Category Archives: Personal Leadership

Is Management dead? Part 1 – (Turf Wars No More!)

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One of the first implications of a new collaborative organizational structure is that a silo mentality will be less and less tolerated.   Have you seen this in organizations?  Department managers spending a lot of time protecting turfs and ensuring their own department gets their budgets approved?  Or employees spending hours justifying capital purchases?   Individual silos are created – actually competing for limited resources. 

In this new organizational structure, department managers will be asked to think about how their purchases fit in with their corporation’s mission and vision.  And all employees  will be working collaboratively on capital resources – based upon what works for the entire organization, as opposed to their own individual departments. 

One practical way you can get your team ready for this new way of doing business is to encourage staff members to be involved in cross-functional project teams so that teams can make decisions based upon what is best for the organization.  Provide incentives for employees to turn in budget ideas as a cross-functional team.  Empower these teams to make decisions and reward their successes in completing projects on time and within budget.  And as much as possible, model with your words and actions that “turf wars are no more!”   

Here’s a real-life example:   At Capital One, key performers work together in one location  in a room called “The Agile room.”  These cross-functional workers collaborate with one another, all dedicated to working on one project until it is completed. (Apparently, at Capital One,  it also means a room full of candy!).   Working together in one room, away from people’s individual cubicle, these key performers are exclusively dedicating their time and energies on one project and find a real sense of fulfillment and efficiency as they work collaboratively to solve company problems.  

What problems in your organization can be solved by cross-functional project teams?  What silos need to be torn down?

Is Management Dead?

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A few weeks ago, I read a fascinating article entitled, “The End of Management” by Alan Murray in the August 21-22, 2010 edition of The Wall Street Journal, where the author shares an interesting trend in today’s corporations – the era of institutional management and corporate bureaucracy is becoming a thing of the past.  In today’s fast-moving world, where information is at our finger tips and new technologies have forever transformed business, it is the svelte and nimble enterprises that can draw upon the strengths and talents of a global marketplace.  And it is these same organizations that can create new products and innovations based on the latest consumer and market information.   Indeed, Mr. Murray refers to Futurists  Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams who wrote the book “Wikinomics” who predicted that instead of the traditional corporate structure, we will be in the era of “mass collaboration” – as individuals collaborate with each other to get things done. 

This trend has certainly played itself out with the organizations that I have worked with – as more and more I’m being asked to provide services with the stated goal of “we just need to be able to work better together.” 

In my next 10 BLOG entries, I will share the implications of this trend and how you can better prepare yourself, and your staff members to take advantage of a collaborative workplace.

Create (and Manage) Expectations

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How does creating and managing expectations help create a culture of contribution?   We will answer this question by taking a principle from customer service.   In the book, “50 Powerful Ideas You Can Use to Keep Your Customers” the author, Paul R. Timm, Ph.D, says that our expectations are “perceptual.”  They exist in our minds – and sometimes they are accurate and rational, but sometimes they aren’t.  When we are customers, we evaluate our service based on the entire experience – that goes beyond the core product or service purchased.  And guess what, our evaluation is based on our own expectations – did the service provider meet or exceed our expectations? (Paul R. Timm says that the key for gaining loyalty with our customers is not in meeting what the customer expects – but in exceeding it). 

Here’s the take-away. Your employees and staff members have expectations when they decide to work for your organization.  Part of your role as a leader, is to help your “customers” (your staff members) become engaged and committed and even “loyal” partners by constantly exceeding their expectations.  You want to go beyond what your staff anticipate or expect so that they feel positive and energized to go beyond what their job entails.  Here are some ways you can do this:

  • Make job expectations explicit. Clearly communicate the job requirements and how employees will be evaluated.
  • Provide frequent feedback for your team members so they know how they are doing in relation to the job expectations.
  • Recognize each employee’s efforts, especially those employees who excel and do work beyond what is expected
  • Get to know each staff member so that you can tailor your communication style to the individual
  • As you get to know each staff member, discover or learn what each one anticipates and expects from you as a manager – and if possible, over deliver
  • Review every “touch point” that your employee has with your department and find ways to deliver value (Some areas that you can look at include: how you orient a new employee, whether you are providing mentoring for new employees, what opportunities employees have to continue to learn and grow, the frequency of your one-on-one meetings with each employee, your consistency in providing performance feedback, recognition, etc.)

