Posts Tagged ‘Leadership’

From 2008 to 2010, employee engagement dropped to 56%.  This was the largest rate of decline in 15 years, according to Aon Consulting. So how can you measure employee engagement within your organization?  Generally companies will deploy an employee engagement survey using an external company to administer the survey ensuring anonymity for employees. Others will develop their own internal surveys which  lack question validity and robust reporting features which can be drawbacks to developing an improvement plan.

But what if you don’t have the time or money and want to get a broad sense of overall engagement, what are your options?  My suggestion is to look for the top 10 clues that employees may be disengaging from their work.  And, the 10 clues are:

1. Quality of service and products is dropping–employees are not showing a geniuine level of concern for customer needs and the quality of their workmanship

2. Absenteeism is increasing–the amount of time employees are missing from work is affecting overall department or company performance and may be affecting the morale of those having to pick up a greater work load.

3. Employee complaints are on the rise–negative comments about management and the company from employees to other employees can be like a cancer and impact the performance of others. An analysis of where the complaints are coming from and the type of complaints may uncover some employment issues that should be addressed.

4. Employees don’t work as a team–there may be some great individual contributors but the environment doesn’t encourage cooperation and team work  which can lead to missed opportunities. Make sure that teams have the right members to be successful, that each member understands their role and how it fits into the team, and that the team understands what success looks like for them.

5. Shrinkage and theft rates are increasing–these issues can start small and then rise to levels of significance impacting profitability. Identify potential problem areas and address the issue as soon as you see an uptick before it becomes a bigger problem.

6. Lack of accountability–as the frequency of employees blaming others increases others will take the same attitude of avoiding personal responsibility for failures at work.

7.  Fewer employees are coming to you with concerns–don’t assume that this is good news and bury your head in the sand.  It often means employees don’t have a high level of trust and confidence in management. You may be missing the opportunity to hear about some good ideas and suggestions that can improve results for the company.

8. There are fewer times taken to recognize success–your organization may be struggling yet there is a team or an  individual who has been successful. Dont’ just get caught up with the big goals, remember to recognize and celebrate the smaller ones.

9. Turnover rates are too high–replacing good performers is expensive. Is it an isolated department or an overall company problem? Review exit interview results to determine any trends that should be addressed and then put a plan together.

10.  Key positions remain open longer–this may be a sign that your employer brand is suffering.  You may not have a good reputation as an employer in the market which impedes you from attracting top talent. With the internet and social media, employers bad practices and culture don’t remain a secret for very long.

So which one of these clues do you see in your organization? Ask some of your key managers for their input on these clues and sit down to determine what areas do you want to address first.  And remember that this technique is not a replacement for a professional engagement survey.  Make sure that this becomes a key initiative in the next 12 months!

One of my clients recently returned from the Baptist Leadership Conference and during his management meeting he was reporting back on his learnings from the conference and what he intended on implementing.

As he ran down the list there was one technique that is so easy to implement and when done effectively, can provided a leadership team with valuable information. The technique is “Rounding with a Purpose”, and I wanted to share it with my readers.  In essence, it takes the traditional “Management by Walking Around” and develops a structure using questions that are thought out in advance based on the current challenges management is facing.

How  would you take this idea into your organization and implement it?  What information today, are you not receiving because you aren’t asking the right questions of employees working on the front lines, the workers closest to many challenges a company faces?

Here are two typical business situations along with questions you may want to use that can help you learn more about what you, as a leader, can do to increase the success of your people as well as your organization.

Situation 1: There has been a recent increase in customer complaints

Questions:

• If you could change one thing that can improve customer service, what would you do?
• What complaints have you been hearing recently from customers?
• What service policy is getting in the way of improved customer service?

As you will note, the situations are specific to a certain business function but don’t let the situations lead you into a familiar trap. Don’t ask the situational questions just of those in that department.  For instance, if the issue is sales, make sure you don’t just ask the sales department.  Make sure to get a good cross section of input.

Once you start gathering this information, it is time to share it with your management team and teach them the technique so they can implement as well.

So what questions are you not getting answers to from your management team? And if these questions were asked to your line workers, what hidden gems may be mined?  Asking good questions, can unearth some uncut diamonds that may provide you with some long awaited answers.

I would love to hear your ideas of how you have used this technique to your benefit and institutionalize it within your company so all managers are consistently listening to employees. And, what particular questions have you used to obtain information that you might not have obtained otherwise?

And if you are in the health care industry and haven’t heard about the Baptist Leadership Institute, check them out by clicking on this link. http://www.baptistleadershipinstitute.com/

First watch this video from Air New Zealand

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_xrPl_i9M8

Yes this is a bit extreme and you would probably never ask your employees to participate in a project like this.  But it should make you curious as to how far your employees would be willing to go for you and your company.

