Month: August 2015

26 Aug 2015
Sticky Post By Posted in Uncategorized Permalink

Hello? Is Anybody Out There?

Sticky Post By On August 26, 2015
Responsiveness doesn’t have to be instant, but a response is important to acknowledge another human being.

My wife and I have noticed a trend lately. People are horrible at responding to messages on getting back to people. Although I trust my wife a great deal, I wanted to find out if this was something that occurred outside of just between the two of us. After conducting a very unscientific poll, what I found was that responsiveness was becoming something of a lost art. It wasn’t that people didn’t get back to you. But it seems as if the speed with which they got back to you was proportional to how much you could do for them.
 
Due to the insanity of schedules and the incredible amount of information that is available, people seem overwhelmed. It is difficult to navigate through the course of the day, let alone return a phone call or a message that was an urgent or had some action behind that impacted you.
 
Let’s make one thing perfectly clear, I am both a victim and perpetrator of this unresponsive phenomenon.
 
What does this  say about our interconnectedness? What about our vaunted ability to be separated by one or two people from anyone in the world?
 
Its both a curse and blessing of being interconnected. Because our expectation is a immediate response anything less is a disappointment. The other lesson we learned is that just because someone agrees to be part of our network, does not equal a lifelong friend or someone that you can count on to help with the job or referral. For the most part, it is important to be clear about the expectations of someone that you are connected to and to always practice the platinum rule.
 
NETWORK EXPECTATIONS

In order to keep one’s sanity, it’s important that we understand the relationship we have with people in their network.
 
FRIENDS

Obviously, there are going to be some people that are genuinely your friends. These people that you can count on when there is a question that needs to be answered her door a favor that needs to be asked. It is very rare that this is a large group. However, there are exceptions to this rule.
 
CONNECTORS

There will be a percentage of people in your network who are the kind of people you can talk to occasionally. But, they’re always good as connectors to other people. Although they may not know you they’re more than willing to say a kind word.
 
KINDA KNOWS

Then, there is the vast majority. According to some statistics, this can be anywhere from 45 to 65% of your “network”. These are the people that are in your network in name only. With all the best intentions between both you and these individuals, there is nothing more to your relationship with them then they are part of your network. It is important that you understand that. If for some reason this is unacceptable to you, is possible to remove people that do not respond to you from your network. But, this is generally not a practice that is utilized by most people. (In full disclosure, this year I attempted to contact each person on my LinkedIn. Currently I have over 615 contacts. After sending each one an individual message I had less than 25% respond). Therefore, it is vital that you understand that the majority of people in your network move the names that you never interact with.
 
THE PLATINUM RULE

I know that there is a golden rule, but personally I am much more interested in working with platinum. Platinum rule is to treat others as they would want to be treated. Several little differently, do one to others as they would want to be done to themselves. That means that if you want people to respond to you you have to be doubly responsive to others. This is hard because for the most part people respond to you. But, it’s important that you don’t let this deter you from being responsive. It’s important to be responsive because you never know where that is going to lead you.
 
Another way to think of the platinum rule is a little bit like the idea of “pay it forward“. This was made popular by a movie with the same title. The important thing to remember is that in order to have people respond to you need to be ultimately responsive.
 
Yes it’s true, we are all far more busy and distracted than ever before. But in order to keep our tenuous grip on reality it’s important that when someone reaches out we reach back to remind him or her that there’s someone else out there.
 
What do you think?  How do you stay connected?

Anil Saxena is the President of Cube 2.14, an organizational development consulting firm that works with clients to increase both customer and employee engagement while decreasing turnover, improving customer retention, and increasing profitability within organizations.

Saxena is a certified High Impact coach and trainer and a Joint Application Design facilitator. He is also certified by both Rush Systems and IBM as a focus group facilitator. He is an inaugural member of Northwestern University’s Learning and Organizational Change program, and he earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

26 Aug 2015
Sticky Post By Posted in Leadership Articles Permalink

Cutting Fat And Gaining Muscle

Sticky Post By On August 26, 2015

There is a myth being propagated by pundits lately, that you either have to cut or grow. But the truth is you can’t do one with out the other successfully
 
In many countries and companies across the globe the economic crisis has caused a rash of austerity measures to attempt to right crashing economies.  There is no doubt that this is necessary are vital as an immediate stopgap, but it is not a long term solution. But, unchecked growth alone is not a recipe for long term success either. Rapid growth is awesome, but when it is unchecked it can lead to shoddy process, products and service.
 
