Process Based Leadership Training » Connor Jordan

A Business Case for Banning Meetings

admin — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 14:50:53 +0000

A Business Case For Banning Meetings

How many times in the past 3 months have you had the following thoughts: “What? We’re meeting again? About that? Really? Why?“ OK, so maybe you are one of the lucky few who only attend meetings that have a purpose, with clearly defined outcomes, and durations of less than 30 minutes. The other 95% of us think you’re telling a fib, and/or we are very, very jealous.

by Connor Jordan

The harsh, ugly reality is that most people include the word “meet” on their list of 4-letter words that you shouldn’t say around the office. Meetings, in their current form, have deserved all the negative labels placed on them. Like most people, I also mumble, groan and gripe when I’m pulled into a “quick meeting” that is given priority over the 27 other things I am trying to get done. I’ve even shuffled my feet and stopped off at the water cooler or rest room unnecessarily to burn time before I enter the lion’s den.

I’ve written related articles about meetings in the past, such as: Six Bad Meeting Habits and How to Change Them and Why You Should Blow off Your Next Meeting. My personal favorite online cry for help would have to be the blog I posted last year called Help! Rescue Me From My Own Lousy Meetings! Those previous public displays of hatred for meetings are given even more validity when you begin to look at some raw, scary numbers concerning meetings and time management.

Meetings are Time Wasters

47% of employees said that “too many meetings” was the #1 time-waster at the office.[1]

Once interrupted, it takes workers 25 minutes to return to their original task, if they return at all.[2]

Meetings Kill Productivity

45% of senior executives feel that employees would be more productive if meetings were banned one day a week[3]

Unnecessary meetings cost about $37 billion a year[4]

Limit Yourself to 2 Meetings a Week

Nearly all of us report to someone, so you probably can’t get out of your weekly meeting your boss requires you to attend. Additionally, a good percentage of the rest of us hold our own meeting with our team every week as well. So, there are two meetings. Well, that’s enough.

If you structure your team meetings properly and provide the right parameters for everyone to follow regarding preparation, participation and post-meeting activity then you shouldn’t need to run more than one meeting a week.

Sources:
1 – According to a May 2012 survey by Salary.com
2 – University of California, Irvine.
3 – 2009 survey published by Office Team, a Robert Half Company
4 – US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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How to Encourage an Innovation Culture

admin — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 15:15:19 +0000

How to Encourage an Innovation Culture

by Connor Jordan

In order to remain competitive, organizations need to innovate in all areas and at all levels, not only with new products or services. Innovation is important for finding ways to cut costs, save time, improve customer service, and improve inter-departmental communication, and so on.

Inherently, with innovation comes change. With change there are unknowns, which lead to anxiety and resistance to the change. Without strong and supportive leadership, the failure rate of implementing innovations is quite high, if not guaranteed.

So, how does senior leadership provide the tools, processes, and necessary conditions to develop an Innovation Culture in their organization?

PLAY VIDEO:
“Creating a Continuous Improvement Culture:
The What, the How and the Want to”

Innovation Tools

To lay a solid foundation and continually foster an urge to innovate, leaders can design practical, easy-to-use tools for their workforce. One example of a useful tool is a business scorecard. The scorecard tool allows you to know the stated goals, actual performance numbers, variances in performance, and to be honest, open and visible about results. Along with common business goals, you can even include metrics to track innovation and eliminate ignorance as an excuse for mediocrity. This approach provides a method for minimizing the unknowns and subsequent resistance to changes.

Another great tool is an Innovation Implementation Calculator. This simple analysis tool should include columns to document typical steps in developing individual innovation as well as provide leaders with great data for employee reviews.

Innovation Implementation Calculator includes:

1. Identified areas needing improvement – Assign each need with a value score on a scale of 1 to 5 based on how important it is to the business. This helps in prioritizing innovation efforts.

2. Brainstorm with the team and document innovation ideas.

3. Discuss the ideas with the team and select one idea to be implemented.

4. Assign implementation to one or more employees (include milestone targets and dates).

5. Track improvement in previously identified need area as implementation is in progress.

6. Document the affects of the innovation on the need area (cut costs by 10%, shortened process time by 4 hours, etc…) – Assign a value score on a scale of 1 to 5 based on how much impact the Innovation provides in improved business results.

