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

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

Marching To The Same Beat

Sticky Post By On August 25, 2015

“No, no, no!” my daughter’s marching band leader screamed.  “We cannot get to the end of the field unless ALL of us are going in the same direction.  Each section has to be playing the same song.”

As my daughter and I walked to the car, she proclaimed,

“I don’t understand why everyone doesn’t just try to march to the same beat.  We would look so much better.”

True I thought… too true.

Predictable Failure
That night I thought about all the organizations I had the privilege of working with.  Many of them launched new strategies all the time trying to capitalize on trends or new technology.  But the reality is, well-thought-out, interesting, and rational strategies failat an alarming rate.  Even after John Kotter’s seminal book, Leading Change, organizational change fails at least 70% of the time.  The same goes for introducing a new strategy.

Why is this? What are we still doing wrong?

It couldn’t be that companies don’t know HOW to implement change.  How could that be?  There are 100’s if not 1000’s of books on the subject of change management, and just as many consultants.  So if it is not about knowing how, then it must be something else.

Could the Answer Be So Simple?

Could it be as easy as marching to the same beat?

Research tells us that successful organizations have great focus in at least two key areas: They develop their managers, and align their culture (teams, departments, operations) to their strategy.

Basically, organizational culture is the personality of the organization. The goal is to get everyone to march to the beat of the same drummer.  That can be accomplished through force, but is difficult, costly, and ultimately counter-productive.

The alternative is to uncover the current culture and provide managers the tools they need to drive incremental change.

It’s as Simple – and Difficult – as 1, 2, 3

1. It starts with listening to understand how engaged people are within the organization.  Before people can get behind any change, they need to be excited about what they are doing, and where they are going.

2. Then, uncover the current level of alignment between strategy and culture. Is the day-to-day environment of the organization consistent with the stated and ultimate goals of the organization?

3. Lastly, identify effective means to instigate or facilitate service alignment between critical departments.

For even greater effectiveness, an online Alignment System can give front line managers, leaders, and OD/HR regular support, guidance, and learning.  The system would help to get everyone on the same page, helping them start to march to the same beat.

The Result – Leading for Alignment

My daughter’s band finished the season winning all kinds of awards.  Why do you think they had such great success? It is because her director was focused on making sure each section of the band was “playing the same song” and “paying attention to [and supporting] the rest of the band.”

What unsuccessful experiences have you had in attempting change or a new strategy? Do you think a misalignment was behind this failure? What was the misalignment? What was the impact of this “failure?” What opportunities  do you see now to foster greater alignment in your organization or working group to create a greater chance of success? I’d love to hear you 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.

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

Preparing For Meetings, Going To Meetings, And Getting Coffee

Sticky Post By On August 25, 2015

“Being a high-performance organization!”

“Doing more with less.”

In the hallways and meeting rooms in organizations around the globe, people use phrases like these to imply that they are working toward hyper-performance.  Sure, there is a lot of hyperbole, but what really happens at work?  Is an increase in productivity really occurring?

The short answer is no.  Companies seem like they are getting more out of their current workforce.  But, if customers are buying less, fewer employees can do more of the work.  The recent rise in productivity is masking this dirty little secret.

A great deal of employee’s time is spent doing one of three tasks:

1. Preparing for meetings
2. Going to meetings
3. Getting coffee/snacks/etc.

Working for a Living?

Research says that many employees manufacture work to make themselves look better, look busy and look important. But what does this type of behavior do for the bottom line? How can that energy be turned toward something good?

The problem is a result of two issues:
1. Companies knock the creativity out of employees
2. Employees don’t act like owners

Kicking the creative habit

After consulting with a number of great organizations over the last many years, one constant has become clear to me:

The culture of organizations both drives success and drives people crazy.

New employees are generally hired because of their experience, enthusiasm, drive, and new ideas.  There is a great deal of fanfare when the new employees arrive until they start sharing ways to make the organization more effective. However, something different actually happens when most new employees arrive in their new spot. Each time they bring a new idea, they are essentially told to “sit down and shut up.” After too much of this type of treatment, they reach the point of frustration and “go native.”

Going native is:

To act and do as the members of the tribe, town, environment an individual finds themselves in as to blend in and be accepted.

Then, lo and behold, the very creativity and spark that was the reason that the employees were hired is snuffed out like the torch at tribal council on “Survivor.”

I just work here…

But, employees are not blameless.  As Sisyphus can attest, pushing a rock up a hill can be very difficult.  However, successful employees (and people) are folks that take responsibility and pride in their roles.  As a wise mentor once told me,

“I act like this little part of the company is mine.  I run it as if it were my own, making sure to be careful with money, look for opportunities to improve and fight the status quo.”

