Category Archives: Organizational Effectiveness

Sales Strategy and Management

February 24, 2011   admin
Sales Manaqement

No matter what … everything comes back to sales. Leadership development is great. Culture shaping is critical … but without sales, these and other organization development activities are academic. However, what is interesting to this culture geek is sales strategy and management are simply sub-areas of the overall aim of an organization.

To successfully manage the sales process in a big picture sense requires planning, predicting and/or delivering in the following major areas. Leaving out any of the four areas below will mean lost revenue to the company.

  • Discover Customer Demand – The organization must have an idea of the market. It is important to study, digest and make assumptions about the target niche. Who will buy? How much? How often? Where and what are the unmet needs, wants and expectations? How can we exceed these requirements to stand out from the crowd? Without this step, sales efforts will be unfocused and ineffective.
  • Build Sales Capacity – After predicting the demand, an enterprise must decide how much of the market it wants to “handle.” What is the short, medium and long-term sales vision of the company? How does this fit with the overall aim of the organization? (If it doesn’t fit, one or the other or both must be adjusted.) Where will we find sales representatives with our values? How will we develop them for increasing success?  Without this step, customers will not know about your company or will look elsewhere when the sales staff does not engage in a timely way.
  • Create Company Capability – Now that demand and sales capacity are known, plan for and configure the company to meet the need. Some might argue for this step to be second but the needs-based company will make this the third step. Customers are why business exists. Define who the customers are, how you intend to build relationships with them and then deliver on promises. Without this step, meeting customer demand will likely remain elusive or of mediocre quality.
  • Measure – This is the follow-up or accountability piece. Be sure what is measured is relevant and keep the metrics to the absolute minimum. Most of us have probably seen places where measurement became the master instead of the slave. Have a process in place to periodically review ALL the metrics and reconsider each one. Cut regularly. Without this step, an organization will not know where to increase efficiencies for better sales results.

Now let’s drill down a bit more into the nuts-and-bolts of sales capacity and management. Management by its very nature means to find the most efficient way to deliver on an existing mindset. This is working inside the box. There is nothing wrong with working inside the box as long as it is intentional and is in a broader leadership context (reviewing the box constantly). With this in mind, to excel at managing sales operations requires successful mapping and alignment of sales territories as well as balancing workload effectively.

Mapping and Alignment of Sales Territories

Many companies choose to create sales territories. If your organization uses this model, balanced territories help with sales quota planning. Remember the need to know customer demand above? This is a key part in defining and segmenting sales territories. Of course, sales territories will not stay static so the balancing effort should be ongoing to make sure the company is putting its best sales foot forward.

After understanding the ideal customer profile, it’s time for building prospecting lists for the sales representatives. This can be an exciting step for the sales-minded as it makes the sales concept become more real! There is nothing like translating strategy into a tactic.

Balancing Workload

However, with the prospect data comes a dilemma. What are the proper sales quotas and how should the organization best spread the workload reasonably among the sale staff? Most everyone likes to be challenged but no worked too slavishly. Balance workload is the key so all feel as though they are part of the solution but also part of a team. Let’s step back to check the progression.

Company Aim –> Strategy –> Customer Demand –> Build Sales Capacity –>

Map the Sales Territory & Translate to Sales Quotas

One service option for succeeding in sales management is to use a smart technology firm like Geographic Enterprises as they can help with sales territory mapping. Most of all in thinking about sales management, please remember to manage the process but not the people. Lead them … but that’s a topic for another time.

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  • Sales education: Can sales be taught in the classroom? – – That’s the question I put to my LinkedIn network, and the range of answers I got was illuminating. When I’ve talked about this in the past with sales pros, including some of our veteran account managers here at Hoover’s and sales consultants who have been in the business a long time, they all talk about how the whole world of sales can get better. Many of these folks, even ones who have thrived under the typical find- more- rainmakers method of building sales teams, want sales management to become more rigorous, more analytical, and more systematic.
  • Business Skeptic » Blog Archive » Solution Selling Defined – One of the greatest attributes of marketing is the creation of words and phrases that sound great and instill a feeling of virtue and professionalism, yet are undefined and often meaningless. Solution Sales is one of my favorites. …
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4 Steps to Better Culture (2 of 2)

February 17, 2011   admin
Photo by SFO CP

Last time I talked about how each organization has a personality as a result of the collection of personalities within. Now let’s continue with the thought of improving that larger personality through a few common sense steps.

