The Enlightened Manager

Contempt, Sarcasm, and other Unholy Tools of Destruction

As leaders, we are human and fallible.  We make mistakes.  Sometimes the mistakes we make live on for a long time.  Particularly when we break trust with our teams.

There are many “issues” we need to respond to in the workplace.  Performance goes off the rails, people behave badly, communication misfires, or drama ensues.  Responding to these challenges takes courage, patience, and an impressive toolbox of experiences and scripts.

One of the assets we build up over time is trust, the willingness of others to believe us and follow us. Today let’s look at a few terrible mistakes that can destroy that trust.

Sarcasm -  You are frustrated with an employee, and so the next time she says she completed a task, you shoot back a sarcastic reply.  “Really?  Miracles do happen!”  

Contempt -  You fly off the handle when you see yet another botched product release, and you call the team into a room and tell them exactly how worthless they all are.

Name-Calling -  You call someone “a loser” or “an incompetent.” (Yes, it will get back to them.)

Rejection – A team member comes to you with an apology or to make amends, and you refuse to listen.

I’m calling these four mistakes out, because I’ve seen how profoundly damaging they can be to an organization.  Why?  These are the kinds of behaviors that are rarely forgotten. They create a deep emotional impression, and they make the recipient lose faith in the manager and the company.

A couple years ago, I was interviewing a team and they all brought up an incident where they were spoken to with great contempt.   This incident had happened three years previous!  But the wound was still fresh.

The impact? They no longer trusted the company, and they had internalized some of that negativity.   They didn’t believe in themselves, and they didn’t see any point in trying to fix what was irrevocably broken.

Since that time, I have seen similar “wounds” festering in other teams.    The impact, both to productivity and to morale, is deeply negative.

So how do you recover?  Again, we are all human.  We all goof up.  Just keep in mind that these “unholy tools of destruction” are hard to recover from.  Avoid these mistakes. Apologize genuinely if you go off the rails.   

Don’t give in to the dark side of the force!  

PS:  Yeah Enlightened Managers, I know I’m preaching to the choir!

Cheri Baker, MA, SPHR is the President of Emergence Consulting. Emergence Consulting's services include Management Coaching, Leadership Development, Team Building, Customer Service and Communication Skills Training and Strategic Planning in the Seattle, WA area. More information on her programs can be found:www.emergenceconsulting.com/

 

Goal Setting Toolkit for 2012

Before the month comes to a close, I wanted to ask – did you download my new Goal Setting Toolkit for 2012?  It’s full of information on  how to set good goals, how to set goals with a team, and plenty of templates, worksheets, and examples.

The toolkit is free for my newsletter subscribers up through January 31^st, and after that it will go into my web store for $4.99.   If you want the 2012 Goal Setting Toolkit, email me by January 31^st 2012 and I’ll add you to my mailing list and send  you the PDF.

 

Happy Goal Setting!

Cheri Baker, MA, SPHR is the President of Emergence Consulting. Emergence Consulting's services include Management Coaching,  Leadership Development, Team Building, Customer Service and Communication Skills Training and Strategic Planning in the Seattle, WA area.

More information on her programs can be found:http://www.emergenceconsulting.net

 

 

 

 

Staying Ahead of the Demand Curve

According to the news, this year’s Black Friday shopping day set a new record.  How can we reconcile this with the doom and gloom news about the economy?  And what does it mean for us as leaders?

It means that generally by the time there is a “consensus” that the economy has recovered, it is probably going to be too late for us.  Too late for us to staff up appropriately.  Too late for us to build competent managers.  Too late for us to train staff in customer service.

When we wait for the “all clear” we may be missing opportunities.  When your customers are lined up thick outside your door or on hold on the telephone, you want to be ready to kick butt and take names.  If you’ve been holding back on getting ready because “the demand isn’t there” it’s probably time to get off the sidelines.

Growth requires infrastructure.  It requires talent.  Skills. People.  Knowledge.  Systems.

Recessions stink, but I’m already seeing the wave turn.  Certainly we have not gotten the all clear yet.  But why wait?   Let’s prepare for growth.  Let’s be ready for that big wave of demand, because I think it’s going to be here sooner than we think!

Of course this is just one opinion.  What is yours? 

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Cheri Baker, MA, SPHR is the President of Emergence Consulting. Emergence Consulting's services include Management Coaching,  Leadership Development, Team Building, Customer Service and Communication Skills Training and Strategic Planning in the Seattle, WA area. More information on her programs can be found: http://www.emergenceconsulting.net

The Three Components of Great Customer Service

We all want good customer service.  As customers, we want to be treated with respect and to get the assistance we need to fulfill our transaction or reach our goal.  As leaders we want to ensure our teams are delivering the kind of service that not only satisfies customers, but brings them back too.