When was the last time that you asked them to commit to a project or initiative that was outside their comfort zone?  And what was their reaction?

If they pushed back on the idea, what strategy did you use to influence them into changing their minds so that they willingly and happily participated?

I would suspect that in the case of Air New Zealand, there was a mixture of leadership influence and personal motivation by the individual participants. The people that volunteered probably liked this type of attention and the opportunity to have “exposure” on a TV advertisement. While at the same time, there was a leader who had a vision and was able to passionately convey the vision and influence people to follow.

How effective are you at influencing others to follow? And are you creating an environment that encourages employee engagement?

As an update, the leader who had the vision is the silver haired guy, body painted as a baggage handler. He is the CEO of Air New Zealand  Now that’s leadership!

The other day I was facilitating a strategy meeting with a group of executives. During the meeting, I started to notice a familiar pattern of listening that you all have observed in the past. Of the 8 participants, two of them would ask questions of the others in the room, and shortly into the answers from others, these two would interrupt and throw in their opinions without letting the other person finish.

As facilitator, it was my job to redirect the conversation back to the person who was interrupted. During the break, I put on my executive coaching “hat” and took the two executives to the side and shared my observations with them. And not surprisingly, they were totally unaware of their behavior. Upon some further questions and dialog, it became clear that both of them had fallen into a similar trap.  Prior to asking the question, they both had decided what the answer should be and once answers to their questions started down a divergent path from their answer, they simply jumped in to prove that they were right.

They had started down the right path by asking some good powerful questions that provided the responders to dig deep for an answer.  Their questions generally started with “How could we….”? or  ”What would….”? And they started to listen, and then stopped.

The problem is that they never moved from listening to active listening. So what’s the difference and why is active listening so important? First of all active listening takes a lot more energy than listening because listening is more automatic. When we listen what we interpret is based on our mood, our personal experiences, biases, and preferences. Our listening is also impacted by the self-talk that is occurring within us which is a huge distraction. In the situation described, they were biased to their own answers and their internal voice started saying “they have it all wrong, the right answer is”

So are you one of those leaders who ask a question and then interrupt half way through the answer or do you know someone who is? I would argue that we all have interrupted another person’s thoughts. The question is, do you do it enough where it is impacting your team and your effectiveness. Has it become a de-railer for you, which could hold you back from future success?

Here are five techniques to move from listening to active listening.

1. When you ask a question which is going to lead to a complex answer, listen to your inner voice first.  Do you already have your own opinion? If so, before you become rude and interrupt, jot down your idea, and continue listening And next ask yourself, “what proof (actual data) do I have to support my opinion?” Then focus on what is being said, and ask more questions to fully understand the other person and gather additional data. When all your questions have been answered, before you jump in, ask others for their opinion if others are involved in the conversation.
2. Before going into a meeting or one on one conversation, make sure you write down anything that is currently on your mind that may distract you from staying focused on the current dialogue. This takes practice but the more you jot down those items/issues that can potentially distract you  the more time you can “stay with” the conversation.
3. Be conscious of your mind wandering during the conversation. If you find that you may have missed a point or are unclear about what was said, apologize and share with the person that you became distracted and ask for clarification from the person talking. This will demonstrate that you care about what they are saying.
4. Take a temperature of your mood and emotions while in an important conversation. If you are at an emotional point where you can’t listen without heavy filters, ask for a time out and regroup after your emotions have settled down.
5. Restate what you have heard to confirm your understanding of what has been discussed and reach agreement of the understanding.

Active listening will provide you with a deeper understanding of a situation and will show employees that you value their thoughts and opinions, ultimately driving better organizational results. It can also impact an organization’s innovation and competitive advantage. So the next time you are in an important conversation, remember the 5 tips for active listening.

For those of you who are interested in learning more about employee engagement for your organization, I would personally recommend the following reading:

Drive by Daniel Pink

First Break All the Rules by Marcus Buckingham

The Dream Manager by Matthew Kelly and Patrick Lencioni

I have read all of them and they are excellent. They provide different perspectives and insights into employee engagement.  In addition, the following books are on my Kindle waiting to be read in the following order:

The CEO Chief Engagement Officer by John Smythe

The End of Management and the Rise of Organizational Democracy by Kenneth Cloke and Joan Goldsmith

Managing the Gray Areas by Jerry Manas

Love ‘Em or Lose ‘Em by Beverly Kaye and Sharon Jordan-Evans

Here’s to all of you who embrace employee engagement as a key to organizational success and sustainability. Happy reading and learning.

I recently had the opportunity to tour the BMW manufacturing plant in Spartansburg SC. It was quite an impressive operation with over 700 robots, and just in time and sequential inventory. However, what really impressed me was the leadership’s commitment to their company’s values.

