Do You Have Time to Manage?
A good performance management system has three components; Performance Planning—where goals are set; Day-to-Day Coaching—where managers provide direction and support as needed; and Performance Evaluation—which most of us know as the “annual review.”
Of these three components, which one do you think is short-changed the most in organizations? It’s day-to-day coaching.
I asked Linda Miller, Global Liaison for Coaching at The Ken Blanchard Companies about this as part of an interview on coaching skills for managers. My question for Linda was, “Given the benefits that day-to-day coaching can bring to performance, why don’t more managers use coach-like behaviors?”
Linda shared that the reason she heard most often from managers was lack of time and competing priorities.
That’s the rub for most working managers. How do you build in time to help others, while still making sure you get your own tasks done? And how does it fit in with your other priorities? I know in my own case, if I do not have something listed as a key responsibility area (KRA), it becomes something that I get to only if I have extra time.
What’s your experience with this? As a manager, is providing direction and support to others on your list of key responsibilities? Should it be? I’m looking into that now—is it a good idea?
Join us today for a complimentary webinar on Building Trust and Transparency in Your Organization
Join The Ken Blanchard Companies for a special complimentary webinar and online chat beginning today at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time (12:00 noon Eastern). Founding Associate Pat Zigarmi and Trust Practice Leader Randy Conley will be speaking on the topic of Building Trust and Transparency in Your Organization. The webinar is free and seats are still available if you would like to join over 1,000 people expected to participate.
Immediately after the webinar, Randy Conley will be answering follow-up questions here at LeaderChat for about 30 minutes. To participate in the follow-up discussion, use these simple instructions.
Instructions for Participating in the Online Chat
- Click on the COMMENTS link above
- Type in your question
- Push SUBMIT COMMENT
It’s as easy as that! Randy will answer as many questions as possible in the order they are received. Be sure to press F5 to refresh your screen occasionally to see the latest responses.
We hope you can join us later today for this special complimentary event courtesy of Cisco WebEx and The Ken Blanchard Companies. Click here for more information on participating.
Don’t Let A Big Ego Get in the Way of Collaboration
One of the biggest barriers to people working together effectively is the human ego. When people get caught up in their ego, it erodes their effectiveness. That’s because the combination of false pride and self-doubt created by an overactive ego gives people a distorted image of their own importance. When that happens, people see themselves as the center of the universe and they begin to put their own agenda, safety, status, and gratification ahead of those affected by their thoughts and actions.
That’s a deadly combination in today’s business environment where organization’s need people to work together collaboratively to meet the ever increasing expectations of customers.
The good news is that there is an antidote according to Ken Blanchard, best-selling business author and co-founder of The Ken Blanchard Companies. Here are four tips from Ken to help you identify an overactive ego and put it back in its place if it has been getting out of hand.
- Recognize that it’s not about you. The first way to recalibrate an overactive ego is through humility. In organizations, humility means recognizing that work is not all about you; it’s about the people you serve and what they need. For leaders, this means seeing your job as creating and maintaining a motivating work environment that engages employees so they can engage customers.
- Be a learner. The second way to rebalance ego is by becoming a continual learner. Whether you’re a leader or an individual contributor, you need to be open to learn from other people and to listen to them. If people think they’ve got all the answers and don’t need any help, they’re not likely to be interested in collaborating. That’s why having an attitude that you don’t have all the answers and you’re open to learning is so important.
- Find a partner. Next, find somebody to work with. Find somebody who has the skills and energy in doing what you don’t know how to do yet. So often people are afraid to share because they feel they are going to be competing with each other.
- Build a shared purpose. Finally, the fourth key to achieving healthy organizational collaboration and minimizing individual ego is to rally people around a shared vision—something bigger than themselves. When everyone shares a clear sense of purpose, process, and practice, it’s amazing what can be accomplished.
There are many benefits to collaboration. The most noticeable is better customer service inside and outside the organization. In today’s fast-paced business environment you can’t afford the time to develop all of the competencies required to keep customers satisfied and business growing. Today, you have to collaborate with people both inside and outside your organization who have the skills and capacities that you don’t. The result is a one-plus-one synergy that equals a lot more than two, and provides the competitive advantage needed to serve customers, grow, and prosper.
Four Leadership Behaviors That Build or Destroy Trust
When people don’t trust their leaders, they don’t come toward something; they pull back and withdraw instead. They doubt rather than cooperate.
