Leadership Lessons Blog

Leadership and Core Values

I came across this article today and wanted to share its content. Every company should have a set of core values or operating principles they live by.  This is a way for us to measure behavior and way for us to integrate the "mission" of the company through its employees. Oftentimes, companies make the mistake of assuming that their employees are in support of company core values.  If employees are not involved in the creation of the values then it is unlikely they will buy in to them or more importantly practice them in the day-to-day performance on the job  Sometimes, companies view the creation of values as "fluff."  I prefer to think of values as the glue that holds a company together.  If we navigate away from our values progress is thwarted as is morale.  Hope you enjoy reading this excerpt.

Good to the Core, by John Blumberg

"I was in Honolulu to speak at a large national conference. I scheduled an extra day onto the trip since I had never been to Honolulu and because a few great friends were also at the conference. The day after the conference, we awoke at the crack of dawn to visit Pearl Harbor. As we stood above and looked down upon the sunken USS Arizona, the depth of our experience came to life. It was moving and humbling.

Upon our return to the hotel, I had some time to spare before departing to the airport. A couple of my friends and I decided to rent a raft large enough to hold three adults. We targeted the white-capped waves, out in the distance, as our destination. With the incoming waves, we had a hard time getting away from the shore. At first, there seemed to be enormous momentum keeping us "grounded." Slowly, but surely, we began to make progress. It seemed to get easier. We eventually got within a few feet of the whitecaps and decided to board our raft and relax as a celebration of our efforts. It was in our moment of pause that we felt the reality of our situation. Drifting two feet out and one foot in. Again, two feet out and one foot in. We all felt the unsettling formula of our ever-so-gentle drift out to sea. We immediately abandoned the raft and grasped for safety, with one arm holding the raft and the other arm aggressively swimming. I have never scissor-kicked so hard in my life.

Twenty minutes later we had made minimal progress. Out of nowhere, a lifeguard on a kayak appeared on the scene asking why we were so far out. Feeling the comfort of his presence, we laughed for a moment, lightly commenting about our distance from the shore. He wasn't laughing.

The orange balls had warned us, and we unknowingly ignored them. Infrequently placed across the ocean's surface, they created an invisible line on the ocean's floor. They silently warned us not to drift beyond them regardless of our vision or mission. "You see those big orange balls on top of the water?" the lifeguard inquired. We could see them, but they didn't look very big from where we were still struggling in the water. They did, however, give us the insight that we were basically five times farther out than we should be. I think the lifeguard was trying to teach us a lesson. He didn't leave us, but he didn't assist us either. Forty-five minutes later we walked up on the shore. I was shaking from exhaustion. I began, for the first time, to feel the numerous cuts on my legs and feet from the sharp coral rocks lining the ocean floor.

We had briefly noticed the orange balls on our way out. We had paid little attention to them and certainly had not given any thought to their significance. We had been too focused on our mission to get to the white-capped waves in the distance!

We don't go running away from our values. We go drifting away, and one day wake-up in a place we never meant to be, drifting in a direction we would have never chosen."

Motivating Employees: Leadership Lessons

The January/February issue of Harvard Business Review wrote a great article entiled, "What Really Motivates Workers?"  by Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer.   I found the central theme of the article quite interesting.  Most leaders assume that employees are motivated by money, reward systems or recognition.  I would have agreed with them, but the study conducted by Amabile and Kramer over a multi-year study in a wide variety of industries found that workers are MOST motivated by "progress."  

Workers want to feel that at the end of a work day they are making a difference in their jobs, or when they receive support to overcome obstacles and their energy level is at its greatest when their "drive to succeed is at its peak."  Worker are most disheartened when they feel demotivated or when they are somehow thwarted in their efforts to make forward progress.  There exists an inherent connection between employee motivation and meeting job objectives.  Even minor accomplishments help workers feel good about what they do. 

So why is this important for leaders to know?  The key to helping your employees become more motivated and emotionally invested in the job is in your hands!  Managers have total control over helping their employees achieve goals.  You can provide guidance, assist them with overcoming obstacles in their work and you can encourage them to succeed. 

