Bringing a Frog to Work Today?

Anytime my dissertation chair/mentor would comment about how old and crabby he was getting, I knew he was winding up to let me know something I should pay attention to – usually it had to do with my writing skills, but other times he would share more general observations.  I’m taking a page out of his book.  I think I’m getting old and crabby.  And now I’m going to tell you why.  This is my rant:

 A colleague recently posted an article through her LinkedIn account .  I really liked the catchy title:  What Successful People Do With The First Hour of Their Work Day.  Initially, I was curious as to what this article could teach me that I had not yet integrated in my daily routine.  Let’s first establish my routine:  up between 5 and 6 am, fire up the desktop at home, coffee, work and personal emails for a half hour, usually a run, swim, or yoga, then prep for work.  Once I’m at the office, the routine shifts to however my day happens to be structured with various appointments, meetings, and so forth.  If I’m lucky, I’ve got some cushion time built in to do…what, you ask?  To do my other work, of course, which could be anything from attending to correspondence, reviewing material, proactively asking questions, often touring work sites, more meetings and the usual administrative and leadership business.  But to sum it up, I have a personal mission and preoccupation with providing excellent customer service through excellent business practices.  So imagine my huge disappointment when I let it sink in that articles like the one above were aimed at a slice of our population that allows itself to be so distracted from their job that they need cute stories to help them figure out how to prioritize.  Heck, most of the people I know have this already sorted out!

As if it wasn’t enough, I found two more equally compelling article titles with content along the same lines (see Frogs, Gnats, Butterflies and Gems and Watch out for the frogs )

If you haven’t read any of these articles yet, I suggest you give it a go.  I am always interested in what habits successful people have.  I strive for excellence, and I figure there’s always a nugget or two in what other people write.  I, too, want to be successful!  I dove into the first article like it was a long awaited treasure…but after I was done, I did a bit more searching on the internet for similar publications.  Then I did some thinking.  Then my enthusiasm deflated.  Then I started to feel old and cranky.

I can’t believe we live in a society where people get paid to go to work and can’t get it together enough to do what they’re supposed to.  Does someone really have to publish an article to motivate us to do our jobs?  Wait!  Maybe that’s the answer to my original question:  What do successful people do everyday?  Answer:  Not sure, but I bet it has something to do with them actually getting their work done. 

Thanks for tolerating my rant. 

Be the change!  Joanne

Management By Wandering Around (MBWA)

The Olympics are on! I love watching every athlete who makes it there and seeing how they each carry their excellence and achievement. Each athlete is an individual, and these games really drive that home. Watching them perform, it is easy to forget all that it took to get them there. But we all know it took a lot of practice, blood, sweat, tears – and did I say practice? – to get there. I want to talk about “practice” this week.

I am new yoga student. As intolerable as it can be to listen to new students gush about the benefits of yoga or any other activity, there is something to be said about the journey that brings you to a humbling realization that your own practice is never going to be perfect. Yoga, I am learning, is about working on your own capacity incrementally. I’d like to propose that the same can be said for leadership.

Leadership practice starts early on. You don’t all of a sudden get a job that makes you a leader. You develop leadership skills and styles over time. That’s the fun part! But the best part is that you never really reach a point where it gets boring because you know it all.

Many years ago, I worked as a CEO with a First Nations organization in Eastern Canada. During my orientation, my coach (someone who’d been the CEO for the same organization) recommended that I spend some time walking around the administrative office to get to know people, and for them to get to know me. At first I took his advice literally, and then later, I took different travel paths in this very large building so I could see folks I would otherwise never encounter. It was great to get to know folks outside of meetings, to laugh, chit chat, and all that. The change agenda for this organization was daunting, and I’m convinced the relationships I cultivated by walking around helped move this along.

Through the years I’ve maintained a degree of closeness with staff, but because of my various roles, my focus has been working with organizational leaders. Recently, I had the opportunity to dive a little deeper. On two occasions this week, I’ve been able to shadow frontline folks as they carry out their everyday activities. And was that ever an eye opener for me. Let me explain.

As with many healthcare organizations, ours has embraced the LEAN methodology . Management practices associated with LEAN encourage a strong link between the senior decision-makers in the organization and the front-line service providers. There is a belief that improvements can only be made when those leading the change involve frontline staff (because they really know what’s going on) and with leaders who really understand the business processes. This is also basic bread and butter in solid change management practices.

Today, I’m here to say that I’m realizing that even the management practices in LEAN must be achieved incrementally. In researching the origins of LEAN and leadership, I came across something I used to know, but forgot: managing by wandering around (MBWA) introduced years ago by Tom Peters. Intended to get all of us out of the office, especially because every manager from a CEO to a program coordinator can lead by example, MBWA is all about getting us out of the office and into the real world of work.

Personally, I don’t mind telling you that I let this slip a bit in the past few years, but after the past few weeks of being back in the trenches, I’ve already booked my next few frontline tours. Then, I hope that when I’m ready to apply more fidelity to my LEAN management practice, I will have a solid place from which to start.