7. Calculate the Innovation Impact Score* and provide employees with public recognition for successful innovations. (If the score is low, return to step 3 and choose an alternative idea.)

8. Share the Innovation as a best practice with other departments, locations, or business units.

*Once an Innovation has been implemented you can multiply the value scores assigned to determine an Innovation Impact Score. The formula is: Improvement Need Value X Innovation Affect Value = Innovation Impact Score. For example: 4 X 3 = 12. With a score of 12 out of a possible 25 you can confidently say that the Innovation provided “average” impact on results vs. other Innovations that score a 20 or 25, for example.

Throughout the year, you can accumulate the Innovation Impact Score data and use it as part of your annual employee performance reviews. You may even decide to include Innovations / Month on your team scorecard as well to sustain it a focal point.

Innovation Processes

Tools get you started, but you need to be sure everyone understands the parameters for using the tools and methods for suggesting modifications to the tools and the processes.

Collaborative Communication Process – Make Innovation a standard agenda item for your weekly team meetings. Building this into your regular communication process will ignite discussion and keep innovation front-and-center in leader-to-team /team-to-leader discussions. You can use the time to discuss success of newly implemented innovations, status of innovations being developed, and reports on innovations shared by other teams as best practices. Simply dedicating time to discussing Innovation in your staff meetings will reinforce the organization’s desire to continually improve at a cultural level.

Recognition and Rewards Process – Recognizing employees doesn’t necessarily mean tying results directly to financial incentives and other rewards. Modern employee motivation modeling teaches that the biggest motivating factors for employees have to do with simple, sincere recognition by their peers. Some organizations take it a step further with providing actual rewards based on the recognition received. A simple process to follow is to Applaud, Announce, and Applaud again.

Applaud. First, leaders and team members can take the opportunity to applaud during the weekly team meeting. By placing Recognition on the agenda it will become commonplace in team discussions.

Announce. Next, the team leader can formally announce the success of the innovation to their boss up one level, with the expectation that s/he will provide direct and swift feedback.

Applaud Again. Last, have senior leaders echo the applause by sharing the announcement with everyone else. As each team holds their weekly meeting the news should cascade to all levels throughout the week.

Innovation Conditions and Culture

For anything relevant to become permanently instilled into an organization’s culture it’s important to obtain buy in from the majority of your workforce. Including Innovation KPIs as part of employee performance review process will ensure that everyone knows the importance and necessity to drive innovation. By measuring Innovations on your scorecard, then calculating a value score with the Innovation Implementation Calculator, you’ll have a great source of objective data to feed annual employee performance reviews.

You can measure the number of innovation attempts, the innovation successes, the real impact of those innovations for the team/dept/organization (such as saving the company money, shortening time in a process, etc…) and even include a weighted innovation impact value score to allow for additional subjectivity.

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Poor Performance or Poor Scorecard?

admin — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 11:23:09 +0000

by Connor Jordan

Managing day-to-day business performance is challenging enough, even when things are going well. What do you do when you know your team is performing well, but when looking at your scorecard it gives you the impression that everything is going wrong? Is your scorecard telling a story far different than what your instincts are telling you? Well, you are not alone, many managers today share this same frustration. The good news is that something can be done about it.

PLAY VIDEO: on “Using Scorecards for Business Success”

Like many managers today, you may unknowingly be a victim of a poorly designed or poorly maintained scorecard. There’s a simple way to find out for sure. Use this simple Scorecard Usefulness Validation Test. If the test results are negative, then you have confirmation that it’s time for a scorecard “do-over.”

Scorecard Usefulness Validation Test

Answer these 8 questions and track how many “A”, “B” and “C” answers you give. A score key is provided at the end of the quiz so you can validate or disprove your suspicions.

The most important consideration when developing and using a scorecard is that it be useful in making decisions to improve your performance results. Modern scorecards provide users with a lot of flexible options and powerful reporting tools. However, the software alone won’t solve all your problems. Here are a few things to keep in mind.

A Useful Scorecard is a Good Scorecard

What’s Important and Why

Creation Date.
If it has been more than a year and you are using the same scorecard, with the same metrics, measuring the same things, then you are probably using an outdated, inappropriate scorecard. Your business is constantly changing from multiple inside and outside factors. Your scorecard should be adjusted to reflect these changes.