ALL THINGS IN MODERATION

As with all things in life, there must be balance.  In prosperous and lean times, it is critical for organizations both be thoughtful about

COSTS, EFFICIENCY AND PRODUCTIVITY

• Organizations must be mindful at all times about how and where money/resources are “spent” (grab reference to constant planning).  This is one the most powerful uses of Lean or Six Sigma in an organization.  Tools and methodologies like that are most useful to hone and streamline.  They are not methods to cut cost necessarily, but will ensure lower costs and higher productivity over a long time horizon.
• Organizations need to reward GOOD usage of resources.  There are thousands of companies (and governments AND non-profits) that budget like spoiled children.  Amazingly, if a team or department is fiscally responsible, gets everything they accomplished, and comes in under budget they are rewarded by getting a LOWER budget the following year. WHAT?!?!  Hence the reason that organizations try to spend money like drunken sailors before the end of their fiscal year.  That does not make sense.
• Get help from employees – Companies like Well Fargo, SAS and the Container Store regularly implement employee ideas that reap HUGE benefits. None of them have “employee suggestion” programs.  They reward great ideas by allowing the employees to lead (or be a part of the) project to implement the ideas!
 
BUILD, GROW AND PROSPER
• Ensure that there are new products and services coming down the pike all the time.  There is a great blog by the new CEO of Yahoo Marissa Mayer that shows us there MUST be energy focused on innovating and creating all the time.
• Every single employee MUST understand their Line-Of-Sight –
◦ The “straight line” that every employee has to gaining and retaining customers.
◦ According to the Coffman Organization’s latest research, providing employees with this knowledge allows them to see and understand their impact.  That increases the feeling of meaningfulness of their work and directly impacts their productivity.
• Growth must be pushed all the time, regardless of the economy.  Only losers use the economy as an excuse.  There are hundreds of examples of companies that did well during the recession.  Some were disruptive and others doubled down when they saw their competitors pull back.
◦  Apple
◦ Redbox
◦ Ralph Lauren
 

Don’t let the economy, weather or any other thing out of the organization’s control be the reason for its failure.  Yes, they can be impediments, but don’t have to be showstoppers.
 
It is imperative that organizations look to both cut fat and gain muscle ALL THE TIME.  This way, the organization can anticipate shocks, recover from missteps and capitalize on competitions faltering.
 
Do you agree that leaders should have a balanced approach making sure organizations thrive?  What are methods you have seen work well?
 
Anil Saxena is the President of Cube 2.14, an organizational development consulting firm that works with clients to increase both customer and employee engagement while decreasing turnover, improving customer retention, and increasing profitability within organizations.

Saxena is a certified High Impact coach and trainer and a Joint Application Design facilitator. He is also certified by both Rush Systems and IBM as a focus group facilitator. He is an inaugural member of Northwestern University’s Learning and Organizational Change program, and he earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

26 Aug 2015
Sticky Post By Posted in Leadership Articles, Organizational Change Articles Permalink

No, No, Not Another Change

Sticky Post By On August 26, 2015

At the end of almost every change initiative is a phenomenon usually referred to as “change fatigue”.
 
Change Fatigue – Departments, organizations and people that go through endless change that with no result.
 
With anywhere between 50 and 70% of change initiatives failing, it is no surprise that people are fatigued with change.  It is equivalent to endlessly moving offices within a building and somehow ending up with the same or worse view no matter where you go.
 
At some point there is a belief that no change will make a situation any better.
 
WHY DOES CHANGE FATIGUE HAPPEN?

There are hundreds of really great explanations as to why change fatigue occurs.  Here are the top three:
 
1. THERE IS NO CLEAR DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WHAT WAS AND WHAT IS

Simply put, the change that was implemented doesn’t really change anything substantial. Many reorganizations fall into this category. There is some purpose or rationale for the change that is expressed early on. But, once the project is in full swing, leaders get swayed by the many voices that feel slighted. In the end, the change is really more like shifting names in boxes.
 
“Most reorgs are like moving furniture in a room at best or trying to moving the same furniture while the room is on fire at worst”
 
The change affects many, but changes little. People get really tired of those and wary when similar changes come up. Fatigue sets in right away.
 
2. PROCESSES IN THE “NEW WORLD” ARE CONFUSING AT BEST

Change is tiresome and complicated for almost everyone involved.  It requires those impacted to alter practices that may have been in place for some time.  There is quite a bit of energy that it takes to get through a change.  If it is unclear or confusing people will find a way to do it the way they always have done and work around the new process.
 
3. ONCE THE CHANGE IS IMPLEMENTED, THERE IS A THRUST TO “GET BACK TO THE WAY IT WAS” OR “JUST GET BACK TO WORK”

One of the most common occurrences after a change is implemented is for people to “get back to their day jobs”.  Here is the problem.  Once the organization has changed, there is no “getting back to the way it was”.  Things have changed.  There is a new reality.  Once you get married, the relationship has changed and there is no going back.  It has been altered and the only way to be successfully is to deal with the NEW.
 