BMW can walk the walk and not just talk the talk. One of their values is sustainability, which they demand not only from themselves but their vendors as well.

From the minute I walked into their modern, sleek designed campus, I knew I was in a different manufacturing plant. Their commitment to sustainability was evident from the 5 types of recyclable bins throughout the plant to the ergonomic assembly lines (a statement to workforce sustainability) as well as the 9 mile pipe connecting a local landfill’s methane gas to the plant. Many parts of the plant are powered by this methane gas.

Yet, all of these initiatives aren’t enough for the leadership at BMW, they look at this value, sustainability, from a more global perspective. To really live this value, they demand it from their vendors as well. So in order for a company to partner with BMW as an approved vendor, a company needs to demonstrate to BMW that it values sustainability as well.

This experience at BMW got me thinking about some of the companies I work with and the various levels of commitment they have in guarding and promoting their values internally as well as externally. Many of them, over 60%, have values yet they are just on paper with many employees unable to share them if asked. Then, there is another portion, about 25-30% that have values which are reinforced in communications and when making decisions. There is only a small portion, less than 10%, who live their values consistently and with passion.  And for those companies who are this value driven,  I would submit they enjoy a higher level of success. When values are understood and lived, better decisions are made, and there is a greater sense of community because employees share similar values.

So where is your company on this continuum?  And are you happy where you are or do you want to become more of a values driven leadership company?

In Daniel Pink’s newest book Drive and the underlying message is that a leader can provide a motivating environment but can’t motivate their employees; motivation comes from within an individual.

This goes entirely against the common belief that given more carrots, an employee will be motivated to behave in ways that will increase the success of a company. Yet, time and again, leaders have found that providing more money and better benefits, extrinsic motivators, only provide a short term effect on behavior change. Extrinsic motivators are not sustainable.

Last month’s newsletter outlined the Top 5 Leadership Mistakes and one of them was misunderstanding motivation.

I outlined the three attributes that when implemented effectively within the organization, can increase the long term behavioral changes a leader is looking to instill in the organization.

And what can a company expect from its employees when they provide an environment that provides for autonomy, mastery, and purpose?

An academic study by Richard Ryan and Edward Deci in 2000 issue of American Psychologist showed that focusing on internal motivators can lead to a higher self-esteem and self-actualization while a focus on external motivators on average leads to lower self-esteem and self-actualization.

In turn, employees demonstrated a greater level of persistence, creativity, energy, and well being, which increased the performance level employees.

So if in fact employee performance increases with intrinsic motivators, why aren’t more companies creating and implementing a plan to transition to a culture of autonomy, mastery and purpose?  Because it is not easy! It is a massive shift in long term beliefs and requires both employer and employees to change their mind set as well as the way they work.

What are the critical success factors to transitioning your workplace to an intrinsically motivated organization? They are the three C’s.

1. Creativity: be able to devise innovative ways of working outside the traditional mode. Bring in outside assistance if you don’t find you are making the progress you desire.
2. Communication: changes to the work process need to be communicated to all employees in a multitude of methods. Communication should be ongoing and frequent and provide employees with the opportunity to have their questions answered.
3. Change Management: demonstrate how the changes will positively affect employees, create methods to identify employees who may be struggling with the changes, and have resources available to help them adjust.

You probably remember your mother teaching you The Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. Well in this day and age I say “Do unto others as they want, not what I want” .

A great example of this is recognizing the good work of a team member.  You may like the “lime light” and want public recognition yet many people don’t want to be put in the spot light.  Private praise will do just fine for them.

Being certified in Myers Briggs and DiSC, I see leaders using the Golden Rule when they should be determining what their employee prefers.  For instance, I often observe a misalignment between introverts and extroverts.  Extroverted leaders generally don’t like silence, while an introvert is not challenged by silence.  In meetings, I will see an extrovert start peppering an introvert with questions to fill the silence. In turn, this further shuts down the introvert who likes to process in her head, not out loud.

There are plenty of situations during the day and workweek that a leader needs to adjust her leadership to the preference of the employee.  Here are some situations that you should be cognizant to being an adaptive leader:

• Decision Making
• Problem Solving
• Communications
• Conflict Management
• Change Management

So when you are in one of these situations, think about the people you are interfacing with, either through direct leadership or influence outside your organization. What are their preferences? And, how can you adapt your behavior to what they need in order to perform at their very best.  If your organization hasn’t done an assessment like Myers Briggs, this may be a good time. An instrument like Myers Briggs will provide you and your employees with a greater understanding of how each other prefers to operate and communicate.