The Creator.
If you are handed a list of metrics to track without any influence or input, then you may not be judging your performance correctly. Each team leader should be given some say in the matter. If not, then your organization runs the risk of allowing two bad things to happen. First, they may be holding the wrong people accountable for producing the desired results. Second, they may be measuring the wrong things entirely, which can cause unintended activity and behavior.

Aligning with the Mission.
Having a scorecard for your own team can be useful, but not nearly as powerful as one that is aligned directly with your organization’s overall mission. If you want your scorecards to have true impact and real meaning you should consider how each is in alignment with the others.

Auditing and Adjusting.
To maintain relevance and usefulness a scorecard should be audited on a regular basis. For most world-class organizations, a quarterly review is sufficient. The routine audit will help you confirm the appropriateness of your metrics, and allow you to make timely modifications to any targets that are either too easy or too difficult to hit.

SMART Objectives.
Properly defined metrics are very important. Goals that are defined too vaguely or have targets that are too high or too low won’t give your team appropriate visibility on how they are doing. To ensure proper metrics you should use only SMART metrics (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely).

Review Frequency.
For scorecards to have a sustained importance and impact or performance you should review yours during each staff meeting. A weekly review is recommended to maintain appropriate focus on desired results.

Using the Right Data.
One very common mistake team leaders make is to have metrics included on the team scorecard that are not within the span of control of the team members. If your performance data comes from outside or unknown sources then the team won’t be able to make changes to influence those scores. Sometimes outside metric data is nice to know, so in those situations leaders can discuss those items for FYI purposes, but not hold their team members accountable.

Driving Action.
When you couple a scorecard with a corrective action tool, such as an Action Register, you multiply your scorecard’s usefulness. By implementing a process to identify performance issues, assign corrective actions, and then track action follow through you empower your team to directly affect performance as aligned with the mission.

Great Scorecards Lead to Great Performance

If you know in your heart of hearts that your team is doing well despite what your scorecard shows, then maybe it is time for a scorecard do-over. Confirming your scorecard’s usefulness is a good first step in changing the scorecard you use and how you use it. After all, if it isn’t driving your team to continually improve their performance, then why even use one?

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Six Bad Meeting Habits and How to Change Them

admin — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 19:49:11 +0000

Six Bad Meeting Habits and How to Change Them

by Connor Jordan

Like it or not, we all attend meetings. They are the perverbial necessary evil that can eat up plenty of productive work hours if you’re not careful. Unfortunately, many people have given up on doing anything about their unproductive meetings and have accepted the notion that meetings are bad and that’s life. Not so!

Once you identify why meetings have lost their usefulness, then you can do something about it.

6 Bad Habits and How to Change Them

1) Poor Attendance / Late Arrivals – Nothing screams “waste of time” more than the actions of your supposed participants. When people habitually arrive late (or not at all) then you should take this as a sign that your meeting isn’t of much value to those who should be attending. A person’s actions (not their excuses) show their priorities. If you often have empty seats, this indicates misalignment of priorities between you and your co-workers. Talk with the prospective participants about the importance (or lack thereof) to determine if the meeting is even necessary.

FREE LIVE WEBINAR "Communication: The (Just Right) Structure to Bring an End to Ineffective Meetings"

2) Straying from the Point – It’s easy to get into a lengthy discussion about a topic that somehow just “pops up” during the meeting. If that topic is unrelated to the meeting’s purpose, then table it and have that topic discussed outside the meeting. Two tools can help you keep your meetings on track. First, never ever hold a meeting without a predefined agenda outlining the expected outcomes. Second, use a parking lot list. Any off-topic discussion can be halted, placed on the parking lot list and then dealt with once the scheduled meeting concludes.

3) Allowing Annoying Distractions – Candy, chewing gum, snacks and drinks are bad enough. You should also eliminate productivity-busting interruptions. Make, and enforce, rules about using laptops, cell phones, and blackberries. If the temptation is too great for some participants, then place a 5-gallon bucket in the corner of the room. Toss all such annoyances in it and close the lid. Assign a technology gatekeeper to handle and screen any interruptions. If there’s a real emergency, then the technology gatekeeper can attend the call and involve the appropriate person, instead of interrupting the entire team.

