This summer has flown by and it was awesome!  I went to Paris for the first time and loved it.  What an amazing city and culture.  The most white bread I’ve eaten in years and I loved every bite.  Now I’m buckling down and scheduling for the fall and thinking about you – this topic of follow through has been a theme with many of my coaching clients (and not necessarily because they are the ones not following through).

Whether you like it or not, as a leader people are watching you.  They are watching what you say, how you dress, how you handle stress, how you handle success and pretty much your overall behavior.

I’m not mentioning this to make you paranoid but to help you leverage your modeling to increase your team’s productivity, loyalty, and morale.  The leadership behavior I want to discuss is follow through.  What do I mean by follow through?

Joe told his struggling worker that he would be monitoring his documentation completion weekly until he was caught up and consistently productive.  After two weeks Joe stopped requesting the documentation because other issues came up.  As a result, the employee went back to not meeting performance expectations.

Sandy promised to introduce her employee, Tom, to a contact that would be a key connection in completing his project assignment.  Despite Tom’s reminders, Sandy never got around to making that introduction.

Juanita was charged with putting together a sub-committee to address safety issues in her department.  Three months later, after an initial push to recruit members and schedule a meeting date, Juanita dropped it and the first meeting never happened.

Let’s look at the consequences of not following through using these same fictitious examples.  Joe’s worker continues to struggle because he didn’t have enough accountability to form the habit of timely documentation.  His view of Joe is that Joe doesn’t think this issue is that important since Joe dropped it.  The worker continues to under perform.

Tom is frustrated with Sandy for not connecting him with this important contact and without any intended malice, he acts out and talks badly about Sandy to his colleagues.

When the department head decides that another subcommittee needs to be formed to address an important issue, the new committee chair decides she has too much to do and only half- heartedly tries to pull a committee together.  She is not concerned about getting reprimanded because Juanita still hasn’t had her first safety committee meeting.

It is challenging to follow through with everything and even the best leader’s make mistakes and drop balls.  The best thing you can do when you recognize that you haven’t kept a promise, met your stated goal or you let someone down, is to acknowledge it openly.  Be clear that you messed up and are sorry.  I’ve met several leaders who struggle with this and would rather ignore the mistake and hope it goes unnoticed.  I promise you, it is not unnoticed.  Besides, if you are modeling the behavior you would like to see in others, what would you want from your team?

As my personal trainer says as I attempt to do more than 3 pushups at a time, “progress, not perfection”!

In what areas are you already following through, both professionally and personally?  Where do you struggle in either keeping your word or following through?  What’s the impact on your team?

I wish you a happy start of fall and let me know how I can support you in your leadership journey!

When working with my clients invariably there’s a session or more devoted to managing difficult conversations.  These are the discussions that are postponed or avoided altogether or they occur with anxiety, defensiveness, hurt or verbal aggression.  If handled poorly, both parties leave the conversation beat down.

Here are some examples of tough conversations calling to be had.  Any of these sound familiar?

1.  Joe needs to confront a supervisee on a performance issue that has not been addressed before.
2.  Mary’s mother just moved in with her and is driving her nuts.
3.  Rashida is feeling like her supervisor doesn’t trust her to make her own decisions regarding her team.
4.  Tom learns that his colleague at work has been making snide remarks about Tom behind his back.

I could provide plenty more examples and so could you.  What all of these scenarios have in common is that they are begging for a conversation to be initiated with the goal of resolving the issue.

Think of a tough conversation that you have been avoiding.  What’s holding you back? What are possible outcomes from this conversation?  What are you most afraid of in moving foward in this discussion?

I know for myself, I dislike conflict.  I strive for harmonious relationships where everyone is happy.  From doing my “inner work” I have gotten a lot better at tackling tough conversations that need to happen personally and professionally.  Here are some tips to help you master the tough conversation.

1. If you are in a leadership position, ask yourself  “what’s best for the organization?”  Recognize your responsibility as a steward for your company.  It’s not about you; rather, you are holding the organization’s values, ethics, mission and best interests.  Keeping this in mind can help provide you the motivation to initiate a tough conversation.

2.  Get clear on the issue.  What’s really going on?  What’s at stake here?  How does it impact you and others?  What evidence do you have regarding the issue?  Be prepared to share a specific example regarding your concern.  Without clarity, the discussion can easily get off track and not get resolved.

3.  Listen fully to the other person.  Be completely present in the conversation.  This means not thinking ahead about your next comment or retort.  This means asking non-judging, clarifying questions to make sure you truly understand what the other person is saying. Repeat back your understanding so your partner knows you get their perspective and so they feel acknowledged.

4.  Show that you want to resolve the issue.  This includes admitting  your own contribution to the problem.  This also means showing up with compassion for the other person and yourself.

5.  Make a plan to move foward.  Discuss what is needed for resolution.  What will each of your do differently to resolve the issue?

