tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23905733852717375842024-02-20T15:06:40.725-08:00Stephen's News, Writing, Etc.Stephen's News, Writing, Etc.Stephen Friedmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00633164133246118371noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2390573385271737584.post-15901383810821246422011-05-04T13:11:00.000-07:002011-05-24T16:53:33.179-07:00Stephen's News, Writing, Etc.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This 'blog' is an attempt to get some of my past writing and any current writing on my new site. Many of t</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">hese are unedited versions of original articles I wrote for The National Post between 2006 & 2009, before they were cut, modified or otherwise tweaked by the editor. There are some other ones too. I hope to eventually include other info and links...</span></span>Stephen Friedmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00633164133246118371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2390573385271737584.post-88900959834686271292009-12-05T17:30:00.000-08:002011-05-24T17:31:55.309-07:00Turn off the PDA for the holidays<div id="page" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: repeat repeat; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin-bottom: auto; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: auto; width: 680px;"><div class="pagewrapper" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: repeat repeat; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; height: auto;"><div class="contentbody" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: repeat repeat; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"><div class="bodywrapper" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: repeat repeat; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 8px; padding-top: 5px;"><div class="col_640" style="float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; width: 640px;"><div id="story0" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"><div class="story_content" id="storypage" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"><div class="para14" id="story_content" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"><div class="para18" id="storycontent" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"><div style="clear: both; color: black; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The ability to set limits is a requirement for any relationship and work is no exception. At no time is this more important than during the holiday season.</span></span></div><div style="clear: both; color: black; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="clear: both; color: black; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Finding work/life balance is becoming more difficult as the accessibility afforded by technology lets work intrude on personal and family time. As such, holiday time -- be it going away on vacation or finding time with family and friends --is sacred.</span></span></div><div style="clear: both; color: black; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="clear: both; color: black; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Nevertheless, there are managers who insist on reaching out to employees on vacation, with the belief that because they can communicate with them, it's OK to do so and to expect replies. But what is more problematic, is that many workers reply. This can be disappointing to the people they have made commitments to during the holidays and to themselves for not resisting the temptation to be "on-call."</span></span></div><div style="clear: both; color: black; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="clear: both; color: black; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Every year when I ask clients how their holidays went, at least half say something like "it was hardly a vacation -- I did tons of work." Many employees today wear "I am so busy" badges of honour, but surely there are limits. Vacation time should be vacation time.</span></span></div><div style="clear: both; color: black; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="clear: both; color: black; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The solution lies in setting boundaries for others and setting them for yourself. Managers should clearly communicate how the organization operates during the holidays, just telling employees the holiday office hours isn't enough. They must articulate their expectations for completing unfinished work, how the holiday break will affect time-sensitive deliverables, and the extent to which employees are expected to be available for things that come up during the holiday period. As well, managers need to respect their employees time off, recognizing that doing so can enhance job satisfaction and productivity.</span></span></div><div style="clear: both; color: black; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="clear: both; color: black; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But employees also should solicit this information and most importantly, set the limits for intruding on vacation time. This means explicitly telling the boss when you are off limits. Of course, any boundaries you set with your boss, must be adhered to by you, something that seems to be the challenge for employees. Some managers still will reach out during the holidays, but the onus is on employees to enforce the limits they have set. Leave the BlackBerry at home, or at least don't answer it. If you do, then getting pulled into work when you are on vacation is something you will have done to yourself.</span></span></div><div style="clear: both; color: black; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="clear" style="clear: both; height: 1px; margin-top: -1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div class="clear" style="clear: both; height: 1px; margin-top: -1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div>Stephen Friedmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00633164133246118371noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2390573385271737584.post-70406267059430537722009-09-25T17:18:00.000-07:002011-05-24T17:23:55.424-07:00Integrity Begins at Recruitment<div style="color: #464646; font-family: arial, verdana, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Some of the most important lessons in business and management are actually some of the most simple ones because they stem from values and beliefs with which we all are familiar. These include the belief that keeping promises is an important and admirable quality.</span></span></div><div style="color: #464646; font-family: arial, verdana, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="color: #464646; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Adhering to such principles can help inform almost every aspect of sound management and business practice -- from how we hire and fire, to how we treat clients and customers and everything in between.</span></div><div style="color: #464646; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #464646; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The idea we can apply values to how we manage and run businesses is not new. Management consultants have been calling on organizations to use core values and beliefs to articulate their purpose, practices and various other operational elements of their organizations. But the application of values and beliefs to management practices does not have to be as cumbersome as engaging a consultant.</span></div><div style="color: #464646; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #464646; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The opportunity for companies to show they can make and keep promises begins at recruitment. Organizations are often called upon to manage the employment brand by painting a pleasant picture of organizations. However, they would be best served by presenting a well-rounded picture -- both the good and the not so good.</span></div><div style="color: #464646; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #464646; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That is why job previews are again becoming popular. In a preview, job candidates are given face time with the hiring manager and a few of their prospective colleagues so they can ask the kinds of questions savvy recruits want to ask.</span></div><div style="color: #464646; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #464646; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Questions such as "What is it like to work here? What are the hours like? Who do I need to watch out for? What does a typical day look like?" These can help everyone involved make more informed decisions and help organizations keep promises.</span></div><div style="color: #464646; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #464646; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One of the top complaints I hear from mid-and entry-level staff is that they were promised things during recruitment that have not come to be. Promises such as: "There is a lot of room to grow here;" "there are tremendous opportunities for people like you here;" or even "we believe in autonomy and continuous learning."</span></div><div style="color: #464646; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #464646; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">However, often companies cannot fulfill these promises. Broken promises can lead to losing great employees or worse, keeping dissatisfied and disengaged employees.</span></div><div style="color: #464646; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #464646; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Employers can also apply the value of promise keeping by actively taking an interest in and developing the careers of employees. When a company promises "opportunities for growth" it could be provided, for example, by something as simple as giving junior employees the chance to be part of a big client meeting they they would not otherwise be part of.</span></div><div style="color: #464646; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #464646; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The thing about applying simple, common values to management practices is the more it's done the more integrated the company becomes and the more easily they can arrive at policies, practices and processes. When companies speak of values and act upon them consistently, the more they are seen to have integrity.</span></div><div style="color: #464646; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The alternative is lack of integrity, and it all begins with how one person applies simple values to the workplace. When an employee is given promises that are not kept, it does not take long for them to do the same thing, and on it goes, right down to the customer.</span></div><div style="color: #464646; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #464646; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So what begins as a simple sell-job to a talented customer service representative, can end as a broken promise to a customer, and too many of these instances can end up in lost revenue.</span></div><div><br />
