Best Advice Ever – Shut Up And Listen

A client recently asked me how I was able to understand them so quickly. She was curious about what advice I’d gotten that enabled me “get integrated so quickly”. I told her the best advice is ever gotten was –
 

“Shut up and listen. When you think you know, shut up and listen some more.” (Came from both my wife and dad at different times in life)
 
As a newbie employee, manager, leader, consultant or whatever one of the very best ways you can make a difference quickly is to listen. Yes, I know this isn’t blinding flash if insight.  It’s pretty commonsensical (yes that’s a word, look it up). But we don’t do it.
 
We’ve been taught to participate- share our thoughts or express our feelings. Somehow we’ve been led to believe that participating means making sounds come out of our mouths. But what if that is bull-cocky? What if we participated by mostly LISTENING?!?!?

The only way to really understand an organization, position, team or person is to listen to what to have to say. But it’s a special kind of listening. The kind where you:

•       Aren’t thinking of the next thing to say
•       Aren’t thinking about why they are wrong
•       Wondering when they’ll stop talking
•       Etc

Then, when you think it’s your turn to talk…shut up some more! Sometimes that will mean that you don’t say anything or wait until you are asked for input.
 
That’s it. Listen a lot. You’d be amazed at how much you can learn just by listening. It’s a powerful tool (great TED talk by Ernesto Sirolli regarding the power of this)
 
You’ll be able to craft proposals, solutions and ideas that are met with acceptance because – YOU KNOW HOW THEY THINK and you might even care a little about them.
 
So remember, stop talking and listen.  

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.

Healthy At Work

When it comes to eating right and exercising, there is no “I’ll start tomorrow.” Tomorrow is disease. ~Terri Guillemets
 
There’s a growing trend in companies across many industries to help employees of all ranks focus on personal health. There’s plenty of talk about “wellness at work” in terms of insurance premiums, posters hanging in eating areas, discounted health club memberships, and other fairly “surface level” nudges toward making healthier choices – but what are they really doing?

The reality of food at work

Picture the last birthday in the office, the last company cookout or potluck… what kind of food was served? Cake? Donuts? Cheese dips? Pizza?

Most of the standard “work party” fare is about as far from healthy eating as it gets, and yet the company focused on “healthy choices” doesn’t make a peep about it!

For all the talk about healthier employees, most companies leave the actual responsibility in the hands of the employees themselves – and while that’s just fine (there shouldn’t be RULES against eating fatty foods or not getting enough exercise), a company concerned with the health of its workforce should at least be leading by example, and rolling “wellness goals” in with other company goals.
 
When food is coming out of the company coffers, why not make it a healthy meal?
 
What about a focus on wellness education? There’s an awful lot more to healthy living than just diet and exercise.
 
Linking Employee Health to the success of the Business 

To help root these ideals in reality, companies can look at how employee health affects business goals. Healthy employees are less likely to miss work due to illness, and because healthy choices often carry over into home life (improving the health of children and other family members), health-focused employees are also less likely to miss work to take care of an ill family member.

According the CDC, obese employees show a more than 50% increase of missed workdays when compared to “normal-weight” employees. These statistics apply to both men and women.
 
Not only are healthy employees more likely to be at work, they are also more likely to be productive (and in high spirits) when they are there. A team of healthy employees will likely work together better, and maintain a less stressful work environment as well.
 
From an owner and shareholder perspective, healthy employees reduce insurance costs, and health programs can function as great incentives for prospective employees.
 
So what to do

Companies can work with their staff members to help them make healthy food and exercise choices, provide an environment for health education, and even work as a support system for maintaining healthy lifestyle changes. Let employees include health goals with other annual business goals. Track progress, offer encouragement, and make sure employees know how important the health of the entire organization truly is.
 
Again, all of this rests on the individual choices of each staff member (and healthy choices should not be required, nor should health be tracked if and employee doesn’t request it), but by creating a landscape where health information, healthy food, and open dialogue about the benefits of health-based decision making are readily available, companies can nudge employees toward improving their health – and everyone benefits!
 
Are you making health a priority?

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.

Do Your People Programs Have A Purpose?