Perhaps you didn’t realize that your role as a leader has such a parallel to customer service. But your most important customer base isn’t those who purchase your products, it is those people who choose to work for you!  And being aware of the power of expectations can go a long way in ensuring your staff feels good about working for you and your team!

As we conclude this series, let’s review, the 7 ways you can create a culture of contribution in your work team, community association, church setting, or volunteer organization: 

  1. Hire the right people
  2. Engage your staff and your customers
  3. Enthusiastically promote others
  4. Offer benefits to be involved
  5. Recognize good work
  6. Reward contribution
  7. Create (and manage) expectations

Imagine the positive energy and productivity that you and your team could experience as you start to implement these steps to creating a culture of contribution!  So here’s my question, which one will you tackle first?

Reward Contribution

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As we continue our “Creating a culture of contribution” series, we focus our attention on the subject of recognition.   Here are some creative ways you can recognize your staff, team, or board members:

  •  Publicly recognize contribution. (Make sure you make recognition meaningful   – some people would prefer more personal recognition – so the best thing you can do is ask your people how they want to be recognized)
  • Tell staff what their greatest contributions were in the last week, month, and year.
  • Let people know how their contributions are valued and how they contribute to your organization’s mission.
  • When people fail, reframe the failure as an opportunity for learning. 

Numerous studies show that recognition is the key to people feeling appreciated and engaged in an endeavor.  By taking the time to intentionally share a few words of recognition, your employees and volunteers feel appreciated and engaged.  

What can you say today that will help your staff or volunteers feel recognized?

Engage your staff

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Employee engagement seems to be the “fad” these days. Yet engaging your employees is not a passing fad but rather, a crucial strategy to keep your employees and managers operating with optimism, intentionality in service delivery, and enthusiasm that will positively transform your organization.

 Here are a few ways you can engage your staff:

  •  Consult with your staff before making any changes affecting their work.
  • Value the differences in opinions and ideas.
  • Listen to and respect your staff member’s opinions.  Be open to new ideas and suggestions. 
  • When presented with a problem or question, ask how they might solve it. 
  • Recognize their contributions.  Make it timely.  

Remember that your staff members are perhaps your organization’s most important customers!  Engaging your staff members shows them that you value them!

Hire the right people

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interview-Jan Dwyer BangIn his book, Good to Great, Jim Collins provides evidence that those companies that are great put first things first – they get the right people on the bus (and the wrong people off the bus).  In Mr. Collin’s words, they “did the WHO before they did the WHAT.”  Sometimes focusing on the “who” means making rigorous, even ruthless decisions in order to build a team who all are exceptional and committed to the organization.  The “what” (vision and mission casting) follows after you have the right people.

Here’s the take-away for you and your organization.  Are the right people on your team?  Collins says that the moment that you need to tightly manage someone is when you made a bad hiring decision.  The best people just need to be guided, not controlled.  Or take a look at the skill level of your managers.  Are they aware that their number 1 priority is to provide guidance and coaching for their staff?  Do they have the skills to help a marginal performer transform to an exceptional worker?    Are you allowing the wrong people to continue to divert energy from your high performers?

What about your organization’s hiring policies?  How much time are you taking to ensure that the right person gets hired?  When I was looking for a job, I was always impressed when a company spent a lot of time on the interviewing process.  Indeed, when I was hired at Weyerhaeuser Company as a training consultant, the interviewing process included my meeting with several team members, my conducting a training session for their staff, and my participating in a rigorous assessment process so that they could see that not only did I have the skills, but that I would fit in with the company culture.

My next entry will focus on another way you can create a culture of contribution – by engaging your staff and your customers.

A Culture of Contribution

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I love this term!  I first heard this term from Sally Zeiger Hanson, former Executive Director with the Puyallup/Sumner Chamber of Commerce.    Though I am relatively a new comer with the chamber, I have been impressed with the way the chamber members have been supportive and encouraging to one another – with a real focus on helping other chapter members grow their business.   I believe that this “culture of contribution” permeated from the leadership to the members.

