Archive for the 'leadership behavior' Category
Posted on March 9, 2010
Talk about a communication conundrum. . .
Yesterday I was coaching a young woman (read “half my age”), and we were brainstorming ways to get her staff to take ownership of their work. We were exploring how to create a sense of urgency for them. (I hear this a lot from owners.)
We talked about playing some game with a timer—this is for an off-site retreat. We thought of Pictionary or maybe Charades. These didn’t excite me, but I know my kids liked Pictionary.
I thought back to games where I felt most pressured to win before time ran out. My mind went back to video games like Pac Man and Centipede.
They created that adrenalin rush that you had to move fast and smart or you would get eaten or whatever. (I was always an observer.)
She was aware of Pac Man, but had never heard of some of the others. She did not grow up in this country. Score 1 for “cultural differences.”
Then I got excited, remembering playing pre-video games, sometimes in drinking establishments. “We need a pinball machine!”
She looked at me with that “what are you talking about” look.
“Pinball, you know,” I said, reliving old memories, pantomiming pulling back the launcher and working the flippers. Still a blank look.
“Certainly you know of the rock opera ‘Tommy?’ Blind kid who’s a pinball wizard. . .”
Still a blank look. I was struggling here. Score 2 for “cultural differences.”
“Well, you do know who The Who is, don’t you?” I asked, looking for some shred of a way to relate.
“The Who. Yes, I know them.” Thank heavens!
Needless to say, my case for a pinball machine didn’t land on this young woman. They didn’t have pinball machines in her country. And she hadn’t taken a college course on great rock operas from the 1970s.
Posted on November 16, 2009
I was doing a lunch and learn for a firm recently on how to get referrals and repeat business. Just about everyone I know needs to spend time working on getting referrals and repeat business.
But not Arthur.
Arthur is one of the more experienced (i.e., older) professionals at this firm. He proudly told me he doesn’t need referrals because his client keeps him busy.
“My client just keeps calling me with more work,” Arthur said. “I don’t even have to ask for it.”
“Arthur,” I asked, “what are you going to do when your client gets run over by a bus at lunchtime? Do you know who would replace him?”
This stopped Arthur cold—made him think. He knows his client’s boss, but he doesn’t know others in the firm—the others that might step in after the lunchtime tragedy.
Don’t get cocky like Arthur. Spend time with your clients and the folks who work with them. Develop relationships that will keep your business alive after the rogue bus drivers of this world take out your clients.
Posted on April 7, 2009
For the past 15 months or more, I have been sharing mini case studies with you about how to handle different issues with different individuals.
While that is still hugely important, I want to deviate from that pattern a bit. I want to focus more on issues that are very relevant to what we are experiencing now.
A few weeks ago, I asked our readers what questions they would ask me for help with. A major response was how to keep morale up in these tough economic times. Here are a few suggestions to do that.
Communicate
First off, communicate, communicate, communicate. When our brains lack information, they make it up and it’s always negative. Tell people what the company is doing to stay healthy and survive the recession.
If you’re the CEO, get out of your office and walk the halls. Talk to people. Ask about their family. Talk about something besides sports–which seems to be the universal topic in many firms. Not everybody follows ____ball or plays golf.
Work out the stress
Hire a massage therapist to come to the office and give each employee a 15-minute chair massage. It will work the stress out of employees’ shoulders and upper backs and make them feel so much better.
CDs for drive time
Provide CDs employees can listen to while driving to and from work. They can be educational or for professional development.
For example, one major bookstore chain has a collection of topics I wish I had learned in college, such as Greek mythology. It makes for interesting drive time.
Or they can listen to a CD on how to manage client expectations. Ideally, the same info could be downloaded to their iPods.
Ask employees to bring in CDs that they enjoyed. Have them recommend titles to one another.
More ideas next time. And let me know what morale boosters have worked for you.
Posted on February 3, 2009
This call came from a client who has had to lay off some personnel, just like many folks have. The CEO, Sharon, was concerned about one of her lead project managers.
Joyce is always able to stay on top of things and make sure a job goes the way it’s supposed to go. Joyce doesn’t leave things to chance.
The problem came when a job Joyce was managing was put on hold by the client. Joyce became undone.
She had, in her typical manner, planned out the job, budgeted for it, determined what help she would need when. She even scheduled her family vacation based on her schedule and that the job would wrap up in three months.
Hitting the pause button was not in her plans.
The loss of control is showing up with Joyce micromanaging every little piece of work she can get her hands on. She is driving co-workers crazy, and Sharon is, quite frankly, concerned about Joyce’s mental state.
“How do I help her?” Sharon asked.
Planned, purposeful individuals–or control freaks as others lovingly (?) call them–are experiencing more stress from the current economic situation than others who are more flexible. Everything is in flux.
These purposeful individuals plan on doing a job, then the job gets put on hold or canceled. They are prepared to work with Sam on a project, then they find out Sam doesn’t work for the client anymore.
Their whole foundation may be cracking because of changes over which they have no control.
So, Sharon, as the CEO, needs to get Joyce grounded in a reality that she can control. Sharon can ask Joyce to focus on one task or project where change is very unlikely to occur.
Perhaps Joyce can take on a project within the firm that needs to be addressed, but it has always been shelved because of billable hours.
This is a good time for Joyce to do some QA/QC checks, review past project folders to ensure all documentation is there, create some training modules, prepare a presentation to give at a conference, etc.
The key is to give Joyce something she can completely control. As long as she has that piece of concrete control, she is better able to tolerate the fluctuating world around her.
Posted on January 13, 2009
Two weeks ago, a client and I were discussing (1) his inability to prioritize his work and (2) how he spends his time. We came up with a to-do list and set deadlines. He met one deadline, but he didn’t complete the other three things on his to-do list until this week.
Why the delay? And why now?
He delayed the work because he didn’t want to do it. He finally completed the remaining tasks less than an hour before we met–because he didn’t want to have to tell me that the projects weren’t finished.
I like to motivate people, but not like that.
Procrastination is an art form for about half the U.S. population. Procrastinators, and I am one, are pros at putting things off. Why do something today when you can put it off until tomorrow?
For procrastinators, the Internet is like a candy store. It’s virtually unlimited in terms of finding stuff to do rather than do what we should be doing.
So, where’s the help for procrastinators? Here are a few ideas that might work.
* Set 2-3 achievable goals every day and meet them. Don’t try for meeting 8-10 daily goals. That’s what the other half of the population does. A procrastinator needs to learn to handle two or three things well before adding more to the list.
* Successful people use their time well. When an urgent task threatens to pull them away from what they’re doing, they don’t rush into it just because it seems urgent. They always ask: Which of these two things is higher on my list of priorities?
* Turn off the phone from time to time. Can you get more done by leaving a voice message and turning the phone off during certain periods of the day? The telephone is one of the most insidious thieves of our time. It’s urgent but rarely important. It shoves out the less urgent but more important things.
* Only check email three times a day-when you get in, at lunch, and an hour before leaving. Don’t let the email lure you away from meeting your daily goals.
For the procrastinators reading this, do one of the above NOW. As Nike says, “Just Do It!”
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