It also means that you have to be decisive, adhere to goals and objectives and hold employees accountable for results.  Changes in the work place requiring shifting of responsibilities, downsizing or reorganizing are the most difficult times to keep employees motivated.  During these times, continue to make sure that employees are focusing on the goals.  Celebrate progress often and on a regular basis and your employees will continue to achieve progress on a daily basis.

 

Bullying--an epidemic?

The recent news coverage of children bullying other children has unfortunately reached epidemic proportions in our schools.  Recently, a young student was cyber bullied to such a degree that she committed suicide.  We here stories like this and are dismayed, concerned and angered.  Why are parents not doing their jobs?  Why are innocent children taking their lives?  Why do other children feel compelled to treat each other this way?  All of these questions have been pondered and studied by school officials, the police and psychologist.  I'm not sure anyone has a good answer.  We can only hope as adults that if we discover this behavior we intercede in the hope of helping one child.  I often wonder then if there is strong link between the behavior by children and similar behavior I see as a management consultant.   

As a management consultant, I am in the business of helping companies with employee relations.  I am often asked by employees how a manager can get away with treating employees terribly? 

According to Teresa A. Daniel, an employment lawyer, author and principal consultant at InsideOut HR solutions, "While it may be disconcerting and unprofessional, it is universally not illegal in the US for managers t threaten, insult, humiliate, ignore, or mock employees.  Nor is it illegal to gossip and spread rumors, withhold information, or take credit for someone else's work.  Unfortunately, these bullying tactics are not rare; they take place with frequency."  

What is workplace bullying?  The legal definition refers to "repeat and persistent attempts by one person to torment, tear down, frustrate or get a reaction from another.  It is treatment which persisently provokes, pressures, frightens, intimidates or otherwise discomforts another person."  (The Harrassed Worker, by Dr. Carroll M. Brodsky)

An even more frightening statistic:  In a survey of 1,000 U.S. employee by Employment Law Alliance in San Francisco, nearly 45 percent of the respondents scored that they have worked for abusive bosses.  It is further estimated that 37 percent of American workers, roughly 54 million people, would report being bullied at work. 

Under federal law, it is unlawful for an employer to harass any member of a protected class based on race , religion, physical or mental disability, sex, or age, but the government still has not extended the law to prohibit workplace bullying. 

While we continue to work to improve employee satisfaction in their work worlds it is critical for us to pay attention to the warning signs that employees may be enduring difficult workplace environments at the hands of their bosses.  There is a huge difference between a tough boss and a bully.  Part of our many responsibilities is to help coach and protect employees while discerning what type of problem you are really dealing with.  If a person acts without malice we may just have a tough boss.  If a person acts with malice, we have a bully.  

While conflict exists in the workplace, groups led by tough bosses work to resolve problems through respectful communication.  A bully simply doesn't care!   

 

 

Change Management: A Leadership Imperative

In order to succeed as a leader you must have change management skills.  You have to learn how translate what executives in the company are trying to do on behalf of employees who may not have all the details.  Organizational change can be easy to understand.  The leader must decrease objections to change and help to generate excitement and enthusiasm.  Although this may be a fairly easy activity to grasp, it can be incredibly difficult to execute and manage the change process within your organizations.  To do so, you must craft a well-organized plan. 

Take a look at these key management tips to help you to lay the foundation. 

1. Find the cheerleader:  Who is the person in the organization that is well-respected,a stakeholder that you need to work wih and ensure they are on the same page.  It may be that your cheerleaders change depending upon the stage of change you are in, but you must make an effort to find them. 
2. Justify the change  You might be tempted to skip this step.  You can't.  Even if the change is inevitable, you must be able to help employess understand why this is a good thing for them and for the company.  You need to work closely with your "cheerleaders"  so that they can help you create a sense of ownership and acountability. 
3. Create a plan:  So many companies make the mistakes of not sitting down and defining the plan for change.  You need to have a strategy for how you are going to deliver the major change elements, what type of communication tools you will need to have in place and the frequency of that communication.  You will need to determine who needs to be brought in to the change before the communication so that you can avoid any last minute objections.
4. Determine the change reasons:  Why does the change need to happen?  What activity or business condition is pushing the change?  Are you responding to competitor information, financial or economic pressures, or events completely out of you control, like work force reduction.  Whatever the reasons, make sure you integrate them as you determine your action pla for change. 