</div>Stephen Friedmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00633164133246118371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2390573385271737584.post-23303615675966223732009-01-15T17:25:00.000-08:002011-05-24T17:27:11.907-07:00e-mail Mishaps<div style="color: #464646; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The idea that the Internet and e-mail in particular has dramatically changed business practices is certainly not new. While everyone can appreciate the benefits e-mail has afforded in terms of swiftness and convenience, there are serious drawbacks. In particular, expressing oneself emotionally in an e-mail can affect the way people in an organization relate to each other and the way the organization communicates with the outside.</span></div><div style="color: #464646; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #464646; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Stories of e-mail mishaps are common: There are tales about employees who accidentally send a non-work related e-mail to everyone at their office and, of course, the one about the employee who sends a note with a questionable comment about a boss/ colleague/client and accidentally includes that person.</span></div><div style="color: #464646; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When you consider everything from marketing, sales and branding all the way to operations and management, electronic communications have made "work" look different from the past. But I would say the most profound way this technology has changed the nature of work lands squarely in how it has affected social relations in the workplace -- from how people communicate inside and outside of organizations to how they manage conflict, gossip and work relationships.</span></div><div style="color: #464646; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #464646; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It goes well beyond the Black-Berry culture and its expectation of 24/7 availability and responsiveness. I am speaking specifically of the ways in which e-mail allows us to do things that would not otherwise be possible or even thinkable and the impact that these things can have on the subtle, complicated and fragile nature of interpersonal relationships at work.</span></div><div style="color: #464646; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #464646; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One of the most disruptive areas concerns the role e-mail and the Internet have had on employees who at one time would have been the quiet and withdrawn, and perhaps bitterly angry colleague. People who never used their "voice" in any way in the workplace environment now see the seemingly anonymous and immediate nature of e-mail as quick and effective way to get heard, but with frequently disastrous results.</span></div><div style="color: #464646; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #464646; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Many of those whose skills does not lie in communicating verbally are discovering (or not) the same skill deficit in writing. In one situation, a vice-president said an employee who had received an e-mail from a supplier that contained a grammatical error was so annoyed she reacted by insulting the sender in an immediate e-mail reply.</span></div><div style="color: #464646; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #464646; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It is hard to imagine what would make someone react this way to such a truly minor error, using personal insults and swearing. But it is easy to see how the ability of quick reply is enabled by e-mail. Clearly, the old adage "think before you speak" needs to be modified to include "think before you send."</span></div><div style="color: #464646; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Not only was this reaction void of an understanding of human relationships, but the sender will not thank her for the grammar lesson and it ignores the fact as an ambassador of her employer she embarrassed the whole organization.</span></div><div style="color: #464646; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #464646; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Another example of the rules of e-mail being dangerously less articulate concerns e-mail signatures or sign-offs. One creative employee at a media company has a sign off for his email that is definitely creative, but far from appropriate. It is a quote that says something along the lines of "it only matters how good a creative idea is and if it's good enough no one cares who came up with it, even if it was a brutal serial killer." While employees are free to think and feel what they like, free speech at work, especially when what you say affects your employers and colleagues, should be limited.</span></div><div style="color: #464646; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #464646; font-family: arial, verdana, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"><pagebreak><div style="line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">So what is the solution? One measure is to develop an e-mail policy, not as a set of rules but as a guideline to help people choose what mode of communication to use and in what circumstances. Teach employees how to use the draft mode, which allows users to think before sending.</span></span></div><div style="line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Other things such as better judgment and more astute emotional management can be addressed through a commitment to recruitment activities that screen for these skills and a robust training/coaching program that puts social skills at the top of the list before they cost your organization money, people or its reputation.</span></span></div></pagebreak></span>Stephen Friedmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00633164133246118371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2390573385271737584.post-72882898219384498942008-04-20T16:25:00.000-07:002011-06-04T16:27:13.748-07:00Whose Fault is it?<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The ‘whose fault is it?’ method for dealing with workplace issues has rarely been successful. This is because blame does not bring about actions or solutions, just defensiveness or withdrawal. When we avoid making blame the focus of our problem solving endeavors, we can accept personal responsibility for fixing things. But there are circumstances where this approach still fails, even when we are seemingly bending over backwards to avoid blame. Sometimes it seems like it really </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">is</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> their fault!</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Recently, I have been working with a VP at a creative services firm, helping him improve his relationship with a large and important client. It seemed that although they had been working with this client for several years (with great success), the client had begun to express dissatisfaction - the client felt that the firm no longer understood them. The VP’s initial reaction was that the client is being stubborn, silly, difficult, etc. We decided that he should not </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">blame</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> the client but should instead change his approach, which he did. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">He tried at least three novel approaches to try and change the client’s behavior, all by changing his own behavior. First, he took the role of student asking the client to teach him more about them. Then, he took the teacher approach, helping the client to better articulate their own needs. And finally he took the humble and quiet approach, keeping his head down and reiterating what the client is telling him, no matter what is being said. None of these approaches have helped, leaving my client with a big question (or two) - could it be that I simply cannot solve this through my own actions? Is it possible that this problem could really be their fault? </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Again, I feel very strongly that blame is nothing less than poison in organizational life, especially when trying to find solutions. This is largely because asking ourselves ‘whose fault is it?’ does not answer the real question, ‘how can we fix this?’ When I reflect on client stories of unsolvable conflict, workplace misery, high turnover or bad morale, in most cases it can be traced back to a culture of blame. For organizations, this kind of culture creates an endless series of witch-hunts, looking to discover who ‘dropped the ball’. But even if we identify the ball-dropper, we discover that this revelation doesn’t really solve anything. For individuals, the blame game creates animosity and kills assertiveness because blaming others takes the onus off of oneself to do anything. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">So if the problem really </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">is </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">the client’s fault - because they </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">are</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> difficult or what have you - what to do? As was the case with my creative VP client, this situation calls for several things. First off, my client went to his boss to explain the problem only after trying his novel approaches first. This way, making the case that the client is difficult would be way easier because he had already tried some novel solutions. Secondly, his boss has to give his employee the benefit of the doubt. At first, the boss thought he could use some help improving this client relationship and so he hired me to help him (certainly not a bad idea). But now, it is clear that the VP has used this help happily and willfully and his boss may need to acknowledge that the client could be the problem. Thirdly, this is a situation where an organization needs to make some choices about who they are - do we ‘put up with’ this difficult client and try to hold on to their business at almost any cost? Or, do we decide that the relationship is not working and end it before they do?</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I find that choices of this kind are crucial in the life of any organization, but especially important in client focussed, professional services environments. The problem may in fact be their fault, but how we as individuals or organizations react is our responsibility. </span></span></span></div>Stephen Friedmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00633164133246118371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2390573385271737584.post-23548614222817483962008-02-27T17:34:00.000-08:002011-05-24T17:35:39.531-07:00A good team player needs to be selfish<div style="color: #464646; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It always surprises me to see "team-player" listed as a key skill on a resume. As it happens, many people are not team players -- which is OK. All this emphasis on teamwork can make those who must act in their own best interest from time to time look really bad. And while teamwork is great, there are indeed circumstances in one's career where selfishness is the way to go.</span></div><div style="color: #464646; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #464646; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One of the most important things to know about teamwork versus selfishness is they are not mutually exclusive. In other words, sometimes looking out for yourself benefits the team. One example is the need to take personal accountability for your own career development. That sometimes means ignoring your knowledge of department fiscal issues and pushing for a raise, or ensuring you get credit for the big win rather than sharing it with a teammate who slacked off. How do these self-interested actions benefit the team? For some people, getting a raise or getting credit for something is fundamental to their job satisfaction. If a team member is unsatisfied with fundamental aspects of his or her job, that person cannot contribute to the department, team or organization at their fullest capacity.</span></div><div style="color: #464646; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #464646; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Another example of the benefits of selfishness that is also related to job satisfaction is ensuring your job does not take over your life. Giving up something is certainly required to get exceptional outcomes from work -- long hours, unexpected travel and late nights often accompany superior achievements. But for some employees, there comes a time when giving up personal needs for the benefit of the team must stop. Otherwise, constant giving (and giving-up) can create resentment and bitterness, which clearly will not benefit the team.</span></div><div style="color: #464646; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #464646; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Often, one has to act in a seemingly selfish way so everyone can benefit. For example, in one small service organization I work with, a senior officer brought on a senior partner to stave off failure. The partner, who appeared to have complementary skills, was brought in to re-engage the company's talented workforce. After a short time, several key players quit, citing the new guy as the problem. Clients also began indicating this new officer was causing problems. After taking many steps to confront the issues, the chief executive was left with a dilemma -- take this to the company owners and run the risk of being seen as a traitor to his co-chief executive, or say nothing and let the ship sink. Taking the seemingly selfish route is, of course, the best bet. It was the right thing for both the business and for himself--even if it backfired.</span></div><div style="color: #464646; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #464646; line-height: 22px; width: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At the heart of this issue is this: Selfishness has become an insult, a dirty word, in organizational life. But it is only really bad when the goals are solely power, control, greed or harming others. When we make righteous choices, odds are they are the right ones, even if they may look selfish to others. Teamwork is a great idea, but it should not be the be all and end all of organizational life and productivity. Just like using the oxygen mask in an airplane, sometimes you have to take care of yourself to be able to take care of others.</span></div>Stephen Friedmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00633164133246118371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2390573385271737584.post-18232587919397372682007-05-01T12:53:00.000-07:002011-05-25T12:57:37.299-07:00A Simple Thanks Will Suffice<div style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A senior manager sits quietly in the vice-president’s office, waiting to get an earful from her boss. He is livid because two of their most valuable employees left to work for the competition.</span></div><div style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The manager might have known more about why but so many tasks prevented her from checking in how employees were doing. In this business there is simply no time for informal niceties.</span></div><div style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">She might have known more but the bulk of their contact was spent fixing problems, leaving no time to discuss things like successes. She could have had better insight into what would make them happy, what their ideas and values were, but meetings had to be spent providing direction and instruction. She had hoped to get their input, just as soon as these big projects were off her plate, but they never seemed to be. Now here she sits having to explain what went wrong. She only hears from him when something goes wrong, but she does so many great things. If his approach is poor she may leave too. Is it any wonder what the problem is?<br />