Below are the Twelve Guiding Principles for MBWA:

Do it to everyone

Do it as often as you can

Go by yourself

Don’t circumvent subordinate managers

Ask questions

Watch and listen

Share your dreams with them

Try out their work

Bring good news

Have fun

Catch them in the act of doing something right

Don’t be critical

Click here to read a short article on MBWA including the definitions of the Twelve Guiding Principles listed above. Isn’t it great that our leadership practice allows us to keep learning every day? Have an enlightening week in your practice - leadership, yoga, or otherwise.

Change Management: A Modern Day Idiom

Idiom: An expressionthat doesn't necessarily have a definition but more of an understanding behind it.

It all started a few weeks ago when someone mentioned  reindeer games.   I’d heard the term before and never really bothered to find out what it truly meant, but I made an assumption that this just described how people were gaming with each other and maybe holding back information from others.  In fact, I was guilty of using the concept without being sure of the exact definition.  Hey!  At least I admit it. 

In preparing for this blog, I found a definition of reindeer games in the Urban Dictionary. So the dictionary’s definition is the same as what I originally suspected.  Or close enough.

Later, again at work, someone said we’d have to find a cat to put among the pigeons, and I wasn’t really sure what that meant, so this time I looked it up in the Urban Dictionary right away.  Turns out that this is also an idiom and it implies some way of creating a disturbance and causing trouble.  Now, rarely would anyone in an organization deliberately set out to cause a disturbance with malicious intent,  but as we’ve seen in previous blogs, it sometimes helps to have First Followers or others who can help instigate movement for change.  To me, that’s a step away from putting the proverbial cat amongst the pigeons, but it doesn’t seem to bother folks if idioms are used casually and can sometimes cause misunderstandings. 

All of this has had me preoccupied with idioms and cutesy catch phrases we use every day in our business lives.  One that I’m especially preoccupied with and very concerned about is how organizations toss around the concept of change management.  

I’m hoping not to come across as snobby about this, but these days, change management really is being used as an idiom, and to everyone’s peril.  As the change management field and practice evolves, there is a heightened awareness of the importance of using real change management techniques – which is good.  But the downside is how some folks clumsily toss the term around as a substitution for only the tools we use to help us achieve real change management.  When we short-change the definition of change management to single out the tools alone, then we see the resulting, weak results. 

Instead, here it is clearly defined by a reliable source at the Change Management Learning Centre: Change management is the [application of] the set of tools, processes, skills and principles for managing the people side of change to achieve the required outcomes of a change project or initiative. 

Folks, change management is about the people side of the coin.  You can only be successful in leading a change when the people involved adopt the change and adapt to it. Change management requires effective, deliberate communication about your proposed change.  For example, don’t issue a memo about a change you’ve already made and expect the same results as if you used communication as a tool and means of gaining adoption during the course of change. 

For more on the real change management story, check out Kurt Lewin on the net.  Lewin is the forefather of change management theory. Everything that’s been developed since his time is just building on his three-step model: unfreeze, change, and re-freeze.  And who is going to experience said climate change of this three-step model?  People.  Let’s get it right:  change management is all about the people.   

Thanks for listening. 

Building Teams

I just finished reading The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. I didn’t necessarily read this book because I have or want a dysfunctional team. I read it because I want to work with a high functioning team! This book tells the story of a new CEO (Kathryn) and how she deals with a new team she inherits. The author (Lencioni) uses his third person storytelling style to let you hear and understand what the CEO is thinking as she encounters a variety of situations with her senior team.

The following list outlines the Five Dysfunctions along with my further description of each:

Dysfunction #1: Absence of Trust
Fear of being vulnerable with team members prevents the building of trust on a team. (JB: This dysfunction is most noticeable when you encounter teams who won’t let each other see they don’t know everything. Teams like this don’t openly admit their limitations to each other and don’t ask each other for feedback so they can grow. Teams without trust don’t like to spend time together.)

Dysfunction #2: Fear of Conflict
The desire to preserve artificial harmony stifles the occurrence of productive ideological conflict. (JB: Teams with this condition just go along with each other to get back to their own areas of concentration. They don’t care to know enough about each other’s areas to criticize or offer improvement strategies. )

Dysfunction #3: Lack of Commitment
The lack of clarity or buy-in prevents team members from making decisions they will stick to. (JB: This dysfunction results in stripping confidence out of a team. It creates an atmosphere where everyone second-guesses everyone else.)

Dysfunction #4: Avoidance of Accountability
The need to avoid interpersonal discomfort prevents team members from holding one another accountable. (JB: This one is tough because it is about everyone on the team knowing what the organizational goals are, and holding each other accountable for the quality and timeliness of deliverables.)

Dysfunction #5: Inattention to Results
The pursuit of individual goals and personal status erodes the focus on collective results. (JB: This dysfunction shows up when team members care more about their own individual goals than those of the entire enterprise. It encourages people to think only of themselves and their own career advancement.)

After learning about these dysfunctions, I did a search to see what else I could find out about developing a functioning team and found another Lencioni book, The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps EverythingElse in Business and found a reference for leaders that basically summarizes two main points : 1) Build your team (see the Five Dysfunctions), and 2) Set clear organizational goals and hold everyone accountable to stick by them!