4) Back-to-Back-to-Back Meetings – Ever get caught on a Meetings Treadmill? Get off it! Don’t accept or participate in multiple, back-to-back meetings. You have to give yourself break in between meetings and schedule time for yourself to get your own work accomplished.

5) Conversation Domination – Everyone has a different style when it comes to conversation and interaction in a group setting. Most teams have at least one person who gets on a roll and takes over the conversation. Be sure to include every participant in each agenda item discussion. Make an effort to keep the meeting flowing, but allow your soft-spoken coworkers an opportunity to contribute as well.

6) Status Quo – So, your weekly meeting is terrible. However, you’ve begrudgingly resigned yourself into believing that “that’s the way it is.” Nonsense! Invite an Outside Facilitator to audit and adjust how you hold your meetings. There’s no excuse for accepting failure in your meetings. It’s too costly and time consuming not to take action and make some changes.

Change What You Can, Deal with What You Can’t

Many studies show that attention spans only last about 20 minutes. Couple that with other studies that show the diminished capacity to retain information over time and it’s easy to see how meetings fail to provide much value to your business. You can’t change how the human mind works. Identifying the bad habits, acting on what you know, and changing those habits is the only way to make your meetings any better.

Have an opinion? Want more information on Improving Meetings? Let us know…

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It’s Time to Retire Spreadsheets for Good

admin — Thu, 03 May 2012 10:26:45 +0000

It’s Time to Retire Spreadsheets for Good

It’s the 21^st Century, stop using spreadsheets to track performance and make critical business decisions!

by Connor Jordan

Electronic spreadsheets were originally developed in the late 1970s as a replacement tool for bookkeeping tasks traditionally done on paper. By design, the first generation of spreadsheets handled a variety of accounting tasks; however, they quickly became used for several other functions. Over time this expanded use of spreadsheets brought expanded functionality. Businesses across the world spent boatloads of budget dollars on software, such as: VisiCalc, Lotus 1-2-3, and Microsoft Excel with an eye on gaining productivity and data accuracy.

- PLAY VIDEO -
“Scorecards: Overcoming the Shortcomings of Spreadsheets”

Now that we are in the 21^st Century, spreadsheet software is so readily available that you can download various open source solutions for free. Heading into their 5^th decade of existence, spread sheets are nearing the end of their life cycle. They should be given a going away party and forcibly retired!

Deficiencies Clear a Path for Spreadsheet Retirement

Today, one of the most popular uses of spreadsheet software is for Business Scorecards. Unless you are tracking a morale-boosting weight loss competition with your peers, your data is probably too important and too detailed to rely on a spreadsheet. Gathering and storing critical business data that will influence company strategy and decision-making should not be placed at risk with these outdated tools.

Studies Show a Disappointing Reality

A number of recent studies find numerous reasons to lose faith in your spreadsheets.
- roughly 94% of spreadsheets contain errors¹
- 57% of spreadsheet users have never received formal training²
- 72% of spreadsheet users report having no audit process to check for accuracy²

Shortcomings of Excel Spreadsheets

Regardless of industry, company size, or how sophisticated your Excel spreadsheets have become, it is impossible to expect the same results when compared with a true business scorecard software. Excel’s limitations cause many unwanted headaches for leaders.

1) Formulas, Macros, Conditionals – oh my! There is a broad spectrum of user capabilities in your workforce. Even if you are able to identify and assign the super users to manage the spreadsheets you’ll be limited by what the software can do. The entire scorecard is only as strong as your weakest user.

2) Share and Take Turns. This is great advice in a sandbox when you’re 9 years old. However, in a fast-paced corporate environment it can be incredibly frustrating when you are limited to only one user at a time. Imagine if you have 100 employees that need to update data every week, how are you going to manage that?

3) Hmmm… Something Doesn’t Look Right. Ah, yes, let’s not forget the issue with data corruption. Formulas frequently get overwritten. Cells get moved and break formulas too. A user may add a column or row on one sheet and not realize that she just wiped out data on 3 other sheets in the workbook. Once it’s saved the trusty undo button is of no help.

4) It’s All or Nothing. Accessing the scorecard spreadsheet is the same for every user. There is no way to place controls on revisions and no way to provide or limit access based on user rights. Every user can do everything. Every user can see everything. Sophisticated scorecard software gives you control over access points, editing rights, and reporting functions.