<br />
Employee recognition and engagement is a valuable corporate strategy and not merely in stemming turnover. There is value in employee engagement far beyond retaining valued employees.</span></div><div style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">While engaging and recognizing employee contributions has a great impact, a far more profound impact is not doing so. Lack of recognition produces one of the most menacing of organizational outcomes — people who are paid 100% of their salary but working at only 60% of their capacity, and management not recognizing it.</span></div><div style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Common complaints by employees include, “The boss only pays attention when there is something wrong.” “I can do 50 things well and I never hear about it. But when something goes wrong, I hear about it excessively.” Then there is, “I wouldn’t mind negative feedback so much if it was balanced with positive,” or “I care so little about this work because I am bored and uninvolved.” The lack of recognition or engagement can be a major cause of dissatisfaction, resentment and high employee turnover.<br />
<br />
To make matters worse, managers and supervisors frequently misdiagnose a perceived lack of engagement as a bad attitude or a lack of skills. Such assessments can lead supervisors to try to improve performance through accusations, heavy-handed management tactics and even threats of termination. The problem is such approaches rarely work, more often backfiring by disengaging employees further. The problem lies not with the employee but with the skills of managers and supervisors, as well as with the organization’s approach to recognition and engagement.</span></div><div style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Clearly, one major responsibility of managers is to manage people. Managing people does not begin with managing policies, ideas, paper or even processes. It begins with the actions of management, not with those of employees. For example, managers find that when they do something as simple as check in midway through a project, they discover problems that can be fixed before the deadline. But because managers feel it is not their responsibility to check in, they miss out on the chance to impact results beyond putting out fires. They are willing to let things go wrong because they don’t feel they should have to be the ones to set things right. This approach is not proactive or responsible.<br />
<br />
Ultimately, recognition is about managers seeing beyond their own interests and recognizing that the ability to count on staff is not just about trading work for a paycheque. People are dynamic, complicated and have needs that transcend exchanging work for money. Many employees want to be involved, they want a sense of purpose and knowledge of their results and to work with people they like. The key in managing such needs is involvement and engagement. Little things such as asking an employee’s opinion, explaining the objectives of a project so he or she understands its importance and informing him or her of the work’s outcome are simple ways to enhance involvement.</span></div><div style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Engagement is largely about ensuring employees’ butts and heads are in the same place. Lack of recognition can prevent this engagement. When people are not recognized for their accomplishments or are ignored by their supervisors, they become pre-occupied with what they are not getting. This preoccupation will take energy and time from their jobs. As well, this dissatisfaction may rub off on others through gossip and complaints. Employees will confide in peers, other managers and even clients when they are disengaged. This can result in a bad impression of the organization, impacting its business and ability to attract new talent.</span></div><div style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So what is the solution? While many organizations spend time and money developing formal employee recognition programs and engagement procedures, the most successful methods are simple and inexpensive. In fact, the most crucial ones usually cost nothing. For employees, recognition covers everything from having their work and efforts noticed to the seemingly mundane greeting or asking about their family, weekend or interests. Often, in a frenetic work environment managers forgo such simple forms of recognition. Also many workplaces emphasize problem-solving, so little time is spent talking to employees about their successes, positive outcomes and their lives outside work.</span></div><div style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Monetary rewards should not be offered for meeting a tight deadline or solving a problem. After all, such tasks are part of the job. However, employees should be recognized for meeting that challenge. Often a verbal thank you does the trick. If a manager is not informally thanking his or her staff at least two or three times a month, it’s a missed opportunity to motivate employees. While simple forms of recognition may seem unnecessary, the absence of such gestures sends a strong message to employees that affects commitment, loyalty and level of engagement.</span></div><div style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Some managers feel that because they don’t need recognition, or never get it, others don’t need it either. Such thinking is problematic. People are different, and being a good leader is about adapting to the diverse needs of followers. People should be managed based on what is, not what should be. If a manager experiences a lack of recognition, he or she should learn from experience and offer employees what he or she has missed out on.</span></div><div style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">While managers may not hear about the absence of recognition gestures, they can be sure the topic is brought up around the proverbial water cooler. Employee perceptions and gossip can produce untrue assumptions about a boss’s character that could harm a reputation and a career.</span></div><div style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Far too many senior managers use such words as “collaborative,” “cooperative” and “teamwork,” but given the opportunity to exercise these values, they default to telling employees what will be done. People are more likely to buy in to initiatives and actions they are involved in than those dictated to them. That’s the true value of engagement — it creates buy-in, commitment, loyalty and excellence because people want to be part of what they do.</span></div><div style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This can be as simple as asking what the employee thinks or for suggestions. Again, the pace of organizational life makes it seem more efficient to tell people what to do. Talking teamwork but not doing so can disengage employees so that any time saved by dictating will be lost in employee disinterest.</span></div><div style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sometimes, managers think employees’ views have no value and they know best. However, asking employees what they think can raise a manager’s credibility. Just because you ask, does not mean you have to do what employees suggest — the magic is considering others’ opinions.</span></div><div style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you want employees to stick around, try simple approaches. In the best case, you might find employees provide a new perspective; at worst, you will be seen as thoughtful and considerate.</span></div>Stephen Friedmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00633164133246118371noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2390573385271737584.post-87113635263418758692007-04-09T17:04:00.000-07:002011-05-24T17:05:47.952-07:00Humility<div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When we try to characterize great leadership we might be inclined to use words like influential, assertive or visionary. Intuitively, most believe that these types of personality characteristics are the most necessary for credible and effective leadership. But as I often discover in my work with organizations, the “followers” of leaders look to other qualities. One of the most often cited of these is the seeming antithesis of credibility – humility. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Is humility – the ability to admit shortcomings, to be unpretentious and modest – a quality you would normally think of when characterizing a great leader? Possibly not, but employees are consistently dismayed by leaders who do not solicit the views of others “below” them and who always think that they are right. Of course, know-it-all leaders never hear of this. The very nature of an immodest leader would prevent employees from voicing this view, as standing up and telling the boss their wrong is still (even in our enlightenment) seen as career limiting. Even if someone did have the </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">chutzpah </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">to challenge an arrogant boss, they would have trouble hearing it as something they could learn from or even as a viable perspective. But rest assure, you will get more input, initiative and loyalty from leadership which openly admits that they don’t have the answers than from that which shuts down alternative views and projects constant greatness. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">While working on a succession plan for a mid-sized manufacturing organization, I conducted interviews with employees, as well as mid level and senior management. I wanted to get an idea of what great leadership has been like in the organization so they can develop junior employees for more senior roles in the future. I expected that the most frequently cited and highest ranking qualities would be those which spoke to decisiveness, having </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">the</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> answers and great influence. While the notion of influence was highlighted by many, the preferred and most effective route was through humility. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Employees discussed stories of great, inspirational leadership as being characterized by actions like not being afraid to do the grunt work, admitting that they may not have all the answers and being open to the views of others. While to some, establishing leadership credibility means never (or at least infrequently) backing down, employees at this gritty manufacturing plant did not see it that way. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In fact, in my experience across many organizations, employees at every level prefer leadership that is seen as fair and equitable and this cannot be realized without some level of humility. This notion is particularly important in organizations which are struggling with attracting and retaining great, new talent. In these contexts we certainly want to have talent that looks to leaders’ experience for guidance and learning. But leadership which is seen as know-it-all, stubborn, closed and arrogant constantly turns people off. I mean, does anyone really want this kind of leader? Don’t we want a balance between learning from others and offering one’s own view? Is this balance not the place where we hone the skills of potential leaders? The good news is that the notion of humble leadership is alive in a number of organizations, but some leaders have been slow on the uptake. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In a business environment that sings the praises of knowledge management, learning and growth we are certainly ready to learn from people at all points in an organization, not just from the top. We may need to take a page from the wisdom of (some) parenting experiences which remind us of how much we have to learn about ourselves and the world from those who we might otherwise step over as too young or inexperienced. </span></span></span></div>Stephen Friedmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00633164133246118371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2390573385271737584.post-20618352510211457912007-01-12T17:00:00.000-08:002011-05-24T17:02:35.833-07:00Connect for Success<div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Many of us may have already discovered that our education, credentials, knowledge and skills are crucial components of getting ahead in our careers. But fewer have discovered that these components, while important, are not enough. Your degree, skills and experience can make for great resume material but do not always open doors. So, what is missing? In my experience working with hundreds of job searchers, business students and others looking to enhance or change their careers, the missing ingredient is the ability to make oneself stand out. This skill not only enhances one’s ability to get that hot job, but can also be applied to life on the job – persuasion, buy-in and credibility all depend upon your ability to get noticed. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Now, when we talk about standing out, we are not necessarily talking about being better than another, having more experience than another or even being smarter or more talented than another. The truth is that in the competition for jobs, there will be many with the experience, credentials, skills and brains that you have. So, counting solely on those elements may not be in your best interest. Instead, just as is the case in all aspects of business, it is the relationships we develop with others that will make us stand out, get attention and get opportunities.</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The notion that business is about relationships is not a new one. But few see the application this notion has to one’s career advancement. The evidence can be seen in the way many of us apply for positions – relying on job posting sites, the electronic forwarding of resumes and waiting for a reply. This is not the stuff of human relationships and given that hundreds, sometimes thousands of others are doing the same thing, you may not stand out. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Many of the most interesting, lucrative and rewarding jobs actually come from what I refer to as the hidden job market. This is when job searchers, organizations and recruiters use </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">their </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">networks to find people. In fact, I have seen only a small handful of jb opportunities come purely from responding to a job posting. The vast majority include one’s ability to tap into a network of friends, family and peers. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">There are a number of reasons why many do not tap into their network. First off, some have messed up their network by burning bridges, sometimes inadvertently and sometimes due to arrogance or an inability to recognize its value. Secondly, many are afraid to tap into it because they don’t want to be seen as opportunistic, or don’t want to “bother” someone they may not know that well. Finally, many just don’t know how. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Even if you have burned bridges, it is never too late to start over. Attend industry events and utilize people you know to begin to re-establish your network. Maybe get a career coach or recruiter who can help you with some new contacts. Approach these people as someone who wants to learn about them, as opposed to someone who wants to talk about themselves and you might be surprised at what comes back to you. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Again, some are reluctant to approach others altogether. Indeed, this “approach” can bring about a fear of rejection or imposition on another. But, without this risk, you will not stand out. Often the fear comes from not knowing what to say or ask. Try focusing on learning about that person, their job, career path and experience as opposed to asking for a job. People are more likely to want to meet with you and talk to you when you are focused on learning about them. This takes some of the pressure off and can help both people discover opportunities. This way, even if there is no job, they might know someone who knows someone, and so on. As well, if you don’t want to be seen as opportunistic, don’t be opportunistic! In other words, stay in touch with those in your network for reasons other than opportunities for you. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This may seem a daunting task if you think about it as having ongoing, deep and personal relationships with 150 different people. But finding innovative ways of maintaining contact can do the trick. For example, if you are looking to get ahead in the marketing industry, try to find interesting news or perspectives in the press and share it with those you know in the industry as a gesture of shared learning. Also, try sending handwritten holiday cards to those in your network or take the initiative to host an event or party for some selected people in your network. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Finding ways to tap into and utilize your social network can indeed be the thing that differentiates you from others. It also can help to hone the skills influence and credibility that helps while on the job. It is truly the best way to connect for success. </span></span></span></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br />
</span></div>Stephen Friedmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00633164133246118371noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2390573385271737584.post-21980744603020909712007-01-12T16:59:00.000-08:002011-05-24T17:00:31.241-07:00Why are we doing these anyway (performance appraisals)?<div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We may dread them and we may put them off for as long as we can, but in many organizations, January is performance appraisal time. Weather they are called employee evaluations, employee appraisals or some cryptic acronym, their accuracy and usefulness are often questioned. Given that in many cases they just have to be done (it’s our policy ya know), we best figure out a way to ensure that the time we spend on them is productive. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The most profound challenge with performance appraisals concerns their usefulness. Every year at this time I hear complaints from managers and employees alike regarding how useless they are given the amount of time spent on them. Like anything we spend time on, we need to feel that time spent is going somewhere. In other words, if I am doing it I need to know why. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is precisely the problem. In many organizations, if you ask around, most will not know why they are done, other than because they always have been. And in organizations where being accountable for the time we spend on all work activities is valued, this just does not make sense. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There are essentially three purposes of performance appraisals: employee development, administrative record keeping, and to determine promotions and salary changes. Now, we certainly need to keep records of performance and we certainly can utilize an assessment of performance for promotion and salary issues. But, when it comes to employee development, many of the forms we use and the way we use them do not serve to improve performance or to develop employees at all. In fact, they can have the opposite effect. This is because the way they are set up makes them nothing more than a judgment of performance, an exercise in evaluation for its own sake, as well as a source of conflict and defensiveness.</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In order for any evaluation to be developmental, is has be forward looking, not backward gazing. But most appraisals look at the past and then give a judgment or a score. Most stop there. They usually do not include the essential step of providing direction on how to fix or improve things that did not go well. Nor do they provide goals for someone to reach. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Telling an employee that they “performed at a poorly or adequately” in specific areas does not improve performance. Instead, it frequently brings about a debate regarding the truth of the assessment. This “search for the truth” occupies the time and energy of both parties and the discussion will not focus on improvement for the future, but instead on who is right, who is wrong, and whose “fault” something in the past was. Sometimes, when employees are uncomfortable getting into a debate, they keep their disagreement to themselves and become resentful and angry at the inaccuracy and can become disengaged as a result. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Any effective appraisal process must also include a clear set of goals outlined at the beginning of the year. Without these, employees can find that they are surprised by specific evaluations. For example, a “poor” rating on teamwork, based on feedback the boss received 6 months ago, leaves the employee wondering why this was not brought up when the situation occurred. It also leaves them wondering what on earth can do about this now that 6 months has passed. They feel set up for a “poor” rating. They may also not know what really counts in terms of their performance until they are rated on that aspect of performance. This approach is not developmental, but purely evaluative and punitive. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Probably the best approach to managing these challenges is to develop a process which aims to manage performance and development employees through the setting of goals and objectives at the beginning of the year, and then to look at the extent to which these goals were met at the end of the year. At the front end, goals can be spelled out in terms of defined, measurable actions with time lines. At the back end, we can see if the goals were met and if the defined actions were done. If not, additional goals and actions can be proposed, becoming some of the goals for the next year. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A simple model like this one can help to create performance appraisals which actually </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">do </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">something, not just ones that </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">say</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> something. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></span></span></span></div>Stephen Friedmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00633164133246118371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2390573385271737584.post-19159468824815527192006-08-18T16:57:00.000-07:002011-05-24T16:58:20.442-07:00Confront!<div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If I have a problem with anyone in my life, the best way to solve it would be to speak directly with that person right? Intuitively, I think we all see the uselessness of addressing a problem we have with particular colleague by talking with another. But many executives and other business professionals avoid dealing with relationship challenges directly. Instead, they will engage in activities that do nothing to address the problem or may even make it worse. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I have had the opportunity to witness many efforts to “deal with” a problematic work relationship. Weather the case is an executive trying to mend some friction with a peer, or senior management trying to address the “bad attitude” of an employee, too many of these efforts are void of the kind of directness that fixes work relationships. This is usually because they take place without both people present. In one case, a VP at an insurance company was having a problem with someone she had recently promoted to a managerial level in her department. The VP and the Human Resources department had at least 4 meetings to devise a way to deal with the issue. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Upon being hired to help, I tried to learn about what strategies had been used so far by attending one of these meetings. When I arrived, the person who had the “attitude problem” was not present. In fact, she had not been included in any of the discussions so far. The VP and HR representative had not even considered that she should be there. They told me that “they needed to devise a way to deal with her”, as if she was an IT problem that needed fixing, or case study in a psychology course. The VP told me that they needed to discuss how to “read” her in order to devise a tactic for dealing with her. The problem is that we don’t read people, we read books (and newspapers) – people, we communicate with, we talk to. Even if we think we are intuitive and a good judge of people, we cannot </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">read</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> anyone accurately. The other issue is that “deal with” is pretty poorly defined. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In a case like this, we need to first discover what “deal with” looks like. Is it that the VP wants her to not scowl when asked to do something, or is it that she wants her to take more initiative in solving work related problems? Without figuring out what “deal with” means, this duo ended up trying to analyze the employee. This type of analysis is rarely accurate and if you think about it, analysis can only lead to the type of characterization that produces defensiveness. In other words, discovering that she is insecure and telling her this will not make her attitude better – it will make her defend herself and make the relationship worse. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The VP should also attempt to address the problem by asking for what she wants – more of this or less of that, and then work with the employee to make this happen. Often, it is a good idea to begin this face to face conversation by establishing the goal. An opening question like “Are you willing to talk about how we can work better together?” can get things going by establishing a common goal and avoiding blame and judging. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Often, executives devise seemingly brilliant interventions in order to address peer relationship problems. One of the most common is to ask around and survey people in an organization in order to “get to the truth” about an issue. The problem is that there are usually multiple truths, making this is useless exercise. As well, even some version of the truth cannot trigger improved relations between people. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In one case, the owner of a medium sized professional services company was having a problem getting along with his President who runs the day to day operations of the company. Rather than going to the President himself or seeking advice from one of the other 5 executive team members, he went and engaged a consultant (not me) who bought into the idea of surveying rank-and-file employees about what they think of the President. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is bad idea for a few reasons. First off, it is tough to fix a relationship with one person by keeping them out of the process altogether. Secondly, what kind of message will this send to the staff? It might very well undermine his authority, impede his leadership and de-moralize the staff, which in this case greatly respect and admire the President’s leadership. Finally, the collection of opinions about the President will most likely be all over the map, and even if they are not, what does one do with this information? Should the owner and consultant present it to the President and say “here is what the staff say about you…now defend yourself!” This type of search for the truth can never amount to anything other than a debate, more conflict, and a waste of time and money. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It might have been better to use the consultant to mediate a discussion between the two in order to get each to define what they want from the other to improve things. Without a discussion that focuses on how each party can modify behavior to improve things, the owner might as well just let the President go. As the plan stands now, the outcome can only prolong the poor relationship and add unnecessary drama and conflict to an already bad situation. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div>Stephen Friedmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00633164133246118371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2390573385271737584.post-78730133766656151762006-07-17T16:53:00.000-07:002011-05-24T16:56:15.285-07:00Etiquette<div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Has anyone else been hearing about 20% being the new normal when it comes to tipping at restaurants? It can be hard to keep track of the rules of social etiquette – particularly for executives who are wondering how to treat their direct reports. Acting appropriately toward staff when it comes to special occasions, milestones and the like can pose a real challenge. Here are some tips to steer you in the right direction.</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Find a way to do avoid perceptions of favoritism when some deserve more than others. </span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> It will be hard to get away with giving one administrative assistant flowers for her birthday and nothing for your other one. The problem is that there </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">are</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> going to be employees who you feel closer to or more grateful towards. And to you, these staff deserve more special attention. In this case, you can give them a more significant gift as long as you can pull it off more covertly. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is a bit of a gamble, so don’t be buying an employee the front row seats at the Leafs game or the Hermes scarf unless you’re certain that he or she will be able to keep it quiet. Naturally, having the rest of your staff resent you and/or loathe the favoured direct report will undo any good you can do by buying that preferred employee a better gift.</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Don’t do this year what you will not be able to do the next. </span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To a certain extent employees are forgiving when it comes to understanding that some years are financially better for companies than others. Sometimes, they may even accept that salary increases can happen one fiscal year and perhaps not the next. But this level of understanding is conveniently absent when it comes to perks that are not related to compensation – it’s surprising how quickly special perks can be coloured with the entitlement brush. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If an employee mentions it’s his 10</span></span></span><span style="font: 8.0px 'Times New Roman'; letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">th</span></span></sup></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> wedding anniversary and he’s told you where he’s going for dinner with his wife, suffice it to say that sending a bottle of wine is a thoughtful gesture which he will not expect for a non milestone event like his 11</span></span></span><span style="font: 8.0px 'Times New Roman'; letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">th</span></span></sup></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> anniversary. However, if you take an employee out for lunch for her 38</span></span></span><span style="font: 8.0px 'Times New Roman'; letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">th</span></span></sup></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> birthday and then totally overlook her 39</span></span></span><span style="font: 8.0px 'Times New Roman'; letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">th</span></span></sup></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">, you might as well have just done nothing for both. Remember, there is a flipside to every kind, over-the-top gesture. They set an expectation which when unmet, can be worse than when there is no expectation at all. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Don’t underestimate the value of an occasional premium gift. </span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Executives are often commiserating about the talent wars – how do you attract and keep the best people? There are so many elements to this including total compensation, culture, management relationships, etc. If on top of all that, you can throw in a $2500 long weekend in the Bahamas for your VP Operations and her husband after an especially successful quarter or a $500 sports watch for your Director of IT to wear up at his cottage after a very busy, stressful month, it goes a long way. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Many executives know this, but don’t do it because they fear that others will be upset if they don’t get the same, or because they don’t see the value of spending in this way on their staff. First off, even when giving something to a select individual, the key is to remember tip #1: if it’s not something that you can do, or at least do a version of for everyone at the same level, then at least keep it quiet. Don’t feel guilty though, especially when you know the lucky staff member deserves the special gift. In organizational life, not everyone is equal – some contribute more than others and your thoughtfulness can send that message. Secondly, even if you spend the $2500 on your VP, you will get it back ten fold. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Remember that small talk can be huge. </span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Monday morning small talk can be seen by executives as too personal or as a waste of time. If you engage in the obligatory small talk every single Monday, it may in fact come across as phony, and may feel so as well. But, when one of your directors tells you they are competing in a mountain bike race for the first time, asking them about it on can show the kind of thoughtfulness that staff will remember for a long time. Taking note of special circumstances in an employee’s life – a special vacation, an ill relative, or a milestone of some kind – really should be noticed verbally by executives. To say nothing when you are aware of such circumstances would be a mistake. Your employees will notice, but will never tell you.</span></span></span></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br />
</span></div>Stephen Friedmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00633164133246118371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2390573385271737584.post-56561863211477314352006-07-10T17:11:00.000-07:002011-05-19T17:13:34.938-07:00Who am I?<div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I used to think that discovering “who we are” was limited to adolescence. But it seems that the Presidents, CEOs and owners of small and medium sized organizations are also struggling with their identities. In my work with a number of privately owned, small to medium sized organizations, I have noticed that as they grow, even slightly, the CEOs’ begin to wonder what exactly their role has become or will become. Whether the CEO was focused on selling or doing a bit of everything when the company was small, growth necessitates defining the CEO/President role before it becomes a problem. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Starting a small business is an onerous task, especially at the beginning. I often think of it as starting a path in the woods: At the beginning you have to hold down all the grass yourself. Until you get the chance to have others use the path, you have to trample it yourself, over and over. Eventually, you will be so busy with walking the back end of the path, that you’ll need some help trampling the front end. So…your hire someone to help, and then someone else, etc. Soon, with all the help, the path no longer needs a “path starter” and your initial role is no longer required. But you still want to be part of the path, right? You are still the boss of the path, right? This path was “your vision”, right? Now what?</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In one organization I work with, the President/CEO had actually been recruited from outside of this medium sized, family run business to grow it. He had taken a very “hands on” role due to the family culture, and played a role in hiring, vision, strategy, finance and especially sales. After one year, he had brought on (either through replacement or hiring) several specialized staff to take on specific responsibilities including HR, Finance and Sales. He wanted senior staff that could “hit the ground running” and could take on responsibility for decisions he just not have the time to do. The company had grown from 50 to 80 in one year and he had to pass on some tasks to these new players. Now, while he has done a great job, he had inadvertently made his original role less valuable. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">With some help, he was eventually able to redefine his role as being focused on sales and strategy and has been able to re-frame his role as President /VP Sales. This way, he prevented his role from becoming totally redundant, which would have altered his level of credibility in the organization and made any vision or strategy decisions difficult to move ahead. He was also able to ensure that his role focused on what he is best at, rather than abandoning it in the interest of being the “boss”. He was able to focus on what he needed to “do” as opposed to what he thought he should “be”. A wise choice. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In another case, the CEO of a medium sized creative organization had been less lucky. This company had also grown, and where the CEO had once been focused on all areas of the business, his staff had been gradually taking over specific responsibilities. As well, this CEO truly wanted to empower his staff, so over time, he gave them even more autonomy and decision making authority. Eventually, he had given so much autonomy to his senior staff that they began to leave him out of basic processes – processes he had once taken joy in. In the early days, he would love to look at creative work before it went out the door. Now, his input was not required. And when he tried to insist on looking at the work, he was seen as micromanaging and going back on his promise to empower employees. He could no longer exercise his passion in business, in this business he helped to build. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">With some assistance, this CEO was able to figure out what was happening and to make some changes. CEO’s and Presidents in this same situation need to be able to see why they are less involved and not blame others for their ill-defined role. Then, they need to express that they feel left out, without feeling shameful for doing so. Organizations need to focus strategic planning during times of growth on articulating the role of the CEO or President, before it disappears. Presidents, CEO’s and other small/medium business owners need to discover what tasks and duties they need to keep and which ones they can let go during growth. For example, aspects of the organization’s strategic direction, vision and values ought to involve the President. But others may be best “let go” by the big boss, including some hiring and compensation decisions as well as deciding the paper stock for business cards, or the clolor of paint for the boardroom. Most importantly, CEO’s, Presidents and owners need to be sure to focus on what the business needs them to do, as opposed to what they or others think they should be. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><br />
