Blanchard LeaderChat

Are you ready for Open Leadership? That’s the question that Charlene Li asks in her book, Open Leadership: How social technology can transform the way you lead. A major theme in the book is that leadership is about relationships, and because social technologies are changing relationships, leadership also needs to change. And while most executives understand the importance of listening and drawing out the best from their people, a majority of leaders are still focused on maintaining control.

One of the biggest reasons why open leadership is feared and avoided is a concern that open leadership may lead to a lack of control. But in her book, Li explains that openness and control are not an either/or proposition. In fact, it requires a leader be both open and in command.

To help leaders get started with this, Li recommends evaluating where you stand on two important dimensions; Optimism versus Pessimism; and Individuality versus Collaboration. By assessing yourself in these two areas you can begin to understand your starting point on the journey to being a more open leader.

Optimism vs. Pessimism

The first dimension is optimism versus pessimism.  On this scale, Li asks leaders to evaluate their basic assumptions about people. In Li’s model, pessimistic leaders tend to see people as needing to be controlled because people can be harmful, negative, and untrustworthy with information. Optimists, on the other hand, believe that if given the opportunity, people will be positive and constructive, will do the right thing, and can be trusted with confidential information.

Key question: Where do you stand on this first important dimension?

Individually Focused vs. Collaboratively Focused

The second dimension is whether a leader is more individually or collaboratively focused. Individually focused leaders will believe in involving fewer, more knowledgeable people, and in relying on personal initiative—both in themselves and others. These leaders prefer to limit decision-making authority to people who have the knowledge and responsibility for that function in the organization. Collaborative leaders will believe more in the collective wisdom of the group, will tend to depend on others when times are tough, and will personally point to collaboration with others as a key reason for their own success.

Key question: Where would you put yourself on this continuum?

Changing your mindset

An open leadership strategy requires you and your organization’s leadership to be more open and collaborative. But transforming existing mindsets requires time, patience, and repeated small successes to build confidence. To help you get started, Li recommends four strategies: 

• Develop guidelines around the sharing of information. When you share information or push down decision-making, what are your expectations about what will be done with this power? What responsibilities do you want employees to take on? 
• Partner with others who are optimistic and collaborative. Seek out other leaders in your organization whom you regard as an optimistic and open leader. Sit down with this person understand his or her perspective and outlook on the world. What does this person do to ensure being in control while opening up? How does this person make openness work in your organization? 
• Examine your beliefs. As Li explains, “Your mindset is developed through crucial personal experiences, so talk with people who know you well on a personal level. Every person harbors some optimism, so turn to the people whom you trust to help you find that starting point where you will feel comfortable engaging with people.” 
• Start small and build.  Personal change is difficult and old habits die hard. You can’t simply announce, “From today forward I will be collaborative; I will be optimistic.”  It takes time to shift the mindset, and it happens only with repeated successes.

For leaders looking to be more open, Li recommends taking it one step at a time.  In doing so, you can build confidence in sharing information and collaborative decision-making with an ever widening circle of people.  To learn more about Charlene Li and her thoughts on open leadership, check out her book here, or visit www.charleneli.com.  You’ll find a host of great resources that can help you in your journey.

Unfortunately, most New Year’s resolutions are abandoned by Valentine’s Day.  Just as distressing, most 2011 work goals are safely filed away in a desk drawer by the same time.  That’s a shame considering all of the work that went into creating them just a couple of months ago.  Take a minute today to review those goals you set for yourself.  Are you still on track—or have the day-to-day issues we each face pulled you in a dozen different directions already?

All good performance starts with clear goals.  Here are three questions to make sure you are heading in the right direction:

1. Are your goals aligned with departmental and organizational objectives?  Your organization has probably finalized its 2011 strategic planning.  Take a moment to make sure that your individual goals are in alignment with the organization.  You don’t want to be working tangentially or at cross purposes.
2. Are you trying to do too much?  7 or 10 goals are too many for any person to truly focus on.  Instead, choose the 3 to 5 goals that will have the most impact.  That should be a lot clearer now with seven weeks of the new year under your belt.
3. Are you getting feedback on how you’re doing?  By now, you and your manager should have had at least one conversation on how you are progressing toward your goals.  If not, schedule a one-on-one to discuss.  Feedback is a critical component of good performance.