 What can happen when you can instill a “culture of contribution” in your organization?  I contend that people will experience a positive energy and enthusiasm that can translate to customers.  I believe this kind of culture inspires people to want to do their best and motivates others to get involved.    And customers can recognize this kind of positive enthusiasm and want to get involved.  

How can you create a culture of contribution in your association, team, organization, or board?  Here are some ways:

  1. Hire the right people
  2. Engage your staff and your customers
  3. Enthusiastically promote others
  4. Offer benefits to be involved
  5. Recognize good work
  6. Reward contribution
  7. Create and manage expectations

In my next 9 BLOG entries, I will flesh out every one of these elements.

Investing in your People

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safetyWhat are the reasons that your organization provides training for your employees? (You can check all that apply)

__ Meeting state and federal requirements (safety, harassment, etc)

__ Orienting new employees to your corporate culture (new employee orientation)

__ Informing employees of corporate-wide initiatives

__ Training employees on specific skill sets to improve their leadership and team effectiveness

__ Investing in your employee’s current and future potential

 No matter what type of training – I contend that first and foremost, training is an investment in your employee’s current and future potential in terms of their development, competence, productivity, morale, teamwork, communication, and overall contribution to your company.    Companies that  recognize the invaluable benefits of training, even during lean times, can attest to the value that occurs when a cross-section of employees come together in a classroom environment and engage in learning that focuses on real-world concepts, transferable skills that learners can apply to their jobs, and opportunities to network and learn together with other students.  An experienced trainer can help facilitate the kind of learning environment where students are most apt to learn and are actively engaged.  

I have been in organizations where training was non negotiable – even during a downsizing -  and can attest to the ways that training was used as a key strategy to help increase employee morale, equip them with useful skills, orient them to their future, and increase their sense of hopefulness and optimism.  

 Classroom training is not always a viable option in all cases so e-learning classes –where employees learn from their own workstations – can fill in the gaps. 

For an informative article debunking some of the great myths of training – (Learning and Training: Statistics and Myths) click on http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/trainsta.html

Training – A Cost or an Investment?

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How many of us have attended a training event that cost a considerable amount of money for you or are your organization with no noticeable effect in your staff’s productivity or morale?  We all have at one time or another.  All of us have spent long hours in a training class – feeling “trapped” by the choice we made and vowing never to waste our time or our staff’s time again.  Unfortunately, there is some training that is overpriced, monotonous, not relevant, and not transferred to people’s jobs. But this is the fault of the training company you hired – not the fault of training in general.

The next time you are thinking about choosing a training company to serve your organization, here are some questions you can ask them:

How much experience does the trainer have in teaching the topic?

  • How much interactivity does the trainer incorporate in his or her teaching?
  • What ways will the training company assess the needs of the audience?
  • In what ways do they suggest that the concepts get best transferred to people’s jobs?
  • How much of the training is “theory” vs. practical so that skills can be used immediately?
  • In what ways is the learning environment encouraging students to succeed?
  • What are past clients saying about the training?
  • What are some ways to reinforce the training (before, during, and after) the learning event?

And by the way, these same questions are the same ones that I use to assess the effectiveness of my organization (Boundless Results)!

Training Dollars- A Cost or an Investment?

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In the February 3, 2010 edition of the On Line Business Examiner (BE) daily, it was reported that Workforce Central has $450,000 available to help Pierce County Washington businesses pay for training related costs. (Soft and technical skills).  Franciscan Health System and MultiCare Health System already took advantage of the funding and indeed, 230 health care professionals completed training through the program.

Since training and consulting is part of the services I offer to clients, this made me wonder – how many other businesses took advantage of these dollars for training? Perhaps those that took advantage of these dollars had the mindset that training is an investment – not a cost.

In the next 5 BLOG entries, I will share some ways that you can make your investment of training dollars stretch as far as possible and how you can receive the maximum value that  real-world learning events can offer your managers and employees.

Is training a cost to doing business – too expensive in terms of financial commitment?  Or an investment in your most important resource – human capital.  Stay tuned!