Cube 2.14 Blog

Organizational development articles on topics like change management, human resources, transformational leadership, customer service and more.

Read our Blog
25 Aug 2015
Sticky Post By Posted in Leadership Articles, Organizational Change Articles Permalink

How Much Stupid Can You Take? Organizational Learned Helplessness

Sticky Post By On August 25, 2015

Do you ever wonder if we are in the age of corporate insanity?  Einstein said that the definition of insanity was trying the same thing over an over again and expecting a different result.  Corporations seem to do this frequently.  It is as if they are using the same beat no matter type of song they are playing.

A recent example of learned helplessness in organizations is the use of layoffs to prop up profits and drive stock prices.

Even though it has been proven time and time again that layoffs do not work companies still use them as a method to cut down costs.

(For those of you unfamiliar with Learned helplessness – A term developed by Martin Seligman, pioneering researcher in animal psychology, to describe what occurs when animals or human beings learn that their behavior has no effect on the environment.)

Of course when business is lost costs need to be cut.  For most organizations the majority of costs are in people.

Therefore, the quickest and easiest reduction is to eliminate them.  But, that has been proven to reduce productivity, creativity and loyalty to the organization.  Then when the economy picks up, which it always does, employees leave as quickly as possible.

Can you feel the stupid?

But, in the defense of these companies, that is common wisdom.  It is like bloodletting used to common practice among physicians.  Now it seems ridiculous, but at the time it was an acceptable and even promoted practice.

What to do then?

Look for a way out of the learned helplessness pattern  – grow the business.  That’s right; actively look for ways to get more and different customers.  Successful companies grow their businesses and take market-share in down economies.  There is no way to cut or reduce expenses to grow the business. You can’t cut your way to profitability…ever.

Here is an easy (and therefore hard to implement) way to break out of this learned helplessness cycle:

1. Find out what the state of the state is

An organization can only improve when it knows the truth about itself.  It is important to look for an organizational and customer assessment or survey that will give a sense of how engaged the organization and customers are to the strategy.

2. Give managers the tools to drive engagement and find new ideas (for revenue and cost containment)

Front line leaders are the key to driving success and growing the business.  It is IMPERATIVE to give them the tools in a practical, easy to use method.  This same tool should be used to drive alignment and find new areas/ideas for growth.

3. Push accountability for growth down to the lowest level

Don’t try to make all the new ideas come from one part of the company. No one department has the lock on creativity (another example of learned helplessness).  Organizations that grow, like 3M did with Post-Its, look for ideas from everywhere. Give everyone ownership to innovate and grow. It will drive passion and increase loyalty.

Don’t fall into the trap of cutting to save the organization.  Focus energy on increasing customers, growing market-share and keeping the customers you have.  The rest will take care of itself.

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 Organizational Change Articles Permalink

Leadership Follies – Clearly Speaking

Sticky Post By On August 25, 2015

Have you ever been in a business meeting or conference and hear someone in the audience whisper loudly “BINGO!” If so, they were probably entertaining themself by playing along in an under-the-radar-game called Buzzword Bingo.

There is nothing more confusing than to try to figure out exactly what is meant byjargon-laden sayings.

Early on, trendy business sayings probably had meaning in a certain context.  But, like every “catchphrase” the saying gets woven into every imaginable usage, most of which make little if any sense.

Why is that?  Why do folks in the business community try to come up with “snazzy” ways to say things to get their points across?

Likely, people use catch-phrases or jargon because it is meant to make them sound smarter. But, in the end using such business buzzwords can cause more confusion and sometimes even resentment.

————————————-
Generate Your Own Business Buzzword Bingo Card Here
————————————-

LESS IS MORE, MORE OR LESS

Recently, I worked with a client that was trying to tell his team that the VP they were presenting to wanted to see concise presentations that got their points across quickly and effectively.

He told them that, ”Remember less is more.”

One of his employees was confused.

To explain himself, my client said “You know… you have to be able to do more with less.”

As you can imagine, that did not clear things up at all.

His employees created a presentation with no more than 3 bullets on a page, using abbreviations and pictures.

The end product was confusing.

Less, in this context, ended up being less.

POST MORTEM

Later, I thought about what happened. It was confusing because less is, actually, less.  However, if my client meant that his VP wanted to see short, effective presentations that came to the point quickly then his employees would have been able to grasp that right away.

As a leader, it is incredibly important to be clear and precise with wording choice.  Using jargon-laden sentences does not make you sound smarter, really.  It actually can add to confusion. Often people have no idea what the saying means, because originally it was said in a particular context.  Outside of that context, the saying does not have the punch or power that it did.

It just sounds limp and pretentious.

If you are trying to say something important to which people should pay close attention, use words and phrases that everyone can understand quickly and easily.

In most cases this means use real words in the way they were intended.  Buzz words are fun and sometimes funny.  But in our global economy, it is important that we are careful about our word choice.

Remember the bottom-line is that you have to take the low-hanging fruit by addressing the 800 pound gorilla in the room.

(Translation – say things directly in a few clearly understood words is important.)