WHAT CAN BE DONE?
 
1. KNOW THAT THIS IS COMMON AND PART OF THE CHANGE CYCLE

According to many experts change fatigue or at least the idea that people working on the change will feel fatigued is normal.  Depending on the complexity of the change and how much the change impacts their livelihood, it can occur multiple times. The very best way to minimize the affect of it is to know that people often feel fatigued, anxious, etc. during times of change.  Knowing this can help to ensure that it is planned for or at least there is not panic when it occurs.
 
2. INVOLVE PEOPLE EARLY AND OFTEN.

Change is like taking a road trip.  People’s perspective about the trip is all in relationship to where they sit in the car.  
Driver – feels good.  They are in control of the route, the radio, heat, etc.  Passenger – Feels pretty good. Can have input on direction and can also get access to the heat, radio, etc.  Person locked in the trunk – not very good feeling.  The drive is being “done to them”.  They have NO control.  Everyone is taking the same car trip, but the perspective is very different based on the level of control felt.
 
Change initiatives are the same.  People want to have the feeling of control.  They don’t want the change not being “done to them”. Ensure at the very beginning all people impacted, that can influence, that can work on, that will have to support, etc.  (otherwise known as stakeholders) are involved.  Generally, this is called “Stakeholder Management“.  All too often, this is not only not done well, but not done at all.  As any experienced change management practioner will tell you, this is a make or break step.
 
3. THE CHANGE IS NOT JUST SUCCESSFUL AT LAUNCH, BUT 6, 12, 18, 24 MONTHS AFTER ITS OVER

All too often, the focus of the change is the launch or “implementation”.  This goes for any type of change – software implementation, reorganization, big process change due to governmental regulation, and anything else you can think of – Regardless of size or scope. It seems as if there is a focus on getting the department organization up to and maybe even through the point of change. Unfortunately, there is often not enough emphasis put on what happens after the change has been implemented. By this time, most of the consultants and many of the extra resources have gone away. However, this is when most care is needed.

• Managers need to have tools to talk to employees,
• Employees need tools to utilize new resources,
• Employees may need new methods to deal with customers.
 
It is vitally important that there is ample training, communication, and updates regarding the success of a change. The real measure of a successful change is not whether or not the implementation went without a hitch, it is whether or not the change had the required impact or is still continuing to make a difference in the organization long after the implementation has been completed. This will enable employees to see that there is some difference made in a positive way. It will magically alleviate much of the change fatigue
 
CHANGE FATIGUE IS A CONVENIENT WAY TO EXPLAIN WHY CHANGES FAIL.

No change initiative is perfect or will go off without any issues.

But,

• Knowing that fatigue is part of the normal process of change,
• Involving all stakeholders early and often,
• Ensuring that there is focus and energy placed on the processes to sustain the change will go a long way to increasing the success of change initiatives and eliminating the idea of change fatigue.
 
How have you seen change fatigue impact projects?  What are some methods that you’ve seen success with to deal with “change fatigue”?

Anil Saxena is the President of Cube 2.14, an organizational development consulting firm that works with clients to increase both customer and employee engagement while decreasing turnover, improving customer retention, and increasing profitability within organizations.

Saxena is a certified High Impact coach and trainer and a Joint Application Design facilitator. He is also certified by both Rush Systems and IBM as a focus group facilitator. He is an inaugural member of Northwestern University’s Learning and Organizational Change program, and he earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

26 Aug 2015
Sticky Post By Posted in Change Management Articles, Human Resources Articles, Instructional Design Articles, Leadership Articles, Organizational Change Articles Permalink

If You Ask Me How I’m Feeling One More Time

Sticky Post By On August 26, 2015

One of the worst things that an employer can do is to over survey employees.  Do you want to know how an employee feels after finishing the 100 questions “engagement survey” or the 6th company wide survey this year?
 
Like the organization they work for has no idea what they really want or need.  It indicates the organization has no clue how to really engage them.
 
As the parent of a teenager, I have learned the hard way that asking, “what’s wrong” 100 times only works to get my daughter angry at me.  It doesn’t show that I care; it shows that I am clueless.
 
Employees have heard too many times that they are the most important assets and seen too many times that how they are treated, listened to or respected doesn’t coincide with that.
 

Just asking someone how he or she is feeling doesn’t make him or her feel better.  – Dr. Phil
 
That reminds me of a story I was told a long time ago.  There was a new farmer from the city that bought livestock farm.  He was struggling to fatten up its prize livestock.  The farmer weighed them every morning. Each time the weight stayed the same.  The farmer checked the scale, brought out a scale expert and even bought an atomic scale. No matter how many times the farmer weighed his livestock, they never gained weight.  The farmer finally broke down and brought his livestock to the veterinarian.  The farmer told him all the woes of the many scales.  The vet shook her head and said, “there is nothing wrong with your scale son, you need to feed them to get them to grow.”
 