Too often, employees work hard to distance themselves from an organization. Many people feel like they are not going to be at a company long-term so why should they invest themselves.  It leads to a very “quick-fix” mentality.  Companies certainly don’t help themselves by using layoffs as a method to meet quarterly profit goals.  As the old saying goes, you can’t go into a marriage expecting divorce.  That is a recipe for disaster.

Employees must step up and take ownership of their role and tasks.

Solution Center

So now what do we do about it?

Care for creativity.

It almost goes without saying that creativity and enthusiasm are the lifeblood of any organization/team.  These are characteristics that should be nurtured.  Creativity comes in all disciplines.  It has been shown that innovation comes from an engaged and motivated workforce. Determine how engaged folks are now and give your managers the tools they need to increase it, all the time.

Figure out what you want to be.

Teams/organizations need a purpose that drives them to act.  Innovation comes from the need to fulfill that purpose. Make sure that the purpose is well-known and that actions are aligned to meeting it.  Focused effort naturally eliminates waste, increases clarity, and actually makes work more fun.  It is a powerful incentive to know where you are going, why you need to get there and what happens if you don’t.

Reward ownership.

Do whatever you can to notice, recognize and reward employees when they act like owners.  Owners don’t waste; they go the extra mile, take risks and are unwilling to smooth things over.  As a business owner, the drive is to be successful now and even more successful in the future.  Relationships are nurtured because they are important over the long haul.

Be an owner.

As an employee at any level, treat the organization you are in as if you are an owner.  It makes work much more satisfying if you are doing the extra work to benefit you.  It seems like semantics, but ownership allows for responsibility and gives latitude to be bold both in action and in protection of the organization.  Even if you think that the job is temporary, an ownership mentality will provide some clarity of decision and perspective.

But what about meetings?

Meetings are actually a powerful method to communicate and get work done.  However, they have been used and abused making them seem ridiculous.  If organizations actively protect creativity and encourage an ownership mentalitythey will naturally be more effective.  Time won’t be wasted on preparing for or attending meaningless meeting.  However, they will need a good cup of “joe”.

What are your experiences of acting like an owner?  Have you seen what happens when an organization promotes an ownership mentality?  Where might this be effective?

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 Change Management Articles, Leadership Articles Permalink

Keeping Up With The Joneses

Sticky Post By On August 25, 2015

As with most things in my adult life, my greatest learnings have come from my wife. A couple of days ago, she was approached by a neighbor asking for her help in landscaping their yard. Now, my wife is not a professional landscaper, but extremely talented in making things look great. Our yard is a combination of her ideas, brains, planning, and my labor.

My wife threw herself into the project. She was totally engaged. Taking pictures, measuring, drawing. She did this without the promise of anything in return, except gratitude.

“Why are you working so hard on this?” I asked.

“Because she is my friend and I want to leave something great behind,” was her simple reply.

ON LIFE AND LIVING YOUR PASSION

Her passion made me wonder what it would be like if work occurred to us like the yard project to my wife. What is the legacy we are leaving? Do we as employees, managers, or leaders think about leaving something great behind us when we are done? How do you make that a reality?

Like I said in the beginning, I just watched my wife. She started with an idea in mind of what a great yard would look like.

What would fit with the house and the style of the neighbor? She developed a great strategy.

Any great project starts with a great strategy, whether that is a for a company, department, or yard.

But how is that turned into reality? What are the steps to get people engaged? How does one achieve repeatable results?

GET A READING
Understanding how enrolled they are already…

Then, she worked with our neighbor to figure out how engaged she was in her yard with questions like:

  • What did they like?
  • What did they want out of their yard?
  • What would be their ideal for the space?

She started getting them involved in the plan. They had to put together plans, learn, and get into action. Measuring the level of engagement is the first critical step in realizing a strategy. Once it is known, then there has to be action taken to increase that level of engagement because people have to be engaged before they will work on implementing a strategy, no matter how brilliant.

BE A LEADER COACH
Make the managers great…

Once she started to get them engaged, she trained the neighbors to be outstanding yard managers.  It was important that they learned how to be the very best at taking care of the yard as it was designed.  They had to not only be good with plants, but make sure that whatever they did was in line with the strategy.
The key factor in a “fully realized” strategy is great managers learning and taking tactical action that is aligned to the overall strategy.

GETTING RESULTS
Make the results repeatable….

The yard was transformed, and our neighbor was so very pleased.  The results were really magical.  They have the second nicest yard around (…next to ours of course) and are excited about it.  Now their yard is beautiful, always looks great and they are excited about working in it.
They have a consistently awesome-looking yard thanks to my wife leading through the process of:

  • Engaged Neighbors
  • Great Yard Managers
  • Aligned to Yard Strategy
  • A Superior Yard

The same is true at work:

  • Engaged Employees
  • Great Managers
  • Aligned to Organizational  Strategy
  • Superior Results Business Results

Wasn’t it someone wise who once said you reap what you sow?

