discipline, but it also requires the person realize that the best way to maintain control of situations is through preparation and on-time performance. This isn’t easy, but it can be done.
The second manager has a much different problem. After considerable discussion, she finally admitted to me, “I am a sarcastic person.” Then she quickly added, “But I’m only sarcastic in order to get people to do what I need them to do.” She believes that sarcasm is a valuable motivator and is appropriate in the workplace.
The problem with sarcasm is that it is so potentially dangerous that practically nothing else can destroy a relationship faster. People have long memories and most people don’t soon forget when they are the victim of sarcasm. So this manager has systematically damaged almost every peer relationship she has in her company. In an assessment I conducted asking her peers to rate her effectiveness in interpersonal communications; almost every person gave her the lowest possible rating. Most of them apparently, had been the victim of her sarcasm.
Research indicates that the quickest way to improve organizational effectiveness is to improve interpersonal relationships. And conversely, the quickest way to fail is to erode interpersonal relationships.
This manager’s second problem is arrogance. In the business world arrogance tends to be associated with a person in a position of power. Without organizational power, arrogance can appear misguided or even humorous. When a manager is in a position of power, he or she can be the victim of an over inflated perception of self that results in demonstrated arrogance. That seems to be the problem with this manager. She actually believes that she is indispensable in the organization and couldn’t be reassigned or terminated under any circumstance. She has created in her mind such a false sense of reality that she is unable or unwilling to accept the advice of others, even her boss.
So what’s going to happen to these two managers? Time will tell, but unless they begin to face reality as it is, very fast, they may be on the outside looking in, rather than on the inside watching their careers blossom. These are sad stories that, unfortunately, are repeated all too often.
Tags: business coaching, confessions, ife business coaching, personal commitment, professional business coaching
Posted in coaching skills, communication, leadership, mentoring | No Comments »
Monday, October 31st, 2011
While there are plenty of skeptics out, Coaching does get results. Documented research and the hands-on application of coaching, has proven this. If the coaching process is done properly and effectively coaching can yield a return on investment far greater than most people realize. What does successful coaching that gets results look like? Consider this rare inside look at how a Coach took an outside-in approach to helping an employee increase and maximize performance, not to mention saving his job.
Dear ________
I wanted to take an opportunity to thank you [again] for the workshops a few years back that have proven to be extremely valuable to me as a manager, mentor and coach and would like to share a recent success story with you if that’s OK?
We had an employee who has been with the company for many years – in fact he celebrated his 12th anniversary w/the Company on July 6th. He had slipped into a ‘rut’ over time and in coaching sessions had revealed to me that while he was “happy and content” with his current position and responsibilities, he felt he had been overlooked in compensation and promotion opportunities over time. (My perception based on his behavior and demeanor was quite the opposite – that of unhappiness and discontent.) I committed to him 2 years ago that I would personally do what I could to move him up, but that he had to “buy in” and take greater initiative before I could advocate any advancement.
As he continued to make some improvement, I recommended him for an officer promotion (with no additional compensation) a year ago, but was denied by leadership since they hadn’t observed the initiative necessary for advancement. I felt this would compel him to accelerate his efforts, but realized then and especially now that “rewarding” with an expected improvement isn’t likely to have the same impact as “rewarding” for observed improvement.
In the meantime, he continued to do just enough to get by and with a change in leadership, it was suggested that we let him go (outright w/no relocation or reassignment to another department). While this might have been justified at the time, I felt 11 years tenure w/the Company had some value and that he had untapped talent and skill that would undoubtedly add value to our department and to the company as a whole. I appealed for one last chance to coach him up, we put him under a stringent “performance plan” with required dates to reach expected competency in various areas.
The short story is that we are meeting at 3pm today to review his progress. As a result of his efforts, I have recommended and gained support from 3 levels of management (up to the Chief Credit Officer) to not only promote him from_______ to ______ but to promote his functional title resulting in a pay grade advancement in addition to a slightly more aggressive incentive plan – conditional upon a 9-12month timeline with increased responsibilities and expected competency in specific areas every 90 days. (This is an “open-end” comp change plan that may be extended if thresholds are not met as timely as expected.)
The end result will be that his salary will increase over time by ____ potentially within a 12 month period… Beats the heck out of 2.5% per year in my book! We now have a committed associate who is punctual, smiling when he reports to work and smiling when he leaves. Where he was once very stand-offish and unapproachable, he now exhibits a sense of humor and positive banter among his fellow associates.
In my opinion, today’s environment is much different than that of ______. No longer (at least for now) do our associates “choose” to work for us due to plentiful opportunities elsewhere. Unemployment is at unexpected levels so if we lose them today, they could potentially be unemployed for quite some time.
The outcome could have been quite different had this associate not accepted accountability and made sure that he reached deep within himself to make some personal changes. I am proud of the progress he has made and will be delegating and depending on him much more heavily in the months and years to come. His peers within the department and across the company have noticed, commented and documented the positive changes they have observed, up to and including the same leaders that advocated his termination only 5 months ago.