3. Interview any new employee within 7-14 days of starting work. People are smart and very quickly adapt to a new environment. This includes companies where a fresh face quickly blends into the culture. Many of us would like to change things but many cultural mindsets become invisible because, “that’s just the way we do it here.” The newest employee is more likely to wonder “why” and the smart cultural warrior will pounce on this information like the gold nugget it is. Oh by the way … act on the interview information.

Specific Take-aways:

  • The important part of this interview is to only do it when you are completely open and 100% non-defensive. The interviewee will take cues from your body language – good or bad.
  • Take good notes (and let the person know what and why you are writing vigorously.) Also, you must be committed to acting on this feedback or else the interview is actually a bad thing. Any boss who asks the type of questions as below is sending an implied message of coming improvement. Better to not ask and not change than to ask and then not follow through.
  • Here are possible questions.
    • What has surprised you about joining this company?
    • What has disappointed you since you started?
    • What processes seems cumbersome? What methods are really slick?
    • What is your favorite part of this job? Why?
    • Assuming the right skills match, would you try to get your best friend to work here? Why or why not?
    • What kind of training do you wish you would have more of?
    • What educational opportunities do you hope for in this organization?
    • What things would make you a raving fan of this organization for a long time?
    • If you were to describe this company as a person, what would that person look like and act like?
  • IMPORTANT: Follow up with the new employee in no more than two weeks about improvements you made based on the feedback. The more the better. Please, please follow-up. If this is not your strength, enlist the help of a colleague or sharp executive assistant.

4. Hire for a value system first before experience. See if this sounds familiar. The typical hiring process looks for X years of experience in this specialty or that. Throw in a college degree for good measure and maybe membership in some professional group. Once the hiring manager is satisfied the person has “been there, done that” long enough, the deal is closed.

All too often though, the same hiring manager will grow disgruntled with the employee in the coming weeks and months. Why the dissatisfaction? The problem is rarely a discrepancy in the experience level. (They said they had eight years experience and they only have six, for example.) The complaint is usually something about the lack of performance or some obnoxious personal trait. This is a classic case of aiming for the wrong target and hitting it! The company ultimately pays the price in lower morale, productivity and profitability. Don’t get me wrong, experience is important, it’s just over-emphasized in too many cases.

Specific Take-aways:

  • Identify the values most important in the ideal person for the position. If you can narrow the list to the top three or four, that’s best.
  • Conduct more than one interview … face to face. You can’t afford to mess up the hiring decision because it’s too painful and costly. Sorry HR, telephone interviews are terrible for making quality hiring decisions. Skype is bit better but still not as good as in person.
  • Conduct at least one interview at a local eatery or other public place requiring interaction with others. (I can’t take credit for this idea but don’t remember where I read it.) How does the prospective employee interact? Is this someone you want talking to your most valued customers?
  • Get into discussions about decision-making with the candidate to start to understanding their thinking process. What values do you think are most important to them? Would you let this person babysit your 4-year old? Would you be comfortable to introduce this interviewee to your mother?
  • If you don’t find the right candidate at first, start over. Don’t settle for second best or “just OK.” Resist the pressure to “just fill the position.” Take it from one with hiring regrets in a past life.

5. Learn to work outside the script. (OK, I fibbed a little … here is a fifth way to help build a stand-out culture.) Anybody can learn and run a business script. It’s not terribly tough to say, “Store policy is …” because it transfers the accountability to some nameless person deep in the company hierarchy. The clerk or low-level employee becomes the innocent face for a dysfunctional organization and this is doubly frustrating for the customer.

The first frustration is the restrictive policy that does not allow the customer to be completely satisfied or, heaven forbid, delighted! The second frustration is there is usually no way to give feedback on the dumb policy to the company because the person reciting policy has little or no influence. Too often, “company policies” arise out of a few isolated problems and rather than deal directly with the issues and the culprits, it’s easier to make a blanket rule and pronounce the problem solved. To the hapless consumer, it can seem as though some businesses work to find new ways of saying “no” like a “no-of-the-week” campaign.

I am not advocating anarchy or lawless minimum wage employees but surely it is common sense that team members be allowed and encouraged to think to delight customers (who are the life blood of any enterprise). After all, if the employees are that bad, why did you hire them in the first place? Why not communicate policy in a broader sense of timeless values such as respect, kindness, courage, fairness, justice, etc. This may prove difficult for the organization bent on hiring on experience alone – see the last section – but this type of employee is worth his or her weight in gold.