So what are you doing to insure reliable, repeatable results with your managers or your team? Are you reaching into their passions and desires to help them produce more with less (friction, resistance, and foot-dragging)? Are you making plans clear for everyone involved so that they can be left alone to succeed on their own? Or do you micro-mis-manage them? I’d love to hear your 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 Change Management Articles, Facilitation Articles, Instructional Design Articles, Leadership Articles Permalink

Follow The Yellow Brick U-Turn

Sticky Post By On August 25, 2015

SOMETIMES, REALITY BITES.

Sometimes it’s just a nip at the ankle.

Other times, reality bites your hand.

And other times it jumps up and bites us in the back side.

One way that reality bites is when plans should go one way, but somehow take a detour and go another way in a totally wrong direction that leads to a dead-end. When this happens, we scratch our heads and wonder if somehow we woke up in the middle of “Opposite Day.”

BUSINESS CASE

When organizations get into trouble with their businesses, the job of the leaders is to recognize what is happening and make the necessary changes to get things back on course. They need to be able to understand their current conditions and seewhat steps need to be taken by creating effective plans and strategies. Leaders should use all the resources at their disposal to execute their planning so that they have the best shot at correcting their course.

Using both internal talents and outside consultants, the leaders responsibility is to get the best plan at the most reasonable cost.

As a business consultant who works with organizations on developing plans for them, I am called upon to help create effective plans that implement positive changes. After working hard to develop a plan for a client, I recently “got bitten by reality.” The reality was that a client who clearly needed to change course “decided not to decide” on my new plan.

They loved the plan that I created and agreed that it would work, but they took a detour into no-man’s land. Even after an exhaustive search for potential vendors to create a plan to help them change course, the decision was made to…make no decision.

They were headed down the yellow brick road to a better place, but somehow got off track and took a detour.

DECISION MAKING

The client loved the plan, but didn’t want to use it. What is that all about, I wondered?

To get my answers as to why the client “decided not to decide” to change, I did what all good consultants do; I did a Google search and asked my peers for the answer.  Here is what I found:

  • Companies take, on average 15% longer to come to decisions about vendors, strategy and organizational changes (2009 Right Management Survey)
  • 20% of companies, on average, decide that the best course of action is no action when deciding on strategy, vendors and organizational changes
  • Internal decision-making processes add, on average, 10 to 20% more time tocomplete contracts, negotiations, etc.

Discovering this information made me even more curious.  Why would that be?  What could be the cause of this institutional analysis paralysis?  After some more conversation, research, and interviews I found some more fascinating facts:

Fear Factor

It seems natural that companies are hesitant to make decisions because there is a lack of trust in (and for) the organization. In addition, the very people tasked to make decisions are too scared of making the wrong one.

WHAT CAN BE DONE?
Here are 6 ways to help your organization become more effective in making decisions.

1.  86 the process
It is often said that nothing kills creativity like a good process.  Approval processes can be vital to success for large organizations.  They can help to manage cost and ensure accountability.  But, once a process is in place it tendsto take on a life of its own.

At times the process becomes so burdensome, that it is easier to just keep the status quo rather than bucking the system. It is important that questions like “Why are we doing this?” be asked on a regular basis.  There should be no process that isn’t scrutinized.

2. Encourage or Force Choice
This is tricky.  This requires managers and leaders to allow employees to make decisions or select new ways to doing things and rewarding them for doing so. This is not the norm for many organizations, departments, or teams.  Reward employees for making decisions.  Support them. Use the decision-making process as a learning opportunity. It will become a practiced skill that they will gain expertise the more they do it.

3. Take Actions To Increase Trust
Every effort should be made to increase trust on a regular basis.  Patrick Lencioni, the author of 5 Dysfunctions of a Team, has shown that the foundation of every successful team is trust.  But, it is often the first area where many teams fail.  There is not an emphasis on trust at organizations where it vanishes so quickly. In order to create high performance organizations building trust is paramount.

4.  Keep Changing
A great lesson can be learned from Ingar Skaug.  He was the CEO of Wilh. Wilhelmsen Lines, ASA a major ship building company.  Through tragedy he helped his company transform itself.  Although very successful ASA had become stagnant and resistant to change.  Skaug knew that this would be its downfall.  He encouraged decision-making that lead to change.

5. Align Culture to Strategy
Lack of decision and indecisiveness comes from being unclear on the path.  The decision of whether to go right or left can be paralyzing, if you do not know what the best path to take.  Leaders have to make sure that they are uncovering the dimensions of their culture and working towards aligning that to the organizational strategy.  Of course, it is necessary to have a strategy first.  It does not have to be a “we will change the world” strategy, but something that tells people where you intend to go.  This should inform every action and be the arbiter of decisions.