5) Ugly Duckling Syndrome. Excel’s graphs, charts and generic imagery leave you wanting more from your scorecard. To make things look prettier you’ll need a PowerPoint or PDF expert on call if you want to impress the big-wigs with some slick presentations.

Benefits of Business Scorecard Software

Save Time - By having one central location to input all your data, you’ll save hours of time each week. No need to worry about multiple sheets and data entry points.

Shorten Meetings - With your meeting agenda built in to the software you’ll gain efficiency and speed. You’ll be able to cut your meeting times in half! You’ll also be able to eliminate most of your other, unnecessary meetings.

Share Accountability - With an integrated Action Register you and your team will be able to directly affect scorecard results and maintain high levels of teamwork and accountability.

Improve Performance - You’re one click away from all your reports, graphs and charts making it easy to identify trends and performance issues, allowing your team to focus in the right areas and hit higher goals.

Save Money - With easier data entry, shorter meetings, more focused team members, and no Excel headaches to deal with, you’ll begin saving money from day one and beyond.

Have an opinion? Need more information? Let us know…

1 – Stephen G. Powell, Kenneth R. Baker, Barry Lawson “A Critical Review of the Literature on Spreadsheet Errors”

2 – “Spreadsheet Risk Management within UK Organisations”

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Employee Engagement: Action, Intent and Purpose

admin — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 20:32:53 +0000

Employee Engagement: Action, Intent and Purpose

by Connor Jordan

High on the leadership development to-do list, employee engagement has become a top priority to many forward-thinking organizations today. This focus on getting the workforce more engaged has created a complicated set of issues for leaders as they ponder what it is, how it can be tracked, and how important it is to their organization’s success.

Play Video – “Elevating Employee Engagement Expectations”

Knowing the importance of having a highly engaged workforce is only the beginning. Leaders need to build a system for increasing and sustaining the number of engaged employees for the long term. Additionally, leaders need to recognize (and admit) that engagement is not about feelings or assumptions. It’s tangible. It’s measurable. And, it’s within their span of control.

Engagement is Not About Feelings

Not long ago “empowerment” was a top buzzword and HR Directors were implementing a smorgasbord of training programs designed to provide empowerment to their employees. Unfortunately, many of these empowerment programs were designed incorrectly. They mistakenly drove the end result of making employees satisfied, or happy, with their existence as an employee. Empowerment and Engagement are not synonyms. Engagement is not about making people happy or spreading warm and fuzzy feelings about being a “great place to work.” Although it’s not a bad thing to make people happy, the bottom line should, and always will be, about being productive.

It’s About Doing

Real engagement is about action, intent and purpose – in other words “doing.” To instill such behaviors into your organization’s culture you must have the right framework in place to identify, monitor and publicly encourage engagement. When employees are given the opportunity to make a measurable impact through engagement, the emotional aspect of engagement follows as a byproduct of their achievement. This rise in overall happiness is a great bonus as a result of their actions and ability to produce.

Building a Successful Engagement Process

By and large, employees want to be successful. They want to be seen as collaboratively and collectively moving their organization forward – they want to be engaged. True and lasting employee engagement cannot occur without a defined process. In the simplest of forms, there are three foundational characteristics that power a successful engagement process.

1) Identify Engagement – leaders need to know it when they see it.
2) Monitor Engagement – leaders must provide goals and track progress.
3) Encourage Engagement – with routine and public praise, leaders can assist in the sustainment and evolution of engagement as the cultural norm.

Why You Should Blow Off Your Next Meeting

admin — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:54:32 +0000

Why You Should Blow Off Your Next Meeting

FREE LIVE WEBINAR "Communication: The (Just Right) Structure to Bring an End to Ineffective Meetings"

I know, it sounds crazy, but I’m serious. If you’ve grown tired of attending too many unproductive meetings, then make a stand. Blow off the next meeting and see what (if anything) happens. Most likely, you’ll find that the world doesn’t end. In fact, you’ll probably be able to get more work done during this reclaimed time than any other hour this whole week! What you may not realize is just how much influence you have over improving the productivity levels of meetings until you actually being playing hooky.

How Can Blowing Off a Meeting Lead to Best Practices?