Or if you aren’t ready for this step, start really observing the behaviors of others and take note of what they are doing in the way of communication, decision making etc and start mirroring them. A good time to start is during one on one meetings with your team members, there is less risk and you can direct all of your attention to one individual. It may feel awkward at first, so take it slowly and choose one area that you would like to adjust for the person you are working with. This should be an area you feel comfortable changing, such as speed of talking.  Ideally it will be one that, when mastered, has an impact on your employees performance.

So the next time you are treating a person like you want to be treated, stop and evaluate, is it what they really want?

Over the years, I have worked with hundreds of leaders many who have displayed specific leadership shortfalls, that when improved, have had a positive impact on the effectiveness and profitability of the organization. Both new and experienced manager/leaders can make these top five mistakes, which one is your Achilles heel? And what is your plan to improve?

1. Focusing on the Urgent and not the Important

How much time are you spending on activities that lead to your goals versus those that are urgent and unexpected?  You would be surprised how many leaders fall into this trap. And it is a trap. In fact, I have worked with some leaders who get their “energy” from working in crisis mode.

The key is to set aside time on the calendar that is only for the important activities, and have the activities clearly prioritized so that when an urgent item is screaming at you, you can logically decide what important task can be set aside.

We all have crises, yet more often than not we move right into crisis mode before thinking through what can be moved off our plate of “importants”. Create a process that works for you in which you can smoothly move from the urgent and then back to the important.  Don’t get stuck in the urgent.

2. Lack of Consistent Communication

As far as I can tell, there is no such thing as over communication in the work place. If I had a nickel for every time a leader said to me “I told the company our (project, goal, etc), yet two weeks later they have totally forgotten the conversation”, I’d be a very wealthy person.

In this age of information overload, employees have a lot to file away and process. Communications should be implemented frequently and consistently using a variety of methods since people have different learning styles.  With the huge menu of communication technologies available to companies, messages should be delivered in person, electronically in written, audio, and video, as well as the old fashioned way, printed hard copy. For more on this topic from Harvard Business Review http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/6629.html

3. Ineffective Feedback

This is a result of providing delayed and unclear feedback. It often starts by ignoring the “small stuff” with the hope that the behavior won’t happen again. More often than not, the behavior is repeated, and becomes tolerated. And it can lead to conflict avoidance by a manager.

The best time to provide feedback is immediately after the behavior is observed. Be clear about what you observed, how it impacted you, and ask for ideas from your employee about how they could approach it in the future. And then get their commitment to make the change. This process focuses more on the future as the past can’t be changed, only the future. For more thoughts on this visit http://www.executivevelocityblog.com/feedback-is-not-a-help/

And for innovative ideas on moving away from the traditional performance review feedback, read an article from Daniel Pink http://bit.ly/lJdmJk

4. Failing to Define Clear Goals

Employees need to understand how they will be measured and evaluated. Defining clear goals provides a roadmap for the employee. And more importantly, when an employee is part of her goal setting process, she has more ownership in successfully attaining her goals. Without goals, employees will not meet your performance expectations because they don’t know what they are.

For additional information on creating clear goals visit http://www.executive-velocity.com/free-tools/

5. Misunderstanding Motivation

After reading, Daniel Pink’s recent book Drive, I am convinced that leaders really need to rethink how they operate and create an environment that provides the foundation for employees to be intrinsically motivated. Too often managers think that changing the extrinsic motivators will lead to a change in behavior, and they can.  The problem is that the change is not long term and sustainable.

Once you have met an employee’s baseline extrinsic motivators, salary and benefits, you should focus on creating a foundation that encourages, autonomy, mastery, and purpose. As Pink describes in his book, all humans are driven by these three attributes.

Autonomy is all about control of tasks, time, technique, and team. Mastery is providing an opportunity to get very good at something and to continue the process and understanding that you will never be perfect.  It is the pursuit of perfection that motivates. And finally purpose, working for some greater good and not just profit.  Profit provides a means for a company’s purpose.  It is this final attribute that is found more often in smaller, entrepreneurial companies who are lead by younger leaders.

So which of these leadership mistakes would your team members say you exhibit?  And what is your plan of action to develop a way of avoiding these mistakes in the future?

How much time are you spending in meetings on a weekly basis? Many companies have a “meeting” culture and as a consultant to many small and mid-size companies, I find myself spending  time observing leaders in meetings as part of a development planning process.

So often I observe meeting participants becoming disconnected during the meetings because the content is boring and often predictable. I recommend that you use the “Stir Fry” method to meetings. Stir Fry meetings require an ongoing change of ingredients—agenda items, extreme heat–excitement and passion, and a secret sauce–this is the ”why” of a meeting, the goal that brings all the participants together.

So, if you are going to be spending a lot of time in meetings implement the stir fry framework. For some ideas that other CEOs have used, read this article from Fast Company http://bit.ly/hBUWlq.