In most organizations, goals are set at the beginning of the year, filed away, and not seen again until it’s time for performance review.  The result is poorly aligned work and unpleasant surprises at the end of the year.  Don’t let that happen to you.  Revisit your goals often, talk to your immediate manager about them on a regular basis, and adjust them as necessary to meet the changing needs of the organization.

In a recent webinar for The Ken Blanchard Companies, WD-40 CEO Garry Ridge asked participants to assess their performance review system.  Over 400 people shared their thoughts in three key areas. Here are their responses to each question.  How would you have answered these same questions on behalf of your organization?

Our organization’s performance review system provides valuable feedback and direction to employees. 

•         Strongly agree               (24%)
•         Slightly agree                (54%)
•         Slightly disagree            (13%)
•         Strongly disagree          (  8%)

Employees don’t receive surprise feedback at the end of the year that they never received during the year. 

•         Strongly agree               (38%)
•         Slightly agree                (35%)
•         Slightly disagree            (19%)
•         Strongly disagree          (  6%)

Our performance review system builds trust between managers and their people. 

•         Strongly agree               (18%)
•         Slightly agree                (47%)
•         Slightly disagree            (22%)
•         Strongly disagree          (10%)

A good performance management system provides employees with feedback and direction that they can use throughout the course of the year to improve performance.  A poor one focuses solely on evaluation.  When that occurs, employees are often surprised by their year-end assessment with detrimental impact on trust and morale.  Don’t let that happen in your organization.  Find ways to help people win along the way by providing clear goals, day-to-day coaching, and frequent, informal feedback throughout the year.  

 To learn how Garry Ridge has created just such a system at WD-40, be sure to check out the on-demand recording of 3 Keys to Effective Performance Management.  You’ll hear about the results of the polling and Ridge’s prescription for success.

Why all the surprise when targets aren’t hit and people seem confused? If you look at most organizations, processes and procedures are not in place to help leaders set goals, manage performance, and conduct reviews in a way that brings out the best in people. To be effective, a performance management system has to provide people with direction, support, and encouragement. See how your organization is doing in these three key areas:

1. Performance Planning

All good performance starts with clear goals. Clarifying goals involves making sure that people understand two things: first, what they are being asked to do—their areas of accountability—and second, what good performance looks like—the performance standards by which they will be evaluated. Most organizations do a good job on performance planning and set very clear goals. However, after goal setting, what do you think happens to those goals? Most often they get filed, and no one looks at them until they are told it’s time for performance reviews. Then everybody runs around, bumping into each other, trying to find the goals.

2. Performance Coaching

Leaders often assume that their work direction conversations are so clear that there is no need for follow-up or that they are so busy that they can’t take the time. Many managers do that very same thing. They hire people, tell them what to do, and then leave them alone and assume good performance will follow. In other words, they abdicate; they don’t delegate. This sets up the old leave alone/zap management style. To counteract this, schedule and hold progress-check meetings. You will be able to catch problems before they become major and significantly increase the probability that your direct report’s performance on the goal will meet your expectations. Progress-check conversations enhance the quality of your relationships, build trust and commitment, open lines of communication, and diminish the amount of time spent fighting brush fires.

3. Performance Review

This is where a person’s performance over the course of a year is summed up. If steps one and two have been done properly, the year-end performance review will just be a review of what has already been discussed. There will be no surprises. Instead, managers and direct reports will be reviewing and celebrating the tasks they have already been working on. When progress-check meetings are scheduled according to development level, open, honest discussions about the direct report’s performance take place on an ongoing basis, creating mutual understanding and agreement.