So how often do you have to listen to business buzzwords at your organization? How bad does this get in particular departments or in specific industries? Are you guilty of looking for that “out-of-the-box win-win-win” line in your dialect or directives?

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 Instructional Design Articles, Leadership Articles Permalink

Leadership Follies – How You Kill Possibility

Sticky Post By On August 25, 2015

I was recently sitting in a meeting watching an executive give a professional proposal for a new initiative.

The presenter, Brenda, did a great job. She was cogent, articulate, compelling, and succinct. The idea seemed plausible to me. I was optimistic that the project would be a success!

But then the winds of change began to blow. And they blew hard and swift! The decision-makers in the room began with a flurry of questions that seemed only to take the idea off the table. they fired questions like:

  • “How will we make this project work?”
  • “How will this be funded?”
  • “How will you get this done?”

With all the questions firing at the presenter, it was amazing that she could even stand.

“It’s always like this“ Brenda told me after the meeting ended.

“Always like what?” I asked.

Brenda replied, “Before we can even discuss if an idea is good, or seemingly even contemplate the idea for just a moment, it gets killed by all the focus on how are we going to get it done.”

Killing Me Softly

As I walked away from the conversation, I wondered if we kill creativity or shoot down possibility with our relentless pursuit of fitting things into what we know. After talking to a number of people far smarter than myself I found some interesting trends:

1. Most people listen to ideas based on what has worked in the past
2. In the spirit of practicality, many ideas are discarded before even being considered
3. Many of the tools we use to make us “efficient” have a tendency to limit our attention to things that don’t fit neatly into a category.

So instead of working with people when they come to us with ideas, we kill them.  Mercilessly.

Think about the last conversation you had:

  • With your teenage child about their future
  • Your spouse about a fancy vacation
  • A member of your team about a new project
  • An intern about how to make a process work better

At what point did you start dismissing the idea?  At what point did you start asking the dreaded how?

  • How you get a job?
  • How will I get the time off?
  • How will we get this past the review committee
  • How can that be done given our current political environment?

Now, let us not be naive.  We must think about how to get things done, but only after we explore the idea, uncover the hidden, be a little idealistic, take our time.

The Same Same

Do you ever wonder why everything seems to look the same nowadays?  Really, take a look at your town.  If you drive from one city to another in almost any country, they have started to all look the same, have the same restaurants, and people all dress the same.

Why has everything become so homogeneous?

This is because we have figured out what works and what sells and just replicate it.  Over and over.  When we look at the world around us, our wish to be practical and efficient have turned us all into leadership lemmings.

Don’t believe me?  Well, think about the trends in the past few years – Who Moved My Cheese, Good to Great, Paradigm Shift, and the list goes on and on.

So what can we do?

Being More Creative
Author Peter Block provides some great insights in his book The Answer to How is Yes on how using creativity in creative ways can help get better organization results.

Here are some highlights:

1. Be more idealistic
Look to act on what really matters. Compassion, justice, etc.  Don’t get caught up in the “do this because I get or will get.” It tends to make the project or task very mercenary.

2. Work towards more intimacy
Talk to people, work with people.  Try to do it face to face or at least in real time.  Don’t rely on email, text and instant messaging. Working with people has a tendency to increase the reliance on values or idealism.

3. Act with more depth
In the effort to increase speed and make things more efficient, reflecting on what is good, different or interesting is lost.

4. Create a plan of action
Once you have teased out the idea, create a solid plan of action. When the idea or project has been allowed to formulate, then a plan can be put in place.  Now those how questions can be very valuable.

Allowing ideas to be discussed and debated can produce magical, creative, fun ideas that will move people to action.  It will draw out passion and be evident to customers.

Tired of a rehash of the same ideas and problems coming up over and over?  Try amixture of idealism, intimacy and depth to create a solution that addresses problems once and for all.

25 Aug 2015
Sticky Post By Posted in Customer Service Articles, Instructional Design Articles, Leadership Articles, Organizational Change Articles Permalink

Leadership Follies – Avoiding The Customer At All Costs

Sticky Post By On August 25, 2015

“What does it matter? If I get it done by Monday, that’s not going to make or break us.”

In the hyper-competitive world of work, it does not seem logical that anyone would not feel a sense of panic or anxiety when it comes to customers.  Based on the recent economic downturn, people should see the costs of not paying attention to the customer.

And yet, the notion of understanding the impact that each employee has on gaining and/or retaining customers is foreign to many.

But why?

Although I am not a trained Harvard or University of Chicago economist, I feel it is same to assume that the key to business success is gaining more new customers and retaining more customers than your competition.

But in a recent studies, the evidence is:

  • 50% of professionals survey felt like retaining customers was not part of their job and;
  • over 75% of those same professionals indicated that gaining customers was not their job.

Everybody’s Job

So the question is, whose job is it?

Companies have dedicated sales and customer service departments, so that must be the answer, right?  Not so fast, if it is true that the most important aspects of business is to gain and keep customers, how can it not be everyone’s job?

Many highly successful companies know this to be true.  Every person in an organization must take the customer into account when completing tasks, developing projects, giving evaluations, etc.  Why?  If employees are clear about how they impact the customer, they will be inclined to drive towards high performance AND hold others within the organization to a higher standard.