6. Have Fun
“Hardly a day goes by without reading an interview with a prominent executive or hearing a knowledgeable observer suggest that having fun at work is important for employee morale and productivity” ~ Robert C. Ford

People are relaxed when they are having fun.  They are confident and more willing to make decisions.  Not to say that it should be party, but fun.  Iron-clad, rule oriented organizations stay stagnant.

Taking these small actions at every level of the organization will increase the speed and ability to make decisions.  It is not a guarantee of perfect decisions.  That is notand should not be the goal.  People in organizations need to be good at deciding and acting.  The old child’s tale about the tortoise and the hare misses the point. The hare was fast but unfocused. If the hare had been intent on winning, the tortoise would have been left in the dust.

Don’t you wish your organization was the nimble hare? Do you want to help your leaders and teams be more decisive. Are you building a culture of trust, reward, and risk-tolerance that allows for healthy decision-making? What are some others ways that you can help keep your teams on the yellow-brick road to a better place?

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 Change Management Articles, Instructional Design Articles, Leadership Articles Permalink

Leadership Follies: Blamestorming

Sticky Post By On August 25, 2015

Blamestorming?

The act of an organization, or portion thereof, blaming other parts of the organization when there is a failure with a customer. Instead of finding or creation a solution for the customer they try to focus on why things happened.  Coming up with reason after reason for the failure but no resolution.

Business Case

“We spend all of our time trying to figure out who or what is to blame and none of it trying to fix the problem”, said the senior leader.  She was trying to figure out why the new “Focus on the Customer” strategy was not taking hold.  I had seen it too often – a great idea or strategy to improve business performance that actually decreases it.

Or organizations spend all their time looking for heads to roll –

“The board of directors was exhausted after a four hour blamestorming session which finally resulted in two names for the chopping block.” —Gab Halasz, Merriam Webster

Why does this happen?

It is as if organizations are built on the principles of self preservation….wait, they are.  Like any other organism, organizations actively work to survive.  Unfortunately in business, sometimes survival is the enemy of exceptional or superior performance.

The major thrust of Jim Collin’s exceptional book “Good to Great” was the chasm between the good and the great.  It is even evidenced recently.

The rash of companies that have failed in the past decade due to the “circling the wagon” mentality – Toyota, Goldman Sachs, BP and many more – or have lost market share because they can’t implement new strategies vital to their business’s success (think record labels dealing with the internet or US Steel Mills unable to deal with globalization). Clearly, there were efforts in all those companies to pull the organization towards a solution, but somehow it fell short.

It is almost understandable that a company would try to block or repel accusations of failure, but why would that happen internally? All the company’s departments are working towards the same goal, right?

Anyone that has worked in a company with more than one person knows that eventually people lose sight of the common goal. – Henry Ford

The storm clouds gather.

At some point in every employee’s career, they go from caring about the company to caring about themselves. Just like an individual organizations start out focused, driven and building solutions for their customer’s success.  But, companies too fall into the trap of caring more about their survival than the people or process that brought them success.

Chance of inclement weather and disaster

When companies reach the point that they do more “fixing the process” than solving customer problems, than blamestorming has taken over.  It is easy to see when this happens:

Once a company starts to go down the blamestorming path, these are the things that can happen:

  • Increase in internal bureaucracy
  • Lower employee morale
  • Decrease in new ideas coming from employees, lower organizational creativity
  • Lots of CYB (cover your butt) action like documenting every single interaction
  • Increase in Customer attrition
  • Overall lower organizational efficiency

When does the storm end?

Blamestorming is an organizational issue, but it can be addressed at many layers within the organization.

At the team level

Focus on the problem and solve it.

Sounds simple, right?  It is not as simple as it seems.  The idea is that the long term solution will come from solving the problem presented.  Once the problem is solvedcompletely take the solution and analyze it.

  • Why did the solution work?
  • How can it be used again?
  • Where can we leverage this solution?

Don’t focus on the process but the people
Process is important. It lends to organizational consistency, but once it is done for the sake of the process it is failing.  This is evidenced when leaders want employees to follow process over action or impact.  It is important that when solving a problem that individuals are taken into account.  Make sure that the people are taken care of while solving the problem.  All the people involved – customers, employees, vendors, etc. In the end people will make or break your process and the success of your company (just ask Jerry Reinsdorf how that went when Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, etc. left the Bulls)

At the macro (organizational) level

Mine for solutions
Organizations can foster a sense of pride and build creativity by promoting/highlighting solutions.  This is not collecting best practices.  Best practices have become “formulaic” and don’t allow for creativity.  It is showcasing solutions.  Promoting, as an organization, looking for and creating solutions.