I’m sure you’ve been in a meeting and noticed that at least one person hasn’t shown up. Typically, you later hear about some impending doom that would have befallen the entire company had said person pulled themselves away from the firefighting to attend the meeting. Really? Doom?

by Connor Jordan

Free Webinar on “Communication”

So, what happens in your organization when someone misses a meeting? Does the entire team of 11 people stop and wait for the missing person? Does anyone send a convoy to track down (and drag in) the missing person? The most common answer is… of course not, the meeting goes on as scheduled. So, what does this tell you about how people view the value, importance and productivity of the meetings that they miss? By first identifying such issues, then creating professional processes to address these issues you can form a series of best practices to ensure more meaningful, productive meetings for the long term.

Why People Blow Off Meetings

When you notice a pattern of absenteeism in a meeting you regularly attend, stop and ask yourself why this happens. In many cases, people have come to conclusion that the time and effort put forth in attending the meeting far outweighs the meeting outcomes. In other words, they value their time as an absentee more than they value their time as a participant. So, let’s break down how people come to the decision on being a no show.

The Unknown – With the lack of a stated agenda this leaves attendees guessing at what the meeting is all about. They can’t get prepared. They don’t know the expected outcomes. It is hard for them to assign a real value.

Lack of Focus –Without a specific focus you are left with a dreadful “status” meeting. These kinds of meetings only serve to keep the boss up-to-date or just “check in” with everybody. There is no real value in gathering a dozen people in a room so that they all can say that something is “in progress.”

Time Consuming – How often does the “quick huddle” turn into a 90 minute discussion? Some people bail out on meetings for fear of getting trapped in a room far beyond the expected end time. As a meeting drags on their minds will begin to wander while emails, voice mails and sticky notes pile up on their desk.

Déjà vu – Have you ever sat in a meeting and thought to yourself “didn’t we say the same thing last week in this same meeting?” You’re not the only one in the room thinking that. Getting trapped in a weekly rerun isn’t very productive. Meetings that rehash what has already been decided are a big drag on personal and team productivity.

Best Practices for Productive Meetings

To ensure high attendance and top notch productivity, insist on the following minimum standards for all meetings that you attend or facilitate. If these standards aren’t met then don’t have the meeting.

Meeting Outcome Statement – What is the point of the meeting? If the person holding the meeting can’t provide you with a one or two sentence description of what the meeting will accomplish, then how can the meeting end with productive results? (and no, “status update” or “progress report” are not acceptable missions for any meeting)

Published Agenda – Prior to the meeting, each attendee should have the opportunity to know what will be discussed. This will aid attendees in preparing their minds and allow them the chance to collect and bring important, relevant information to the meeting and keep everyone focused. It will also help maintain high standards for efficiency.

Time Limit – At the very least, each meeting should have hard start and stop times. An open-ended time frame will potentially lead to straying from the meeting mission and waste a lot of valuable work time.

Meeting Activity Log – (or Action Register) – Be sure to have a “to do” list which assigns responsibility, due dates, and any additional notes regarding the completion of each activity as related to accomplishing the meeting mission. During the meeting someone has to be assigned to keep track of any action or decision to be completed after/outside the meeting. This keeps the meeting flowing and allows for decision making and activity deployment to occur in the appropriate time, place and manner.

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Front Line Leadership Do’s and Don’ts

admin — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 12:53:13 +0000

Front Line Leadership Do’s and Don’ts

Is there any more demanding role in your organization than that of a Front Line Leader? After all, it’s a Front Line Leaders job to understand the strategies formulated by the Senior Leaders, then turn around and carry out the necessary tactics to make it all happen. Yes, the real battle is at the front lines, where operations are conducted in real time, where employees need to produce at high levels and get results, and where the entire organization ultimately succeeds or fails.

by Connor Jordan

Some Front Line Leaders are completely new to the role, some are more experienced supervisors or managers, and yet others are informal leaders who lead without occupying an official spot on the org chart. Regardless of individual backgrounds or experience levels, today’s Front Line Leaders face a combination of outside influences and challenges. The ever-changing makeup of the workforce brings various views on life and work, technology is constantly changing the ways in which we communicate, and competitive industry pressures from a down economy and overseas competition can all cause some serious headaches.