How is your organization doing in these three key areas?

Clear goals, solid day-to-day coaching, and “no surprise” performance reviews are hallmarks of a great performance management system. Think about your own organization, and your own conversations with managers and direct reports you work with. Are there areas where you could improve?

PS: If you would like to learn how one organization has put these practices into use, be sure to check out today’s webinar of 3 Keys to Effective Performance Management. WD-40 CEO Garry Ridge will be sharing how he has created a high involvement, high performance work culture that has increased performance and engagement levels. The session is free and is being broadcast today at 9:00 a.m. Pacific (5:00 p.m. GMT).

Yes, you should let people know you care about them and appreciate them as work colleagues, but a recent article in the Wall Street Journal shows how confused some people can be when thinking about how to display caring and appreciation in the workplace.

In an article entitled Does Your Work Wife Get a Valentine? columnist Sue Shellenbarger looks at how some co-workers are showing affection for their “work spouse” with a valentine.  The article explains how men and women—who are already in a committed romantic relationship with spouses outside of work, also want to use Valentine’s Day to show their affection for their “work spouse,” a colleague that they have a close bond with.

And while the employees in the article make a case for why it is okay to acknowledge the special nature of their work relationships with a valentine, the response from readers has been mostly negative with most questioning the wisdom of doing anything that encourages people to combine recognition, caring, and appreciation with anything romantic.

So how does a leader or co-worker show that they care for someone at their company in the best sense of the word?  Here are three tips:

1.  Do it on any other day except Valentine’s Day.  Don’t confuse a strong professional relationship with a romantic one.
2. Check your motives.  Are you trying to show appreciation, recognition, and caring—or is there something more that you are trying to say? 
3. If it feels like you may be blurring the line, don’t do it.

Feelings have a place at work, but it has to be in the collegial sense.  Focus on recognition and appreciation and steer clear of any romantic aspect.  To read Shellenbarger’s complete article, click here.  To share your thoughts on the article, or offer tips on proper ways to show appreciation for co-workers, use the COMMENTS button above.

There’s a good reason why more people don’t run and jog to improve their cardiovascular health.  It hurts—especially when you’re just starting out.  For me it occurs at about the 3:00 minute mark.  That’s when the early burst of excitement (and caffeine) burns off and now my heart and lungs are laboring to catch-up with the demands my legs are putting on my body.

It’s a time each morning when I really want to quit—and in a lot of cases I did, because it seems like it was getting worse and worse with no improvement in sight.  But an interesting thing happens if I just stay with it a little while longer.  At about the 6:00 minute mark, my heart and lungs do catch up, my breathing is heavy but measured, and I realize that the worst is over.  I can do this!

The same thing happens at work when people face a new difficult task or role.  There is a moment, after the excitement of trying something new wears off, when we realize that this is going to be more difficult than we thought. 

Seth Godin writes about this phenomenon is his book, “The Dip” and it has important insight for any manager looking to improve growth and retention in their organization.  That’s because “the dip” is a prime time when many employees quit a task or a role because it seems too hard with no improvement in sight.

Do you have any employees who are at or near their “dipping point” on a task or role?  What are you, as a manager, doing to help them get through it?  Here are three tips that can help.

1. Identify where each employee is at with a specific task or role.  Are they an enthusiastic beginner, or has disillusionment set in?
2. If they are an enthusiastic beginner, channel that excitement by having them work on the right tasks, in the right order, to get the job done.
3. If disillusionment has set in, add a strong coaching component into the mix.  In addition to clear direction, you are going to have to provide them with a lot of support while they work through “the dip.” Encourage them on progress (even when they can’t see it), remind them of the goal, and make time to be there with training and other resources.

Don’t let “the dip” scuttle your plans.  With a little bit of help, people can power through to success.

Who did you root for in yesterday’s game? If you didn’t happen to live in Pittsburgh or Green Bay, you probably had a decision to make.  That process you went through—and your eventual decision, can teach you a lot about employee engagement.  Give me a minute and let me explain.