That is a silly story, but one that happens every single day in organizations across the globe.  We ask and ask and ask, but without the follow up we are just expecting the asking to get the job done.  Now that is silly.
 
SIGNS YOU JUST DON’T KNOW

1. The survey you use has over 30 questions– There is ample data that points to a phenomenon called Survey Overload. A survey that is too long is not focused and trying to get as much information from the respondent as possible.  There are three problems with this method:

◦ People get angry taking long surveys
◦ The data is seldom actionable
◦ It takes far too long to analyze
◦ The data will not point to any definitive issues that will result in higher performance.

Gallup’s Q12 showed that it is the right questions that enable action and subsequent increases in performance
 
2. There are too many surveys per year (or month or week) – This causes SurveyFatigue .  Survey fatigue gets people angry at taking the survey.  Unless there is follow up or communication for each survey, it will prove to the respondent that their opinion doesn’t matter

3. There is a big build up to the survey, but no communication after it for months.

How would you like it if someone asked you what you would make your living situation more enjoyable and then didn’t get back to you about your response for 4 (or more) months?  Sound crazy?  That is happening RIGHT NOW.  If you are not following up immediately with communication and within 14 to 30 days after the survey with results, employees will start to doubt you value their input.
 
WAYS TO SHOW YOU REALLY DO KNOW

1. Use a survey that has a handful of targeted questions that are actionable.  The survey should be geared towards what will move the needle for the very best performers.  It should be validated and designed to link to organizational performance.(www.coffmanorganizaiton.com)

Survey less dialogue more – It is more effective to survey fewer times, but drive your leaders to talk more about how to create an engaged environment with their teams.  The survey should be a vehicle to discuss how to improve, grow and become more effective.  It shouldn’t replace dialogue.  The survey results tell you where you should focus your energy, but not what you should do once you know.
 
2. Communicate, follow-up, take action and communicate some more –

• Communication should be constant.  There should be ample communication regarding the rationale for the survey, during the survey, once the results are rolled out, and then at regular intervals until the next survey
• Give managers and employee learning about engagement and then actions to follow up.  Make sure they have the tools to be successful.  Yes, employees need that information too. They should own action taken as a result of the survey.
• The MOST critical thing to do with the results is to take some action based on them.  People will watch to see if what they said is being used to improve the organization.  Let employees know when Communicate when action is taken based on employee feedback,  They are excited to know their input has resulted in positive action and improvements
• Oh, did I mention communicating?
 
Don’t let your organization be the clueless farmer. Surveys are outstanding tools but WILL NOT make the organization more effective alone.  Employees will be engaged in the process only if the results are used to drive action and dialogue.  
 
How does your organization use surveys?  What do they do well?  What could be improved?

26 Aug 2015
Sticky Post By Posted in Instructional Design Articles, Leadership Articles, Organizational Change Articles Permalink

Controlling The Truth

Sticky Post By On August 26, 2015

One of the most prevalent signs of Organizational Learned Helplessness (OLH) is the art of making any news sound good.

Better known as “spinning”.  Spinning takes its queue from George Orwell’s 1984 –

”Day by day and almost minute by minute the past was brought up to date. In this way every prediction made by the Party could be shown by documentary evidence to have been correct; nor was any item of news, or any expression of opinion, which conflicted with the needs of the moment, ever allowed to remain on record. All history was a palimpsest, scraped clean and reinscribed exactly as often as was necessary.”
 
Essentially, it is perpetually changing the story to make the company, country, person, etc. sound/look the best.  Companies do this constantly.  Although their intentions may be good, the end result is not. In fact, the results can be tragic for the organization’s internal and external reputation.
 
3 RESULTS OF CONTROLLING THE TRUTH
 
1. Investors (and therefore the public for most part) don’t believe when things are going well and over correct when things are bad.
 
“Saying what’s so makes the bad less bad and the good better” Jim Kramer
 
2. Consumers/customers stop trusting the organization and look for reasons to flee.
 
“Toyota lost more customers each time they came out with a statement about the brake issue. Had they just corrected it, the story would have been over in a week. They perpetuated it by trying to control the truth”
 
3. Employees stop listening to the “corporate communications”, believe rumors, and actively undermine the organization (even unconsciously). This is caused by lower trust and usually results in lower profit.
 