My one, big take away from this week’s episode on my leadership path is that clear goals are really essential, because even with a high performing team, if you don’t have clear goals you can still risk squandering valuable human resources and talent. And you know what? The “good ones” won’t stick around if you can’t articulate your goals clearly and hold everyone to be accountable for them.

Have a great week, everyone! Be the leader you want to have!!

First Followers

I learned a new term just a few days ago:  first followers.  A fantastic leader and very good friend I work with sent me a link to watch.  She promised me that if I didn’t dismiss the video in the first few seconds, there would be an important message in it for me.  Of course, she knows I’m a “change junkie” and I would have to trust that her instincts were right about this video. 

I watched the video and wondered if the concept of “first follower” it introduces was just a disguise for the term “early adopter” frequently used in change theory.  But in looking up “early adopters” and “first followers” in the change literature, I found it was not possible to compare the two as easily as I expected. 

There’s a lot written on “early adopters” and how they are the first consumers of new technology: 

This is the second fastest category of individuals who adopt an innovation. These individuals have the highest degree of opinion leadership among the other adopter categories. Early adopters are typically younger in age, have a higher social status, have more financial lucidity, advanced education, and are more socially forward than late adopters. More discrete in adoption choices than innovators. Realize judicious choice of adoption will help them maintain central communication position (Rogers 1962 5th ed, p. 283).

But, I couldn’t find much on “first followers”. I realized I had to go back to the source. 

I watched the video again this weekend and found that the video moderator zeroed in on a few very important distinctions, with the first one being the impact the “first follower” has on the leader.  As the story is told, the leader doesn’t stand out by himself (see the video) – in fact, to me, he looks like he might be under the influence but the video moderator says that he looks like “a nut”.  The first follower is really the spark that draws special attention to what the leader is trying to accomplish.  A key learning at this point is that the leader should treat his/her first followers as equals, because alone, the leader is just a “nut”. Recognizing and nurturing your “first follower” is really important.  In fact, the video story says that leadership during change is over-glorified – the real leadership comes from the “first follower(s)” because the main role “first followers” play is teaching others how to follow. 

In our organizations, leaders are continually under pressure to lead change.  In fact, many are assessed and evaluated by their competency to lead and execute change.  Often, a poor change process reflects badly for the leader.  For those of you who may have struggled with the change challenge, try finding your “first followers” and elevate them to a visible level so they can demonstrate how to follow your change to others.  By leveling the hierarchy between the leader or innovator and the first followers, you’ll be comforted to know you aren’t alone.  Sometimes leading change feels like a job for the lone Ranger, but with one or two “first followers” nearby, you don’t have to be alone.  And that, my friends, is a very nice feeling. 

Watch the video now, and see if it changes your ideas on leading change. 

Collective Ambition

Do you work with people who seem to be waiting for their time at the workplace to come to an end, either daily or longer term? Some seem to have a lot of experience, yet they aren’t quite representing your organization’s evolving values and leadership style . You’ll recognize them if they seem to be putting in the hours but lack an obvious key ingredient: ambition.

Other team members may notice and ask themselves why these individuals just keep coming back to work even though their motivation tanked long ago. The sad truth is that the folks I’m talking about have worked hard their whole careers and blazed trails back in the day when they were driven and ambitious. When and why does this change for some individuals, and not for others? A colleague told me this week that she thought it was because folks fitting this profile have stopped leading change. If this true, this is a serious problem – unless ambition can be nurtured or rekindled, what options do you have to deal with these circumstances? A bigger challenge is to consider how to prevent a new regime of employees from running out of ambition - ever.

Let’s pause here for a moment to distinguish between ambition at an individual level and “collective ambition" as described by Ready and Trulove (2011) in their article The Power of Collective Ambition .

What I learned most from the Ready and Truelove article is that one important aspect of “collective ambition” is a clearly defined definition of leadership behavior. Within a frame work of "collective ambition", leadership behavior is defined as how leaders act daily as they implement the organization’s vision and strategies, striving to fulfill the brand promise, and living up to the organization’s values. There’s a problem when some leaders’ ambitions fizzle, or if they are anchored in a past vision and an old set of values.

I suppose the lesson here for all of us is, that individual motivation and ambition is fundamental to creating a "collectively ambitious" work environment. Take the survey in the Ready and Truelove article to see where your organization scores, and then ask others you work with to do so too just out of curiosity to find out if your perspective is more or less optimistic than the collective group.

The article stipulates that an organization’s purpose is the most important of the seven elements of collective ambition, however, we have to remind ourselves that any one of the seven elements on their own, or even in combination with two or three elements won’t yield the same benefit as an integrated approach. In summary and in closing, here are the seven elements necessary to foster "collective ambition":

Purpose: your company’s reason for being; the core mission of the enterprise.

Vision: the position or status your company aspires to achieve within a reasonable time frame.

Targets and milestones: the metrics you use to assess progress toward your vision.

Strategic and operational priorities: the actions you do or do not take in pursuit of your vision.

Brand promise: the commitments you make to stakeholders (customers, communities, investors, employees, regulators, and partners) concerning the experience the company will provide.

Core values: the guiding principles that dictate what you stand for as an organization, in good times and bad.

Leader behaviors: how leaders act on a daily basis as they seek to implement the company’s vision and strategic priorities, strive to fulfill the brand promise, and live up to the values.