My intent w/this email is NOT to boast (for in fact I am humbled), but to testify to the effectiveness of the “Coach Approach” rather than dictatorial management style. What a great tool to bring out the best in others, and what personal satisfaction comes from it as a result.
I sincerely hope that all is well with you and yours. THANKS again! I APPRECIATE YOU!!
Respectfully,
_____________________
The testimonial above clearly shows that coaching does get results. Factor in the value of not having to hire, train, and develop a new employee, that you didn’t lose an employee with 11 years of experience, and that the person is an “officer level” candidate, you can see a cost savings of six figures — potentially getting close to seven figures by the time everything is said and done. Coaching can directly and indirectly affect the bottom line. Take the time to coach and get the results you need.
While there are plenty of skeptics out, Coaching does get results. Documented research and the hands-on application of coaching, has proven this. If the coaching process is done properly and effectively coaching can yield a return on investment far greater than most people realize. What does successful coaching that gets results look like? Consider this rare inside look at how a Coach took an outside-in approach to helping an employee increase and maximize performance, not to mention saving his job.
Dear ________
I wanted to take an opportunity to thank you [again] for the workshops a few years back that have proven to be extremely valuable to me as a manager, mentor and coach and would like to share a recent success story with you if that’s OK?
We had an employee who has been with the company for many years – in fact he celebrated his 12th anniversary w/the Company on July 6th. He had slipped into a ‘rut’ over time and in coaching sessions had revealed to me that while he was “happy and content” with his current position and responsibilities, he felt he had been overlooked in compensation and promotion opportunities over time. (My perception based on his behavior and demeanor was quite the opposite – that of unhappiness and discontent.) I committed to him 2 years ago that I would personally do what I could to move him up, but that he had to “buy in” and take greater initiative before I could advocate any advancement.
As he continued to make some improvement, I recommended him for an officer promotion (with no additional compensation) a year ago, but was denied by leadership since they hadn’t observed the initiative necessary for advancement. I felt this would compel him to accelerate his efforts, but realized then and especially now that “rewarding” with an expected improvement isn’t likely to have the same impact as “rewarding” for observed improvement.
In the meantime, he continued to do just enough to get by and with a change in leadership, it was suggested that we let him go (outright w/no relocation or reassignment to another department). While this might have been justified at the time, I felt 11 years tenure w/the Company had some value and that he had untapped talent and skill that would undoubtedly add value to our department and to the company as a whole. I appealed for one last chance to coach him up, we put him under a stringent “performance plan” with required dates to reach expected competency in various areas.
The short story is that we are meeting at 3pm today to review his progress. As a result of his efforts, I have recommended and gained support from 3 levels of management (up to the Chief Credit Officer) to not only promote him from_______ to ______ but to promote his functional title resulting in a pay grade advancement in addition to a slightly more aggressive incentive plan – conditional upon a 9-12month timeline with increased responsibilities and expected competency in specific areas every 90 days. (This is an “open-end” comp change plan that may be extended if thresholds are not met as timely as expected.)
The end result will be that his salary will increase over time by ____ potentially within a 12 month period… Beats the heck out of 2.5% per year in my book! We now have a committed associate who is punctual, smiling when he reports to work and smiling when he leaves. Where he was once very stand-offish and unapproachable, he now exhibits a sense of humor and positive banter among his fellow associates.
In my opinion, today’s environment is much different than that of ______. No longer (at least for now) do our associates “choose” to work for us due to plentiful opportunities elsewhere. Unemployment is at unexpected levels so if we lose them today, they could potentially be unemployed for quite some time.
The outcome could have been quite different had this associate not accepted accountability and made sure that he reached deep within himself to make some personal changes. I am proud of the progress he has made and will be delegating and depending on him much more heavily in the months and years to come. His peers within the department and across the company have noticed, commented and documented the positive changes they have observed, up to and including the same leaders that advocated his termination only 5 months ago.
My intent w/this email is NOT to boast (for in fact I am humbled), but to testify to the effectiveness of the “Coach Approach” rather than dictatorial management style. What a great tool to bring out the best in others, and what personal satisfaction comes from it as a result.
I sincerely hope that all is well with you and yours. THANKS again! I APPRECIATE YOU!!
Respectfully,
_____________________
The testimonial above clearly shows that coaching does get results. Factor in the value of not having to hire, train, and develop a new employee, that you didn’t lose an employee with 11 years of experience, and that the person is an “officer level” candidate, you can see a cost savings of six figures — potentially getting close to seven figures by the time everything is said and done. Coaching can directly and indirectly affect the bottom line. Take the time to coach and get the results you need.
Tags: business coaching, Coaching, coaching results, corporate coaching, Employee Coaching, Performance Coaching
Posted in coaching skills, communication | No Comments »
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