Finally, remember to give people enough time to absorb the change.  Don't underestimate how long it takes employees to internalize the change and respond to it. 

Leadership Lessons

 The folowing article is taken from a book I recently read entitled, Goals by Gary Ruan Blair.  The book highlights many leadership tips, but this particular article asks us to think about leadership and Failure.  If you have an opportunity, this book should be part of your management libray.   

Welcome Failure

"The dreaded "F" word - failure - is so important yet so misunderstood. The key to understanding how to succeed rests on knowing a thing or two about the importance of failure.

Failure is both the "teacher's pet" and the "black sheep" of the family of success!

People are naive about the benefits of failure. Wrongly founded assumptions about failure replace potentially accurate assessments of what is necessary to achieve success.

Failure has an ulterior motive - not to get you to quit, but to stop you long enough so that you may learn something, re-strategize and re-launch again more prepared for success.

Success cannot exist without failure as failure is part of the steering mechanism that drives you to success. Learn to expect failure - welcome it, as your denial of this reality can and will have huge negative effects.

Anything worthwhile is worth pursuing, even though the risk is huge, the investment formidable, and failure a possibility.

FAILURE is an essential part of the combination required to open the lock on success.

FAILURE measures your personal investment in this goal - it is a test of character, commitment and courage.

FAILURE lobs an occasional grenade at success, failure asks for your resignation letter, it goads and prods you into quitting, but success hangs in the balance.

We all live a life of close calls, belly flops, and missed opportunities. Your persistence in the face of failure and set back is a measure of your belief in yourself and your goal.

Knowing when to say when is also important. The message this time could be to say "Uncle" and move on to something else. An occasional step back to regroup and reload can, and often does, position you for several more steps forward."

Leadership Lesson: Managers need to learn when to "shut-up!"

Every morning, I receive an email from HRMorning.com.  This is a great resource for those of us supporting HR activity for companies or for managers looking for tips to make their leadership style more effective.  I came across this article doing some research for a harrassment program I'm preparing and I came across these two case studies that were just TOO unbelievable not to share.  Sometimes, it is wise for managers to learn  

Some of the most expensive discrimination cases against employers in the last year resulted from managers who said the wrong thing at the wrong time - remarks that carried more weight than even the best documentation.

Good documentation is always crucial. But two cases in particular underscore the idea that managers need to be aware that what they say really does matter - and could become part of damaging testimony in court.

Case: Marcus et al. v. PQ Corp.

Total damages paid by employer: $6.2 million

The details: Two employees, ages 61 and 57, got laid off by a Pennsylvania chemical manufacturer. The two dragged the employer into court and charged they'd been targeted because of their age.

The company's case had a solid foundation. Funding for the two positions had been eliminated, and so there was a strict financial reason - and no discriminatory basis - for the layoff. The ex-employees argued that the company had manipulated salary budgets so that the older employees would be the first to go.

It looked like a stalemate - which is generally good for a defendant employer - until the the court heard testimony that one manager remarked that the company needed "to get rid of some of these old farts." And another manager had told the two laid-off employees that company needed more  "young blood."

Those remarks ended up being the tipping point in a ruling for the employees - that the company had "willfully" discriminated.

Case: Blount v. Stroud

Total damages paid by employer: $3.3 million

The details: During an investigation of workplace discrimination, an African-American female employee who had no involvement in the case stepped forward to present her observation as a witness to the alleged discrimination. After that case was settled, the woman who spoke up was fired.

She charged her firing was part of a pattern of discrimination and retaliation by the employer. The employer pointed to documented, less-than-stellar performance and behavior by the employee as the basis for letting her go. Normally, such documentation is a game-saver for an employer.

And it might have been for this employer, until the fired employee pointed to remarks by her managers after she spoke up during the investigation of the other case. Examples: One manager told the woman, "You don't know what you're up against." Another said the company could "cause you not to exist."