Seems like organizations after organization roll out people programs to drive….engagement? Career development?  Honestly, it’s a little unclear. Organizations are masterful at developing business strategies. MBA courses are dedicated to it. But what about people programs? What is the seamless connections between them?
 

There is no doubting that happier, more involved employees yield numerous benefits, but it seems like too many companies are pursuing these goals as an afterthought (or as part of jumping on a bandwagon) instead of including these efforts into their overall business goals.
 
In the end, the driving force behind all people programs should be “how does this drive gaining/retaining customers?”  Each program needs to be linked to an organizational outcome. Yes there are organizations that are exceptions to this , like Southwest. But the majority of organizations putting out people programs with no tie to the business doom them to being:
• An afterthought
• A nice to have
• Another thing to do
• What to do when you have “free time”.
 
Initiatives that aren’t integrated into the business of the business don’t make people’s top priority list. “How do we increase employee engagement” Question after question are posted on LinkedIn.  There are beautiful solitons and TONS of data that point to why engagement is an awesome thing to drive. Yet, it’s not a focus still. Maybe it doesn’t have to do with engagement tool but where engagement  fits or is positioned.

To create a climate of universal adoption and enthusiasm for people programs, wouldn’t it be wise to frame them in a way that satisfies the interests of shareholders, managers, and employees alike?
 
It’s pretty clear how this can be accomplished: tie the benefits of people programs into quantifiable business results – how will engaged employees increase productivity? How will career development help attract and retain customers?

If they aren’t directly helping the business operate, what’s the point? Or rather, if people programs are helping the business, why aren’t they treated like it?

Regardless of the program, these same questions can be asked. There needs to be a direct link between a given program and a desired result.

Simply improving engagement is not a result in and of itself; it’s the means to a result like higher productivity, more effective collaboration for creative projects, increased communication for better conflict resolution, etc., and even these effects need to be tied back to reducing overhead, retaining customers, or increasing product value.

Ask yourself, what is the actual, tangible purpose of your company’s current people program? 

If you can’t tie it back to a company-wide goal, you just might be wasting your time.   

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.

Frustrating Customer Service

Customer service is never one size fits all, so why do so many companies rely on pre-packaged solutions, canned responses, or rigid scripts to deal with customer problems?
 
Killing creativity one process or script at a time

Instead of giving employees the freedom to be creative when helping customers (the lifeblood of every business), far too many companies funnel all of their customers’ support needs into a rote system of predetermined fixes. Whether it’s getting the same unhelpful response from multiple people (who doesn’t love to be passed around from department to department without getting anywhere?), or the feeling that you’re just being brushed off without any real consideration, dealing with customer service can be frustrating.

You can’t find the answer where?

Recently, I was having trouble with a remote control. I spoke with customer service, and after offering one unsuccessful solution, they declared it was broken and would have to be replaced. I got this response from multiple people within the company: I would either have to bring it in or wait for a new one in the mail.

My wife spent a few minutes searching their website, and found a fix that worked. Am I really to believe that the customer service employees didn’t search their own company website for a solution to my problem? Is that even service?
 
I sometimes suspect that it just doesn’t matter to some of the corporate giants (who are often the worst offenders). Instead of taking the time to help you, they put every effort into getting you off the phone and moving on to the next caller, customer satisfaction (and retention) be damned.
 
To them, it just might be easier to snag a new customer than help an existing one.
 
Many organizations think operating this way, they can keep customer service expenses down – since the representatives don’t have to be knowledgeable about the products, or even interested in helping people in the first place.  Yet study after study shows that keeping customers is much more profitable than getting new ones.

How can organizations change the script?

With just a little training, and a healthy dose of creative freedom, companies could easily change this paradigm. If they actually valued their current customers (and front line employees), they would give their employees free rein to solve problems any way they could – and providing that kind of service is sure to increase customer retention, resulting in greater loyalty to the company, future purchases, and strong recommendations to friends and family. Why don’t companies see the value in this?
 
 
When will companies realize that keeping their customers happy is the best thing they can do for their bottom line? If they did, they’d do away with those service center scripts and ready-made phrases to appease upset customers.
 