WHAT CAN YOU DO

Not constantly spinning goes against the “new normal”, but has been shown to reap huge benefits – look at Apple, Ford, etc. There are three fundamentals to gain and maintain trust:

1.Tell the whole truth earlier – In In the age of the Internet and WikiLeaks there is no doubt that the truth will come out eventually is imperative that you tell the whole truth. It seems counterintuitive to the art of spinning. But, employees, customers, and investors are likely not going to believe the spin. They will fill in the blanks on their own. They have been taught to do this by the constant masking of what is really so. If the truth is told early then you can get out in front      of the issue and begin to correct it.
 
2. Instead of controlling a story, try solving the problem – it sounds deceptively simple, but it’s not. The focus should never be damage control, but solution creation. Once a mistake is made, it’s made. The real test is can the issue be resolved to become stronger. Tylenol did this beautifully. An issue with their product became a catapult to huge market share and public safety.
 
3. Accept blame and move on. Admittedly, this is the hardest one. In our litigious society it is difficult to accept blame because there could be larger ramifications. However, the quicker that blame can be assessed. The better that a solution can be provided. Now accepting blame or fault doesn’t necessarily mean that the entire situation was your or the organization’s fault. Really determining the issue and then working towards a solution will make everything resolved more quickly and more amicably.
 
The truth will always find a way out, always.  Organizations that get out in front of problems and start to provide solutions can move past a problem and turn it into a win for the organization will be seen as far superior to their competition.  That is why we still talk about Tylenol’s outstanding reaction more than 25 years later.  My wife used to tell me something that still holds true today –

Spinning your clothes doesn’t get the stain out, it embeds the dirt deeper.

The truth can’t be controlled, so you might as well stop trying…ask the leaders at Toyota.
 
What do you think about controlling the truth?  What is the danger of telling too much truth?

Anil Saxena is the President of Cube 2.14, an organizational development consulting firm that works with clients to increase both customer and employee engagement while decreasing turnover, improving customer retention, and increasing profitability within organizations.

Saxena is a certified High Impact coach and trainer and a Joint Application Design facilitator. He is also certified by both Rush Systems and IBM as a focus group facilitator. He is an inaugural member of Northwestern University’s Learning and Organizational Change program, and he earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

26 Aug 2015
Sticky Post By Posted in Leadership Articles Permalink

Leaders: You Can’t Really Manage Change

Sticky Post By On August 26, 2015

DURING A RECENT PROJECT THAT INVOLVED WHOLE SCALE TRANSFORMATION OF A CLIENT’S SYSTEM TO MANAGE, HIRE, COMPENSATE, REWARD AND RECOGNIZE, 65% OF THEIR EMPLOYEES ARE WHO DRIVE THEIR PROFITABILITY.

The concept of managing change really is a fallacy.

TRADITIONAL CHANGE

There are many statistics indicating that traditional change management is only successful in approximately 30% – 15% of all projects. With all of the money, time, and effort put into change, it is hard to believe that it is so “badly managed”.
The fatal flaw in our traditional approach, sometimes referred to as the LaMarsh approach, is that change is viewed as an event.

Traditional Change Management’s design is to push an organization through to the other side of an issue, problem or event –

But the truth is there is no there.

CHANGE IS INEVITABLE

Change is constant.  Once the organization makes it through one change, there is another.

The end state is not the end of the change but the beginning.
 
Two Important Things to Remember:

• Change viewed as “an event that must be completed and then things will go back to normal” is daunting and causes fatigue.
• Change viewed as a constant evolution moving from one change to the next does not seem so daunting (and could be exciting).

BUT…

It will still be tough. There will be some natural resistance, but if change is viewed as a constant, resistance will eventually become much lower.

If organizations are anticipating and prepared for change, there will be no surprise change event.   No one in the organization will be shocked about changing because they know that it is constantly happening.

MOVING TO “OPTIMIZING EVOLUTION”

1. Acknowledge that change is inevitable

It is imperative that leaders communicate that change is a constant occurrence within the organization. Due to globalization, technology, and competition, there is no organization that can survive without looking at both success now,  and what will enable future success.

2. Establish “Organizational Evolution” teams

Organizations need to establish central teams that are dedicated to anticipating and enabling change throughout the organization. Similar to an internal audit function, a “central evolution team” will increase the likelihood that the organization will not be surprised when there is a new government regulation,technology, or competitor.

Internal audit plays a vital role in making sure that the organization is what is should be so when a real audit occurs there are no surprises and no detrimental findings. In the same vein, a “central evolution team” will work to be aware of issues, challenges, and opportunities.

Being prepared will take the sting out of big changes.

3. Moving away from trying to “manage change”

The fundamentals of the primary models that have been used over the past quarter-century to “manage change” are still valid. It’s important to continue to use them.