We want to surprise, to delight, and to feel we’re making a meaningful difference to others.  We want to do work that matters.   In my mind, that comes down to three components.

So what are the Three Components of Great Customer Service?

1.       Competence – We can offer our sunniest smiles and friendliest greeting, but if we can’t get our customers what they need, we are not providing good service.  Technical Support needs to be able to resolve our question.  Our barista needs to be able to make a tasty espresso drink.

 2.       Conscientiousness – Going beyond competence, we need to be trustworthy.  We need to show up when we say we will, meet our promises, and return phone calls as promised.  We need to go the extra mile, ensuring that service has been completed, not just handed off.

 3.       Connection – We want our customers to feel respected, cared for, and important.  We want to feel that human connection, whether it be in person or via phone.  Service at its core is a human act of helpfulness, and we want to connect on a personal level.

When I work with groups to improve customer service, we talk about how you need all three of the C’s in order to thrive as a service provider.  Commonly teams are excelling at one or two, but failing at the third.  I hope you’ll take a moment to consider the 3 C’s this month and ask yourself – are you doing them all?  If so, I don’t doubt you’re a star.

The Three Components of Customer Service are Copyright 2011 Emergence Consulting, All Rights Reserved

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Cheri Baker, MA, SPHR is the President of Emergence Consulting. Emergence Consulting's services include Management Coaching,  Leadership Development, Team Building, Customer Service and Communication Skills Training and Strategic Planning in the Seattle, WA area. More information on her programs can be found: http://www.emergenceconsulting.net

Five Questions You Won’t See on a Performance Review

For organizations that do annual reviews, they either occur on an anniversary date or all at the same time each year.  Sometimes those annual reviews come near the end of the year.  In any case, the end of the year is a good time to take stock of how far you’ve come, and how you’ve grown.  It’s a good time to think about who you are becoming.

Here are the questions I’m asking myself as this year comes to a close.  They are not typical performance review questions, but perhaps you’ll find them meaningful as I do.

1.       What are my proudest moments from 2011?  What are the moments I am least proud of?

Remembering these high and low points can provide clues to better knowing my own character, strengths, and limitations.

2.       How am I measuring success?  What does “success” mean to me?

Is success tied to certain metrics?  Numbers?  Or does success mean something different?  How will I know if I have been “successful?”

3.       What dreams or goals did I abandon this year?

My dreams always outstrip my time and energy.  Which ones got short shrift this year?  Did I make a good choice of what to prioritize?

4.       What am I letting go of?

Habits?  Beliefs?  Hobbies? Assumptions?  Worries?

5.       What am I moving towards?

As I am learning and growing, what am I excited about?  What lies ahead?

As you sit by the fire (or even the glow of your computer screen) this year,  I hope you’ll take a few wonderful selfish moments to ask some of the deeper questions.  Goals and objectives are wonderful.  Just don’t forget to take measure of your inner self, the instrument through which all achievements happen.

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Cheri Baker, MA, SPHR is the President of Emergence Consulting. Emergence Consulting's services include Management Coaching, Leadership Development, Team Building, Customer Service and Communication Skills Training and Strategic Planning in the Seattle, WA area. More information on her programs can be found: www.emergenceconsulting.net

Webinar vs. Classroom Training: A Look at the Differences

Most of you know that I've been offering webinars over this last year.  It's been a great way to reach out and offer content to individuals who don't have an opportunity to be part of a leadership development group.

Webinars have some major advantages, and some pretty distinct downsides.  For those of you who need to consider (for yourself or your team) what format to use for development, here are some points to consider.

The Advantages of Webinars

• Accessibility:  Attendees can participate from any computer terminal.
• Cost Savings:  No travel costs, and materials can easily be managed in a digital format.
• Convenience:  Webinars can be recorded and replayed.  Flash-based training can be done at a time that suits the learner.
• Reporting:  Reporting tools allow for instant knowledge tests and instant trainer feedback.
• Variety:  Webinars can include audio, slides, videos, and quizzes.

The Disadvantagesof Webinars

• Individual Learning Only:  Webinars are great for delivering data to the learner, but very poor for changing group norms and behavior.  The peer-to-peer dimension is negligible.  Webinars don't change the group dynamic.
• Lack of Visual Cues:  The facilitator is not able to read body language or facial expression, thus it is not possible to see when people are confused or tuning out, unless they speak up.
• Lack of Tactile Learning:  It is very difficult to do exercises and role plays in a webinar format.  For many topics, this can be a handicap.
• Lack of Accountability:  Good training is about changing ideas and behavior, and that requires that we ask people to make a public commitment to the change.  This is difficult to do in the less-personal webinar format.
• Fewer Questions:  In a webinar, participants can't see each other.  This creates a dynamic where people are less willing to speak up and share their views and ask questions.
• Limited Discovery:  In live settings, groups generate ideas and discover learning together.  They have lovely "Aha!" moments.   This doesn't happen in the less personal webinar format.