Align to Strategy
This is going to sound a little bi-polar.  On one had organizations need to promote a solution focus.  That requires some freedom of thought and action where the primary objective is to solve organizational issues (customer problems, etc.) On the other hand there needs to be some focus on the focus.  That is there needs to be some direction or boundaries to the problems being solved.  Actions taken within the organization and to forward the organization should be taken towards a common end or strategy.  This will increase the overall organizational effectiveness. (quote and link here)

Why do something about it now?

A logical question might be, “Why should we worry about this now?”  Organizations that don’t will go the way to horse carriage makers, US Watch makers, etc.  These organizations did not see that they were not solving customer issues but holding on to a way to doing business or even product that wasn’t needed.

Does your organization focus on pointing the finger of blame rather than solving problems?  What does that cost you?  What has been done to interrupt that way of being?  I’d be curious to 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 Change Management Articles Permalink

Leadership Follies: Are You Ready For The Winter?

Sticky Post By On August 25, 2015

Is your organization poised to make money on the coming recovery?  Are you preparing now or planning to change when it happens?

Do you prepare when you know a change is coming?

Towards the end of November at my house we begin to winterize.  That is, we start to prepare for what we are anticipating will be cold, windy and snowy weather.  Although we can’t predict exactly when, we know that it is inevitable.  So that we can not only survive, but thrive in the coming change of season there are precautions we must take and stop gaps we can employ.  Shouldn’t companies winterize too?  We know that winter, just like the economic recovery, is coming.  Are we prepared?

Can’t you just wait until it gets cold to prepare for the winter?

Sure we can.  However, like the tale of the ant and the grasshopper waiting for the cold, or the economic change, can be disastrous.  The problem that many organizations and teams faced in the recent downturn was that they did not react until it was too late.  The economy hit all hard, but some were ready, like the ant, and weathered it well.
Unfortunately, we have become accustomed to knee-jerk and just-in-time reactions.  Thereby, allowing the desire to profit in the next quarter cloud the judgment to advance the organization for the long haul.  The same can be said for the team or department.  We must begin to anticipate the change that is inevitably coming through leadership and preparation.  Until we do, we tempt being like the grasshopper more often than we’d like.

How do you “winterize” your organization?

1. Find out what is really going on in the organization.

During an economic downturn, organizations often take drastic cost cutting measures.  Employees understand the reality of this.  That being said, it is important to understand the “state of your state”.  This is not just from P&L standpoint.  You have to be aware of trends within employee and customer ranks.  Invest in an engagement system to understand how well aligned and prepared for an uptick in business.  It is vital that you know the level of engagement to ensure flexibility and ability to act.

2. Prepare your managers

Managers are the front line of information and support for the organization.  Too many times, managers are left without tools or training to answer questions and hold discussions about changes to the organization.  They have the proximity and power to dispel rumors and create some momentum for the pending change. They don’t have the power to make the change by themselves.  Bu, it is critical to ensure they are developed and there is alignment between the organizational strategy and culture and the managerial ones.

3. Determine key roles and functions within the organization.

It sounds a little unkind, but there are some roles that are critical to the function of your team or organization.  There are some people and positions that have knowledge that would take a great deal of time to teach others or might hinder operations with access to.  Once you identify these people and positions, put plans in place to capture the critical knowledge, learn best practices and how to encourage them to grow with your organization.

4. Cross Train

Make sure that you are cross train knowledge within teams, departments, etc.  Once the critical positions and people have been identified, you can accurately partner folks based on their knowledge and need for growth.  Doing this can also be a method of recognition for both the person training and doing the training.  Mentoring can be a power method to continue to the good aspects of organizational culture.

5. Develop your current staff

Use the data from your engagement study you can uncover the development needs of your staff.  When combined with employee interviews, a baseline can be uncovered that will increase their productivity and abilities.  Development is inexpensive compared to losing customers or opportunities.

Does this really work?

Although all companies have been affected by the recent economic downturn, there are some that have fared relatively well.  Those that have, generally speaking, have focused on these five keys.  Apple, Wal-mart, Toyota, and others have shown that by focusing on what they do well and preparing for change companies can survive almost anything the economy throws their way.

Do you know what your employees are really thinking?  What are you doing to prepare for the coming economic change? Or are you just hoping that things will work themselves out?  If you are preparing, I would love to hear what you are doing or how!

25 Aug 2015
Sticky Post By Posted in Leadership Articles Permalink

Leadership Follies – Part Of The Pack

Sticky Post By On August 25, 2015

As we brought our first puppy into the house, I realized that there were a couple of key things that I had forgotten to get. I actually forgot food and a bed.  I had plenty of time for our new arrival, but I still hadn’t prepared enough. The new member of the family did not have everything it needed to be successful. I was in charge, yet unprepared for success.

Silly me…How could I expect the puppy to learn about how to be a part of the family without the basics?