At least I can dream…

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.

Who Am I Going To Eat Lunch With?

It’s a familiar sensation to us all: those “first day of school” butterflies in your stomach, that anxiety of being a stranger in a new place without a good idea of how to fit it. The classic image is the lunchroom on the first day of school as the new kid – where are you going to sit? Or more importantly, who’s going to let you sit with them?

Even if you don’t have that literal “lunchroom” experience at a new job or fulfilling a new role, the sentiment and feeling is still quite common, and it’s something we can all relate to.
 
As leaders, we have to remember that this phenomenon happens every day! When new employees come in for the first time, when seasoned employees take on new responsibilities, or even when veterans deliver presentations or address large groups – those nervous feelings can still be present, and it’s our responsibility to show support and inspire confidence.

While we can’t (and shouldn’t) take away anxiety completely, and we can’t simply “do it for them,” we can try to create and environment that accepts new people with open arms, is forgiving of embarrassed and anxious behavior, and functions to offer the “new kid” a seat in the lunchroom.
 
It’s important for people to get through these experiences because they are necessary for growth and overcoming fear, and they have to do so “on their own” to a certain degree. This does not mean, however, that leaders can’t offer guidance in this regard when preparing people for new careers or new responsibilities.

Offering support works wonders for minimizing feelings of nervousness. With a little encouragement and a vote of confidence, people will feel, even though they may be afraid, that they have what it takes to succeed. Confidence is the principle lesson here, and people gain much needed assurance when they know someone has their back.
 
A true leader isn’t afraid of admitting to weakness, and showing the would be “new kid” that you (and nearly everyone else) has experienced this kind of “first day” anxiety will help put them at ease – or at least understand that it’s perfectly normal, fairly expected, and can be overcome.
 
Are you that kind of leader?

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.

Leadership Follies – What’s In A Title?

There’s an odd trend going on in way too many companies these days: giving employees new titles – without changing much else. Time and time again, this results in all sorts of dissatisfaction, dissent, losses in productivity, and huge blows to company morale.

What are these companies doing wrong?

The typical rollout of these changes is sloppy at best.  I recently worked with a client who made some very critical mistakes. In an effort to create some leadership roles, some employees were given a new title with the word “senior” attached. There was no change in pay, and no change in responsibility or reporting structure. The change was restricted to a title only – and people hated it.

For the employees granted this “senior” distinction, there wasn’t really any incentive to be happy about the change – it came as a surprise (which means that they weren’t at all involved in the planning stages), and without an increase in wage or clout, it came off as ultimately pointless.

For the rest of the staff not given this “senior” title, the change was downright offensive. They were given no reasoning for who received the new titles and who didn’t, they weren’t warned about or walked through the process, and because there wasn’t any real structural change, not getting the new title felt like a slight.
 

For everyone involved, there was no clear benefit.
 
But here’s the real problem: these unfavorable reactions actually served to reduce productivity and company morale because these employees, whether they got the new title or not, were distracted and confused by the change. It gave them something to worry about, to be angry over. It made them reconsider their roles within the company.
 
And while all of this is happening, the actual work that needs to be done suffers tremendously.

In trying to establish some leadership, this company managed to undermine their own goals – and show themselves as fairly incapable leaders in the process. They learned a few valuable lessons about change:
 
–       It has to serve a measurable, explainable purpose
–       It can only happen successfully with the support of the employees themselves
–       Failure to recognize these necessities will almost certainly make existing problems worse
 
Don’t run these same risks in your business. If you’re going to implement a change, make sure it has a tangible goal behind it, and make sure you’ve got the support you need to make it stick.

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.

Clinging To The Past

Somewhere along the way, most of us developed some kind of identity. Whether it was through a social group, and achievement, an activity, or any of a number of possible avenues, people tend to have a certain framework for how they see themselves.
The same can be true for companies – somewhere along the timeline, an identity was established, and just like people, that sense of identity has a way of perpetuating itself.

While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, what happens when that identity is challenged, or needs to change?


Far too often, an identity is held so closely that it becomes a barrier to progress and growth – but why? What are people so afraid of?