Specific Take-aways:

  • Resist the urge to have very many company policies. Yes, you need some rules to keep order but keep the number down and, by all means, review all the policies at least annually to cut the most annoying 20%.
  • Find a way to actively, genuinely ask for customer feedback so the lamest rules become painfully obvious … quickly!
  • Give the frontline employees some decision-making authority using broad values (respect, kindness, courage, fairness, justice, etc.).
  • Sorry to be repetitive but … ask customers, would you recommend your mother shop or work here? If yes, why? If not, why not?
  • Educate the frontline employees. Don’t just throw them into the ring and expect instant success. I have seen it and so have you. As one colleague used to say, “Pay me now or pay me later.”

All the best!

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4 Steps to Better Culture (1 of 2)

February 10, 2011   admin
Photo by SFO CP

Every organization has a personality and this personality is a result of the collection of personalities within. To this culture geek, the interplay of personalities that create a company persona is a source of endless fascination – not only from the what-is-it-now perspective but in the what-it-could-be department. I hope you’ll agree the possibilities are endless when we start imagining.

So what if you could make a few changes to improve this overall personality. Maybe you’re a manager who is both aware of your enterprise sacred cows and cultural improvement opportunities. As you know, culture progress will improve customer service and, more importantly, the bottom line. May I suggest the following four ideas? Perhaps they’re useful or will trigger other thoughts for your organization’s long-term good.

1. Give your receptionist a raise. Who is the first face or voice for many of your customers? Maybe it’s not a receptionist in your case. Maybe it’s an outside sales person or a repair technician, etc. Whoever this person or team, they should be rewarded on making a great first impression because this initial interaction can be very powerful.

What would you pay for customer loyalty? What would you pay for customer word-of-mouth advertising? Both of these items and more are influenced by the customer’s first contact with your organization. How much attention do you pay to the entry point of your company?

Specific Take-aways:

  • Identify who is usually your organization’s first face or voice.
  • What are the things you most want in your first customer contact beyond the traditional position description details? Communicate those expectations to the frontline employee.
  • In addition to their normal job duties, give pay consideration to this person or team for a critical public relations (PR) role. In the case of a receptionist, the duties are much more than just answering the phone or greeting a walk-in customer. Are you broad enough in the total compensation thoughts?
  • How well do you know this employee? Are there any other welcome considerations you could give for the PR role such as time off, education opportunities, cross-training, etc.?

2. Steal your senior executives’ office chairs. For a culture to grow and thrive requires activity. Not just busy work but engaged hearts and minds with the natural variety of perspective. A senior manager that asks multiple questions and does a lot of listening will learn much about what makes the culture tick and how it could be better. Most people are genuinely happy to give their opinions on most topics. Also, asking honest questions has a natural side effect of building trust; what company couldn’t use more of this commodity?

Although these conversations make look like small talk, the smart executive will be constantly on the lookout for cultural facts to include in senior level discussions. and decisions Look beyond the present discussion. What does it mean for your best customers, vendors, suppliers, and alliance partners?

Specific Take-aways:

  • Here are starter questions to ask. You are trying to discover what employees thinkabout their workplace, NOT just what they say.
    • If you could change one thing about your job, what would it be?
    • If you could make one policy/software/process improvement in your area, what would that be?
    • If you were the boss, what would you do? OR What do you think is the right thing to do in this case? (In response to a complaint.)
    • How could we lower the use of sick days?
    • What makes you run to work and walk home? What makes you walk to work and run home?
    • Would you recommend your mother work here? If so, why? If not, why not? (Thanks to Lee Hawkins for this question.)
  • As you talk to employees, tune into their body language. How open are they? What would a casual observer say about the conversation? What can you learn on improving the culture by this feedback? How can you improve the feedback?
  • Get used to asking “why” as a discovery question, not as a preface to an accusation.

Next time, we’ll explore the final two steps to a better culture. All the best!

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  • Changing Values | Compound Thinking – Changing Values. June 4th, 2007 by Mark Ramm. It’s hard to change your corporate culture, because it requires changing the way people think, feel, and act. And smart people can do really stupid things when they try to change other people. …

 

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Current Reality and Desired Future

November 13, 2010   admin
Photo by Rennett Stowe

Let’s talk about another part of leadership. It is natural to put the best light on things, especially as a boss responsible for the “state of things.” A leader’s role is to see the environment as he wishes it to be AND as it is. A leader must be equally aware of two main areas: current reality and the desired future.

Both perspectives are vital to move toward a better tomorrow. An effective leader will balance seeing things as he would wish them to be (vision) with a very conscious awareness of current reality to have a true starting point. Denying current reality means disaster is on its way and not having a dream makes the present much less meaningful.