As I raced around to the local pet stores, I began to think about how similar this was to new people starting at companies.  I worked with many organizations that acted like my family with our new puppy.  They were excited at the thought of a new member of the family, but unprepared when they finally arrived.  How often had I seen new employees without the basic tool like a desk, computer, phone, etc?

That night, as the puppy whined, I began to ponder how little my wife and I had done to ease it into its new role. The puppy didn’t know what it was getting into as we carried it into its new home.  Even worse, we had no plan to ensure that the puppy learned what it needed to do or know to be successful.

The Way It’s Done Now?

Silly as it sounds I remember thinking that night how many times had I seen new people at clients being left to:

  • Fend for themselves
  • Figure out the ropes
  • Sink or swim in order to survive

Often times this approach leads to disaster:

  • 22% of staff turnover occurs in the first forty-five days of employment.” – The Wynhurst Group
  • “46% of rookies wash out in their first 18 months” found a study of 20,000 new hired employees.” – Leadership IQ
  • “The cost of losing an employee in the first year is estimated to be at least three times their salary.” – The Wynhurst Group

It happens just like it did to the poor pup.  Isn’t it a leader’s duty to make sure their employees are taken care of?

Doesn’t a leader have an obligation to give a new employee every opportunity to succeed?

There has to be a better way

A new employee is not a puppy.  But, each new employee is like a new member of the family.  New employees are the lifeblood of new ideas, leadership, and vibrancy in any organization.  It is absolutely critical that new employees are made to feel:

  • Like they belong
  • glad they joined the company
  • Ready to make an impact

This has also been proven to add to the bottom line. In his book Deciding Who Leads, author Joseph Daniel McCool cites the example of Bristol-Myers Squibb, which increased retention of new executives from 40% to 90% by revamping the hiring process, including instituting a formal process for new executive integration.

New employee success is built upon 10 key fundamentals:

1. There must be a plan from the moment they are hired through the first 180 to 365 days of their job.

2. A new employee has to feel like they made the right choice as soon as they accept an offer.  This can easily be accomplished with a simple welcome package.  Nothing fancy, just some items that help to prepare the new employee for their first day and are a little special.

3. The new employee’s workspace should be 100% ready for them when they start.  There is nothing more demoralizing to come to an unprepared desk.  That prep makes people feel special.

4. Set up the new employee with a mentor.  Each new employee should have a mentor.  Depending on the size of the company, it could be internal or external.  But the mentor relationship needs to somewhat structured.

5. In the beginning, introduce the new employee meet critical people every day. It will allow them to be more comfortable from the start.

6. Have a training plan ready for them when they start that will take them through the end of their first year.

7. Make sure the new employee meets with other new hires

8. Put them to work right away. No one wants to sit idly.

9. Conduct, at minimum, one assessment of the new hire’s progress and knowledge every quarter. Review that with them to ensure they are clear about what they did well and where there is room for improvement.

10. Celebrate them joining the company. People like to know they are appreciated.

Does it really make a difference?

The second dog my family got was a much more pleasant experience.  I made sure to map out his first 180 days with us.  It sounds a little like overkill, but it worked remarkably well.  The extra time I spent with him the first couple of months was worth it.  ”Cadoo” turned out to be exceptionally well behaved, friendly and very reliable.  After the initial investment in time, tools, training and attention, he became a productive member of the family (he earned his keep by chasing rabbits out of the garden).

I think about Cadoo when working with clients on how to make new employees more effective, knowledgeable, and productive. Just make sure to set them up for success and there is no limit the positive effect they can have on the organization.

How do new employees feel when they start? Are you making sure that new employees are set up for success? What are you doing to give new employees knowledge? How are you going to make them feel like part of the pack?

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 Permalink

Leadership Follies: Cutting Through The Meat

Sticky Post By On August 25, 2015

Why is most training not effective for very long? There is a lot of time and effort put into training? Does behavior really change because of training?

As performance improvement tools go, training is extremely effective.  But unless it is used on the job it is a waste of time.   

I learned early in my consulting career that good training is like teaching your kids to cut meat.  When done correctly, children learn to be self sufficient.  The alternative is cutting the kid’s meat or watching them eat like a barbarian. 

Great Training?

My wife and I were talking about the training that I just conducted for a client.  She asked me how the training went.  I told her it was magical.  The participants in the course were:

  • engaged,
  • laughing,
  • asking great questions
  • and taking notes!

“Wow”, she said.  “What happens when you leave?” she asked.

“Umm, well, they go back to work.” I eloquently stated.

“Really, do they put what you taught to use?” she asked.

“I’m not sure.”  I replied “Honestly, I am a consultant and I can’t control what the client does when I leave.”

“Oh, that seems like a waste of time then.”  My not so subtle wife stated.

What is the real impact?

I was stunned and hurt.  But wondered if that were true.  Was it a waste of time?  Did all of my hard work go for naught? 