I love sports analogies, especially because I love certain sports. I suppose this attraction is due to the entertainment value sports provide, but I also imagine that in some instances, art imitates life and sports stories tell us more about parallel journeys we have in other parts, even in the workplace. Check out this two minute video to see what individual ambition looks like (it gets better after 1:30 minutes). Then imagine if you had a whole team of players with the same attitude, heart, and ambition as individuals, and collectively.

I will leave you with your imagination on that last point. I'll be back next weekend.

Trust

Trust.  How have you successfully achieved this in your workplace?

I’m no expert in human behavior, or in relationships, but I do know what I like.  I like the scenario Bradford and Cohen  describe in their book Managing for Excellence (1982):  “Meeting time will still be needed to hammer out basic agreement on goals and objectives and to build trust among members.  But when those steps have been accomplished, people can speak for each other, and for the group, without creating suspicion.  When new problems and opportunities arise, any member can act quickly, without the time-consuming restriction of first having to check out the solution with the leader or other members" (p. 300).  Sigh.  That sounds terrific, and when you have achieved this with your team, it doesn’t take long to realize it and to reap the benefits.  But not every workplace achieves this high level of trust easily.  Most times, it takes leadership and hard work.  

As leaders, we have many methods to select from to help shape our teams’ health and trust level.  But let’s focus on two obvious choices when it comes to trust. 

One alternative is to blindly trust your teams, colleagues, and others in your workplace from the very beginning until something occurs to decrease that trust. I tend to think of this description of trust as a form of currency with a net value that either increases or decreases depending on transactions with people.  It is a chancy option, but one has to be honest in saying that sometimes things happen that increase trust, or decrease it, and that it really is like a sliding scale. But my main aim here is simply to illustrate that the starting point within this definition is a positive one.  As the leader in this situation, I would declare my trust in everyone until they provide evidence that I shouldn’t have trusted them so wholeheartedly.  

 A second option is to wait patiently until trust is gained, either over time, or over the course of a specific type of event.  This option’s starting point is a bit more tentative – kind of like an open book with blank pages just waiting to be written on.   I often think of this situation to be more similar to relationships in general: wait and see.  As in “real life”, you get to know people in your workplace over time and through the course of a series of events that cause you to work closely together – and at times, with healthy debate. You get to know each other better, learn to appreciate your differences, and can more readily identify when in future circumstances how individual strengths and perspectives might come in handy. 

 Like many other leaders, I used to approach the workplace with the first option in mind and heart, especially with new teams.  Often as the newest member, my choice was to proceed with the utmost trust in my colleagues.  Then, over time, if there were circumstances that shifted that trust down the scale, I’d just adjust my expectations of individual(s) accordingly.   Fortunately, that scale would often find itself eventually sliding back up…but not always.  There were times when I was disappointed. 

Learning more about how teams function and the leader’s role in achieving ‘high performing” teams, I’ve changed my tactics when it comes to something as important as trust.   I no longer approach this important work quality as I did.  These days, I rely on experts on this topic, such as management researchers who’ve examined team dynamics extensively. I have found using ideas described in Bradford and Cohen’s book useful, as well as other strategies.  And I’ve learned to be patient – because sometimes something worth having takes time. 

How have you gained trust in your teams?  Share with me at jbezz@shaw.ca,  and I will post all feedback as it comes in.    

How Much More Change Can You Expect?

Are you growing tired of hearing how people on your team or organization report they are "change fatigued" or "changed out"?  Do the same folks bristle at yet another change initiative with body language evoking their obvious displeasure?  I'm talking about rolling eyes, crossing arms, smirks, and other impolite gestures - including the ones targeting you behind your back.  I know, I know...we have to be patient with these folks, but how can we distinguish between resistance and a genuine capacity issue?  How do we really understand what’s going on?

Be The Change

As a leader, you’re usually the one initiating change.  Whether you’ve been with your organization for 11 months or 11 years, you may have noticed how team members and front line staff react at the notion of more change.  If your organization functions as a finely tuned machine, change might even be driven by frontline staff who have become problem solvers and innovators.  But what can you do if your organization is still in transition to becoming a high-performing one? 

Getting your leaders on board and enthusiastic about an improvement or change is the first step and a big part of the process to whatever organizational change you attempt.  Let’s talk about those occasions where, despite the evidence, your leaders just don’t seem keen to ramp up to the right energy level to lead.  This is concerning.  After all, aren’t leaders at all levels expected to motivate staff to embrace continuous improvement opportunities?   I'm always amazed that in a world where every single industry known to humankind is looking for ways in which to improve quality, efficiency, effectiveness, and public satisfaction we still encounter issues at the onset of a change initiative. 

Answer this question: How can you really tell if attitude is getting in the way or if you really should consider waiting to launch a new change?   When the stakes are high, you won’t want to delay an impactful improvement.  However, knowing more about your status can help you determine your timing and strategy.  There are a couple of resources available that you could use to obtain an objective opinion.  Well, maybe not totally objective.  What I’m about to introduce is one tool you can use to evaluate your situation, based on your assessment.