How do you get people to see that?

That is the $64,000,000 question.  Over the years executives have stated concerns about getting employees into the conversation about how to gain/keep customers if they are not directly involved with them.  Hogwash.  It has been shown that employees that feel as if their work is meaningful are more productive and actively increase organizational profitability.  Employees want to make a difference, they want to work hard to produce results.  There are two tactics to unlocking this potential and make sure employees see their impact on the customer.

Line of Sight
Line of sight is the straight line that each employee has to gaining and retaining customers.  Regardless of the role, each employee needs to see that impact.  Understanding the impact their role has on the customer adds context to their actions and decisions.

Think about it like this:

Purpose

Great managers not only tell their team a task/project that needs to be done.  They tell them why it should be done at all. What is the greater overall impact, how will if affect other teams and ultimately the customer. Knowing the purpose ensure that employees don’t feel like just another cog in the machine, but an important part of the overall strategy.

Clarity

Great Leaders provide role clarity to the folks on their teams.  It is not enough to simply be clear about what a team provides to other teams, but how they impact the customer.  Whether a janitor, programmer or marketing executive each person plays a role in gaining and retaining customers.  Some roles are more direct than others, but all have an impact.  It may mean that leaders need to do some digging themselves and determine  that path.  But each person needs to see it.  Understanding the impact on the customer will add meaning and credibility to their role and the tasks associated with it.

Outcomes

Once teams (and employees) are clear about their path to the customer and the purpose of their roles it is time to turn them loose.  In Daniel Pink’s latest book Drive, he states shows how Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose enables huge positive impact on organizational outcomes.  Since purpose has already been discussed,  let’s spend just a moment on Autonomy and Mastery.

~Autonomy

Within reasonable boundaries, employees should be able to carry out their roles (tasks and projects) in the best way to support gaining and retaining customers.  Creativity stems from the autonomy to develop, think and sometimes fail.  When held to outcomes, specifically those related to gaining and retaining customers, employees will strive to do more.

Therefore, it is better to allow employees to try, experiment and possibly fail than do the same thing that has worked (or not) for the past number of years.  It s vital to get work done, but unless you are working on an assembly line, they is probably a number of different and valid ways to get things done.

~Mastery

Employees should be pushed to pursue mastery in their role.  Mastery is all about engagement. It is immersing oneself into a particular role, task or project.  Although mastery of anything is nearly impossible, the journey towards it is enlightening and enlivening.

Now what?

As a leader, there are three steps to providing line of sight for your teams and employees:

1. Learn and explain the purpose of each project and task as it relates to the customer.  Link actions back to impact on the customer.  This may take a bit longer and may mean a little digging, but it is well worth it in the end.

2. Understand the link between what your team does and the customer.  Present that to the team and discuss what that means.  How will that impact their actions?  Make it a visual that can be seen by everyone on the team.  Start to ask the question – “How will this action impact the customer?” or  “How will this help in gaining and retaining customers?”

3. Stress outcomes.  Evaluate performance on outcomes.  In the context of supporting gaining and retaining customers, people will generally do the right thing.  Focus on what they accomplish and not on the steps taken to get there.  Allowing for autonomy and focusing on gaining mastery will enable teams to do what is best for the customer in the long run.

4. Encourage employees to talk about how they impact the customer.  Employees need to understand the link between what they do and the customer.  Encouraging them to find out on their own increases the likelihood of it sticking with them and informing their future actions.

Companies that don’t focus on gaining and retaining customers are doomed to not have to worry about either sooner than they think.  How are you going to clarify the line of sight for your teams?  What other actions can you take?  Please let me know.

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 Leadership Articles, Organizational Change Articles Permalink

Leadership Follies – Yes You Are Unique, But Not That Different

Sticky Post By On August 25, 2015

BEST PRACTICES AND METHODOLOGIES WITHIN ORGANIZATIONS ARE USEFUL AND EFFECTIVE. IT IS NOT REALISTIC TO THINK THAT EVERYTHING MUST BE CREATED OR INVENTED IN AN ORGANIZATION.

But, it’s important to leverage strengths and weaknesses of the organization to select and implement the practices that will have the greatest positive impact. Making sure to involve key individuals will increase the likelihood of success and reduce the chances of “practice rejection.”

The most common phrase I hear is “well, we are different”.

I often hear this phrase when a solution is proposed, a recommendation is offered, or at the start of a project.

That phrase is like a mantra or excuse to:

  • Refuse to try a proven approach
  • Be unwilling to  adopt a suggested change that has shown to improve performance or
  • Believe that somehow market forces will not affect the company.

After implementing a big change within a company, the company’s typical reaction or response to the change is to:

  • Drift back to what is known
  • Focus on “what got them to the dance”
  • Focus on what they thought made them successful

What if  the tactics that the company has always used to be successful are no longer effective? Worse yet, what if those tactics are the cause of the organization’s current state of malaise, or even to the verge of forced change?

THE HORRIBLE TRUTH

“The horrible truth is that at the core, most organizations are not really all that different.  

Yes, each company is unique just like people are. Within each company, you find diverse personalities.