Were my clients guilty of training for the sake of doing it with little thought to the follow through?  I decided that I would call some of the participants in my class in a couple of weeks and see what magic they were creating.   

Exactly two weeks from the end of my class, I called each person that attended.  The results were less than stellar.  Of the 22 people attending:

  • 13 had not looked at any of the material, done any of the post class work, etc.  None of their leaders asked them about the training. All of them thought I was great though.
  • 2 did not remember what we worked on, but remember the funny story I told about my father and the parking garage.  None of their leaders asked them about the training.
  • 3 said that they tried some of their new knowledge once at work and never tried it again.  They liked me during the course, but don’t think I gave them practical solutions.  None of their leaders did not ask them about the training.
  • 4 had implemented most of the learning and were excited with the results.  They liked me, but thought my jokes were old and tired.  Their managers inquired about the training, asked them to share their post training work and made it a topic during their status conversations.

I learned 3 things from these calls:

1. People like me
2. Training is great when people put it into action
3. People only put it into action consistently over time when prompted by their leader.
 
I thought that sounded ridiculously simple and therefore believed that could not be the answer.  Of course, that night my wife proved that it was. 

What could you do differently?

At the time, my daughter was not very good using a fork and knife.  She struggled particularly with cutting.  For some reason she thought it was easier to push down with a knife than saw back and forth.  She would struggle mightily and when frustrated would ask her Dad to cut it.  My wife took half the dinner to show Alex how to use a knife.   Over the next couple of days, my wife had my daughter practice cutting with her knife, talk about how to use her knife and praising her.  By the end of the third day, my daughter was a knife welding pro. 
 
It did not end with knowing the skill.  My wife worked with Alex every day to drive the learning home.  Although it took my wife extra time for a couple of days, we never had to cut Alex’s meat again.  My wife showed me that training is only the beginning.  Follow through enables real lasting learning. 

Since then, all of the training I deliver does not end with class.  It ends when the participant’s leader has made the learning a priority.  It is up to the participant to take in the lessons and bring back the knowledge.  It is up to the leader to help the participant put that learning to use every day until there is a change in behavior or skill. 

Are you making sure that training is acted on?  What steps are you taking to make sure that there is follow through after training?  Do you encourage people to use knowledge from recent training?  How do you make sure that training is being put to use?

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

Lessons From A Bad Manager: Employee Engagement Is All About You

Sticky Post By On August 25, 2015

ad managers see engagement surveys as a personal reading; they take the scores personally. Therefore, they see it as their “responsibility” to create an action plan to remedy any low scores. This is the antithesis of what should be done. It stifles conversation and ensures lower engagement over time. If engagement scores were about making the manager look good, it would undermine the whole premise of engagement!
 
When the manager believes that employee engagement ratings reflect how well they manage, and begin to take the scores personally, it’s basically a sign of being really bad manager.
 
Employee engagement scores are certainly influenced by the direct manager, but it’s most importantly the vehicle that empowers employees to create that kind of working environment that leads to engagement. The results enable individuals and teams to review what’s working and what isn’t, and in turn, create processes, systems, and initiatives that solve problems and lead to a better future.
 
Great managers see that having an engaged team is largely about the team creating an engaging environment.  
 
Employees are engaged when the work is interesting, meaningful, and has impact. Managers are instrumental in making that a reality. Employee engagement ratings are a tool to determine what could be improved to increase engagement, not a personal measure of the manager’s worth as a human being.
 
Great managers understand that they can provide a forum to allow the team to enhance engagement. They know they can create an engaging environment by having open dialogue about what works and what doesn’t.
 
I worked with a leader whose team scored very low on employee engagement tests. She was furious. Even though she thought she was nice and fair, her scores were low. She was embarrassed. In the meeting about the results, her discontent was palpable. She demanded that her managers get to the bottom of the low scores.

Her desire to find out why the scores were low became a barrier to actually fixing the issues identified by the survey. One of the areas that people felt disengaged about was being able to have open dialogue and fix processes that were broken.
 
Her reaction to the survey results solidified their belief that expressing their views and sharing their feedback was a CLM (Career Limiting Move).

Imagine if she had reacted like this instead:

“Wow, I was shocked by the results of the survey. It seems like we’ve identified a few things to get on. Let’s talk about how we can make this department an even more engaging place to work. Let’s not focus the conversation on why you selected the scores/levels you did. Let’s talk about solutions to make it better.”

The employees would have reacted much more favorably.
 
The objective isn’t to focus on what’s not working, or get rationale for why someone scored the way they did. The focus is moving forward on the solutions. 
 
Work on making improvements. When people see that their input is being used to make things better, they will become MORE ENGAGED.
 
Don’t be a bad manager. Employee engagement scores are not a measure of being likable; they’re a gauge of where to take action.