Join a Live Webinar on March 27th – “Front Line Leadership Fundamentals”

And the stress doesn’t stop there. Front Line Leaders are sandwiched between a manager of their own and a team on the front lines. There’s pressure from the top and the bottom. The list of challenges can go on for pages and pages, so let’s just focus on a few basic do’s and don’ts to help you both manage your manager as well as guide your team.

The Do’s and Don’ts

What to do:

Maintain Focus. The primary measurement by which a Front Line Leader is judged is productivity. Maintaining focus in the right areas is critical. To keep yourself and the team focused, you must have a scorecard displaying the goals and actual performance outcomes. This will keep you and your team connected to the mission and also serves as a reference point when reporting to the boss.

Inform the Tribe. Employees on your team should know everything that you know relating to the organization’s success or failure. Key information about decisions, changes in policies, and other important business news should be openly discussed. Failing to have this open forum about the business will lead to rumors, hearsay, and lost time trying to correct mistaken information after the fact.

Involve Everyone. A great way to increase productivity is to leverage the strengths and experiences of each member on the team. By delegating assignments evenly, you can drive employee engagement, which also leads to higher productivity. Involving everyone helps Front Line Leaders get input from various sources and allows for necessary adjustments to be made more efficiently.

What NOT to do:

Put Out Fires. Many Front Line Leaders mistakenly believe that it is their job to put out all the fires. Not so. You can allow the team to form and execute solutions to problems. Giving this leeway and support will naturally raise employee motivation and engagement levels.

Ignore Conflict. Most workplace conflict is due to lack of clarity in what is to be done and by whom, which leads to confusion and a breakdown in trust, which destroys productivity. If you control the confusion you can minimize the conflict. Be sure that everyone is very clear about the tasks to be completed, project due dates, news from the top, and what is to be expected.

Accept the Limitations. One major productivity killer is an organization’s own culture. An organization’s culture can sometimes create unintended barriers and lead to a mindset of “that’s the way we’ve always done it” even when new thinking and new action is required. To overcome these limitations, encourage risk-taking and problem solving by your team members. They may not have a 100% success rate, but at least you’ll have a more innovative and productive team culture not bound by cultural limitations.

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A Practical Approach to Leading a Multi-Generational Team

admin — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 18:03:56 +0000

A Practical Approach to Leading a Multi-Generational Team

Today, with the workforce being ever more diverse, leaders face the challenge of building and developing teams made up of members from four distinct and unique generations. Being a relatively new challenge unlike any leaders had faced in the past, it is best to first understand the different characteristics of each generation before adjusting your leadership approach.

by Connor Jordan

Questions to consider regarding employees from various generations: What motivates them and makes them tick? How do they perceive management? How do they solve problems? How do they prefer to communicate?

Each generation brings their own pros and cons with respect to how they view work, make decisions and view success. Knowing these basics, a leader can then begin to create practical tools and processes for leading them.

PLAY VIDEO - “Motivating Multi-Generational Teams”

Common Characteristics of Each Generation

Mature (65+) - Typically members of this generation are considered to be hard working, dedicated and loyal. They value optimistic attitudes, attendance, practical knowledge and sacrifice. They are “hands on” and take a practical approach to solving problems.

Something you might hear them say, “I do it the right way.”

Baby Boomers (46 – 64) – Currently, members of this generation make up the largest percentage of today’s leaders. They were the first to be raised with television and built the first computers and wireless communication devices. Having grown up during an era of major social change, they tend to be confident, independent and self-reliant.

Something you might hear them say, “If it doesn’t work, I can change it.”

Generation X (31 – 45) – Also referred to as the “me” generation, members of this group are described as being less committed to one employer and more willing to change jobs. In the workplace, they commonly value freedom and responsibility. Needing less structure, they dislike being micro-managed and embrace a more open management and communication style.

Something you might hear them say, “I work to live, not live to work.”

Generation Y (under 30) – Members of this generation have been raised in a child-centric culture which showers them with attention. They typically grew up juggling multiple sports, school and social activities, so they value a work/life balance over higher pay. Having grown up with technology, they rely on it to communicate using texting, e-mail, and social media over face-to-face interaction.

Something you might hear them say, “There’s more than one right way to do it.”