These personalities portray specific characteristics that make people act a certain way in groups; enabling them bond well together or bond poorly together when then they face adversity. But, like people, companies at their core are not that different.

“This is why the best practices are in fact, best practices.”

They work well in many different situations. The problem is that when they are adopted, the adapter tries to do it exactly like it is written. This does not take into account the uniqueness.

THE SHOE HAS TO FIT

Let me use this analogy to help you understand…

I’m about 5′ 1″ tall. For a man, this is considered short. I love to workout. One could say that it is a passion of mine. If

I operated like some organizations, I would workout the way an NBA star would, changing none of the criteria; doing the workout exactly the same way.

In this situation, I would quickly realize that this workout does not “fit” for me, due to my height and body structure.
This would result in me getting angry. I would put all the blame on the workout, and potentially gain the mentality that “all workouts suck,” and that none of them work since none of them seem to work for me.

The problem with that statement is that it is not finished. The statement should be:

“None of them work for me, because I didn’t alter them to fit me and my uniqueness.”

This is what makes the glass slipper fit. As professionals in organizations, it is incumbent upon us to put our focus on learning about ourselves, our strengths, our weaknesses, etc.

“This attitude should be a minimum requirement.

Then we need to take the best practice, and modify it to accentuate the strengths andmitigate the weaknesses.

It could help us build “muscle” around the weaker parts.  

This coincides with what happened when I started to run. I built the muscles strong around my knees to reduce the chance of injury. Companies need to do the same with the human components of their organizations.

INCREASING ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS

Here are some tactics to increase organizational effectiveness:

  • Learn about yourself and your organization
  • Acknowledge what your organization excels at
  • Elaborate on what your organization does best
  • Find out why your organization is best at what they excel at
  • Find out what you are exceptional at doing

Acknowledge your weakness.

Yes, I said weakness.  It’s not an opportunity, it’s a weakness. That is like saying my height is an opportunity. It does not acknowledge reality…

Employee and customer surveys, coupled with internal and external interviews, is a good way to acknowledge your weakness. The combination will give you insight to your strengths and weaknesses.

Take on new practices, programs, and initiatives that make sense and willpositively impact your organization by doing these things:

1. Using what you know about your organization by analyzing “best practices“.

2. Eliminate those that are not a good fit, because they either don’t key in on your strengths or they don’t take into account your weaknesses.

3. Be clear about why you need it. What is the problem you are trying to solve. No problem? Don’t make one up, a real one will come along soon enough.

4. Once you have the reason and the practice

5. Modify the practice to fit your uniqueness. Make sure that it is culture sensitive.

6. Integrate the practice fully – embed it into performance structures, celebrate those that embrace it, and work hard to make it part of the “everyday” of your company.

7. Throw it out if it doesn’t work! – If you have a practice that is not working, acknowledge it and stop doing it. Make it public that you are doing so, and that you are either replacing it or searching for a new one.

GET BUY IN FROM KEY FOLKS ON THE PRACTICE

  • There are key people in the organization, both formal and informal leaders, that influence others. Bring them in early and often to develop and deploy the practice.
  • Let them alter the practice to fit the organization
  • Make sure to roll it out in a coordinated way utilizing these key leaders to train and communicate it

WORDS OF CAUTION

  • Never say that you are adopting a practice because you read it in a book. It doesn’t make sense and it is insulting. Instead, discuss how the practice might work in the organization.
  • Don’t try to institute some new management practice without people in the field/front line providing input. Although this is a standard practice, it is not done with enough frequency.

“If it’s not working, don’t keep doing it.”

So, how are you doing at sizing up your organization? Are you dealing with reality when it comes to the true issues and problems that your people face? What can you do in the coming year to help reorganize your teams so that “the shoe fits” properly? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

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

Leadership Follies: The Art Of Management By Shiny Objects

Sticky Post By On August 25, 2015

One of the biggest issues that face many leaders today is the lack of clarity in the direction of their teams and organizations.

This is most evident directly after a big change.

It is not that team members are not well-meaning or that they don’t try to do the right thing, it is that they suffer from something called the “follow the shiny object” syndrome.

Shiny Object Syndrome

This is not a new syndrome, it is one that is pervasive across the globe. It begins when we are children and are shown a shiny object. This shiny thing gets our attention and takes our concentration away from whatever it was that we are occupied with previously.

It takes effort and practice to not be swayed by the shiny object.

Unfortunately for most of us, we fail at this task miserably.

Causing Panic

This is no more evident than a recent client project I was working on. After a very large and comprehensive change to the organization, the first sign that the change was “not taking” caused a panic.

The group was distracted by a meaningless item of shiny proportions that temporarily distracted their focus of attention. It was not even a real business driver; just grumbling from folks that had a hard time with the change underway. As one can imagine, this “shiny object” put my client and their “minions” into a panic and put them scurrying into action.

They began surveying, interviewing, and doing all sorts of data-gathering to determine how well the “change” was going and if the “change” was successful.

Unfortunately, it was so close to the actual implementation of the change-project  that the data we collected was inconclusive. Their well-meaning action started to make me think about what it is about the “shiny object” that has us be so intrigued about it.

