The Happy Burro

(fifth in a series titled Issues Managers Face in the Workplace)

The 2008 economic picture is purported to be bad. Maybe your company is facing revenue, market, and cost pressures. Stock price is down. New leadership. A freeze on hiring and on raises. Just today the Dow Jones Industrial Index lost over 240 points. How do you get your team to continue providing world class service and productivity? As always, you have options:

Make a Case For the End of the World

What if things are as bad as they seem? Do you want your bonus at risk? You need to get your team moving, and f-a-s-t! Throw some of these rhetorical questions and demands at your team:

• What happens if we don’t make our budget this year?
• You need to try harder, work harder, put in more hours!
• Should we wait for new leadership to tell us what to do?
• We could bankrupt this place if we don’t get more customers!
• Do you want to lose your job?
• Are the monthly birthday club cakes worth losing a raise?

Forgettaboutit

You could ignore the issues at hand. They could possibly be temporary. After all, the stock market crashed in 1929, recovered, crashed again in 1987, recovered. This too shall pass…

• Bring in doughnuts every morning and say “who wants sprinkles?”
• Hang around and tell more jokes to lighten the mood in the office
• Put a positive spin on any reports (e.g. if your organization was supposed to make $10M, and actually lost $3M, say “we missed our near term profitability target by just a few mil…”)
• Completely ignore any negative news and act as if you didn’t hear/read/experience it

Create Light, Not Heat

Here is where you get to talk about the future. What is possible, not what is constrained. Not ‘pie in the sky’ dreaming, but real opportunity to succeed. Try this:

• Focus on what is working. Are overall customer satisfaction scores down, but are up in the east region? Celebrate that fact, then figure out what is different about east region and try to work on the scores in other regions.
• Reward people that are reaching their goals
• Give extra attention and support to the employees that are struggling to meet their commitments
• Be a realist with company news - if the budget needs to be cut 15% do not play down the impact
• Routinely discuss what might be, not just the doom and gloom
• Thank people for extra effort and let them know you value each and every contribution

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“Better to light a candle than curse the darkness”

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Threats and ‘whipping the horses’ may have some sort of short term effect. Long term you’ll have mutiny on your hands. Or worse: people will just leave.

False bravado or hope isn’t going to work either. Like an ostrich, putting your proverbial head in the sand and ignoring problems will not make them go away. Your team will see through your fake smile and vain attempts at humor.  Doesn’t that make more sense? Sure, there are times when a tougher message may be necessary. Those situations are the exception, not the norm. Few of us face such dire circumstances that require yelling, threats, or paranoid behavior to ‘motivate’ our employees.

Be the light, not the heat.

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Want more on the power of meaning in the workplace? Check out Dr. Alex Pattakos at The Meaning Difference. Worth a weekly visit!

Joe Raasch :: Jan.11.2008 :: Employee Engagement, Leadership, Performance Management :: 3 Comments »

(fourth in a series titled Issues Managers Face in the Workplace)

Employee engagement is a key component of every successful organization. This engagement plays out in performance management: the interaction and connection between employee and manager.

What is one of the best ways to engage your employees? Listen to them. By ‘listen’ I mean to truly be intent on what they are saying, not just formulating a response and waiting for them to be quiet so you can put forth your views and opinions. Listen. This is one of the simplest, most powerful tools you have as a leader of people.

I recently came across an old saying in Mark Goulston’s article at FastCompany.com:

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“You paid for my hands. You got my brain for free.”
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I had first heard this saying years ago and used in a slightly different way. I worked in operations at a small investment firm in St. Paul and overheard one of the sales managers telling a new salesperson, “Hey, just make the calls. I’m paying for your hands, not your brain.” I like Mark’s view better.

Innovation Launched

Who knows clients best? The people that spend every day with them, or the people in “conference room 13B” who have never met a client?

Organizations die quickly without innovation. These innovative changes do not have to be revolutionary. Evolutionary works just fine. Get into the processes, procedures, and teams that are in front each day. That front line, where employees interact with clients every day, is where innovation is born. Go there. Listen.

Problems Solved

Who feels the pain from problems the most? The people that spend every day dealing with the issue, or the people in “conference room 13B” who don’t have to deal with the challenge and have no stake in the outcome?

Engage the people at every level that have knowledge of the issues. A few smart people in a room may have to make a final decision. Without input from many areas, what is the possibility of the right decision? Listen.

Balance Restored

Get to know your team. Work-life balance is a trendy term. Guess what? It transcends age, gender, race, everything! Work-life balance does not mean 50% work, 50% home. Or all work. Or a ‘flex schedule’ that allows one to meet the school bus in the afternoon. Work-life balance is all and none of these examples. Balance is as individual as each employee you have. Listen.

You paid for their hands. Now go engage their brains. After all, it’s free.

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Want to get caught up on this series of posts? Here are links to the first three in the series:

1. The Problem Employee
2. Setting The Agenda As Manager
3. Managers Have Choices

Joe Raasch :: Jan.05.2008 :: Employee Engagement, Leadership, Performance Management :: 3 Comments »

We all have talent of some sort.

How do you know what is innate talent, what is talent you could be the best in the world with, and what talent do you get paid to do?

The Hedgehog Concept from Jim Collins

The Talent You Have and Know It

“He’s a natural with numbers.” “You are so good at presentations.” “She is gifted with a scientific approach to problem-solving.”

You have demonstrated your talent, accepted your talent, and use it as often as you are able. It is as much of who you are as the color of your eyes. It is what you were born to do.

The Talent You Use to Get Paid

You may not like coding software programs, waiting tables, or teaching freshman English. You have come to realize that you are good enough to get paid to do these things. Acquired skills and developed talent are there to serve you. The recognition of this talent comes in the form of money in the bank.

The Talent You Have and Do Not Know It

Listen to your family, co-workers, and friends. Even strangers. If you are getting positive feedback on something you do not even consider a talent, spend some time reflecting on what is going on. Is what you are doing so commonplace, natural, or seemingly effortless that you don’t know you’re doing it? You may have uncovered a real talent that is uniquely you. This is something you may be the best in the world at. It is your passion and you do not know how good you really are. You just know you would do this work for free if you could do it every day.

The Intersection of Talent

What is the best pursuit to make the most of your talent? That is an open question with as many answers as there are individuals. The answer does lie in the intersection of the three circles as described by Jim Collins. Find your sweet spot today.

A final question: Do you want to be known as the best in the world, or as doing your best? Source here.

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Here is an interesting video that may inspire you to use your talent! (ensure you have your speakers on) It starts here. And ends here.

Happy New Year!

Joe Raasch :: Jan.02.2008 :: Change Management, Innovation, Life :: 4 Comments »