Mastering tough conversations takes courage, practice, preparation and a willingness to learn.  The payoff is in improved relationships, increased worker performance, and improved results.

If you are interested in more depth around this topic I highly recommend the book “Fierce Conversations” by Susan Scott.

As a Leadership Coach and Trainer who spends a lot of time helping leaders uncover and leverage their unique strengths, you might find it odd that I’m writing about weaknesses, but let’s face it – we all have weak areas in our game.

What I have found over the years is that the very trait that makes a leader or employee valuable, is the same trait that when overdone, becomes a negative.  For example, a director I was working with was always the go to person in a crisis.  He would drop everything including his time at home with his family to make sure the work crisis was managed well.

In his work in human services, there were always crises, allowing him to leverage this strength on a weekly basis.  There were also frequent licensing updates and program evaluations requiring chart inspections and documentation.  For this director, documentation was boring and became the last thing on the to do list.  Crises were exciting and got him out of doing documentation.  Monitoring his staff’s records was an equally undesirable task.  As a result, he looked bad when his programs were evaluated because he did not have the proper documentation in the files.

His manager was frustrated with him because he was under performing in this aspect of his job despite repeated counseling.  The manager saw him as a rock star in certain areas of his job but was left considering whether the tradeoff of his crisis management versus his inspection readiness skills was worth it.

How did I help this client manage his weakness?  Here are 5 things we did together that were helpful.  These can be applied to any strength that is being over used and looking like a weakness.

1. Build awareness of the behavior.  I firmly believe that without self-awareness, behavior change is not going to last.  I had him keep a log of his crisis management events, noting what the crisis was, how long it took to manage, whether delegation was possible, and what plans were aborted in favor of the crisis.
2. Hit the pause button when confronted with a decision to be made.  This gives time for a quick internal assessment to inform what action to take.  What’s to be gained?  What’s the cost of managing the crisis?  Who else could get involved?  Where can time parameters be put in place?
3. Bring in real time support.  I offered for two weeks to be on call to help him with his decision making process.  This was helpful for him to have outside perspective.  If you don’t have a coach, consider having your supervisor or a colleague help you.
4. Examine how this strength can be balanced so as not to become a weakness.  This client knew managing crisis was his most valuable contribution to the organization.  What he needed to see was that he was not playing a balanced game.  You can be the best 3 point shooter in the NBA but if you are terrible at playing defense you are going to get benched.
5. Let others know you are working on not overusing your greatest strength.  Give others at work (and home) permission to point out when you are tipping in the weakness direction and when you are leveraging your strength positively.  My client enlisted his supervisor and had the courage to let his supervisees know what he was working on to get their help.

Now it’s your turn.  What is your greatest strength? When does it become a weakness for you?  How can you apply the five steps listed above to reign your strength in and show up as a rock star leader?

PS  If you are thinking about becoming a part-time or full-time Professional Coach OR want to bring coaching skills into your workplace, consider signing up for this course.  Information here:

http://chriscoward.com/programs/

Happy New Year!  I love this time of year (minus the cold weather, lack of sunlight and snow shoveling ) because of the opportunity to reflect on the past year and create new goals for the upcoming year.  It’s always exciting to commit to achieving something bigger than before and stretching to expand myself personally and professionally.  So how about you?

What I’ve learned over the years from being a coach and having a coach is that it is so much easier to do this new year visioning and goal setting with a coach’s help.  Yes you can complete a worksheet independently, read a self-help book or make New Year’s resolutions to your family and friends, but imagine if you had someone skilled in asking questions to help you get clear on what you really want and who you want to be.  Imagine this person holding you bigger than you hold yourself and supporting you in creating your dream 2011.  Let’s be real – if you don’t do anything differently than you normally do, you will not get different results.

Here’s where I can be helpful.  I am offering to coach you for one hour by phone to “Create Your Awesome 2011.”  We will partner together to capture the learnings, successes and challenges of 2010 and create a powerful, inspiring, no one can stop you plan for 2011.  I will take notes so you can be fully engaged in the process and I’ll send you the created plan after our meeting.  Prior to our appointment I will send you questions to consider so we can hit the ground running.

My coaching is typically $175/hour and higher.  I am offering this “Create Your Awesome 2011″ session for only $75.  Why?  Because I want you to start 2011 off in the best way possible and I want to spread the power of coaching.    This is the start of my 2011 dream, making it easier for more people to receive coaching.

If you want 2011 to be a year of accomplishment, realized goals and dreams than I invite you to sign up for “Create Your Awesome 2011.”

To register for an appointment, please e-mail me at chris@chriscoward.com or call 215.472.1572.

Here’s to a fulfilling and productive 2011!

The summer has blown by and I’m busy getting geared up for the fall.  There are a lot of great things happening that I will keep you posted on.