Make an “AND” Decision

Several years ago, I was flying an Air Force T-38 Talon that was nearly out of fuel. The reason for the problem was yet another: the landing gear would not safely extend (or so I thought). I made repeated attempts to properly lower the gear as normally indicated by three, small lights inside the airplane. Each time I tried this, only two lights would light up.

Suddenly, I remembered a practice emergency simulator session where a landing gear light bulb was bad. I tried it! After switching one light bulb for another, I had good indications of a safe landing gear configuration (down and locked). What I thought was faulty landing gear proved to be a bad, 35-cent bulb instead.

In this case, my desired vision was to safely land the plane but that was clearly threatened by the current reality of an unsafe landing gear indication. Had this emergency gone on much longer, I would have been forced to eject as landing with partially extended gear in this particular airplane would have been suicide. (Yeah, I was scared.)

I had a vision – land in one piece – but was forced to deal with current reality to get to the vision. No amount of positive thinking and hopefulness would have made a difference. It was time for action.

Dream AND Be Real

There are similar possibilities in families, groups and organizations. A person in a leadership position without exercising real leadership likely has hopes and dreams of a better tomorrow but refuses to recognize current reality. By denying what is, this so-called leader has effectively shut down hope of organizational improvement. Is it that simple? Yes!

The reason is, to quote a mentor, “Bad news generally does not get better with time.” There are very few things that simply improve with a ticking clock. Great marriages must be nurtured, fine musicians must practice, outstanding food must be prepared just right, and great organizations will only thrive with an unshakable dream AND a steely gaze on the present. Strangely though, many organizations embrace a dysfunctional paradigm hoping that a solution will magically appear. Or worse, they hope that by just talking a good game, change will happen.

Any organization, large or small, profit or not-for-profit, secular or religious, is not exempt from the vision and current reality dynamic. If I sow the seeds of inaction, I will reap an unwelcome harvest. If I intentionally sow seeds to move toward the desired future while allowing for the present state, I will be able to start to measure progress. This requires dealing with “what is” right now and working toward alignment with the vision.

Yes, there can be pain in spelling out current reality. Most normal people would rather be comfortable than uncomfortable. Current reality organizational problems of dysfunctional teams usually fall into two categories: (1) They become invisible, or (2) They become sacred cows. Hard to deal with the former and you had better not touch the latter!

Still, reality is not the enemy, it just is. Ignoring reality has just as concrete outcomes as dealing with reality. As another colleague says, “No decision is a decision.” The challenge for the effective leader is to properly diagnose reality while keeping hope alive in progressing toward a brighter future and then act!

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The Performance Review

September 23, 2010   admin

Samuel Culbert posted an outstanding Harvard Business Review blog entry on September 21 titled, Why Corporate Leaders Won’t Abolish Performance Reviews. Several years ago, I would have scoffed at Mr. Culbert’s points on the weaknesses of performance reviews. No longer!

Diagnosis

As Dr. Deming said , ‘best efforts aren’t good enough.’ Working really hard in a mediocre system (i.e., organization) can only produce mediocre results. Most performance review processes honor the time-tattered status quo that completely ignore the common cause problems in stable – albeit dysfunctional – systems.

This is not to put people down in general. Most folks wake up in the morning determined to do their best and make a small difference wherever they are. The sad fact is many for-profit and non-profit corporate structures, policies and rules slow these well-intended efforts to a crawl. Almost without thinking, people organize themselves into personal pecking orders instead of looking out for the well-being of the organization.

Now, I am not down on corporate America (or on organizations in general). There are tremendous opportunities even now. The exciting news is, with courage, these problems described above are fixable! Here are some thoughts.

Prescription

Great Solution – Scrap the performance review for genuine, honest discussion … everyday! Managers should continually engage with their team members from a coaching frame of reference with the give and take of continuous feedback. Imagine that!

Lest you think I’m soft, companies should still measure things related to performance, it just should be different things. As Mr. Culbert suggests with the ‘performance preview,’ measure the results and hold BOTH the boss and employees accountable. The manager mostly creates the environment the employees work in. This collective output from ONE culture is responsible for the organizational results. With real enough discussion, system changes will start to happen.

As a former CFO, I remember being routinely surprised at things I would uncover simply by talking regularly with my team members. It was also rewarding to brainstorm and carry out solutions on the fly. As someone once said, “Nobody knows everything about anything.” Any manager who thinks system changes are for sissies (in this current economy especially) is very wrong.