According to Dr. Pat Zigarmi, Founding Associate of The Ken Blanchard Companies, and Randy Conley, the Trust Practice Leader at Blanchard, a self-centered, “What’s in it for me” attitude robs an organization of the best that employees have to offer. When employees perceive that an organization—or its leaders—are less than forthcoming, employees become unwilling to contribute any discretionary energy or make any commitments to their organization’s well-being beyond the absolute minimum.
Conley adds that, “Often, the result is that employees will stay with the organization and do their job because they need a paycheck, but not much more. It becomes purely a transactional relationship with employees asking themselves, “If the organization does not do right by me, why should I do right by them?”
Four Areas to Focus On
For leaders looking to turn things around in their organization, Zigarmi and Conley recommend that leaders take a hard look in the mirror and examine their own behaviors. Here are four key areas that leaders have to be aware of when they are looking at building or restoring trust with the people they lead:
Able is about demonstrating competence. Do the leaders know how to get the job done? Are they able to produce results? Do they have the skills to make things happen—including knowing the organization and equipping people with the resources and information they need to get their job done?
Believable means acting with integrity. Leaders have to be honest in their dealings with people. In practical terms, this means creating and following fair processes. Believability is also about acting in a consistent, values-driven manner that reassures employees that they can rely on their leaders.
Connected is about demonstrating care and concern for other people. It means focusing on people and identifying their needs. It is supported by good communication skills. Leaders need to openly share information about the organization and about themselves. This allows the leader to be seen as more of a real person that a follower can identify with. When people share a little bit of information about themselves, it creates a sense of connection.
Dependable is about reliably following through on what the leaders say that they are going to do. It means being accountable for their actions and being responsive to the needs of others so if leaders promise something they must follow through.
You can learn more about what Zigarmi and Conley have to say about trust by following this link to their recent article in Blanchard’s Ignite newsletter. Also be sure to see more information about a free webinar that Zigarmi and Conley will be conducting on Building Trust and Transparency in Your Organization.
SHRM 2010 Employee Job Satisfaction Report: Don’t Forget the Individual Perspective
The Society for Human Resource Management just posted its annual look at the factors that drive employee satisfaction in the workplace. One unique element of the SHRM research is that it looks at the factors from two perspectives—employees and HR professionals. First time readers of the report will be surprised that the lists of what employees want from the workplace and the list of what HR professionals perceive they want do not match up exactly. But in reality, it makes perfect sense, because each group perceives the environment a little differently depending on their experience. Let’s take a look at the two rankings in this year’s report, identify the differences, and explore what it means for leaders in today’s organizations.
First, the employees’ ranking
- Job security
- Benefits
- Opportunities to use skills and abilities
Next, the HR professionals’ ranking
- Relationship with immediate supervisor
- Job security
- Communication between employees and senior management
While both lists have job security in their respective rankings you’ll also see that benefits are only on the employee list while “relationship with immediate supervisor” and “communication between employees and senior management” are only on the HR professionals list.
What accounts for this discrepancy? The difference is perception. While benefits are certainly important to employees the issues that HR professionals are hearing about in their offices are relationships with immediate supervisor and overall communication.
What does this mean? Two things. One, as an HR professional, don’t let data summaries distract you from the most important message. People are unique, with unique needs and desires. Every individual perceives their work environment differently. Survey results should never take the place of one-on-one conversations.
Two, as a manager, remember that you are on the front lines in making sure that everyone has a voice and feels listened to and heard. Don’t assume you know what your employees want and how they feel about the way that things are going. Take a minute to sit down and find out where your employees stand personally with each of the issues identified in this year’s SHRM report. To see all of the data collected along with some ideas for action steps, be sure to check out the complete report here.
Employee Work Passion: Take a Personal Approach for Best Results
Deciding whether a company’s work environment is engaging or not is a highly personal experience according to researchers at The Ken Blanchard Companies. In a new article for Chief Learning Officer magazine the researchers identify that employees experience their environment differently—even when they are looking at the same set of circumstances.
Take, for example, the idea of Connectedness with Colleagues, one of twelve factors identified in the research as contributing to a motivating work environment. For some team members, sharing updates on a monthly basis meets their needs for feeling informed and in the loop. For others, meeting anything less than once a day leaves them feeling isolated. If a group has a team norm of meeting once a week—a pretty standard practice—how do people from each camp feel about the team’s performance in staying connected? Chances are that members of the first group feel that that the team is excellent at connectedness because it communicates four times more than they personally feel is necessary, while members from the second group rate the team low on this aspect because it only meets once a week, which is less than what they are expecting.