Utilize internal resources, which not only have the most at stake, but also understand the current system better than anyone else, as the “Core Evolution Teams”.  Allow them to leverage a “weave” methodology.

In its simplest form:
Of course it is necessary to have training and communication embedded within the process, but that is nothing new.

4. Educate the organization

Critical Step: Education around this new mindset of change – organizational transformation or evolution optimization. In order for everyone to accept that change is constant, it’s important there is understanding it will be looking for opportunities to transform and improve all the time.

Each person in the organization must view themselves as change agents, actively seeking out better ways to do their jobs.
Employees have to be given some latitude to alter the way that they do things to improve performance, customer experience, or increase profit, and of course there will need to be checks and balances.

BECOME AN AGENT OF CHANGE

If everyone in your organization views themselves as an agent of change, when its time to change and transform, there will be less resistance and more buy-in and support.

There is no silver bullet to successful change. It is unacceptable that 70 and 85 percent of all change initiatives fail.  It is vital that a new way to make organization’s change is resilient.

Are you ready to leverage and embrace opportunities to become more efficient, effective and profitable? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
 
This blog also appears on the Linked2Leadership Blog.  Please visit them!

Anil Saxena is the President of Cube 2.14, an organizational development consulting firm that works with clients to increase both customer and employee engagement while decreasing turnover, improving customer retention, and increasing profitability within organizations.

Saxena is a certified High Impact coach and trainer and a Joint Application Design facilitator. He is also certified by both Rush Systems and IBM as a focus group facilitator. He is an inaugural member of Northwestern University’s Learning and Organizational Change program, and he earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

26 Aug 2015
Sticky Post By Posted in Leadership Articles, Organizational Change Articles Permalink

Leaders: Watering During A Drought

Sticky Post By On August 26, 2015

Often times when the economy gets bad, one of the first areas to get cut is training and development. Although not vital to keeping the doors open, ensuring the development of employees is one of the most important tools for driving future growth and innovation.

However, that doesn’t mean that there isn’t some training that could be eliminated or reduced.
But, just like watering the garden during a drought, there are some plants that should be watered to ensure the gardens growth when the drought is over.

TAKE CARE OF YOUR LAND 

There are a few lessons we can learn about development from taking care of the land during a drought:

1. Not Everything Should be Watered the Same Amount

The hard truth is that there are some training initiatives and programs that are necessary to ensure the growth of the organization, and there are some that are simply just nice to have.

It is important to use this time to eliminate training that doesn’t have impactand redirect those budget dollars to training shown to make a positive difference.

Some areas should be cut in order for other areas to get more needed funding.

2. Monitoring the Crop
It is vital at all times, but especially during “a drought,” to be able to identifythe training that has impact on on-the-job performance. –
 
The training that can cause increases in efficiency, effectiveness, customer satisfaction, etc. should be those “plants” that get extra water during a drought.
 
Great training can be seen as a strategic advantage.
 
Monitoring training impact can lead you to those great training programs more quickly.
 
3. Don’t Forget to Weed

Don’t hesitate to drop development programs that have little or no impact. It is important that you are showing fiscal responsibility during the “lean times”.
 
Regardless of the economy, it’s important to focus energy and resources in continuing to develop your folks in an organization.
 
What do you need to cut back on in order to help your business grow? Which areas in your company need to be “watered” the most? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Anil Saxena is the President of Cube 2.14, an organizational development consulting firm that works with clients to increase both customer and employee engagement while decreasing turnover, improving customer retention, and increasing profitability within organizations.

Saxena is a certified High Impact coach and trainer and a Joint Application Design facilitator. He is also certified by both Rush Systems and IBM as a focus group facilitator. He is an inaugural member of Northwestern University’s Learning and Organizational Change program, and he earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

26 Aug 2015
Sticky Post By Posted in Human Resources Articles, Leadership Articles Permalink

Making Work Meaningful – Everyone Deserves A Little Dessert

Sticky Post By On August 26, 2015

It is important to recognize everyone’s accomplishments and the things they do better than anyone else.  This helps people gain confidence and momentum in their roles and to feel good about their efforts.  However, in the rare case that you cannot find something positive to say, realize that either you are not looking hard enough or you are guilty of tolerating poor performance.
 
NO CAKE FOR YOU

It is far easier to remember all of the various and sundry things that team members don’t do well. In fact, there are many times where it feels like poor performance is the focal point of all of the conversations and where all the energy is spent with team members.
 
CASE IN POINT

A manager that I once worked with named Dave took a negative approach to his leadership role. What he was to pick assignments for his team members based where they would do the least damage! I was stunned. There is no opportunity for growth in managing like this. This type of precautionary leadership limits the ability of team members to be innovative, creative, and really to use their talents most effectively.
 