Peter Vaill includes a Change Assessment Inventory in his book, Learning As A Way Of Being (one of my favorites!).  This easy tool consists of 21 short statements against which you are asked to assess your organization’s status vis a vis change.  With this assessment, you rank with positive or negative digits from -3 to +3, and your overall score is the net result of the positive and negative numbers.  What the tool really helps you understand is whether your work environment is becoming more dynamic, changing, unpredictable and turbulent.  A warning before you take the test:   not all the positive results are good.  While this inventory will give you some valuable insight, Vaill also cautions that there could be other factors contributing to a feeling of instability in the organization.  Read this book!  It  is an excellent resource for those of us leading through turbulent and unstable times.   Take the Inventory more than once a year to gauge areas in which where your organization has made gains since the last time you really looked closely.  Have fun with the Assessment, and share your experiences with us here! 

Crucial Conversations

I took a break from blogging for a couple of weeks while on vacation in Arizona.  It was a memorable time, between the heat – in contrast to the Vancouver weather I was escaping – and driving out of a snow storm leaving the Grand Canyon.  But it was memorable for another reason too, which is what I want to talk about today. 

Have you ever encountered situations or learned something that became pivotal to your personal life or career?  Of course you have…that was rhetorical!  My trip to Arizona turns out to be pivotal for me, but not because of the heat or snow.   Before leaving for my vacation, a friend talked to me about a resource she’d come across and suggested that in my quest to keep learning new things, I might find it useful.  Well, it certainly has had an impact on my perspective, and I want to share it with you. 

I started reading a book called Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High.  This book is now in its second edition, so readership has been around for awhile and continues to build momentum.  I’m not done reading the book yet, but I can already see how it is yet another resource to add to my own leadership arsenal, and one I will share with developing, emerging leaders in my circle. 

Frankly, I found the early chapters boring.  Who doesn’t already know that there are three ways to handle a crucial conversation:  1. Avoid it, 2. Face it and handle it poorly, or 3. Face it and handle it well.  Given these three options, I prefer the last one, but if I’m going to be honest with myself, I’ve spent a lot of time opting for doors 1 and 2.

 Being stubborn and one of those folks who rarely stops reading a book even when it is not captivating from the beginning, I pressed on reading page by page.  Then the holiday was over and I had to be back in the office.  Oddly enough, the book I thought wasn’t teaching me anything new started cropping up in my thoughts as I encountered the variety of situations leaders face on a day-to-day basis.  I started observing others interacting and noticed opportunities to nail conversations more effectively and with resolution.  Then I tested some of the lessons I read and learned about in the book, and while that took a lot of nerve and courage, lo and behold, I recognized that some of the stuff from this book just might work!

For example, when I purposefully opened myself up and injected a high degree of “heart” in my conversations and demonstrated some of my own vulnerability - which most of us find risky- I could see how that gave prospect to more possibilities in the discussion.  This strategy actually took me places I don't think would have been possible in a regular, run-of-the-mill conversation.  So for something I thought was uninspiring at the onset, I’ve turned full circle.  My first impressions of this book weren’t great, but I see real potential now. 

I’ve included a few resources for you if you want to get a glimpse at the book’s content.  See this PDF link entitled Book Notes and/or this Powerpoint presentation.  In my view, this book is worth a close look by leaders.  If you have read it and would like to share a story, why not let me feature your experience in a future blog?  I’d love to hear from you.  In the meantime, take care and have a great week!

Mirror, mirror on the wall....

Who do you confide in when you’ve got a workplace dilemma? Do you vent with your family when you get home, or do you have a network of former or current colleagues you can call on for moral support? What about your frustrations? Who do you trust enough to say what’s on your mind and in your heart when it comes to what’s not going so well? How about your fears that failure is stalking you? If you’ve ever found yourself asking who to turn to for any of the above, you’re not alone.

Like most leaders, you’ve come to realize that things aren’t always going to go your way. There are the usual hiccups that one learns to accept as par for the course. Usually, these types of glitches just run off your back. Then there are all the other times. You know what I’m talking about: those “once- in- a- blue- moon” times when you are caught off-guard and confused about what to do next. Or you’ve been snagged in the political web -the sticky, icky kind- and you don’t know what to think.

Sometimes, when things get desperate, you might begin to wonder if you’re really fitting in with your team, or your organization. The Gallup Organization has been doing workplace surveys for years, and one of its twelve key questions asks respondents whether they have a best friend at work. In answering whether you have a best friend at work, you’re exploring how you fit in with your organization. Answering this question might also give you some insight as to whether you’ve got close connections with whom you can check out your perceptions. (See Overview of the Gallup Organization’s Q-12 Survey by Louis R. Forbringer, Ph.d. for more information on Gallup and the survey).

I had a former colleague who worked with me in a remote Canadian First Nations community who reached out to me on a daily basis. Maybe I’m exaggerating a bit…but it was at least once a week. Honest. Now that I think about it, it was partially because we both had little in the shape of social networks, but I learned to expect a visit or phone call from this gal anytime. Invariably, when things were really bad, the talk usually ended after a few tears on her end and reassurances on mine. Admittedly, there were times when we reversed roles. I don’t know that we solved any of our respective problems-of-the-day, but I think we both felt little better just getting things off our chests.