OK Solution – Have employees complete a performance review on the boss … with similar authority as a top-down review. At least this would level the playing field somewhat. Obviously, this could foster adversarial relations but that is a natural byproduct in a just-OK environment.

Great or OK … the choice is ours. All the best!

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Characteristics of Personal Mastery (1 of 2)

September 18, 2010   admin

Personal mastery is a tall order. To the one who thinks of personal mastery as a one-time destination, this goal is all but impossible. To the one who values the ongoing process of lifetime improvement, personal mastery is possible each day. Why? It’s a question of perfection versus excellence.

Personal Mastery as a Destination (perfection) – In this case, mastery means ALWAYS doing the right action at the right time in the right order. No mistakes! In some cases, this standard is necessary. When I used to fly fighters, perfection was the expectation because any less could have killed me or my buddies.

Often a technical skill requires at least some perfection. Nobody wants to hire an electrician who consistently gets the wiring right 80% of the time. You get the idea.

Personal Mastery as a Process (excellence) – For leadership, personal mastery must consider the long-term. Because leadership is a hybrid of art and science, perfection is less relevant because there is more than one right answer to most of the questions. Said another way, acting in an excellent way comes in different shapes, colors and sizes.

Think about your two or three favorite people. Their styles probably differ and yet they all could be considered excellent. That is one of the hallmarks of leadership thinking … there is usually more than one honorable method.

Now let’s talk about success in a personal mastery frame. There are five key parts to success for the person who wants to live in excellence.

  • Heart
  • Legacy
  • Mind
  • Action
  • Treating others well

Before we explore the five ideas, here is one other important concept. In each category, there are seemingly opposed ideas. The person who embraces mastery will make measurable progress at not only balancing the competing demands but at combining the opposing forces for great solutions. In short, think balance plus AND-solutions.

Heart

Definition: Emotions, feeling, moods, passions, and desires.

We are all creatures of emotion … whether we show it or not. It feels good to have somebody like us. It’s not fun when someone treats us like dirt. Work can be frustrating, exhilarating, mundane, or fulfilling. Notice how those are all emotions. Even the most macho guy in the audience will experience emotions. He will at least let you know when he’s mad.

If you’re still skeptical, have you ever acted on ‘gut-instinct’? Have you ever said, ‘something just doesn’t feel right.’ Even the most logical among us have emotional responses to life.

So here’s the challenge. How does one not be rash or overly emotional in decision-making but still honor the very real data that comes in by way of emotions? Think I’m still stretching this? Here’s an example.

If I plan to hire someone for childcare and that person’s record and credentials check out fine but I am uneasy about the person for some unknown reason, what will I do? Unless I can find more facts to disprove my ‘feeling,’ I will likely not hire this person. The risk is just too high. And yet look how I used emotion to make the decision.

On the other hand, if I need to face a subordinate over an ethical issue at work, my gut is probably unhappy. My emotion might say this isn’t the greatest or most fun thing to do. In my heart-of-hearts though, I know I must stand up for what is right and go ahead with the confrontation. Why did I disregard the emotion in this case?

Mastery of the heart is becoming self-aware enough to recognize all the different emotions in any given situation and assigning meaning to this emotional data. The emotion is valid but cannot be the end-all. Emotional or heart mastery means I will not allow one emotion to over-shadow the others or overwhelm pure logic without a very good reason.

Legacy

Definition: Thinking long-term, focused on outcomes and consequences, and law of the harvest.

I suspect most of us want to leave the world a little better than the way we found it. That is a natural instinct. It is important to think long-term and consider consequences. All choices have consequences. At times the results may be so very small, we hardly notice. Other times, the outcomes are significant and make us pause at the decision point.

While thinking of the long-term is important, it can also cause an otherwise reasonable person to freeze in the face of difficult decisions. Whoever coined the phrase, ‘analysis paralysis’ understood this. Sometimes, activity is an excuse to avoid making a decision.

There must be a balance all along the timeline. I need to think short-term to be decisive in the moment. I need to consider the medium and long-term for consequences of choices made today. Too much time in the present causes me to ignore the natural results but too much time thinking on the future may cause indecision or no decision now.

At times, we will hear of a public servant who begins to over-focus on his or her legacy. Invariably, this leads to bad decisions. The reason is, thinking about legacy too much means becoming too concerned about what other people think. Legacy has its place but just as all the other areas, it must stay in its place.

The other extreme is just as damaging. Giving no thought for tomorrow makes a terrible landing place when tomorrow arrives in all its disastrous glory! A young child, for instance, gives little or no thought to consequences. It is common for this little one to be very self-centered and thinking only about the present.