Defining the Distraction

In organizations, “shiny objects” are defined as projects or requests or initiatives that take a team or large group of people away from  a critical task. Usually, it is an action that has little up side and sometimes can be detrimental.

3 Reasons

There are really 3 main reasons why new “shiny objects” take our focus away from change initiatives (which might be considered the “original shiny object”)

1. If people cannot tell what the shiny object is they are working toward, they will go after a new one

There is not a clear definition or picture of what success looks like once the change or project or task is complete. We don’t know or don’t have an idea of what the end will look like or feel like.  Therefore, we can’t adequately describe it.
People are left with either making up their own idea of what the end will look like or being left in “the unknown”. It makes people uncomfortable and has them make up things about the change or the project or the task that makes them uncomfortable.

2. Sometimes, things are not shiny enough – The reason for the change was not made clear or is not compelling.

A fundamental of change management is convincing people that change is paramount to the success of the organization.  Oftentimes, it’s the result of showing people how bad it’ll get if there is no change. If there is no compelling reason for the change or that reason is not convincing.
People will be left thinking that it is easier to keep doing what they’re doing or what they were doing before the change…even if that wasn’t working.

3. Too many other shiny objects – There is a lack of clarity within the organization’s hierarchy about the change and its impact.

One of the places that change falls down in many organizations is the all-important communication post change. There is always energy (and sometimes enthusiasm) about the change as it is approaching and even once the change has happened.

It’s a little bit like an afterglow.

But if there is not a clear path to follow and communication about what people should expect they get stuck in the “messy middle”.   It’s imperative that no matter the work effort leading up to the change.

There is constant and regular communication about the change and its impact with the senior leadership team.

There must be a cascading communication plan that hits every employee so that they know what they’re experiencing is normal.

Coupled with training or other tools that help gain the skills necessary to be successful.

Real Life Relationships

Organizations, managers, leaders, employees and shareholders have been conditioned to follow the “shiny object” of the quarterly stock report. They have all been conditioned to focus on the shiny object as important.  Making  it almost impossible to think about long-term success or planning.

Therefore, it is critical for change to be successful that the post-change has as much or more concentration than the implementation of the change itself.

Sometimes this makes me think about when I first got married. My beautiful wife was, and is, the most important thing that I have in my life. I pursued her with a single purpose in mind.

And once we were husband and wife, life’s issues began to get in the way.

As with most newlywed couples, we began to see that if we didn’t pay attention to this big change, our harmonious marriage would be difficult and we probably would face many unnecessary trials. So, with this in mind, we made a concerted effort to spend as much time working on our new relationship as we did trying to get in to it. Thankfully, that worked!

Relationships at Work

It is important that we make sure to not manage using the shiny object methodology. It wears people out and tends to make them feel like whatever they’re working on is not important because it’s probably going to change. It gives them little investment in their current project and reduces their ability to feel a sense of completion.

So, what are you going to do to stop running after the shiny object? How are you going to master the elements of focus that really beckon your attention? How are you going to be a master of your domain? I would love to hear your story!
This blog also appears on the Linked2Leadership Blog.  Please visit them!

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

How To Be A Leadership Sissy

Sticky Post By On August 25, 2015

What’s the matter here? Are we a bunch of Leadership Sissies?

Why can’t we face the truth sometimes and just tell people like it is? If someone has their wheel stuck in a performance ditch, what’s the big problem with telling people that they are not doing a good job? Why are we SO careful about protecting their feelings and not so careful about being honest? Why don’t we just help them get back on the road to performance success? Are we scared? Are we a bunch of sissies?

My Perspective

I was raised to be kind, polite and tactful.  Therefore, I choose my words wisely and work very hard to make sure that I am understood.  But does that preclude honesty?  Does that mean coddling people at work is acceptable?

No, no it does not.  Not only does coddling undermine the individual’s ability, it reduces the productivity of a team and perpetuates mediocrity.

Leadership is about telling the truth

The truth is not mean or callous.  It is simply the truth.  When told in a polite, respectful and tactful manner it can be life changing for a follower or team. When held back from followers out of fear, ignorance, or malpractice, you are being a Leadership Sissy. (Oh… and for the record… don’t be one of those…)

As a consultant, I have seen unworthy people get promotions, rewards and kudos.  It always makes me wonder – What does that teach people?  Does that really benefit them?  Again, I would have to say no.  Telling the truth sets people, teams and organizations free to succeed.  I owe this lesson to Tiffany.

Tiffany was a member of a team that I had the privilege of managing early in my career.  I inherited an established team.  My role was to help the team go from perpetual underperformer to award winning.  It did not take me long to see that, among many other process oriented issues, the team was dragged down by re-doing Tiffany’s work.  Tiffany was well-liked and was a genuinely nice person.  But, she did not do her job well.  Other team members had to cover for her mistakes and had to re-do work she spent too long completing.

Tiffany was one of those employees that perpetually underperformed.  But instead of being reprimanded, coached or terminated, she was moved to a new team.  She had been with the company for eight years.  I was her latest manager. Speaking to her previous managers I heard a common theme.