Hearing those remarks, the court ignored the documentation and found in favor of the fired employee.

 

Leadership Lessons--Becoming a T-Shaped Manager!

Morten T. Hansen, wrote an interesting article in HR Magazine's January edition.  The title of the article is The Future Manager is T-Shaped.  The basic premise of the article indicates that for managers to be successful in the future they must be able to be successful within their own departments while at the same time contributing to the success of departments across their organizations.  They also need to know when to say "no" to projects that they feel don't add to their own department's success or the success of the company as a whole.  Hansen cited, BEO David Nagel from oil giant BP as an example. 

In one year, Nagel and his team assisted 20 other departments.  To ensure that collaboration did not undermine outstanding unit performance, he had to manage his time, delegate to his team and say "no" to questionable cross-unit activities.  Hansen goes on to suggest tips for becoming an excellent T-shaped manager:  delivering results for excellent performance in his own unit (the vertical part of the T) and contributes across the company (the horizontal part of the T). 

TIPS for T-SHAPE MANAGEMENT SUCCESS!

• "Have the right attitude and believe that a job has two responsibilities--to achieve high performance in your own department and to contribute to other departments' performance.  If you see your role through this lends, you start looking at other people's work from their points of view."
• "Know your own area.  Think of the vertical part of the T as your area ofdepartment's expertise."
• "Know about other areas.  For instance, if you're a scientist in product development, you should know a little about marketing and sales or you won't contribute effectively."
• "Have the right networks.  Build effective interpersonal contacts with diverse colleagues and people outside your company.  Be persuasive, influencing people with the power of rank or finances.: 

In the past leaders could depend upon the notion that if they succeeded within their own fields of interests that they could be assured of success.  That expectation is changing.  Both individual and collective goals are now rewarded and teamwork and collaboration is the key to making this happen.

It's time to start working on your T-SHAPED management skills. 

Change Management and Leadership

I came across this excerpt from Simple Truths written by Mac Anderson and Tom Feltenstein.  The excerpt is from a book entitled Change is Good...You Go First. It is important to remember as company leaders that we have to act as role models for change in order for employees to feel comfortable that we are leading them in the right direction.  Hope this article generates some leadership tips for you.   

"A few years ago, British Rail had a real fall-off in business. Looking for marketing answers, they went searching for a new ad agency - one that could deliver an ad campaign that would bring their customers back.

When the British Rail executives went to the offices of a prominent London ad agency to discuss their needs, they were met by a very rude receptionist, who insisted that they wait.

Finally, an unkempt person led them to a conference room - a dirty, scruffy room cluttered with plates of stale food. The executives were again, left to wait. A few agency people drifted in and out of the room, basically ignoring the executives who grew impatient by the minute. When the execs tried to ask what was going on, the agency people brushed them off and went about their work.

Eventually, the execs had enough. As they angrily started to get up, completely disgusted with the way they'd been treated, one of the agency people finally showed up.

"Gentlemen," he said, "your treatment here at our Agency is not typical of how we treat our clients - in fact, we've gone out of our way to stage this meeting for you. We've behaved this way to point out to you what it's like to be a customer of British Rail. Your real problem at British Rail isn't your advertising, it's your people. We suggest you let us address your employee attitude problem before we attempt to change your advertising."

The British Rail executives were shocked - but the agency got the account! The agency had the remarkable conviction to point out the problem because it knew exactly what needed to change."

As Yogi Berra once said...

"Before we build a better mousetrap,
We need to find out if there are any mice out there."

Coaching and Interviewing

 

Executives and Managers are faced with unique challenges when conducting a job search - competition is tougher, scrutiny is greater, and, with larger salaries on the line, the stakes are higher.  Most executives are used to being on the interviewer side of the desk, not the interviewee side.  To combat this, CC Consulting has developed an Executive Interview Coaching and Preparation service.