</div>Stephen Friedmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00633164133246118371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2390573385271737584.post-79780442734693898312006-06-29T17:10:00.000-07:002011-05-19T17:11:25.083-07:00Do Recruit...<div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">An increasing number of senior managers and executives are intimately involved in the recruitment, interviewing and hiring of their staff, whereas in the past they may had the assistance of an HR professional. Without receiving training on how to hire well, they are left to their own devices, often with expensive and disastrous outcomes. Senior management can certainly use some hiring tips to lessen the likelihood of a bad hire. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The time it takes to screen applicants’ resumes and interview them can be excessive if the specific targets of the hire are not spelled out ahead of time. In a number of cases I have seen, a hiring manager will approach resume screening and interviewing the same way we sometimes approach a buffet: try a bunch of items, with the hopes that one will appeal to you, and at that point, discover what we are looking for. What I would suggest is to decide what you want before looking. Searching for something that you cannot define and articulate will, of course, make finding it pretty tough. Time is money, and the time it takes to screen 50 resumes and conduct 10 interviews only to then discover that these applicants are not what you want would be a waste. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The absence of specific hiring criteria can also result in management using what is often referred to as “a gut feeling” when hiring staff. The problem with this “gut feeling” is that it is subject to bias and error. Despite the musings of Malcolm Gladwell in his best selling book “Blink”, snap judgments of people have been shown to be rife with inaccuracies. For example, we are inclined to positively evaluate people we like and negatively evaluate those we don’t like. This bias toward those we are fond of is sometimes so strong that it can cause us to overlook more important competencies. Our “liking” of a person is not based on an objective assessment of their knowledge, skills and abilities, it is purely emotional. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The cost of a purely emotional decision in a hiring scenario can be very costly if we discover later that these competencies are not there and we have to terminate them – a severance package, hiring and training another person, not to mention the time/money spent getting the initial applicant on board. This can also be costly in terms of your own reputation. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">One VP I worked with went through at least 6 administrative assistants in one year, with each one either leaving or getting laid off, largely because they could not get along with him. In the end, this inability to hold on to staff was viewed by his boss as management incompetence. After some work with this VP, his boss and the HR department, we discovered that the real incompetence was in the hiring process – the HR department was doing all the hiring, never involving the VP in the process. In doing so HR used their own hiring criteria. They did not take into account the realities of what skills were required to work with this VP. The VP never discussed these specific needs with HR, and HR never asked. And while the two blamed each other for the bad hires, the reality was that the organization as a whole was loosing. Once the specific hiring criteria were discussed and articulated by the VP, the HR department was able to get someone on board that was a better fit. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The notion of “fit” is the most crucial for senior managers taking part in the recruitment of their staff. But fit is often misunderstood. Fit is not just about having the right education and experience, nor is it purely about a manager’s “gut feeling”. Senior management needs to ask themselves questions like “What are the takeaways from education/experience that will be applicable to this job?” and “What sort of social and emotional skills will enable someone to manage the pace, scope and relationships in this job?” Asking these sorts of questions and devising interview or other techniques to screen for them will help management articulate exactly what they are looking for. </span></span></span></div>Stephen Friedmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00633164133246118371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2390573385271737584.post-48216477249995366932006-05-17T17:06:00.000-07:002011-05-19T17:08:44.491-07:00Stick to What You Know<div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It always amazes me when executives mistake organizational hierarchy for expertise. If you manage a specific functional area or department, then be sure that decisions which touch upon other areas are made with consultation and advice from someone who knows more about it than you. Be prepared to get advice from someone who is out of your area and who may be lower in the organizational hierarchy than you are. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Nowhere is this phenomenon more vivid than in staffing issues. Just because you are a VP of Finance with 10 years experience managing your staff, doesn’t mean that you are qualified or capable of making strategic Human Resource decisions. Because our ability to manage people is seen as a reflection of our overall social skills, most are reluctant to seek help. Most people see themselves as having mastered the social skills required </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">to manage themselves and others, but the truth is that many struggle and many make bad staffing decisions. Just like in marketing, finance and administration, there are experts in human resource management and you may not be one of them.</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In one situation I recently encountered a CFO decided that there should be an executive assistant in charge of all the executive assistants. Although there was no clear evidence that they needed a boss outside of the executive they work for, he decided he would promote one to manager. And his assistant was nearby, he liked her, she was competent in her role so he promoted her. New title, salary increase and a mandate to “lead” the group of EA’s. This decision was made without consultation with the HR area. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Within a week, the other EA’s were in an uproar. She was bossing them around, micromanaging them and calling what they saw as useless meetings. Soon the executives were inundated with complaints, taking up way too much time, annoying everyone and turning a self-managed team to mush. The CFO had created a monster! </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One of the executives who caught wind of the problem was the HR VP. She approached the CFO to offer help and ended up getting some coaching for the new EA manager. But given their previous interactions with her, her efforts to fix the problem looked to the others like more of the same. She just did not have the skills to manage others – her low self-esteem and need to be in charge was the only agenda she was capable of pursuing. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">She should never have been promoted to this position. HR’s real challenge was to tell the CFO just that. Further, she told him that it is difficult for her to have an impact if she is not consulted prior to making such an important decision. Now they are left with a crucial group being disgruntled, the CFO losing his mind over how annoying his assistant has become, a situation where they may loose high performing EA’s and the possibility that they may have to lay off the EA manager, which will cost money. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In another case, an HR department in a large organization wanted to be sure that senior management knows more about what they offer, what value they provide and to communicate some things they are doing to enhance organizational life. Certainly not a bad idea…on paper at least. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They proceeded to put together an internal electronic newsletter which would communicate the HR happenings to managers and executives. After the second edition of the newsletter went out they began getting feedback and complaints. It seemed that many saw the content as patronizing and insulting. They wrote about shortcomings of specific management practices they had heard about within the organization. The newsletter also came across as preaching, using cheesy motivational phrases which seemed to be more appropriate for children. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In essence, they missed the basic rule of marketing – know your audience. This could have been easily avoided by partnering with the numerous marketing professionals they have on staff, rather than thinking they can do it themselves. Now, they are left with the opposite kind of attention they wanted and have to find a way to fix it. Just because the marketing department deals with marketing externally, does not mean that they cannot help with marketing internally, an important goal for this department. This just never crossed their mind. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Organizations cannot be strategic without actually using the expertise and experience they have to get to where they want to go. Further, strategy as it pertains to human resources, marketing, finance or any area cannot happen if their only role is to fix problems after the fact. Getting help from experts is what collaboration in an organization is all about. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div>Stephen Friedmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00633164133246118371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2390573385271737584.post-67978791996671512852006-04-20T07:15:00.000-07:002011-05-07T07:17:40.926-07:00Toss Out The Golden Rule<div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">When it comes to leading others, perceptions rule. The way that your staff sees you – cooperative or uncooperative, respectful or disrespectful – is their reality. If you want to be an effective leader, stop debating the truth of their perceptions and learn how to address them. Their perceptions of you matter more than how you see yourself and with a new perspective on leadership, these perceptions can be managed. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">After being on the job for about 4 months, a VP was asked to the president’s office for an orientation meeting. When she got there, the President "ambushed" her about a client issue. He used aggressive language, yelled and screamed at her. She was expecting a happy occasion, and she ended up feeling threatened and disrespected. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">After cooling off, she approached the President to tell him her perceptions. She hoped that this would help them to define the "rules of engagement" for their future working relationship. He told her that he did not think he was ever threatening, although he mentioned that others had told him the same thing. He also pointed out that this was not his intention, but that’s the way he is and she needs to deal with it. If he can deal with aggressive people, she should be able to.