“Tiffany is a wonderful person, but not very effective.”

Hmmm, I thought.  Why on earth didn’t any of them try coaching her? Or why didn’t they get her training, etc?  The short answer was that they had actually tried everything. But when things got tough, instead of having difficult performance conversations with her to help her learn and grow, they just moved her off their team and on to someone else’s at the first opportunity.

I began to wonder if there was anything I could do.  Like any good manager, I searched for the answer on Google.  To my shock, I found that it takes an average of four to twelve years to fire an underperforming employee.  According to experts, most of that was due to managers being nice instead of honest about performance.  I was determined not to be one of the statistics.

It was a shock to Tiffany’s system when I started holding her to account for her objectives, standards and work completed. 
Tiffany was not meeting any of her objectives or goals.  After 3 months of coaching conversations, write-ups and trips to HR, I fired Tiffany.  She left with a nice severance package and money for job re-training.

Time for a Turnaround

Almost immediately, the team’s performance improved.  Within the first year of my leading this team, they were nominated for an award from a previously dissatisfied vendor.  There was a lot of work that went into this turnaround.  But the catalyst was firing Tiffany.  It set the team free to solve other performance issues.  That team charted the course for the work I do today.

What makes that so hard?  Why shouldn’t we be more honest?

It’s not always easy to be honest. Not mean or uncaring, but simply saying what is so about performance.  In my experience I have seen that many leaders are not good at telling the truth about  job good or bad performance.

It is actually easy to set up structures to recognize people that do a good job.  It takes actively concentrating on making an example of those people that do a great job and providing them with the opportunities and rewards.

The alternative to that is mediocrity.

There is only one sure fire way to lose weight.  Eat better and exercise more.  It is the same thing with enhancing performance. Being honest about performance problems shines a light on how to improve them.

That means:

  • When someone isn’t pulling their weight, tell them.
  • When someone does an outstanding job, make an example of them.
  • When someone isn’t right for the job, help them find a new one.
  • When someone excels at their job, they should be recognized or promoted, or both
  • When someone doesn’t do what they say they’re going to do, hold them accountable.
  • When someone is accountable, that should be noted.
  • When someone breaks a rule, consequences must be paid.
  • When someone mistreats a fellow employee, they have to be dealt with accordingly (regardless of position within the organization.)
  • When someone goes out of their way to help a fellow employee, they should be rewarded.

Although there has to be a process, it must be okay to move people out of the organization that aren’t working out.  Otherwise employees will see that it’s acceptable to just get by.  Great companies don’t just get by.

Based on my experience with Tiffany, I often tell clients that employees need to be clear about:

  • What is expected of them
  • What success looks like
  • How performance will be rated
  • What will happen if they don’t follow the rules
  • That it’s okay to take risks
  • That they will be rewarded for doing a great job

Then, managers must be trained on how to provide that clarity.  Managers also be a part of the system and held accountable for their behaviors and actions.

Whatever happened to Tiffany?

I received a letter from Tiffany six months after she left the company.  In it, she thanked me for what I did.  She was now a very successful sales person at a retail store making three times her salary while working for me.  With this news, I was truly happy for her.

Every time I see an under-performing person or group that I am afraid of hurting by being honest, I remember Tiffany.  She taught me that being honest benefits everyone.

Are you telling the truth about performance?  When all else fails, do you look to move people out of the organization that are under-performing? Or do you just pass them along down the dirt road of dysfunction where they’ll slip into the ditch again? If you have one, I’d love to hear your “Tiffany” story!

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 Leadership Articles Permalink

Leadership Follies – Does My Butt Look Fat In These Jeans?

Sticky Post By On August 25, 2015

Do you tell people the truth even when it might hurt? How many white lies have you told to make others feel better? When something is wrong do you say so?

My wife and I got into this big argument because I didn’t tell her when something looked horrible on her.  She is a beautiful woman, but picked an outfit that didn’t really flatter her.  But, I wanted her to “feel good”.  Instead it turned out that she was embarrassed by how bad she looked.

As I was getting ready to sleep on the couch that night I wondered how often that happens in leadership.  Why try to make people feel good instead of telling the truth?

After speaking to fellow leaders, coaches and experts, I found that there was a real cost at work for telling white lies or “sugar coating”.  As leaders, not telling the truth about performance, ideas, etc. actually undermines progress.  Yet, it is something that is done every day.

These “little” lies keep pushing people down the wrong path one nudge at a time. Unfortunately, it is more like pushing them off the plank into shark infested waters.

It is as if leaders say:

“Hey, here is a tasting pastry treat for you as you travel down that road of yours. I hope you enjoy the little white frosting I put on top. It should help propel you to get to that destination!”

But the ugly truth is “the sugar coating of white lies” seems to keep employees (or spouses) happy and moving along!  The problem is that with all the “white lies” the sugar crash that is coming.  Instead of facing a difficult or crucial conversation many leaders just keep feeding them the white lies because it makes them smile for now.  It is also easier than telling the truth.

What can you do?

It seems hard, but leaders must say what is so.  If performance is good, people should be recognized.  If it is not, it needs to be addressed.