Each year, the Super Bowl gives sports fans everywhere a chance to experience the process that employees go through when they are identifying whether a particular company is a good place to work or not.  That’s because most people, unless they happen to live in one of the two competing team’s home cities, have a decision to make.  Who to root for? 

Because most of the people who are watching the game are not necessarily fans of either team before the broadcast, people have to evaluate the environment, compare it against their beliefs and past experiences, and then make an emotional decision that wraps it all up.  For example:

• Big Ben and I both graduated from Miami of Ohio
• Because Mrs. Shumate, my second grade teacher liked the Packers
• Because Pittsburgh’s minor league baseball team plays here in Bradenton
• Because my daughter lives in Pittsburgh
• Because Packers are in same division as my team

And so everyone has to decide which team they’re going to root for. It’s the same process when an employee looks at a new work environment and decides whether it is a good place to work or not.  For example, at work, people look at a variety of different factors in deciding whether a particular company is a good fit for them including:

• Pay and benefits
• Growth opportunities
• Culture

It will typically be a combination factors, some logical and some emotional, but always individual and personalized because each individual looks at their work environment differently and makes a decision based on their own experiences.  What is motivating for one employee is not the same for another.

So what’s a manager to do? 

1. First, recognize that everyone is different.
2. Have conversations with your people.
3. Ask them what motivates them and what creates a personally engaging work environment.

You’ll find out that the answers are as diverse as the reasons people have for choosing which team to root for.

To learn more about the process that people go through in determining whether a particular work environment is engaging or not, check out the white paper, From Engagement to Work Passion.  It will show you eight of the factors that people typically look at and the process they use in deciding.

Garry Ridge, CEO of WD-40 Company, still remembers the first time he heard Ken Blanchard talk about how as a college professor he would hand out the final exam on the first day of class and then he would teach everybody the answers throughout the course of the year.

It made Ridge ask himself, “Why don’t we do that in business?”

Ridge turned the idea over in his mind and eventually partnered up with Blanchard to write the 2009 best-selling business book, Helping People Win at Work: A Business Philosophy Called “Don’t Mark My Paper, Help Me Get an A”

In addition to writing about the subject, Ridge put the concepts into practice. Similar to what Ken Blanchard had done as a college professor, Ridge set out to do the same with the employees at his company, WD-40. He would give each employee a copy of the final exam at the beginning of the year—in the form of annual goals—and then have managers and supervisors partner with their employees to help them get an “A”

As Ridge explains, “In most organizations, after goals are set, managers file the goals away and don’t think much about the people’s performance until they realize they have to do their annual performance reviews. The only other time they think about their people’s performance is when something goes wrong. These managers tend to manage by exception. When a red flag goes up, they go to work and start managing.”

At WD-40 Company, the agreed-on final exam is just the beginning. Now comes the key step: the leader has to keep up his or her end of the partnership relationship on a day-to-day basis, by helping in coaching and supporting the individual to get an “A.”

Leaders and direct reports get together to analyze the employee’s development level on each of his or her goals and determines the leadership style that is a match. This process helps employees ask for the help they need from their managers as they move toward their “A” in each of their agreed-upon goal areas. It provides the basis for the day-to-day coaching of team members.

“You’ll hear people say, ‘I think I’m getting an “A” here, but I think I’m getting a “B” here.’ And then we want to talk about the B’s. We will ask, ‘What is getting in the way of you doing great work? Is it something within the company? Do we need to get some help? Are things just crappy out there? Do we need to adjust a little bit?’

“And so we have these check-in meetings four times a year. And there are no surprises. You know exactly where you are.”

What’s the focus of performance management in your organization? 

Setting goals and monitoring progress is only part of the story.  Helping people achieve their goals is where the action is really at. 

To learn more about Garry Ridge’s approach to performance management, be sure to check out a complimentary webinar Ridge is conducting on February 17 titled 3 Keys to Effective Performance Management.