A mentor of mine told me that as a leader, I had to get used to talking to the mirror. At the time, I thought he meant that there were always going to be certain things that had to be reserved to be discussed in privacy and only to that person in the mirror. Period. I understood this to mean that some opinions, questions, or concerns were best kept to oneself. I found this stressful. As I matured, I realized that the “mirror” analogy could include one or two key people in your life with whom you could share most things. Now days, I feel strongly enough to say your mirror should reflect a small, trusted network (no pun intended!).

In my world, I do have a few folks I use as mirrors; good work friends who’ll set me straight or tell me I’m way off base. Then again, they’re the same people who form my support system when I need it the most, and I know I am their mirror as well. Sometimes the mirror is just for a quick glance and “flick of the hair” or touch-up. Sometimes a bit more maintenance.

Turns out, having a mirror in my life has been fantastic – but I warn you: you have to look high and low for the right one or two. I hope if you don’t have your mirror(s) that you’ll find one soon. If you have another solution to the concept of a workplace mirror, or if you have a “best friend at work” and you want to share your story, please drop me a line @ jbezz@shaw.ca.

I’ll be heading out tomorrow for a short holiday and will be back in a few weeks. No blogs from me until the middle of April. I sure hope you’re enjoying these entries. I know I am.

Take good care of yourself!

Have you said thank you today?

I had a real eye opener this week.  Because of an urgent situation in my sector, I witnessed incredible leadership from the usual types.  I’ve always known that the people I see everyday are at times extraordinary, but I was still taken aback and I’m still thinking about it today, almost a week later. 

This event required two teams working simultaneously to communicate with a whole host of other individuals and to take action so the chances of very high risk situations could be averted.   We all came together, stayed at work late after an already full day, and then continued to be on alert for several more days.  After the first evening, I went home pretty tired and thought I should do something to recognize my immediate team.  I mean, even though one could argue that we just did whatever was needed in this kind of situation, it wasn’t sitting well with me not to say something simple, like “thank you”.   The next morning, I sent off a note to everyone who was involved in the scene.  I didn’t think anything more about this till I remembered that the previous week, I was asked if I’d anonymously sent a group of people in the office beautiful plants they’d received.  When asked if I had, I said I had not, but added that I wished I had.  This situation and the one described above make me ask:  do we say “thank you” enough to people in the workplace?  And if not, how often is enough and what qualifies for this special recognition?

Many modern workplaces have tons of different ways in which they recognize employees, some of which quickly become routine and lose their punch, and others that are successful and have lasting meaning.  I’m starting to think that there are very simple ways to recognize and thank people that don’t involve a whole lot of fanfare, but that can have a deep and personal meaning to the people receiving the acknowledgement. 

I remember the first time I got a thank you card.  I was working in the Canadian Arctic in very remote, challenging conditions.  By the time the card rolled around, I’d been there for almost three years, and it was the first time anyone took the time to acknowledge that even though there was a lot more work to do (my assessment), what had been achieved or attempted was appreciated.  I kept that card on my desk until I got a second one, and then I placed them together and kept them in my sight until I left the following year.  I felt deeply and sincerely appreciated.  No fanfare or public display.  But I knew what it meant to me.

How did the staff in my office feel when they got their plants anonymously?  Appreciated – maybe a bit perplexed as to who sent them, but appreciated.  How do you feel when you get special notice? – I’d actually like to hear from you on this question, or if you want to tell me what you think would be effective recognition for notable circumstances. 

In Hardwiring Excellence, Quint Studer devotes a whole section on WOW cards, recognition, rewards, and thank you notes.  He recommends developing a system to notify you or your boss of individuals in your organization who have earned special notice.  He actually suggests that organizations should set targets for the number of thank you cards they send.  Furthermore, there are some thank you notes that should have distinction and be sent to a person’s home.  Imagine that?  Getting a thank you note from your boss at home?  Visualize being the one who sends the note to someone’s home and imagine the lasting memory that would have.  Isn’t this one of the greatest things about leadership?  Isn’t that what sets us apart from other types in the workplace?  We have the power, ability, tools, and means to deliver powerful and positive messages to staff.  Do we take advantage of that ability as much as we should?

For several years after I got my first two thank you cards, I kept a package of cards and passed them on to people I knew had really done something exceptional.  I did that for years.  Somewhere, somehow I stopped.  I don’t know why.  But later today, I’m going to get a new batch and have them ready and available.  What about you?  Tell us how you recognize your staff and what impact it has.

If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to post below (sign up for a free Google account), or email me directly at jbezz@shaw.ca.

Have a great week!

If You're Not In, You're In the Way!

A reader wrote me a few weeks ago with a request for resources on the topic of how to deal with individuals reluctant or unable to embrace change. He asserted that as much as leadership requires courage to take calculated risks to move the organization along the path of transformation and ultimately change, it requires a different type of courage to deal with some of the organizational obstacles that might be standing in the way. Namely, this colleague was asking about how to go about removing these obstacles, which in some cases are individuals in the organization who are not able to embrace the change. Touchy topic.