At the end of the day, I think webinar training is a good option for individual development.  Take a webinar, learn something new, and then apply it.  Webinars do *not* work for changing the dynamic in a team or group of people.  Individual knowledge isn't a replacement for the kind of norm-shifting that can happen in a live setting.

Questions or Comments?  I'd love to hear from you! :)

 

More Lessons from the Track: Roller Derby as a Classroom

Hello Enlightened Managers,

I've been having a great week.  I'm enjoying myself work-wise, coaching a couple up and coming leaders and conducting some interesting training sessions, and it's also been a good week personally.  I'm gearing up for my first vacation to Hawaii (Kauai), and I played in my first Roller Derby game last night.

Imagine this - you have about 30 women who have spent the last 6 months learning how to skate and practicing many different aspects of the game.  What happens when you throw them into the game for the first time?

As the trainer/referee said, it was clear that we hadn't done this before.  He said "I could tell you were trying to think about ten different things at once, and therefore you couldn't really do any of them very well."

It was true!  We were thinking about our position in the pack, where our team's jammer was, where the other team's jammer was, who we should hit or block, who was trying to hit or block us, how fast we were going, and on and on....

In one sense, it was complete bedlam.  We looked like Bambi on the frozen lake.  We got our skates tangled together and fell like dominos.  We looked left while the opposing jammer whizzed to the right.  We were going all different speeds. 

Ultimately, it came down to this.  To learn new skills, you need to get out of the classroom and apply them in real situations. We knew how to skate, block, hit, and sprint.  What we couldn't do was apply those things in a real environment.  We needed game experience to make our skills relevant.

Practice is not the same thing as the big game.  The pieces are not the same things as the whole.  I'll be thinking about this as I develop training programs for my clients.  How can we make training more real?  How can we build skills without isolating them from the context?

These are some things I'll be thinking about this week.

Learning Outside the Box

We've all heard the saying "think outside the box."  A great concept, it's been almost overused, devolving into a tacky cliche.  But today let's take a look at a new variation.  Are you learning outside the box?

For most of us, when we want to learn about management, we read about management or take a class.  These are great things, but they are not the only things.  We can rapidly accelerate our own professional growth by looking for connections between the non-management world and our work.

One example: Poetry.   I'll never forget the first time I walked into a business class which started with the reading of a poem.  It was a poem by William Stafford, which I've since memorized.  The instructor asked, "What does this poem say to you about leadership?" and the conversation was off and running.  We were learning and making new connections.

I admit this seemed strange to me at first.  What does poetry have to do with leadership?   What does art have to do with managing?  What does music have to do with group development?  As it turns out, even asking those kinds of questions can lead to big ideas.

Back when I was in HR, we had a monthly poetry reading and invited our "favorite people" from across the organizations.  Executives, admin assistants, HR Generalists, Recruiters, all sitting together and reading poems.  It was this great lunchtime activity that we all grew to enjoy.  We even wrote "Haiku on Performance Management" and had a wonderful time.  One time, a leader who many found a bit stand-offish came and read this beautiful poem about family, and we were all moved, seeing into her heart a little.

While I don't have poetry readings any more (I do think of them fondly) I continue to look for ways to learn outside the box.  I'm currently taking a class on "Improv Skills" from one of my client organizations in order to be quicker on my feet and less serious when I am speaking.  Am I having a blast. Yes!  Am I going to use this experience to increase my skills as a leader?  You bet!

So today, Enlightened Managers, I encourage you to push yourself to explore a learning opportunity which is outside your normal frame of reference.   I don't care what it is, so long as it involves doing something that scares you a little bit.  Once you're done, what did it teach you about leadership?

And remember, you can always start with a little poetry!

Links:

Stafford's Poem
Find Poetry by Topic
Seattle Improv Classes from Wing It Productions

New Employee Orientations

Today I wanted to write a little about new employee orientations.  I've had the opportunity to design and lead a handful of different orientations in addition to being a participant in orientations myself.  There are good orientations and terrible ones, and while many organizations seem to view these sessions as a "necessary evil" or "the place where we fill out new hire paperwork" I believe that orientation is about two things:

1) Giving new hires the information and tools they need to be successful on the job.
2) Sending a clear message about the organization itself - mission, values, and core expectations of working there.

Orientation isn't about paperwork.  It can, if done well, be a place where people can truly "fall in love" with an organization and begin the process of engaging with a company and committing to it's success.  Orientation is one of the most important parts of an employee's experience, but it is often a part of the experience that is largely ignored. Here are some suggestions for creating a positive orientation experience for new employees.