The person of mastery understands the extremes and middle ground of legacy. Those who would master legacy take all parts of this area into intentional account but do not over-focus on any single piece. Mastery is being good at living in the here-and-now AND consistently thinking about consequences.

Next week we will explore the remaining three areas of personal mastery. All the best to you!

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Top Eight Thought Leaders

September 11, 2010   admin

One of the keys to reach higher is to explore and digest the works of different thought leaders. Reading about and thinking of different points of view help expand effectiveness – professionally and personally. Each person will have a different set of favorites but here are my current top eight.

8. Tom Peters – Tom calls himself a chief agitator and he lives up to this title. As a former consultant with well-known McKinsey, Tom made a name for himself when he and co-author Rob Waterman wrote In Search of Excellence. One of Tom’s strengths is helping others think innovatively. Tom constantly challenges the status quo and inspires creative thinking. If you are in need of a brain-jolt with a smile, read one of Tom’s books.

7. Noel Tichy – Professor Tichy is the writer of The Leadership Engine and other thought-provoking books. One of the key points from Noel is the importance of having a teachable point of view. This way of describing self-awareness is at the heart of growth in leadership. Knowing self first is critical to helping others move ahead on their individual paths. If you want a logical, compelling case for growing leadership in a culture, Noel Tichy is for you.

6. Stephen Covey – Author of the very famous 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Dr. Covey is one of the deep thinkers of our time. It’s hard to know where to start but I must say Covey helped me understand the idea of ‘paradigm’ or mindset. Awareness and change of paradigms is at the heart of any lasting self-improvement program as mindsets drive behavior. If deep reflection is in your future, consider reading Dr. Covey’s books.

5. Dr. Deming – Time for confession. I have not completely read any of Dr. Deming’s books (although I use them as references). But, what did hook me on Dr. Deming is his 32-volume video series. The ideas were very difficult and confusing at first but started making sense as I persisted through the series. With pen and paper nearby, Deming made more and more sense. If you want to become a better system thinker, Deming is your man.

4. Andy Andrews – During a period of self-doubt, Andy helped me move past being afraid of making decisions. His Traveler’s Gift is a profound book that encourages all readers to grow in wisdom. Andy weaves a fictional story with historical figures to help any student of any age personally develop. If common sense mixed with timeless standards is your goal, Andy will help.

3. Jim Collins – The book Built to Last knocked my socks off! The idea of having a core purpose while innovating everything else continues to be an excellent benchmark to follow. Then Jim went and wrote Good to Great and again amazed me with his careful research and timeless results. Both of these books should be on the list of any leadership student. If you prefer an extraordinary business model supported by detailed research, Jim Collins is a great choice.

The last two thought leaders on my list are personal friends who have stretched me and challenged my thinking. I refer to each of these friends by a generic name to protect  privacy. Who are the people in your life who make you better?

2. Frank Smith 1 – As a former boss, Frank 1 modeled leadership … consistently. I had become acquainted with some leadership theory before meeting Frank 1 but he showed me how to do well firsthand with our interactions and those I observed of him working with others. This example was and continues to be very powerful!

1. Frank Smith 2 – Frank 2 looks at things differently than I do. Frank 2 and I literally spent hours over a few years discussing and refining many leadership thoughts. I like to think I helped Frank 2 grow but he probably contributed more to my growth than vice versa. Frank 2 was great at pointing out new resources (books, seminars, videos, etc.) and then he and I would process these different perspectives. Frank 2 and I remain good friends today.

These are not the only influencers on my list but they certainly have made (and continue to make) an impact. How about you?

Who IS on your list?

Who do you WANT on your list?

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Conflict Resolution Activities

September 08, 2010   admin

The value of conflict is a controversial topic in many circles. Some organizations thrive on conflict for its own sake while others avoid conflict at any cost. Either extreme is dysfunctional as conflict can play a vital role in a healthy organization. The challenge is to focus, use and defuse conflict.

Focus

Focus requires commitment by the team to the larger purpose or goal. The first question a leader must ask in this situation is, “Can the purpose or goal be easily stated and understood?” If not, work until it is so.

Next, draw up ground rules to avoid making conflict personal and to stay on task toward the stated outcome. Typical rules include things like mutual respect, one person talks at a time, stay on task, honor those who are absent and so on. My personal favorite is “attack issues, not people.” The rules list should be a living document in that it can be added to or changed later as the team needs and wishes change.