Let’s start by admitting there are no straightforward solutions to this issue even though this seems to come up regularly in any leadership and management practice. Some leadership gurus stress the importance of teams and team skill building, like Peter Senge does in his widely acclaimed book The fifth discipline: The art &practice of the learning organization.  Senge contends the best approach is to consider the collective, and not the individual. But what if you assess your team on an individual level and find that one person is underperforming?

As a change leader, you already know there are numerous steps and measures to take into account while leading up to a change and eventually to the execution of the change. During each of these stages, you have the opportunity (and dare I say, the responsibility) to assess the environment, to gauge staff morale about the change, to evaluate staff and management uptake on the notion of the change, and to identify problem areas. If you suspect one of your team members is struggling with a change, you also must perform an objective assessment of the individual’s competency to cope with the change.

The experts also recommend an assessment of whether or not the individual possesses the emotional preparedness and attitudes to change. And what if there still isn’t any commitment? At that point, you would probably categorize this individual as a low performer as described by Quint Studer in Hardwiring Excellence.  I like Studer’s nifty recipe to tackle this head-on:

·         Describe the behavior you see and what you want to see change (I asked you to speak to your team about our new strategic direction and you didn’t follow through on this.  Your colleagues are worried about proceeding without your team on board with the change.)

·         Evaluate how you feel  (I am really disappointed and concerned because we are rolling this out to our stakeholders and your own staff are not yet aware of our new direction)

·         Show how you’d like it done (I’ll join you at the next staff meeting and lead a discussion on this important subject)

·         Let them know the impact of not following through next time (You have to demonstrate that you’re onboard with this our new direction or we will have to talk about serious consequences)

Of course, Studer’s message regarding low performers is clear: you give people a chance, but if all else fails, you MUST ACT. Simply put, low performers need feedback to pick up, or move out.

As difficult as it is, low performers can really affect the rest of your team’s performance and your efforts to change.  Act swiftly and decisively once your objective assessment reveals you have a low performer in your midst, and when necessary, help them move on.

If you have comments you'd like to share with me about this blog, please write me at jbezz@shaw.ca

Leadership and Negotiation

Funny how, because of a recent situation, one is reminded of something read a long time ago.  This week I dug out a book I read almost twenty years ago.   I wanted to once again review parts of the book to help me set perspective on a few matters.  Fortunately for me, when I did retrieve the book, I found that I’d highlighted several sections which made it easy for me to find what I was looking for.  Yes, I made an assumption that nuggets of knowledge that helped me put things in perspective in the past would help me again today.  And guess what?  I was right!

This is not a classic book about leading change, but The Tao of Negotiation by Joel Edelman and Mary Beth Crain (1994) does offer an interesting perspective for leaders of change.  I like the Preface (p.xi):

In dealing with others, be gentle and kind.

In speech, be true.

In business, be competent.

In action, watch the timing.

No fight: No blame.

                                                                The Tao Te Ching

This reminds me somewhat of the SCARF model by Rock (2008) that we’ve talked about the past few weeks.  But what additional skills does a leader of change require and what can we learn from The Tao of Negotiation?  Well, there is considerable discussion in the book about conflict and how to approach situations involving conflict.  As we know, where there’s change, there is conflict.  I don’t want to be making too much of the potential for conflict in the workplace when change is about to take place, is occurring, or has already transpired, but let’s face it: change itself and the potential for change moves people at a personal level.  And it is because of this personal impact there is a breeding ground for conflict.  

Edelman and Crain (1994) set the stage by giving their views on the source of conflict as “…real – and what are perceived as legitimate – grievances on both sides” (p.1).  This is an important point for change leaders to remember – by this definition of conflict, there are opposing views on both sides.  It isn’t that the conflict arises from one person or the staff resisting change, it exists because of the polar positions of BOTH sides.  Knowing this, what is the leader’s responsibility to deal with the phenomena of conflict in the workplace and what are some practical best practice approaches we can consider in dealing with this dynamic? 

Well, from what I understand, at least ONE of the parties involved in the conflict has to be unwilling to move into attack mode.  Remember, the leader here is one of the parties, so let’s assume that the leader has to be the one to step up to the plate and to be of the mind that attack mode is not an option.  That’s a tall order in some circumstances, even with very experienced leaders.  It is admirable to watch a leader interacting in a conflicting situation step back, and not attack.  I’ve seen it many times, and I recognize it every time I see it.  I have to add, for some of you who might view this as caving or giving in to the conflicting view that it never looks like the leaders give up.  It looks like the leader wants to hear more of the opposition to understand the issues better, and it definitely looks like the leader wants to reflect on what s/he can do to make the situation more comfortable for those struggling with the change or issue.  When I witness this leadership approach in the workplace, I appreciate the mastery of negotiation.  And I admire it. 

The Tao of Negotiation might not appeal to all audiences because it requires readers to be introspective as to their own inner conflicts and to critically assess how they deal with conflict.  Some people are just not interested in this.  However, those of you who were interested in Rock’s material and the SCARF model (2008) might find it interesting to pick up the book still widely available, and give it a read.  I’ll be putting my copy back on the shelf later on this week, but only after I get a chance to leaf through it to be reminded of a few key principles. 

Take care till next week, and let me know if there are other topics you’d be interested in reading or discussing. 

Autonomy: Do we really need it?