Here are what I view as some very positive things to do in orientation:

1) Have the CEO or another senior leader come and offer friendly introductions to the organization as well as talk about the core values and mission of the organization.

2) Take the time to compliment the new hires - reminding them that only the best are chosen, and that the organization has high hopes and high regard for them.

3) Share with new hires the organization's strategic goals and current major initiatives.  Remind them that every employee from the newest to the most senior has a role in fulfilling the company's mission and creating the organization's future.

4) Introduce each new hire to a live person (usually HR) who is the "call me with any questions, anytime" person who can be an "anchor" for that person outside their usual chain of command.  Yes, 95% of all issues should be directed to one's boss, but everyone needs at least one trusted contact person outside the chain.

5) Show new hires where they can find key information (phone lists, computer login information, benefits information, job descriptions, org charts, training schedules, payroll info, etc).

6) Review a few key policies and make sure employees know where the rest of them are, ask them to read them.

7)  Have a strong, deep conversation about customer service or another key organizational competency.  (Put participants in small groups and have them work with specific scenarios/examples.)

8)  Make sure each new hire knows where they can go with questions about their job, who will be providing them with job-specific training)

Here are some POOR uses of employee orientation.

1)  Reading every single corporate policy out loud, word for word.

2)  Conducting training that only part of the orientation group will need.  (ie: training janitors on computer privacy when they don't use any computers)

3) Asking participants to complete "handouts" such as word scrambles or crossword puzzles that contain company information/trivia or policy information.

4) Reading long lists of "do this" and "don't do this" to people.

5) Talking through each person's job expectations in detail.  (This should be done individually by the person's manager)

6) Watching "training" videos that just kill time but don't offer significant or critical learning.    Also - watching training videos with no discussion or interaction.

7) Keeping people in a small room with few breaks, no movement, and/or poor accessibility.

This is just a quick rundown, but I hope it provides a few examples of what to do and what not to do in employee orientation sessions.  I'm going to be doing some additional research into best practices for orientation, so I encourage you to leave a comment or send an email with what you consider to be "best practices" in orienting new employees.  Once I've gathered up a decent number of practices, I'll post the results here on the blog so we can all enjoy them.

Happy Orienting!

Training Design: Who is in the Room can Make a Difference

Today's post is about a concept I discovered myself only within the last few years.  I've been designing and facilitating training for over a decade now, and I've also worked with a lot of outside trainers.  The concept I want to talk about today is specificity.  It's a concept that kind of snuck up on me, but I've found it increasingly valuable so I wanted to share it with you today.

Adults learn best when they can relate the learning to their everyday work.  This idea a the staple of books on adult learning theory, but it's also common sense.  When we learn something interesting but abstract, it tends to fade away for many of us.  When we learn something we can use in the office today and every other day this month, it tends to stick better.

This idea of making the training relevant to real world job roles can go even a step further.  Sometimes we can increase relevance by training actual work teams in the same room, rather than splitting work teams randomly across training sessions.

I'll clarify.   Over the years, I've had a number of executives ask me to send this or that employee to communications training, or interpersonal skills training, or so on.  And what often happens is that people learn something interesting, then they come back to work and struggle to apply it but it fades away.  Why does this happen?

Probably for a number of reasons, but here is the one that stands out to me.  When we're talking about "soft" skills like communication and conflict management, these are not individual activities.  People don't communicate only with themselves, they communicate with others.   Communication (and related skills) are in fact what you could call "a team sport."

For this reason, I am going to suggest that the next time you're thinking about training on interpersonal skills, that you consider the context.  Sending only your "problem employees" to a communications class is going to create a different experience than a complete team receiving the training together. When teams learn together, they get the following benefits:

Teams come away with a common language as a result of the terminology and ideas shared in the training.  (ie: we all now know what "feedback" means - we heard the same thing)

Teams who learn together may see that learning as a new set of shared expectations.  (We all learned that this behavior is not helpful, so I now expect my team to behave differently.)

Teams who learn together can talk more openly about how the learning relates to what actually happens in the workplace.  (The facilitator can ask: "So, do you think that this concept will work in your department?  Why or why not? - then the learning becomes team-specific and team-relevant.)

Clearly, not every type of training will be improved simply by sticking coworkers in the same session.  First of all, this approach works well when the trainer knows how to facilitate good discussions.  Secondly, if you are training on a skill that truly is individual (using excel formulas) there may be no extra oomph from doing it collectively.

So if you're considering training for your team, ask yourself if the thing that you want them to learn is applied in an individual or a team setting.  If it is the latter, moving from an individual learning to a team learning model may net you some additional benefits.

Do you have anything to add to this post?  Please leave a comment for your peer readers or send me an email.  And happy training!