I am training for a big cycling ride with a friend and we were discussing the high probability of getting a flat tire as we were riding on one of our several epic training rides.  We were both saying that it would be a great idea to take a mini-course in changing flat tires and also to carry a spare tube and pump.  Three weeks later we had a similar discussion, no action taken.

You can guess what’s next… This past weekend I noticed my tire was low as I was leaving my house to meet friends for a long ride.  I pumped it up and went on my way hoping to get lucky since I did not have a spare tube.  Sure enough, it became fully flat and I needed to turn around.

Was I prepared?  No way.  I found several tubes at my house, none fit my bike.  In fact, I didn’t really know how to change the tire, although I knew with enough time, I could figure it out.  However, I didn’t have time!  My friends were already at the site, the temperature was going up and we had other things to do that day.  What did I do?  I grabbed a different bike and hustled down to meet my friends.  The final result:  I was slower with the other bike (and more tired at the end), I held up my friends unnecessarily, and we biked in hotter weather than we needed to.

How does this compare to the “flat tires” we encounter at work?  The phone calls that we procrastinate returning that turn into a crisis; the piles of documentation that await us that we put off until the audit; the problematic employee who needs crucial feedback or disciplinary action that you hesitate to give until the situation gets out of control.

What would it be like to have the initial concern/task/idea and then take pro-active action?

How much time is lost changing the proverbial flat tire when you are blindsided by the sharp object?

Being ready means having the knowledge, the resources (material and people), the time, and the motivation to manage the issue.  Instead of pushing away the initial concern, I invite you to get ready for the situation and take action.

I wish you an awesome start to the fall season.

I’ve had several visits to my physical therapist in the last month and each time I go I am so impressed with the work culture of the staff and their leader’s ability to give clear and credible instructions.  The work environment is sometimes very hectic and fast paced, serving several patients at once and requiring each PT to juggle the monitoring, instruction and treatment of more than one patient at a time.  At other times, the work environment is slow, the ratio of PT to patients is almost three to one and I always wonder if the PT’s are bored (although they don’t show it and seem to be having fun).

My physical therapist, Kim, is in charge of the other PT’s who seem to be at varying levels of experience.  Here are five things Kim does well in modeling leadership without excuses:

1)  Kim makes her expectations clear to the staff.  She tells them which exercise they need to help me with and if it’s not a common exercise, she’ll demonstrate exactly what she’s looking for.  She does not assume her common sense is their common sense about how to work with me.

2)  Even though Kim is often super busy, she will always take time to give clarity about an assignment.  This includes providing a rationale for why a particular exercise needs to be done in a particular way.

3) Kim ensures that staff have the capacity and capability of executing their assignments.  If capability is unclear, Kim will take a moment to teach the assigned intervention or make a staff switch to a more experienced person.

4) Kim sets up frequent, brief check points to ensure that her team is following the treatment plans correctly and managing their array of patients smoothly.  She doesn’t wait until a problem occurs nor does she wait until the end of the day to address concerning issues.

5) Kim treats high performers differently than average performers.  I have overheard her mentoring and advising a less experienced (but high performing) PT during downtime about this person’s career opportunities.  How great does that young PT feel about working there and giving 100%?

Your turn.  Are you taking excuses away from the team by implementing some of these strategies that Kim uses?  If not, I challenge you to take a small step in implementing Leadership Without Excuses.  The “Leadership Without Excuses Assessment” CLICK BELOW

http://bit.ly/LWOChangeGrid will give you a full picture on how you are managing change and where your tension is at work.  I encourage you to take it and schedule a complimentary debriefing session with me.

I wish you all the best!

Please join me for a No Cost tele-seminar where I interview Neill Edwards, contributing author for the book “Leadership Without Excuses: How to Create Accountability and High Performance” by Jeff Grimshaw and Gregg Baron (scheduled to be published by McGraw Hill Business in March, 2010).

You will get new and actionable information in this packed 1 hour phone call that will help you become a rock star leader.

DATE:  Wednesday, February 24, 2010

TIME:   Noon-1PM

CALL IN NUMBER: 218-862-7200 Pin: 485420

On this call you will learn:

* Why it’s so difficult to get people to do the things you want them to do

* Strategies to eliminate costly excuses (made by both performers AND their leaders)

* How to distinguish your Saints, Sinners and Save-ables and how to manage each

* Strategies to motivate your performers on a deeper level, backing up the claim: The greatest power you have is to change the way people feel

* A simple accountability model with tools to ensure:

• you make performance expectations clear,
• that your expectations are credible and reasonable,
• that you create compelling positive consequences for high performers,
• that you follow through with negative consequences for low performers,
• and that you engage in performance conversations based on reality vs. magical thinking

If you are a leader, and have any doubt how invaluable this call will be to you, please contact me to discuss!