As Chair of a 24-member, middle management, financial working group, I had the chance to take part in different degrees of conflict. As with any organization, there was never enough money to fund all the wants and, at times, the needs were funded at lower than ideal.

The continual challenge before us was to sort through posturing and over-inflated requests to manage the budget finances wisely and with fairness. Over time, we developed a set of rules and funding priorities that helped keep budget arguments on task and focused.

Use

After determining purpose and rules, it is time to move to application. DO NOT be intimidated by this next step. Venture in carefully but decisively and be true to the starting agreements above.

The ideal is to have a group that is self-regulating and continually aligning to goals and values (rules). If this is not possible, given the maturity or experience level of the group, hire a professional facilitator or appoint an internal gatekeeper.

If the facilitator is someone from inside the company, this person should be highly respected by the team and one who has a pattern of making sound judgment calls. This is not necessarily the boss and may even be someone from another department or division. The biggest role of the gatekeeper is to keep the process on track by moving toward the goal while honoring the rules with a firm yet considerate approach. (Yes, this is an art form at times.)

Defuse

Sometimes, despite the best of intentions, passions will swell and tempers flare. If the “discussion” remains focused on the goals and honors the rules, the gatekeeper should allow the conflict to continue. Any time talks become personal though, it is critical to stop and take a breather to allow emotions to settle.

Taking a break anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours or days can do wonders to not only put people in a more rational frame of mind but allow for processing opposing arguments and softening mindsets. Depending on the conflict, well-placed humor may be sufficient to relieve the tension. With more serious misunderstanding comes the need to actually separate for a time.

Persisting in conflict that has degenerated to a personal level of name-calling, posturing, and cynicism does more harm than good to the team. More importantly, this poor behavior, if left unchecked, will lower team output and hurt quality results.

Another benefit of taking a break is a chance for the gatekeeper or facilitator to quietly chat with any person that is either not participating or is inflaming passions on a personal level. This may also be a time to encourage a person who has shut down because of the intensity of the conflict. If the team interactions are staying on task but are passionate, some will find this environment too intimidating.

One- on-One or One-on-a-Few

So far we have talked mostly about teams working together to harness conflict for the betterment of the organization. But what about those inevitable times when conflict pops up between people or in small groups? Here are some thoughts.

  • Do not react to the emotion.
  • Work to find the issues that matter (Hint: It may not always be the first thing on the table.)
  • Brainstorm options and then narrow down to the best fit.
  • Stay locked on working to solutions; diagnosing is fine but do not spend time on blaming or other rabbit trails.

For example, while Budget Director, I once had a division head storm into my office and say, “Where is my $300,000?” He insinuated we had “stolen” the money for another division.

I could have become angry and emotional (very tempting) because this manager had the gall to question my integrity. I could have said something like he had no business making such accusations since we had been friends for years. Instead, I opted for the more difficult but useful course to immediately explore the issue and compare notes in a non-emotional way. The good news is we resolved the issue without any damage to trust.

Conflict is challenging even for the experienced but it has great potential to improve an organization if allowed to do so. The trick is to harness the raw energy of conflict and let it show underlying issues in the bright light of reality.

Summary

1.      Establish an easily stated and understood purpose or goal.

2.      Draw up ground rules at the first group session (change over time as needed).

3.      Attack issues, not people.

4.      If discussions are passionate but on task, allow to continue unless a participant obviously shuts down.

5.      When things get personal, take a break of a few minutes, hours or days to let passions cool. Use well-placed humor if appropriate or use break time for individual discussions as required.

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How to Create Your Ideal (2 of 2)

August 27, 2010   admin

Last week we looked at how to create something better by using a method called “going out and coming back.” This uses imagination to define a detailed, desired future state in a personal or professional setting. Once the picture is alive, I suggested going out and being that painting! While this may sound mildly challenging to impossible, there are ways, in many cases, to make progress.

There are any number of possible problems you may encounter while trying to influence a stable environment (even if it’s dysfunctional). The responses to the following key questions are very important. Here are the questions.

  1. How strong is the opposition?
  2. How much does it matter?

Before we look at the possible answers, let me emphasize the importance of building and maintaining trust as much as possible … always. There can never be too much trust. Building trust is all about small kindnesses, making and keeping promises, considering others while being honest with them at the same time. Trust is built over t-i-m-e. Others need to see a pattern to decide that you or I are/am trustworthy. With that, let’s look at each one.

Low Opposition, It Matters Little – This is the easiest situation where the opposition is low and it doesn’t matter much anyway. The future looks bright!