Here’s how to keep those fattening and addictive white lies at bay:

1) Understand how to have “difficult conversations” using the Crucial Conversations methodology
1. Be specific about what happened.  Avoid watering down the facts.
2. Be honest and respectful.
3. Discuss what’s recent and relevant.
4. Watch for signals that the other person feels unsafe, and take appropriate action.
5. Employ active listening skills

2) Make a practice of saying two good things before saying the one negative thing
People are hungry for praise and recognition, something they don’t get as much of as they should at work or at home.  It is important to make sure people understand you do appreciate what they do.  But please don’t patronize.  Telling someone something nice about themselves that is untrue is another white lie.

3) Create a culture of truth
It is not easy but in order to get truthfulness there must be an environment that demands, respects and allows for trust and honesty.  There are many different ways to make this a reality, but it starts with the leader insisting and rewarding for it.

4) Admit failures readily
“When you make a mistake, you have to acknowledge that is so.  If you don’t you are at serious risk of losing all credibility and there is only one way to get it back: Admit you were wrong.” – Dwight Eisenhower

5) Teach how to come prepared with a handful of possible solutions with every WELL-DEFINE issue at hand
Problems don’t make teams, people and organizations great.  Solutions do.  Make sure that there is a solution or at least a thought of a solution for every problem that is brought up.  Remember the adage – Don’t tell me that it’s raining.  Tell me how to build the ark.

6) Teach how to build others up honestly and not falsely
Leaders must ensure that there is little room for spreading rumor and innuendo.  It might seem like human nature to back-stab and undermine, but that is really only true in TV dramas.  Honesty on teams has shown to increase productivity, creativity and reduce absenteeism.
“When you work alongside people you don’t trust and therefore don’t like, you’ll find the team becomes dysfunctional and can result in staff turnover, because people are sick of covering for lies,”

7) Hold people accountable
Don’t hesitate to remove someone that is not productive or honest.  Sometimes by losing one poor performer, a team can be twice as effective!

8) When lies do happen, expose them gently and explain where that lie would falsely lead someone and re-engineer the trajectory with the truth.
People lie.  Unfortunately, leaders face this dilemma at some point.  It is critical that leaders        address them head-on.  Once a lie is uncovered, the person lying must do whatever it takes to correct it.  That could mean offering an apology, revealing the truth or anything else necessary.

So now what?

With as much tact as possible, I always tell my wife the truth now.  If something isn’t flattering, I will let her know because I love her.  That is the truth.  If you really care about your company, team and employees you will let them know when those “jeans”  just aren’t flattering.  It will save them a whole lot of embarrassment.  It will also prove that you care so much about them that you can tell them the truth, even when it is hard to hear.

That is the mark of a leader.

Are you sugar coating poor performance of an employee?  Do you tell people when they are risking failure or do you allow them to fail to not hurt their feelings?  Do you avoid honesty so people like you?  If so, you could be doing more harm than good.

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 Leadership Articles Permalink

Leadership Follies – Someday One Day

Sticky Post By On August 25, 2015

Are there things in your life you have left undone? Do you regret not trying out something new?  Are there times that conversations take too long to be had?

As I helped decorate my daughter’s room for a birthday celebration, reflecting on her age reminded me of how old I really am. It strangely occurred to me that I am the father of a 16-year old.  This got me thinking back to when I was sixteen. I wondered what had I thought my life would be like at age 40?  Were there things that I wanted to do, but didn’t?  Were there conversations that I should have had, but failed to initiate? Did I live a life of regret?

Well, I am very pleased to say that my life has turned out great to this point. I am very very thankful.  I would never have thought I’d be lucky enough to have the family, the friends or the career that I do. I have made plenty of poor decisionsalong the way, but I have made many great ones, too. On the whole, I have been decisive and things have worked out okay.

But in comparison to many I have worked with and led over the years, I have seen many people miss out on many things because of putting off decision-making.

I have lost count of the times I have heard or said – “Someday I will” or “One day such-and-such will happen.”

To Be or Not to Be

It made me think of an opportunity that I have just been presented.  I weighed the opportunity with my typical criteria:

  • It is something that I have always wanted to do.
  • It makes good financial sense.
  • And it would be a great way for me to help others.

Despite passing through my normal decision filters, I did not say yes to this opportunity.  I wanted to wait to think about it.  I wanted to weigh my options more and would make my decision some day in the very near future.  As I contemplated this opportunity, I could hear my father in my mind asking me

“So when is this magical “some day”?

Analysis Paralysis – How to get Unstuck

The best time to make a decision or a tough conversation is now.  There is something to be said about careful planning. 

But, too much planning can turn decision into regret.  The problem is the number of choices available and the methods to analyze them can paralyze instead of making choosing easier.

According to Barry Schwartz, the author of The Paradox of Choice, there is a tendency to over analyze due to too many choices.  “We have become a victim of spending too long making choices that will not make a big impact on our lives.” (When you have 19 minutes, check out this great explanation on video from Barry)

The growing trend is to think more and act less.  It is good to be thoughtful, but let’s be honest…

“We wouldn’t do half the things we do in life if we knew what we were getting into!” – Anonymous

Regret of past failure, fear of change, questions about outcomes all play into our hesitations.