Participation in the Workforce

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2010 the percentage breakdown for labor force participation by each generation is as follows:
Mature – 4.7%
Baby Boomers – 38.6%
Generation X – 32.1%
Generation Y – 24.7%

Potential Issues Leaders Face

For a leader, it is important to recognize these basic differences in the generations. Each has a unique view of life and work. Each reacts differently to how they are being managed and how decisions are made. Each draws motivation from different sources. Each generation brings with it a different way of communicating as well. With all these differences, leaders face a variety of potential causes for conflict and a breakdown in teamwork and overall performance. So, what should a leader do? Rather than wasting effort concentrating on the differences, leaders can identify and leverage what everyone has in common.

What They All Have in Common: the 3 C’s

Connectivity. Regardless of the generation to which an employee belongs, each will have a desire to feel connected to the business. Having connectivity means that an employee sees his/her direct impact on team outcomes. The tool: A Business Scorecard. With a scorecard a leader can provide direct evidence of team performance and give them a common focal point.

Keynote Video – “Scorecards: How to Educate, Facilitate and Motivate”

Consistency. When it comes to problem solving and decision making, each generation has different view pertaining to how a leader should operate. The common need they all share is the desire for consistency in how this occurs. The tool: An Action Register. With an action register a leader is able to identify problems and assign team members with tasks. This will foster stronger teamwork and togetherness.

Clarity. With communication styles ranging from face-to-face conversation to texting, it can be difficult for today’s leaders to confidently communicate with everyone on the team. Regardless of the generational differences, everyone needs to hear and be heard if you wish to have a high performing team. The tool: A Structured, Weekly Meeting. With a simple, non-negotiable meeting agenda, leaders can be confident that everyone on the team clearly understands what is to be done, by when, and by whom.

The Practical Approach

By using these tools to provide team members with the 3 C’s, leaders will have a much easier time leveraging what everyone has in common. Focusing on these common desires, leaders can better manage decision making, motivating employees to get the job done, and continually improving overall team dynamics and performance.

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A Practical Approach to Leading a Multi-Generational Team

Help! Rescue me from my own lousy meetings!

admin — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 13:46:28 +0000

Help! Rescue me from my own lousy meetings!

FREE LIVE WEBINAR "Communication: The (Just Right) Structure to Bring an End to Ineffective Meetings"

Year after year organizations conduct employee surveys with the hopes of gaining more insight and understanding into employee issues and concerns. And, year after year one of the biggest sore spots discovered in the survey results is communication.

Improper, or failed, communication can lead to confusion, which leads to stress and anxiety, ultimately leading to de-motivation and disengagement in your workforce. Conversely, effective communication strengthens relationships, builds trust, eliminates assumptions, and minimizes confusion and conflict. Knowing that communication is so critical to an organization’s success, it is imperative that these issues get resolved and eliminated for the long term.

Free Webinar Video on “Effective Meetings”

So, where do you begin? How can you rescue yourself from your own lousy meetings?

5 Steps to fix up your meetings and drive higher performance results:

1. Remove physical barriers - walls, doors and noise levels can affect meeting participation – so, make sure the meeting location is quiet and conducive to conversation. Also, be sure the room layout fosters discussion and participation.

2. Don’t get comfortable – A recent CSI social media survey asked for suggestions on making staff meetings more efficient. Respondents recommended standing, using a timer, avoid providing snacks or drinks, inviting someone outside the team to audit and provide feedback on the meeting.

3. Define participation roles – each meeting should have a Facilitator, a Note Taker to document all the corrective actions, and Participants. By defining and rotating these roles you’ll raise participation levels.

4. Set some ground rules – for example: no blackberries or smart phones, one person speaking at a time, follow the agenda, adhere to time limits, and if you cannot attend then send a delegate on your behalf.

5. Keep the agenda focused on the business – always use a scorecard, start and end the meeting with an action register, provide time to hear each person’s comments/questions, provide time for public recognition for a job well done.

by Connor Jordan

Successful communication leads to a more engaged workforce, which leads to higher performance. Since the main conduit for communication comes in the form of staff meetings, leaders need to ensure that their meetings are as meaningful and efficient as possible. With a few adjustment to how you currently hold meetings your annual employee survey results can show a major shift in how your employees feel about communication.

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Connor Jordan on Twitter as @cjordan17