No one can be beaten, belittled, or cajoled into working harder for very long.
For some reason, this scenario reminds me of the cake scene in the movie “Office Space.” As funny as this scene is, it really is important to give each person a little “dessert” or acknowledgment of the great work for which they are capable. High-performance teams focus on leveraging the strengths and talents or “the individual cornerstones” that each person contributes to the team.
 
ICING ON THE CAKE

A recent client that I worked with was a perennial winner of her company’s “best manager of the year award.” She had been moved to a number of different departments to take on failing teams within the organization.
 
Each new team that she took over became a high-performing team in a very short amount of time. But contrary to modern management modality, her results didn’t come from by firing current employees and hiring new people on the team.
 
Her stellar results came from her focus on understanding the value that each person brought to the team. Then, her success was cemented by giving her team members the opportunity to utilize their skills and strength as much as possible.
 
When I asked her what the secret of her success was, she said this:
 
“I look for the ‘frosting.’ That is, I look for each team members’ sweet spot and then exploit it so that they are doing what makes them happy and what makes us the most successful.”

THE PERFECT CAKE

REMEMBER THIS:

1. Don’t focus solely on what your team members don’t do well.  Building a high-performance team takes the dedicated efforts of each person. Putting someone where they will do the least damage is a recipe for low performance and little (if any) dedication or improvement.
 
2. Look for the talent, or individual cornerstone, of every person on your team.  They were hired because of some talent or strength that set them apart. Look for the best. Talk to them about their “individual cornerstones.” Give them projects/tasks to let them focus on using those individual cornerstones (talents) that make them unique.
 
If you are spending more time trying to give people assignments that they won’t mess up rather than taking the time producing exceptional work, there is a big problem with your leadership.
 
Teams can’t survive, let alone thrive, by avoiding failure.
 
The better way to go is to take the time to really learn what makes your team members special.  You will be surprised at how a problem employee can turn into a superstar when you let them shine.
 
How have you seen leaders learn to look for the hidden talents of their team members?  
Can a high performance team have members that are not dedicated?  What tactics have you seen to leverage the talents of team members?

Anil Saxena is the President of Cube 2.14, an organizational development consulting firm that works with clients to increase both customer and employee engagement while decreasing turnover, improving customer retention, and increasing profitability within organizations.

Saxena is a certified High Impact coach and trainer and a Joint Application Design facilitator. He is also certified by both Rush Systems and IBM as a focus group facilitator. He is an inaugural member of Northwestern University’s Learning and Organizational Change program, and he earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

26 Aug 2015
Sticky Post By Posted in Change Management Articles, Human Resources Articles, Instructional Design Articles, Leadership Articles Permalink

Teaching The Old Dog – That’s Not Going To Work…Really

Sticky Post By On August 26, 2015

The definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again and expect a different result. Although there is a ton of evidence to the contrary, training being developed today still follows a broken methodology.

Is this insane, or what???  

In a recent project with a client, I was asked to develop training on a new safety system and protocol that was going to be rolled out to all 15,000 or so employees across the world. This new “initiative” was designed to solve an issue regarding incidents that occurred around staircases in their manufacturing facilities. The objective of this training was to reduce those incidents by at least 50%. This outcome would save the company money.
 
And a side benefit is that it would allow people to work more safely and probably enjoy work more.
 
The solution that was developed prior to my arrival was a three-day intensive course on safety focusing on this specific incident. This was followed up by two computer-based training courses and a subsequent test.
 
To my client surprise, the solution didn’t work. As a matter fact those same safety incidents actually went up.
 
Although shocking to my client, it was evident to me that this was another case of the best intention falling far short of the objective.
 
SO WHY DID THIS FAIL?
 
There are really three main reasons that this training was insufficient and was actually the wrong solution to solve this problem.
 
1. The training did not involve action. Three days of classroom training and subsequent computer-based training may be effective in some cases, but for this instance, it probably was the worst solution that they could have created. Correcting issues regarding activity requires activity in the training.

2. The training was too long. There is no reason that training like this should have lasted anymore than 90 minutes. If it was necessary to have a longer training regarding safety, it probably should have been broken up into smaller bite-size chunks. Let’s face it; our attention spans are minuscule nowadays. Some statistics say that it is anywhere from 5 to 7 minutes. Therefore having a training that is three-day long about one subject encourages the participants to not pay attention and only desire to be out of the class as soon as possible.

3. Training probably was the wrong solution to begin with. Training is a great solution to teach someone a new skill or introduce them to a new behavior. Generally speaking for reducing incidents regarding safety training doesn’t help to solve the problem it only highlights that there is one.
 
WHAT DID WORK?
 