Let’s start by looking back at Rock’s SCARF model (2008): This model asserts that five particular domains elicit specific human reactions: Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness, and Fairness (Rock, p.1, 2008). This week, I want to focus on the A in SCARF – Autonomy.

Autonomy is the freedom to make discretionary and binding decisions consistent with one’s scope of practice (Lewis, F.M. 2006, p.1).

While the autonomy definition posted above doesn’t spell it out, I’m of the opinion that autonomy also provides individuals with the right to act on the decisions they make within the scope of their practice –leadership practice, or otherwise. Personally, I believe there is a growing need for autonomy in today’s organizations, despite the demand for increased organization-wide accountability. But not everyone shares this view. This week I heard an experienced leader discuss the topic of autonomy. His contention was that in modern organizations, there is a need to balance the need for autonomy with larger, system-wide needs. In fact, this speaker asserted that in order to optimize organizational integration, a “top down”direction would be required. I don’t think the speaker was saying that we had to find a way to rid ourselves of autonomy, but he was pointing out that it could be an impediment to broader organizational goals.

How then, does a leader balance holding the reigns loosely enough to promote leadership, growth, and creativity (all inherent in the concept of autonomy), but at the same time hold the reigns tightly enough to avoid classic pitfalls resulting from too much autonomy (e.g. silos and divisiveness)?

As leaders, what options can we consider in our leadership and management practices to achieve large organizational goals as well as delivering on the growing demand for individual empowerment? Let’s discuss our options by examining two complimentary leadership styles, namely transactional and transformational leadership, with a view that both are necessary in today’s leadership world. I know some folks will argue that transformational and transactional leadership styles are contradictory, but hear me out.

Transformational leaders keep three things in mind when leading: the first one is how to achieve current organizational goals and secondly how to raise it to a higher standard, and thirdly, how to develop staff and subordinates and others who are part of the organizational infrastructure so they can lead and achieve the intended changes within their areas of responsibility and leadership in the future. Sounds like there is a high degree of autonomy and empowerment included in this leadership style.

Also focused on productivity, transactional leadership primarily focuses on the individual and less on the organization as a whole. Nguni et al. (2006) says transactional leadership draws out the selfish attributes of followers: staff is expected to produce some results and is rewarded accordingly. With this leadership style, leaders exert influence by setting goals, clarifying desired outcomes, providing feedback, and exchanging rewards for accomplishments. This style also includes a degree of autonomy and empowerment.

I summarized a table of metrics for each type of leadership for you (some references included at the end of the blog, and more available if you contact me at jbezz@shaw.ca):

Transformational Measurements	Transactional Measurements
Develops a compelling vision Creates a trusting environment Motivates and inspires employees Empowers personnel to make own decisions personnel Changes the existing situation Develops workforce Improves the culture Effects change by influence	Identifies clear goals and objectives for visible results Offers rewards for achieving goals Creates structures and processes for control Solves issues Maintains current situation and improves it Plans, organizes and controls operations Protects the culture Effects change by authority

Now, let’s step back to last week’s discussion again. If we know that a lack of autonomy activates a genuine threat response, and if we also know that working in a team necessitates a reduction in autonomy, how can leaders still get the best out of staff at both an individual and group level and stay true to the organization’s overarching goals?

Rock’s solution to this question is to clearly establish the boundaries within which individuals can

exercise their creativity and autonomy. Furthermore, one should enable individual point-of-need decision-making without consultation with, or intervention by, leaders (Rock, 2008).

This past week, I heard about a beautiful example of Rock’s solution in action: a manager asked front line staff to do some problem solving so the team could circumvent problems from a recent staff shortage. Though the manager was well aware of options she could elect to put in place, she waited patiently for the team to identify their own solutions. She then supported them in implementing their ideas even though there were other obvious options that could have addressed the circumstances even better. However, seeing no damage coming from their ideas, she let them go for it. This is a classic example of all the steps involved in combining the transformational and transactional leadership traits, and in providing an environment to build autonomy and empowerment. I was amazed at this story, and know there are others like it out there –I’d love to hear some of your examples.

What’s the point of this week’s blog? I just wanted to point out that being a leader isn’t that simple anymore. Back in the early days, the fields of leadership and management were studied and written about in “either or” scenarios (either transformational or transactional; either building autonomy or aligning to the organization’s vision). Now days, leaders are tasked with blending all the best ideas gleaned from research and combining recipe ingredients to match the circumstances. I hope some of you reading this blog will feel comfort for those days when you face unusual circumstances and you aren’t sure how to resolve the issue. It might be that you have to use a combination of elements previously thought to be contradictory, as we’ve just discussed.

Until next time, take good care.

Kotter, J.P. (1996). Leading change. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Lewis, F.M. (2006). Autonomy in Nursing, Journal of Nursing, 3(2), 2006

Nguni, Samuel, Sleegers, Peter, & Denessen, Eddie. (2006). Transformational and transactional leadership effects on teachers' job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and organizational citizenship behavior in primary schools: The Tanzanian case. School Effectiveness& School Improvement, 17(2), 145-177.

Rock, D. (2008) SCARF: a brain-based model for collaborating with and influencing others, NeuroLeadership Journal, 1(1), 296-320.