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 Permalink

Leadership Development Program Epic Fail

Sticky Post By On August 25, 2015

Every year in organizations globally there are billions of dollars spent on developing leaders.

It’s estimated that $60 billion is spent annually by corporate America on learning and development programs. Over 20 percent—about $12 billion—is spent on programs specifically for executives and managers. – Jack Zenger

But, for the most part they don’t seem to get the return on investment that’s intended?  According to a recent McKinsey study:

“When upward of 500 executives were asked to rank their top three human-capital priorities, leadership development was included as both a current and a future priority. Almost two-thirds of the respondents identified leadership development as their number-one concern.2 Only 7 percent of senior managers polled by a UK business school think that their companies develop global leaders effectively,3 and around 30 percent of US companies admit that they have failed to exploit their international business opportunities fully because they lack enough leaders with the right capabilities.”

WHY DO THEY FAIL?

1. NO LINK TO IMPACT A SPECIFIC BUSINESS GOAL

In numerous companies, leadership-development efforts are not aligned with strategic goals.- Douglas A. Ready and Jay A. Conger

As with any other “people” related program, the only way to drive long term involvement is to connect it directly to business outcomes.  Unfortunately, too often this link isn’t made explicitly.  Therefore, the learning doesn’t help business leaders make decisions that affect issues that are important to business now.  In addition, if there is no link to business outcomes then it is easy to eliminate during economic downturns because it’s a “nice to have” not a necessity.
 
SOLUTION – LINK IT TO ONE OR MORE BUSINESS GOALS

This takes effort and money – and our research shows that this investment, when done well, pays off handsomely. Companies that don’t take the time and effort to align leadership with their business strategy (Yahoo is a great example) suffer in the market. – Josh Bersin

Actively connect leadership development to one or more business goals.  Whether it is decreasing errors or increasing productivity, make a connection that is real, important and visible.  That way it can be reported and measured. Of course measurement isn’t everything, but it can help to make improvements on the program over time.
 
2. NO CLEAR OBJECTIVE OR INTENDED OUTCOME
Far too often, there is no objective or measurable outcome related to leadership development programs.  They are put in place because “they should be” or as a result of survey or a senior leadership mandate.  Anecdotally, everyone knows that leadership development is important.  Research done by Josh Bersin, the Blanchard Companies and many others have shown that leadership development can be a competitive advantage.  But, without an outcome there is no guiding principle or direction for the development.  Development for development’s sake is good, but not sustainable.
 
SOLUTION – PUT A STAKE IN THE GROUND FOR OUTCOMES  

Although it’s not always true that only what’s measured matters, in this case it is important to have some outcomes that people can align on achieving.  This will drive the type of learning that is chosen, the modality, etc.  Without some agreed upon outcomes there will also be no way to measure if the program is successful, needs to be improved, etc.

3. NO ACCOUNTABILITY/CURRENT LEADERS ARE NOT EXHIBITING CHARACTERISTICS OR COMPETENCIES
Because there is often not a link between leadership development and business outcomes, leaders that don’t promote or exhibit the skills/competencies/tendencies taught are not held accountable.  They are allowed to continue their bad behavior and be a walking reminder of the program’s lack of teeth.  Those people will undermine the uptake of the principles taught in it. 

SOLUTION – HOLD LEADERS ACCOUNTABLE OR BETTER YET REWARD THOSE THAT EXHIBIT THE BEHAVIORS YOU’RE LOOKING TO BE EXHIBITED!
 
Remember the saying “Shadow of a Leader”.  It sounds easier than it is.  If an organization wants to create a particular culture, then it has to enforce the mores and norms of it.  That includes getting tough with bad leaders.  Reward the behavior that you want emulated.

4. NO PRACTICAL APPLICATION
Many leadership development programs are based in delivering a series of courses and weaving in some role playing or case studies.  The theory is delivered and then the implementation of that theory is left to the leadership development participants to put into practice.  The problem is:

1. There is little time for leaders/managers to implement new ideas
2. There is no one that can help them implement them in the best way
3. There is no feedback loop for them regarding their new skills
 
SOLUTION – ALL LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS MUST MUST MUST HAVE MENTORING AND REAL LIFE APPLICATION INCLUDED IN THEM.

It’s likely that classroom learning will always have a place in leadership development.  It is a good place to introduce new concepts and provides a safe place for experimentation.  But for leadership development to really take hold, it has to enable people to put learning into action and feedback/coaching regularly on how they did regularly.
 

Integrate leadership development into the work itself. This is the ideal environment, where the learning and the work are seamless. – Peter Bregman

Without the practical implementation aspect of leadership development the learning never gets past “that’s a good theory” stage.  Change in behavior or adoption of new behavior takes acting in a new way.  Creating a section of the program dedicated to application is vital to deep, meaningful and lasting learning.
 
What do you think? What are examples of leadership development programs that have succeeded?

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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