The solution we suggested was counterintuitive coming from someone brought in to analyze training.
 
Here is what we did:
 
• We talked to the people that had either witnessed and or “participated” in one of the incidents
• Created warning signs and placed rubber mats around the area where the incidents began to occur
• Created “talking points” for supervisors, line managers, and all other leaders to discuss the safety incidents and to highlight the new precautions
• Created a 5 min. activity showing the incident and allowing discussion about how to avoid it as part of monthly plant meetings
 
What Was the Result?
 
In one month, the safety incidents were reduced by 50%. Within 60 days the safety issue was almost nonexistent. Of course, there were rare times that it did happen. On further conversation, the client and their work team decided to make the activity we created for the plant meetings a part of all new employee training.
 
Training is a powerful tool. It is important to have opportunities to develop employees utilizing training and often times it is a crate tool to introduce new concepts, skills, or things that employees are going to need to do in a new way.
 
However, training is not a catchall solution for every incident. Therefore, it’s important to make sure to look at the issue and determine what is the simplest, straightforward and high-impact method to correct the situation.
 
Where have you seen training being used incorrectly? What might you have done to solve this problem?

Anil Saxena is the President of Cube 2.14, an organizational development consulting firm that works with clients to increase both customer and employee engagement while decreasing turnover, improving customer retention, and increasing profitability within organizations.

Saxena is a certified High Impact coach and trainer and a Joint Application Design facilitator. He is also certified by both Rush Systems and IBM as a focus group facilitator. He is an inaugural member of Northwestern University’s Learning and Organizational Change program, and he earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

25 Aug 2015
Sticky Post By Posted in Human Resources Articles, Instructional Design Articles, Leadership Articles Permalink

The Fallacy Of Culture Change

Sticky Post By On August 25, 2015

Why is there all this vim and vigor around culture change lately?

Maybe, it’s because we’ve realized how powerful culture really is.

There is not one day that goes by without a blog or article “making the case for” or “giving the 3 steps to” changing the culture.

The fallacy of culture change is there is no quick fix or rapid method to change a culture (short of breaking up the organization or something drastic like that). It takes time, effort, and a bit of history to create culture. It doesn’t change easily.
 
WHAT IS ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE ANYWAY?
Culture is what manifests our actions, informs our approaches, and determines who will be recognized and rewarded.

Organizational culture reflects the values, beliefs, and norms that characterize an organization as a whole. – Author J.D. Sherman
 
WHAT DO YOU DO IF YOU THINK YOUR CULTURE IS “BROKEN” OR IS INSUFFICIENT TO DRIVE FUTURE SUCCESS?

Before embarking on an initiative like this, there are a few questions that MUST be addressed:

1. Does your culture really need to be changed?

In the spirit of “first do no harm” it is important to really examine your current corporate culture. In many cases, the basis or foundation of any organization that is successful or was successful are core values like

• Integrity,
• Tenacity,
• Innovation,
• Service
• Loyalty
• and many other admirable attributes.

It is seldom that an organization has core beliefs like dishonesty, murder, and thievery. Uncover the fundamental cultural beliefs prior to taking on ANY initiative to change the culture. Those beliefs can be leveraged or rekindled for future growth rather than attempting to replace them
 
2. What is the difference or dissonance between where you want the organization to go and your current culture?

Examine the gap between that stated culture (answer to question 1) and the desired end state or strategy. Once that gap is determined there are many different ways to bridge that gap and enable fulfillment of strategy.
 
3. What is the resistance that the culture will give you toward implementing a strategy?

There many examples of organizations that did things in the name of strategy that were counter to their culture (think Kodak, Circuit City, Eastern Airlines).  The actions resulted not only in a strategy not being fulfilled but the organization being negatively impacted- lower profit, decreased productivity, dramatically lower market share, etc.

It is critical that organizations understand that the rush to “change the culture” will only increase resistance against that very activity.

Creating a campaign to change the culture will only result in resistance to changing it. – Curt Coffman

BRIDGING THE GAP

Understanding the history and fundamentals of the culture are key to beginning to bridge the gap between strategy and culture. By building that bridge, a culture can be leveraged to drive the fulfillment of a strategy that will gain profit and market share.

What are some examples of culture change that you’ve seen fail? What companies have you seen that do well change their culture effectively?  What did they do?

Anil Saxena is the President of Cube 2.14, an organizational development consulting firm that works with clients to increase both customer and employee engagement while decreasing turnover, improving customer retention, and increasing profitability within organizations.

Saxena is a certified High Impact coach and trainer and a Joint Application Design facilitator. He is also certified by both Rush Systems and IBM as a focus group facilitator. He is an inaugural member of Northwestern University’s Learning and Organizational Change program, and he earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

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