For some, it might be some sense of past glory, of holding on to a time when they felt on top of the world, and the thought of facing a new reality is too much to bear. For others, it may be a sense of embarrassment, that they’ve established themselves in a particular way, and they assume that they will be frowned upon by their peers for deviating from familiar patterns.

These social shortcomings can be reflected throughout a business as well, when those in leadership roles feel that they can’t change a company’s identity for fear of scrutiny or refusal to admit that times have changed.
 
But change is akin to growth for both businesses and individuals. Adapting to new circumstances, moving into new markets, rolling with the punches, and rising to challenges are all part of the process. When companies (and the people who operate them) are not willing to adapt, they are stunting themselves and any potential for progress.
 

Changing parts of an identity is scary – and understandably so. It takes courage to admit that you didn’t have it all figured out, that your old ways aren’t necessarily applicable today.
 
We have this tendency to hold onto our past selves as if it were some kind of lifeline, instead of seeking to grow into the realities we face moving forward. This is both counterproductive and counterintuitive. For the strongest identity (for both individuals and brands), we can’t be afraid to reevaluate and restructure to reflect our current understanding of the world.
 
Is there a more admirable identity than being adaptable to change?
 
The lessons learned and characteristics formed in the past are certainly an important part of any identity, but clinging to them too closely does little but make a relic of a person or company, and leaves absolutely zero room for improvement.

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.

The Most Important List For Leaders, Managers & Employees

In our blog-driven, online world, list-based articles are everywhere. Search for just about anything and you’ll come up with dozens of “X Reasons for Y” and “X Things to Incorporate Into Your Business.”
 
All of these lists are telling you some arbitrary number of ways to boost profits, to engage employees, increase productivity, whatever – but what makes them the “top” reasons? What scales are we measuring against? Who decided these were the best?
 
Sure, these lists are interesting, and provide all sorts of great starting points and ideas for positive change. They can even introduce new principles that the reader may never have thought of, but there are still a couple of massive shortcomings.
 
If these lists were effective, why does Gallup still report that 70% of US employees are “not engaged” or “actively disengaged” at work? There’s an obvious gap between information and its intended goals.
So what are these lists missing? How about a list!?!

1. Action
 
A list of a dozen weight loss tips isn’t going to going to get you to the gym or making healthier food, just like a list of ways to boost engagement isn’t going to walk you through the steps of rolling it out to your company. You’d be expected to find a different list for tips on getting into action!
 
2. Complexity
 
This is pretty directly related to #1 – our culture demands that we boil things down into these easily digestible lists, and in doing so, we remove all the space necessary for detailed explanation, for useful information about turning tips into real practices.
 
Real life is way more complicated than any Top 5 list will ever lead you to believe. Those tips won’t work for everyone, and even if they did, the topics are so quickly glossed over that the takeaway is a snippet at best. Assuming that some predetermined, “best” list is going to solve our problems is both foolish and dangerous. It lulls us into thinking that dealing with people and solving problems is easy.
 
It most certainly is not.
 
Human beings, the businesses they run, the groups and habits they form, and all of the other things that these lists try to simplify are terribly complex, and that’s also the source of our greatness.
So what can we do?
 
Well, there certainly isn’t a simple answer (and if you were expecting one, that’s the damage that “list” articles are doing right there in front of you…), but maybe understanding that is the first place to start.
 
We’ve got to stop compartmentalizing and stripping down. We’ve got to embrace a little complexity and start looking at the dynamic relationships between multiple causes and effects. There’s no way that the “Top 10 Reasons” for one company are going to work for another, at least not exactly. Once we can start to realize that blanket solutions and easy fixes are nothing but pacifiers and pipe dreams, maybe we can actually get some work done.
 
Let’s stop breaking things into lists of their simplest parts, and instead challenge ourselves to understand the complexity.

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.

Maybe WIIFM Is Wrong

Could the emphasis on What’s in It for Me (WIIFM) be a contributing factor to the huge number of change initiatives that fail to meet their intended outcomes?
 