My father did not have the benefit of our current knowledge of the brain and other breakthroughs.  But he had a few key tactics to get more out of life, move on and regret less.  I did not realize how smart he was because recent literature supports his simple but effective technique.

1. Act on what you feel based on what you know

Although he says it much more eloquently, Malcom Gladwell, in his book Blink supports this theory that my dad used.  Essentially, once mastery is gained in a particular area of knowledge/experience decisions can be made without analyzing extensively.  Experts can make snap decisions and are right a vast majority of the time.  Therefore, people should rely on this “gut” instinct.  It is not a guess, but a practiced and trained reaction.  I like to think of it much like a master of martial arts acts when being attacked.  When faced with a situation, there is only action.  Taking action alleviates the dreaded analysis paralysis

2. Decide, and then act as if you could not fail.

Interestingly, the most successful people make decisions quickly and change them slowly. They persist with the decisions they have made. However, failures are very slow to make any decision at all (most never make any), and they change the ones they have made very rapidly indeed.

3. Once a choice is made, let it be (unless it truly hurts others.)

Make choices or decisions as permanent as possible.  .   There is nothing worse than someone who constantly goes back and forth after each decision.  There will always be another opportunity to choose again.

4. Be active

According to many experts one key to staying mental fit, not being depressed and making the most out of every opportunity is simple – stay active.  In John Medina’s recent book, Brain Rules, one the twelve keys to a healthy brain is activity – physical exertion, social interactivity, learning, teaching, etc. As strange as this may sound, if you are active you are more likely to make better decisions, communicate clearly, handle conflict more effectively and have an overall better outlook on life.

5. Be grateful for what you have

As a former Catholic schoolboy, I remember distinctly having to give thanks for what we had in front of us.  Almost every religious book encourages it’s readers to be grateful for what they have.  There are many great tales of why being grateful is beneficial to being happy.

Watching my beautiful wife hang colorful birthday streamers, I thought time goes by quickly.  In order to get the most out of life it is important to act.  It is as true for leaders as it is for fathers/mothers.

“What’s on your mind?” She asked.

“I am just trying to make a good decision about this opportunity.”

“Tell me about it.” She said

As I related the details, it quickly became clear to me that I was hesitating for no good reason.  My wife finally told me in her own special way –

“Piss or get off the pot, but we have to finish these decorations.  You know the right thing to do.”

I did and I acted.  Do I have regrets?  Sure I do, but at least of have the regrets of trying and failing instead of the regret of never trying at all.

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 Leadership Articles, Organizational Change Articles Permalink

Learned Helplessness

Sticky Post By On August 25, 2015

Where is the innovation?  Where is the creativity?  What happened to all the pride in work?

You can chalk that up to the growing sense of learned helplessness in the workplace.  What is learned helplessness?

Learned helplessness – A term developed by Martin Seligman, pioneering researcher in animal psychology, to describe what occurs when animals or human beings learn that their behavior has no effect on the environment.

From the perspective of an employee at almost any level in the organization, their ability to control their destiny has greatly diminished, if not vanished entirely.  Whether people have jobs or not, their passion for doing more and being more has been replaced with surviving.  Of course that is understandable.  This is the worst economy since the Great Depression.

Learned helplessness is a phenomenon affecting employees at every level in every organization.  It stems from the lack of impact employees believe they have on the day to day outcomes they are expected to achieve.   When people feel like they don’t have control there is a tendency to:

  • Not try new things
  • Do only what is required
  • Never question the status quo

The problem is that work still has to get done, orders need to be fulfilled, and customers need to be taken care of.  What can be done to shake employees out of the doldrums they are in?
Surprisingly enough, it is simple and therefore difficult to implement.

1. Find out what the state of the state is

An organization can only improve when it knows the truth about itself.  It is important to look for an organizational assessment or survey that will give a sense of how engaged the organization is AND how aligned it is.

2. Give managers the tools to drive engagement and align the culture simultaneously

Front line leaders are the key to driving success in any organization.  It is IMPERATIVE to give them the tools in a practical, easy to use method.  This same tool should be used to drive alignment between the Macro Culture (vision, mission, etc) and the Micro Culture (work team).

3. Push accountability down to the lowest level

Don’t try to control everything.  Organizations that win hold every person accountable for outcomes that forward the business.  Then, within reason, allow them to reach them in the best way possible.  Let employees get work done and get out of the way.  Trying to over regulate or put too many processes in place can stifle creativity.  Where possible let employees make decisions about how to get their work done.  If they don’t deal with that by checking in regularly and helping them correct course.

Of course this is easier said than done.  But the cost of keeping things as they are is too high.

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.

FIND A SOLUTION

Cube 2.14 will increase your organizational effectiveness. We specialize in developing innovative, practical solutions to create productive workplaces that exceed goals.

CONTACT INFORMATION

  • Anil@Cube214.com
  • (847) 212-0701
  • www.cube214.com

CONTACT US

Your Name (required)

Your Email (required)

Your Website (required)

Subject (required)

Your Message (required)