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.

“The mission or purpose of my company makes me feel my job is important.”

The need to feel connected to some larger purpose is a primary motivator of employees on the job.  Mission driven workgroups suffer 30-50% fewer accidents and have 15-30% lower turnover (12:  The Elements of Great Managers, Rodd Wagner and James K. Harter).

Unlike some of the other elements in Gallup’s Q12, this one is more of an emotional need, and one of a higher level.  It is normal for people to look for more after their basic needs of food, water, shelter and other physical comforts are satisfied.  At work, we look for meaning beyond just “making a living.”

How does this play out at your workplace?  Does your organization have a mission that is important and worthy?  Do workers from the top on down to the line level connect with the mission?  Is there a disconnect between the top level’s motivation around the mission and the line level’s motivation around the mission?

Coming from the field of social work it was easy to connect my work to something big and important.  With each step I made in my social work career I was still helping children and families live better lives.   It was very reinforcing to have the CEO connect with the importance of my work and the work of my department.  However, on a day to day basis, it was easy to get lost in bureaucratic details and tasks that did not easily translate to helping children and families (such as extensive, detailed paperwork).  If this situation happens to you, step back and connect to the bigger picture of your role and the work your organization does.  Find someone at your job who is inspiring in this area and get support from them.

While it would make sense that the helping professionals would have a higher score on the Eighth Element than people in less humanitarian jobs, there were plenty of people surveyed who did not feel their job was important.  And, there were plenty of people in jobs such as retail, finance and chemical manufacturing who felt that their company made them feel that their jobs were important.

The bottom line is, what can you do as a manager to make your workers feel that their jobs are important and therefore help them feel that passion when they are working with customers?  One way is to encourage upper levels of leadership to verbally state the mission and how the workers contribute to the company’s purpose.  Another way is to praise workers for specific tasks that they accomplish that further the mission.  I’m sure you can come up with more ideas and I would love to hear them. 

Please feel free to leave a comment on this post.

Happy Holidays!