Solution: Keep doing what you’re doing and accelerate your efforts to be the ideal painting.

High Opposition, It Matters Little – This is an area where you may not feel your job is threatened but life is uncomfortable or downright miserable. Chances are, the problems may stem from low trust in the environment. Work to improve trust with those in opposition.

On the personal side, the loud opposition may be from those who have less authority such as children. This does not mean their voices do not count but does mean “consider the source.”

Solution: Keep doing your good work and build trust with those who oppose you.

Low Opposition, It Matters a Lot – This scenario may be one where your job could be threatened eventually. Significant opposition, whether of a low or high amount, usually comes from a boss or other high-placed person in the organization. One important approach is to try to uncover unmet needs. Is the opposition from a lack of understanding? Are you being perceived wrong?

In a personal setting, a close friend or spouse may give some push-back. Again, can you discover unmet needs? This can easily include better two-way understanding.

Solution: Keep doing your positive work and look for unmet needs.

High Opposition, It Matters a Lot – Of course, this is the most difficult of the outcomes. You are strongly opposed and it matters a lot. At work, this could be your direct supervisor who is completely opposed to your efforts. If this is the case, you need to choose whether the environment is worth holding out for over the long haul. Have you mis-judged the organization and it’s possible to take another and better tactic? Is some of the opposition based simply on misunderstanding? Are there any allies in the setting from which you could gain advice?

If this is personal, you are in a tough spot. Not impossible, just tough. First, ask the question, is this setting valuable … long-term? Also, consider your commitments. A commitment to a spouse may be different from a commitment to a friend. Further, what is the current state of trust? If you have behaved in the past to hurt trust, it will take time to regain just an average level of trust. You may need to be patient.

Solution: Pull back, build trust, discover unmet needs OR look for another setting. If you decide to stick it out, be ready to work hard for an extended period.

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How to Create Your Ideal (1 of 2)

August 19, 2010   admin

Here is a way to create something better. In my coaching, I call it “going out and coming back.” Not very original or creative but it works. The idea is to move into the future, define as much as possible out there and then come back to reality and decide on ways to get to the desired future state. Here is a practical exercise.

Pick a setting. It could be in your personal or professional life. Let’s pretend you choose your overall work life. Using your imagination, what is the ideal? How do others treat you? What do customers say about your organization? What do they say about you? What do they tell their friends? What are people systems like? How is the teamwork? What is the creativity level? How are processes efficient and useful? Let your day-dreaming go and try to make the picture as real as possible in your head. Now, write down the details of your ideal. Be sure to include the typical behaviors when everything that can go wrong does. Be the best “fly on the wall” possible.

Now that you have created a pretend painting in your head, go out and “be” that painting. What?!? You might say, “You don’t know my boss … he’s a real jerk.” Or maybe the paperwork rules are killing us. Or … fill in the blank. The suggestion stands. Go out and be this incredibly, profound, amazing painting. It is easy to blame others (I’ve done my share of it) or make excuses why things are not as good as they could be. Within your circle of influence – not just your job description – start doing those things that will lead to the ideal over time. You may need to do this in many steps if current reality is very different from the future ideal.

Let’s address two possible scenarios with the easier one first.

Scenario #1 – In your imagined ideal, maybe you saw all members of the organization treat each other with respect, regardless of position, time with the company, education and so on. You can immediately start respecting everyone you meet and interact with in the environment. The challenge comes on how to deal with those who do not share your newfound attitude. If you want to influence positive change, you must persist even in spite of blockheads. (Sorry, that wasn’t very respectful.) The test of making positive behavior stick is to do so over time with consistency – especially when it is difficult. Do not be obnoxious about it, just do it consistently. Hint: One of your secret weapons is tasteful humor at key points of stress.

Scenario #2 – As you painted the picture above, you saw no unnecessary red tape in the paperwork war. In most companies, you cannot simply stop following policy or paperwork requirements without explanation. In fact, failing on the administrative side might lead to an early, prolonged vacation and the current re-employment environment is pretty tough. Remember to break the goal into manageable pieces. What small steps do you think could slowly move the setting toward the imagined ideal? Start with the least sacred in the environment and then talk with your supervisor about the process. Make suggested solutions – do not just throw rocks. You are trying to find an ally, not make somebody defensive. Make a genuine case for how this will help the profitability of the company or increase the quality of service to the customers. Hint: Make proposals that move toward your ideal AND help the other person do his or her job better (and look better too).

Next week we will explore potential consequences of your action plan and ways to change the plan to maximize the chances of success.

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