So how does a leader deal with all of the different expectations that people have in the workplace? The answer is to see colleagues and direct reports as distinct, individual people with different needs and expectations. Here are three tips for getting started:
- Recognize that people have different needs, desires, and expectations. There is a tendency to believe that everyone perceives the environment the same and has the same needs and desires. The reality is that each of us sees things differently based on our beliefs and past experiences.
- Explore these differences. Build some time into your next one-on-one discussion to discover the degree to which your people are personally experiencing growth, autonomy, connectedness, and collaboration in the organization. For team members, include an agenda item to discuss these elements of an engaging workplace at an upcoming meeting.
- Look for early wins. While some factors will be best addressed at an organizational level, there are still many factors that can be addressed locally inside of a department or team. Identify what those factors are and how they can be addressed.
Employee engagement is a hot topic these days and there are a lot of ways to approach it. For leaders looking at improving overall engagement in their organizations, it’s important to keep in mind that the process is also intensely personal. To learn more about the Blanchard research on this topic, be sure to check out Employee Work Passion: A New Look at Engagement in this month’s Chief Learning Officer magazine.
John Wooden – Leading at a Higher Level
John Wooden’s passing on June 4, 2010 marked the loss of a legend in the field of leadership. “Coach,” as he was known, inspired countless people over the years through his teachings, writings, and selfless acts of service. Wooden’s contributions as a writer, speaker, and thought leader far exceeded his impact as a basketball coach which is no small feat considering he won 10 NCAA national championships while coaching at UCLA!
Last week I had a conversation with Ken Blanchard to get his thoughts on John Wooden’s passing and his contributions to the field of leadership. Blanchard first met Wooden in 1995 when they shared the speaking platform at a leadership breakfast at Long Beach State University. “My friend Bob Buford had recently written his book ‘Halftime: Moving from Success to Significance’ in which he posed the question of whether people at midlife felt their best years were behind them or ahead of them. I posed that same question to Coach Wooden, who was 85 years old at the time. He told me ‘Ken, I have so much to look forward to.’ I think he probably had more of an impact in his ‘retirement’ than he did coaching basketball.”
“Wooden was a gentle, humble man, but he was also a stickler for principles that he considered important” recounted Blanchard. “I remember him telling the story of Bill Walton showing up one day with a full beard, knowing full well that Coach Wooden had a team policy prohibiting facial hair. Walton explained that it was his right to have as much facial hair as he wanted and he wasn’t going to shave. Coach Wooden told him ‘Bill, I admire people who have strong beliefs and stick by them. We’re all going to miss you!’”
“In my viewpoint, John Wooden personified what it means to ‘lead at a higher level’”, Blanchard said. “Leading at a higher level means that you focus on the greater good. Too many leaders think leadership is all about them and their own self interests. People who lead at a higher level want to achieve worthwhile results while acting with care, respect, and fairness for the well-being of all who are involved.”
In mourning Wooden’s death last week, words like “love,” “service,” “sacrifice,” “role model,” “leader,” “mentor,” and “father figure” were used by the people who knew him best. The focus was not on all the wins, championships, or players he sent to the NBA. It was on the impact he had as a leader who clearly demonstrated the values of servant leadership and what it means to lead at a higher level.
Thanks for showing us the way, Coach. We’re going to miss you.
Leaders–Are You Out of Touch with Reality?
In a recent blog post at Harvard Business Review’s The Conversation, best selling business author Bob Sutton generated a lot of discussion with a post entitled Some Bosses Live in a Fool’s Paradise. Bob’s basic premise is that leaders become more susceptible to a distorted sense of reality the higher they climb in an organization. Why? Three reasons according to Sutton.
1. Bosses are, like everyone, self-deluding. All human beings tend to be poor judges of their own actions and accomplishments. Sutton points out that we all suffer from “self-enhancement bias,” where we believe that we are “better than the rest.” In one study he cites, for example, 90% of drivers reported that they had “above average” driving skills. In a US College Board survey of nearly a million high school seniors, 70% claimed “above average” leadership skills; only 2 % believed they were “below average.”
2. Bosses are naturally heedless of subordinates. When someone is put in a position of power, subordinate members of the group watch that individual very closely but the attention is not reciprocated. As Princeton psychologist Susan Fiske discovered in her workplace research (reported in American Psychologist), “Secretaries know more about their bosses than vice versa; graduate students know more about their advisors than vice versa.” Sutton calls this combination of overattentive subordinates and inattentive bosses “the toxic tandem.”