 

"Unfortunately, we have seen a large number of executives and mid-level managers laid off in 2009.  From our executive coaching experience we know that many of them are uncomfortable in the role of job seeker," said Celia Couture, president of CC Consulting.  "Not every firm that laid off people offered outplacement services.  Yet even those that did have not fully prepared the individuals for the entire job search process from using social media in your search through negotiating the best compensation package." 

 

CC Consulting's Interview Coaching and Preparation service helps executives and managers:

• Use their social network with rigor to find opportunities and prepare for the interview
• Ensure their cover letter and resume best represent them
• Take control of the process
• Practice interviewing skills
• Ask for the job. 
• Negotiate the best total package

"Celia has a very direct, no-nonsense approach to coaching," said Tim Halligan president of Exchange Authority. "I have worked with her in a number of capacities over the past 5 years and have found her style and honesty refreshing and effective.  Because her executive coaching has helped me navigate a number of challenging business situations, I know she is the perfect person to help an executive that is in the midst of a job search - in fact I have already referred her to people I know who are looking for a new position."

 

Executives and Managers working with CC Consulting can expect three 1-hour coaching sessions along with a review of their cover letter and resume for $300.00.  If more time is required they can purchase additional sessions at $100.00 per hour.

About CC Consulting

CC Consulting delivers leadership training and consulting services as well as customer or employee assessment, 360-degree evaluations, and performance management solutions to assist company leaders in meeting their strategic goals. To learn more about the breadth of services CC Consulting can offer your company, call 978-455-4003 or visit the website at www.ccconsultingllc.com.

Leadership and Discipline

I came across this article today and wanted to share it with you.  It really speaks to the importance of self-discipline.  Sometimes we wake up in the morning and really struggle to get motivated, do something we really don't want to do, but the advice in this article is very telling.  We need to push ourselves sometimes to make an impact, especially as a leader.  Hope you enjoy the article.

Introduction from the Power of Discipline by Brian Tracy   

Why are some people more successful than others? Why do some people make more money, live happier lives and accomplish much more in the same number of years than the great majority?

I started out in life with few advantages. I did not graduate from high school. I worked at menial jobs. I had limited education, limited skills and a limited future.

And then I began asking, "Why are some people more successful than others?" This question changed my life.

Over the years, I have read thousands of books and articles on the subjects of success and achievement. It seems that the reasons for these accomplishments have been discussed and written about for more than two thousand years, in every conceivable way. One quality that most philosophers, teachers and experts agree on is the importance of self-discipline. As Al Tomsik summarized it years ago, "Success is tons of discipline."

Some years ago, I attended a conference in Washington. It was the lunch break and I was eating at a nearby food fair. The area was crowded and I sat down at the last open table by myself, even though it was a table for four.

A few minutes later, an older gentleman and a younger woman who was his assistant came along carrying trays of food, obviously looking for a place to sit.

With plenty of room at my table, I immediately arose and invited the older gentleman to join me. He was hesitant, but I insisted. Finally, thanking me as he sat down, we began to chat over lunch.

It turned out that his name was Kop Kopmeyer. As it happened, I immediately knew who he was. He was a legend in the field of success and achievement. Kop Kopmeyer had written four large books, each of which contained 250 success principles that he had derived from more than fifty years of research and study. I had read all four books from cover to cover, more than once.

After we had chatted for awhile, I asked him the question that many people in this situation would ask, "Of all the one thousand success principles that you have discovered, which do you think is the most important?"

He smiled at me with a twinkle in his eye, as if he had been asked this question many times, and replied, without hesitating, "The most important success principle of all was stated by Thomas Huxley many years ago. He said, 'Do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not.'"

He went on to say, "There are 999 other success principles that I have found in my reading and experience, but without self-discipline, none of them work."

Self-discipline is the key to personal greatness. It is the magic quality that opens all doors for you, and makes everything else possible. With self-discipline, the average person can rise as far and as fast as his talents and intelligence can take him. But without self-discipline, a person with every blessing of background, education and opportunity will seldom rise above mediocrity.

In the pages ahead I will describe seven areas of your life where the practice of self-discipline will be key to your success. These areas include goals, character, time management, personal health, money, courage and responsibility. It is my hope that you’ll find a few "nuggets" that will help make your dreams come true.