Does emphasizing WIIFM convince people that there has to be something in it FOR THEM in everything?  Employees, customers, shareholders, etc. look for the benefit to them. But, maybe the benefit will be in their team, family, community, etc.  The notion that every project or initiative has to have an outcome that benefits each person is a recipe for disaster.

WHY?
 
1. People will not be interested in putting effort or making concessions for something that doesn’t benefit them if they’ve been trained to expect something out of each project.  So, if the project you are working on isn’t going to benefit them directly, most people will say “thanks but no thanks”

2. Everyone is looking for the immediate gratification – There are efforts that need to be done that will have long-term benefits but nothing immediately.  Because of the focus on WIIFM patience for longer term successes/benefits is low.

3. People will balk at necessary actions – Sometimes things need to get done because they need to get done and won’t benefit some groups.  But, they will make the company stronger or save it from some calamity (competition, regulation violation, etc.).  But, if you are always focusing on WIIFM then why would someone want to do that?

4. People have a misguided belief that there has to be a WIIFM in everything – It’s not always about you.  In life, we have to make sacrifices and do things that don’t directly benefit us at all.  But they must be done.
 
Of course organizations must take on initiatives that benefit their key stakeholders – employees, customers, shareholders, etc.  But, there are times that for the sake of the business or institutions actions must be taken that don’t have a WIIFM.

GUNS VS. BUTTER

During WWII, Americans rationed everything for the war effort.  It was a concept called “guns or butter”.  Essentially, you could have more guns and stuff on the front line for our troops or we could have ample food, steel, oil, etc. at home BUT YOU COULD NOT HAVE BOTH.
 
The effort that people went through in America (and almost every other country in the world at that time) during that time was for the greater good.  There was not really a WIIFM or at least it was delayed.  But if you look at the wars that have occurred since, Americans have expected guns AND butter.  For the most part, that has not worked well for anyone.  The same is true in organizations.  You can’t always have WIIFM and organizational success.  It can happen.  When it’s possible it should. But, when it’s not, there should be rationale given about:

• The greater good of the organization
• Increase in customers base
• Growth in market share
• Or something else that will benefit the greater good.

(Now, if there is no long term benefit or benefit to the organization AND not WIIFM, than that’s not good either. All those projects/initiatives should be scrapped too)
 
It’s time for us to recognize that projects need to be beneficial but they may not have a “win” for each person impacted and that is okay.  If it’s a win for the organization and the greater good, maybe that is good enough….
 
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.

Leaders – Own Your Impact

Why do people downplay their contributions? Something about the modern day rat race has turned many employees (and managers) into habitual preservers of the status quo – nobody wants to rock the boat.

The culture has turned from a focus on innovation to little more than survival mode. Restrictive policy, tough job markets, and the less-than-effective middle management have taught much of the workforce (including those in leadership roles) to simply stay in line, follow instructions, and carry on business as usual.

This type of thinking, of course, destroys creative thinking, and prevents progress and fresh ideas in companies of any industry.
 
So what can leaders (and really, every employee) do about it?

The first step is to own your impact.

This means seeing your individual involvement in the task at hand, your department, and your entire company. It means owning up to both your accomplishments and your mistakes, and taking full credit for both.
 
Owning your impact is recognizing the unique contribution you can make to any situation, and understanding that without the bravery to offer up ideas, to propose solutions, or to simply offer constructive feedback on a process or policy, there can never be forward progress.
 
When people lose sight of their own potential for positive influence, they feel impotent – and when policies reward adherence to the rulebook and restrict open mindedness, employees are placed under a huge burden: it takes every ounce of energy to trudge through outdated processes and not speak out against them.

Without a widespread recognition of individual contribution, employees simply become cogs in a machine. Even if they have brilliant ideas, they’ve been trained to squash them – all because it would disrupt the status quo.

So leaders, no matter what industry you might be a part of, own your impact, and encourage everyone you manage to own theirs as well. Recognizing the insight that each member of a team can bring to the table is the first step in generating great new ideas, and ultimately, making changes that improve company productivity and employee engagement/satisfaction.

Empowered employees are happy and productive employees. Impotent and burdened employees are precisely the opposite. Which would you rather have?

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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