3. Bosses are insulated from reality. Drawing on research from his book Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths And Total Nonsense, (co-written with Jeff Pfeffer ) Sutton identifies that leaders in organizations routinely “shoot the messenger.” As Sutton explains, “Bearers of bad news, even when they aren’t responsible for it in any sense, tend to be blamed and to have negative feelings directed toward them. The result is the “Mum Effect”: subordinates with good survival instincts soften bad news to make it sound better, or avoid passing it along to their bosses at all.”
Sutton concludes that even when you consider just these three tendencies, you begin to appreciate how easy it is to be a terrible boss. At the same time, you get a glimpse at one of the keys to leading well—a clear sense of who you are and the impact your position has on the people around you.
To read the entire post, check out Some Bosses Live in a Fool’s Paradise here. To see what else Bob is thinking on a regular basis, be sure to take a look at his blog Work Matters.
Don’t Let Your Leadership Strengths Become Your Weaknesses
In the June 2010 issue of Ignite, Madeleine Homan Blanchard discusses how Leadership Strengths Are a Double-Edged Sword. She goes on to explain that positive characteristics such as optimism, confidence, and intelligence can turn into delusion, arrogance, and unhealthy competitiveness if left unchecked. In her work with highly successful executives, this crossover from strengths to weaknesses can be subtle, and usually occurs over the course of years. It can be especially hard to identify early in an executive’s career because the weaknesses that derail so many careers later in life are just shadow versions of the same attributes that helped executives succeed earlier.
The key, according to Homan Blanchard, is to maintain a healthy self-awareness of the way you are perceived by others. To help with that, Madeleine recommends four strategies.
- Create an imaginary “self observation person” and place them on your left shoulder. Give this imaginary advisor one important task. Anytime you feel yourself about to speak or respond to someone and there is some extra emotion behind it, have this advisor check in to ask, “Is this about your need to be heard, or is this in the best interest of the other person and you are saying it because it absolutely needs to be said?”
- Get feedback. Homan Blanchard recommends that leaders check in with colleagues (and direct reports especially) every once in a while to get a reading on how they are doing. Madeleine especially likes three classic questions and recommends executives keep them top of mind: What should I start doing to be more helpful to you as a leader? What should I stop doing? Is there anything you think I should know?
- Surround yourself with people who aren’t afraid to challenge you. Let people know that you want to engage in useful debate. Encourage people to speak up when something you say doesn’t make sense or might not be the right way to go.
- Consider working with a coach who can provide a reality check and keep you honest. It’s important to have someone who will call you out when you are deceiving yourself.
To read more about some of the ways that leaders inadvertently limit their effectiveness, be sure to check out the entire Ignite article here. Also be sure to see the information about a free webinar that Homan Blanchard is conducting on June 16, Leaders: Avoid These Fatal Flaws
Are You LOST as a Leader?
Ok, I have to admit it. I’m a “Lostie,” a fan of the recently concluded sci-fi, psychological drama TV series LOST. If you’re not familiar with the show, it’s about the experiences of the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 that crashed over an unknown island in the South Pacific Ocean.
LOST was famous for rabbit trail plots, untold secrets, and being the proverbial puzzle wrapped in a mystery inside a conundrum. But when all was said and done, the underlying narrative to LOST was the relationships formed among all the characters and the life they shared together.
I couldn’t help but see the leadership implications of the show’s theme, and in particular, the line of dialogue in the series finale between Christian Shephard and his son Jack, the “leader” of the group of survivors. Christian is speaking to Jack (both of whom are “dead”) about the purpose of the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 being gathered together in the “afterlife.”
“The most important part of your life was the time you spent with these people. That’s why all of you are here. Nobody does it alone, Jack. You needed all of them and they needed you.”
The premise is clear for leaders – It’s all about relationships!
As leaders we sometimes get LOST. We begin our leadership journeys with excitement, flying high over the ocean with idyllic dreams of leading people to accomplish great things. But then something interrupts our trip and we find ourselves dealing with all sorts of challenges that can become distractions if not placed in the proper perspective. Whether it’s the impending budget deadline, scheduling the next meeting, or completing the latest project, it’s easy to lose focus of what is most important – people!
In The Leadership Pill – The Missing Ingredient in Motivating People Today, Ken Blanchard and Marc Muchnick make the point that leadership is the process of getting everyone to the place they are supposed to go. That assumes that you are relationally connected with your people so that you understand where each one is at in their own particular journey in your organization, and where all of you need to go as a group to accomplish the organization’s goals.
Considering the average person spends a third of their life at work, leaders need to remember that one of our highest callings is to nurture and develop those under our care and that we are mutually dependent on each other to get where we need to go, both individually and corporately. Don’t get LOST!
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