</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">So essentially, the president said her perceptions are wrong, as are those of others who have made the same comments. He has also said that even if he does come across as aggressive, others should learn how to deal with it…it’s not his responsibility at all. This leadership approach is riddled with problems, not the least of which being that he had just destroyed any chance of open, respectful communication with this new senior employee.</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The essence of effective leadership is not necessarily charisma, initiative, or even power. As its most basic level, an effective leader has others that want to follow them. In this case, the VP decided she did not want to follow this president and left two weeks later. Interestingly, the president saw the reason for her departure as being about her competence, not his own. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">So, how can a leader create a situation where others want to follow them? To being with, toss out The Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” and replace it with “treat others the way </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">they</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> want to be treated”. It is common sense that we can get more effort, loyalty, and performance from people who we treat well. But few recognize that the definition of being treated well belongs to those who follow, your staff. If a leader wants to be seen by staff as treating them well, then that leader must use the staff member’s definition, not theirs. Adjusting to this model of effective leadership is a big challenge for many leaders. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">It begins by recognizing that your followers are not the same as you. They have their own definitions of aggressive, respectful, etc. You need to find out what these definitions are and try to guide your actions accordingly. If your employee tells you that she finds you disrespectful, find out what exact action they found to be disrespectful and try not to do that. It might be that you interrupted them, or looked at your watch while they were speaking. Once you know this, the adjustments can be easy. The alternative is to debate weather or not you truly are disrespectful (a fruitless exercise), or to insist that they ignore what they see as disrespect and carry on, which most cannot and will not do. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Failing to use your followers as a guide for how to lead can result in key staff walking out or disengaging. You could end up like one CEO did, insisting that his aggressive approach is the only way to be, despite complaints, turnover and profit loss. He finally saw the light when he was asked, “So this approach that you swear by, how’s it working so far?” It wasn’t. This opened the door for him to look at leadership differently. Maybe it will for you. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div>Stephen Friedmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00633164133246118371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2390573385271737584.post-39904877567928670422006-03-24T07:12:00.000-08:002011-05-07T07:13:24.036-07:00Under-perfromance and What to do About it<div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The way we address underperformers can make or break efforts to improve poor results and to sustain outstanding ones. Turning a blind eye to those who perform poorly prevents solutions but giving too much attention to them neglects our top performers. Striking a balance is challenging, but possible. </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In every department, unit or team there will be those who perform well and those that don’t. For some, dealing with poor performers poses a set of challenges. Sometimes we don’t want to approach the employee because we want to avoid hurting their feelings. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">There is certainly nothing wrong with wanting to avoid hurting someone. But to address poor performance is to take the risk that the employee will in fact be hurt. There is no approach to addressing poor performance that does not include this risk. In a situation like this, we need to make a tough choice. Do we want to avoid upsetting someone or do we want to fix the problem? Unfortunately, we usually can’t get both. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Avoiding delivering negative feedback may prevent the poor performer from getting hurt, but it may inadvertently hurt those who are doing well. Top performers notice when their colleagues are not pulling their weight, but are often reluctant to confront them. Your stars see this as your job, not theirs. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">When you let that poor performance go unaddressed, your stars become resentful and very quickly their frustration with their peers turns into frustration with you. In this scenario your stars may feel hurt, ignored and unappreciated. If top performers feel wronged, there is a serious risk that they could become disengaged, making it difficult for you to sustain their performance.</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Other times, we get so caught up in our own responsibilities that we don’t even notice when employees are doing poorly. It is certainly understandable that senior managers are busy, and cannot see everything that goes on. But, there really is no excuse for being totally ignorant of who on the team is pulling their weight and who is not. Being aware of how your employees are performing is the essence of any manager’s job. Don’t rely on what you might happen to see; make an effort to initiate discussions with your employees to “check in” with how everyone is doing. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">For some management, putting off negative feedback can backfire and be detrimental to their career. When we put off giving bad news, it builds, and builds until we reach the end of our rope. When it gets to that point, the point where we can’t hold it in any longer, we let loose and may just tear a strip off of the offending employee. This kind of reaction never works. The employee becomes defensive or withdraws, leaving the problem unsolved and both parties an emotional mess. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">While avoiding addressing poor performance can be a problem, so can focusing too much attention on it. When too much of our time is spent with those who do not perform well, there is not sufficient time spent on rewarding and recognizing those who are doing well. And your stars will see this. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">There are some people who crave any attention, even the attention that poor performance provides. When we respond by spending a tremendous amount of time and energy on helping them, we may be reinforcing their poor performance, and neglecting great performers. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 15.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Try to ensure that problems with performance are addressed as soon as possible. This way we avoid blowing our top and messing up our working relationships, and we give employees a chance to address the problem before it gets out of hand. As well, try to create regular performance discussions with all your employees, outside of formal evaluations. This way, we give equal time and energy to both praising the stars and helping the others. </span></span></span></div>Stephen Friedmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00633164133246118371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2390573385271737584.post-12123518300109061092006-03-03T09:50:00.000-08:002011-05-06T07:33:48.308-07:00Recognition is Easier (and cheaper) Than You Think<div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">While organizations spend time and money to develop formal employee recognition programs and engagement procedures, the methods that are most successful are those that are simpler and cheaper than many think. In fact, the most crucial ones usually cost nothing.</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> </span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">For employees recognition covers everything from having their good work and efforts noticed, to the seemingly mundane gestures of a greeting or asking about their welfare. Often, in the face of a frenetic work environment, senior managers neglect these simple forms of recognition. Not because they are heartless, but because the culture of many workplaces emphasizes problem solving and fixing, leaving issues that are not problematic unacknowledged. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I hear from employees at every level of organizations that they can do 50 things well and they never hear about it. But when something goes wrong, they hear about it excessively. Negative feedback might not be seen as excessive if there was some balance. The perception of a lack of recognition can be a major cause of dissatisfaction, resentment and a high turnover. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> </span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">While monetary rewards should not be given for meeting a tight deadline or solving a client problem, a verbal thank you would be nice. If you are not informally thanking your staff at least two or three times a month, you are missing out on an opportunity to motivate employees without promotions or bonuses. And for more major achievements, don't underestimate the value of a</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">$4 thank-you card.</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> </span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Simple ways of showing recognition may seem petty to senior managers, but for staff, the absence of these can send strong messages. Do you take the time to learn about a new employee's interests or family? Do you ask about an employee's vacation? Do you congratulate the employee whose son just got into medical school, or the one who just won their first new client?</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> </div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">You may not hear about the absence of these gestures, but you can be sure they are talked about around the water cooler. Employee perceptions and gossip can produce assumptions about your character that are untrue and may even harm your reputation.</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> </span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Far too many senior managers use words such as collaborative, and teamwork, but when given the opportunity to exercise these values, they default to telling employees what will be done. People are more likely to buy in to initiatives and actions they feel involved in than those dictated to them.</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> </span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This can be as simple as asking "what do you think?"</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> </span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Again, it is the pace of organizational life that makes it seem more efficient to tell. Talking "teamwork" but doing otherwise can disengage employees to the point that any time saved by telling, will be lost in employee disinterest. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Sometimes, managers fear employees' views will have no use, that they know best and asking what employees think will give them less credibility. Asking employees what they think can actually raise credibility. Just because you ask, does not mean you have to do what employees suggest -the magic is in asking and considering the views of others.</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> </div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">If you want employees to stick around for a while, try some simple engagement and recognition approaches. In the best case, you might find employees provide a new perspective. At worst, you will be seen as thoughtful, considerate and respectful.</span></span></span></div>Stephen Friedmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00633164133246118371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2390573385271737584.post-4147655367016651662006-02-15T09:44:00.000-08:002011-05-06T07:33:48.309-07:00Are You a Referee or a Manager?<div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Have you ever asked yourself what you spend your time on each day, week, month? As a senior manager, director or VP, you might be developing or implementing strategies, addressing client accounts, or managing the work of your employees. Or, like so many that I encounter, you may be spending an inordinate amount of time as a referee between your direct reports who just can’t seem to get along. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 11.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Many senior managers find that they spend upwards of 3-5 hours per week dealing with the “he said – she said” of employees. Over the course of a year, a Director earning $100,000 could be spending up to $15,000 of his or her time on this referee role. In fact, given that most manager initiated mediations fail, this number can be even higher. The ability to get along with each other is the responsibility of employees themselves, and your time could be better spent in other areas. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 11.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The manager as referee scenario often looks like this: One employee comes to you and says “this person is not cooperating with me. Can you do something about it?” Then you ask to see them both in your office, and attempt to solve the problem. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 11.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Once there is a gathering to deal with the problem the manager usually attempts to find out who is more at fault so some action can be taken, and the one who gets blamed, sulks or freaks out. This outcome poisons morale and leaves the problem unsolved; these two employees are no better equipped to handle their next conflict than they were before. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 11.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This problem brings me back to road trips with my family when I was a kid. It didn’t take long for my sister or me to protest “he/she’s bothering me!” After a few of these protests, my parents would point out that they we would need to find a way to work it out ourselves. This too is the solution for the referee manager.</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 11.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Rather than let an ongoing conflict between employees become the major task of your day, try taking the issue off your plate. Ask the employees to work it out on their own. By taking it on yourself, you encourage them to look to others for solutions as opposed to taking initiative and responsibility. And this lesson can certainly make its way into other areas. Not good. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 11.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">What’s more, the referee can become stressed themselves because of the high levels of negative emotion, and the impact on the relationship with your staff. At least one of them will see that you are taking sides, which you are. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 11.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">If asking them to deal with it themselves does not work, you might want to try suggesting an approach that has worked for you in the past in similar situations. For example, you might suggest that they try focusing on the goal of ending the conflict, rather than the goal of proving that they are right, which often works.</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 11.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Some who are faced with constant personality conflicts between employees find that they don’t have a suggestion. They may also find that their staff are ill equipped to manage their own conflicts. In these cases, look outside for professionals to assist you. Recognize your own competencies, focus on what you are skilled at and leave those things that you are not skilled at to others. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 11.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Management skills, conflict management or interpersonal skills training can provide the skills your staff needs to solve their own problems. If the conflicts of one particular staff member are persistent, you may want to consider a coach for them.</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 11.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Either way, the cost of these employee development initiatives will be far less than it costs for you to take your time to try, and fail at the role of referee.</span></span></span></div>Stephen Friedmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00633164133246118371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2390573385271737584.post-30879423075242023872006-02-09T09:02:00.000-08:002011-05-06T07:33:48.309-07:00Helping Yourself<div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Senior managers, including directors and VP's, have more on their plates these days than ever before. Input and decision-making responsibilities within strategic, financial, and human resource realms are increasingly falling on this management group whose expertise may not be in these areas. As well, they may not have the tools to manage the change in accountability these new responsibilities bring. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 11.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The needs of employees are also changing. Employees are demanding more engagement and collaboration with senior level management. These increasing responsibilities from above and below present both challenges and opportunities.</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 11.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The challenge for managers is to avoid reacting impulsively to increased accountability. In other words, don’t panic! Panic will result in taking away employees’ work, purely because of a fear that the job will not be done correctly.</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 11.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This reaction causes problems on a number of levels: It sends a message to employees that they are not trusted to do the job well; it prevents employees from learning on the job; and most importantly, the manager's own duties fall away. Performance is sacrificed, and taking on the tasks of subordinates is rarely accepted as a justification of poor performance. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 11.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The opportunity is for staff to get a chance to learn on the job. But for this to happen, managers need to delegate important tasks without snatching them away again. Think of coaching staff through a project as an investment in the future rather than a risk. Employees with the potential to do great things require the opportunity to learn by doing. Failing to trust employees is an easy way to lose them to a competitor.</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 11.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">But a growing pile of others’ work on a manager's desk isn't always the result of increased accountability. When management aims to be more collaborative with employees, a manager may take on responsibilities that belong to others in his zeal to be a friend, confidant and supporter. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 11.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">For many, the ability to balance being helpful and being selfish is a life-long challenge, not only in the workplace, but in intimate relationships, in parenthood and beyond. In a senior management role, the solution lies in tipping that balance to the selfish side. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 11.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Take to heart the adage "we must learn to take care of ourselves before we can take care of others." Until your own obligations are taken care of, a manager must learn to say "no" and stick to it. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 11.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Helping when you have the time may produce respect and goodwill, but managers who help others excessively are seen as having no backbone, and may lose their job because they are simply not doing it. If your goal is to make your staff like you, bending over backwards to help them won’t work. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 11.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">If employees need help, explain your time limitations and offer another solution. If they want to enhance their skills, let them make some mistakes. If the only alternative you offer is to do it yourself, you will not be helping yourself or your staff. </span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 11.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Taking care of yourself first will free up the time and energy to help and give learning opportunities to staff. Delegate work without guilt or fear. It may just save your job.</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 11.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></div><div style="font: 10.0px 'Courier New'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 11.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div>Stephen Friedmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00633164133246118371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2390573385271737584.post-83240010466132473422006-02-08T06:57:00.000-08:002011-05-06T07:33:48.309-07:00Time and Productivity<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Any kind of growth or development of an organization is dependent upon the productivity of its people. Some might say that the central role of any manager is to find ways to encourage employees to be more productive at work. But measuring productivity is a funny thing especially as it pertains to using time at the office or time on a task as the index. Employees who put in less time and produce great work, those who put in more time but produce less and those who create an illusion of productivity all present unique challenges.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Some organizational cultures are only capable of measuring productivity by looking at the clock, assuming that those who work longer hours are in fact more productive. But of course, this is a inaccurate measure of productivity – we have all spent a lot of time accomplishing nothing and have also been able to complete a difficult task in a short time. This “time=productivity” culture need not prevail. </span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There are some things managers and employees can do to manage this madness. First, we need to ensure that time at work is not the only index of productivity. How? All employees, at every level, need to market themselves! Ensure that you meet with your supervisor on a regular basis (maybe weekly) to show her what you have accomplished – an informal, ongoing, status report of sorts. Without YOU providing this information, busy supervisors may be left to the only index they have access to – time. If you are one of those people who put in less time to produce great work, you certainly want to be judged based on your results, not how long you spent on a task. Without apology, let your supervisor know that time is not best way to judge your productivity. This way, you show transparency in communicating how you work, and confidence in how you work. Whatever you do, don’t let the 12-hour days of others put the pressure on you.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When we look on the management or supervisory side, we see a different set of challenges. The employee who puts in long hours but produces less can pose serious management and organizational problems. Without asking ourselves the question “What does productivity mean for us?” the organization might default to conceptualizing time on task as productivity. They might even end up rewarding effort or time on a task as opposed to results. While it is certainly commendable to recognize effort, rewarding or evaluating productivity based on time or effort may be misleading at best, and downright useless at worst. So what to do? Managers and supervisors need to ensure that the weekly, monthly or quarterly goals of employees are spelled out in terms of end results, as opposed to falling back on time or some other misleading, nebulous measure. This creates mutual accountability as well as clarity for both parties on what constitutes productivity. It also makes it easier for the employee to reach their goals, and for the manager to help them get there.<br />
<br />
Lastly, there are unfortunately those who capitalize on organizations’ inarticulate or limited understanding of productivity by staying late (but not necessarily working late) and using other creative methods to feign busyness. Again, both you and your organizational culture need to tighten up their definitions of productivity. This can prevent the employee who uses staying late, the messy desk, and the old furrowed brow while carrying a bunch of files from faking productivity. Otherwise, efforts to enhance productivity might end up only encouraging people to stay later and later, and do less and less. Next thing you know, this extended time at work provides the impetus for employees complaining about work/life balance! </span></span></span>Stephen Friedmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00633164133246118371noreply@blogger.com0