Hope to “see” you on Feb. 24th!

I just finished reading the book, “Change Your Questions, Change Your Life” by Marilee Adams, Ph.D.  Without rehashing the story, the main takeaway I got from the book is how important it is to ask the right questions.

This concept is very applicable to your role as a leader.  For example, I’m working with a human services department who is struggling with low morale and underperformance by some of the front-line workers.  Some of the questions they have already asked themselves are what Adams would call, “Judger” questions.  Some examples of Judger questions are, “Why can’t the line staff do their jobs professionally?”  ”Why is it so hard to hold employees accountable?”  ”What is wrong with our program that’s leading to low morale?”

When you read these Judger questions, what do you feel in your body?  Tight stomach, stiff shoulders, and tight jaw are common bodily reactions to questions that are essentially reactive and blame focused.

Adams defines “Learner” questions as open ended questions that are solution focused and win-win relating.  ”What are the front line staff thinking, feeling and wanting?”  ”What assumptions are we making?”  ”What does it mean to hold someone accountable?”  ”What’s possible in our department if everyone is working well together?”

When you read these questions, how do you feel?  You may feel lighter in mood, optimistic, and open to new possibilities.  By asking Learner questions, the leaders in the human services organization were able to imagine the program working they way they wanted it to.  The defensiveness and blame were eliminated and staff were able to participate in the process more freely.  They still have work to do in implementing the changes they envision, but through asking the right questions, the staff are engaged, motivated, and hopeful that the department can make a positive change.

As you work within your own department, what questions are you asking?  I challenge you to ask Learner questions rather than Judger questions and observe what happens.

I was recently working with a manager in a social work organization who was feeling stressed about having to confront an employee who was undermining him as a leader. This staff person was openly doing her own thing, versus what she was instructed to do and it was leading to negative consequences.  One impact this employee’s behavior had on the team was that other employees were asking whether they too could deviate from the plan and in this situation that was not a good idea.

My client was upset with this person and wanted to reinforce her needing to follow the plan but in the coaching session he kept talking about the strengths of this employee – how she could engage youth in a group setting, her knowledge of youth development, and her willingness to help out in crisis situations.  It became clear that his stress was about 2 things:  1) not feeling confident in giving negative feedback to his staff person, with one of the reasons being that the employee was doing good work as well as being difficult.  2) worrying about what would happen during and after the conversation with the employee – would she quit?  Would she become toxic in the workplace?

It turns out the discussion went very well and in recognizing the employee’s strengths, together they came up with a shift in her role that played to what she does best.  My client acknowledged that getting clear on his message ahead of time instead of just being angry and letting it boil over into his relationship with this staff person was a good way to go since he could present as calm and together and be sincere in appreciating this employee’s strengths.

What are the unique strengths of your employees and are you leveraging them to benefit your organization?  If an employee is getting under your skin, do they become “the bad employee” in your eyes or are you able to see that they have both positive and negative traits?  What difficult conversations are you avoiding with staff members?

“My associate or fellow employees are committed to doing quality work.”

The above statement is the Ninth element of employee engagement in Gallup’s Q12.  The Gallup organization interviewed thousands of employees and found that this statement is linked with employees staying on their job and putting forth a great effort for the company.  Have you ever worked with someone who just wasn’t holding their own at the job?  Have you ever managed someone who knew the job well, but chose to just do the minimum?

These types of issues are common experiences for managers and it can affect morale greatly.  Ideally as a manager you would want to supervise a team of excellent folks who work together well and challenge each other to do their best work.  What often happens is that you may have mostly excellent employees with one person who is underperforming.  This one staff person unfortunately has influence over the remaining staff who can be resentful that they are working hard and their peer is not.  They may also be upset that you, as the manager, aren’t dealing quickly enough with the problem person.

What do you do as the manager?  Deal with the problem employee directly by discussing the following:

1. Is the position best suited to the employee’s strengths?

2. If not, is there another position that would be better suited to this employee’s talents and strengths (that they are qualified for)?

3. Is there something you can do as a manager to increase the employee’s engagement at work?

4. Are you giving clear directions and expectations regarding what kind of performance you want from this employee?

There are two main options that could occur – the employee stays or the employee leaves the position.  As a manager, you only want the employee staying if they are committed to quality work.  As difficult as it is to let someone go, sometimes it is the right thing to do for the team, the organization, AND the problem employee.

Without giving away your staff person’s private information, it is important to have a firm grasp on how they are impacting the rest of the team and this assessment should contribute to your decision about keeping or losing the problem staff person.

Finally, make sure you aren’t spending more time dealing with the problem person than you are supporting your star employees.  You will get much more from nuturing your excellent employees than from trying to “fix” your mediocre employee.

I would love to hear from you about this post and your management experiences around this issue.  E-mail me at chris@chriscoward.com to submit your comments.