David Dye's Blog, page 30

All-Hands Meeting: How to Ensure Yours is Amazing and Worth the Investment

Why All-Hands Meetings are so Important (Particularly Now)

Now that “You’re muted'” is the catchphrase of the decade, having a great all-hands meeting or remarkable company offsite is a great way to foster human-centered collaboration. Getting your team together for a strategic team event, especially in person, isn’t just about getting everyone on the same page. It’s the ROI that comes from curated conversations and spontaneous interactions, those electric moments of innovation that happen when your team is in the same room.

A side conversation can lead to the next big idea or micro-innovation, and a shared laugh can forge a bond stronger than any Slack thread. While virtual tools are invaluable, there’s something about gathering, and feeling the room’s energy, that can supercharge a team’s cohesion and creativity.

What we’re noticing in the most remarkable all-hands meetings, is the collective exhale when people get a chance to “FINALLY” be in the same room. We constantly hear, “We’re doing so well with our office occasional/remote team, but gosh, I really miss THIS! It’s hard to do THIS on Zoom.”

Of course, hosting an all-hands meeting or company offsite can be a significant investment of time and money, particularly if you’re having people travel in. So it’s important to make your event remarkable. Let’s talk about some practical ways to do that well.

Make it Easy to Share What WorksTranslate Strategy to Practical Actions and BehaviorsMake Space for Practical, Useable, Remarkable IdeasEncourage People to Talk About the Tough StuffMake it Easy to Follow Up and Follow Through5 Proven Best Practices to Make Your Company Offsite or All-Hands Meeting Great

Whenever we’re involved in helping our clients plan an all-hands meeting, company offsite, or strategic leadership event, we always start with this question. “How do we design this event so that people walk out the door and say, “NOW THAT was a fantastic use of our time!”

Here are a few of our favorite best practices. We’d love to hear yours!

1. Make it Remarkably Easy to Share What Works

One of the HUGE advantages of bringing your team together for an all-hands meeting, end-of-year meeting, or company kick-off, is that every person in that room has something they’re doing that they’re proud of, and others probably haven’t heard about.

Now that you have them in the same room, one of the best things you can do is give them an opportunity to share them.

We like to do this right at the start of an all-hands meeting for a few reasons. First, it’s amazingly high-energy. People love to talk about what they’re doing well. Structured best practice sharing is a great way to ensure people get some tangible, practical takeaways in the first thirty minutes of your event.

Also, if you have any skeptics in the room, you’ve already tapped into their wisdom, so they’re more likely to be open to learning from others throughout the day.

One Practical Way to Share Best Practices

One easy way to do this is to give everyone a card to record and share their best practice. You invite them to share something general like “their leadership best practice.” Or, you can get more specific by adding a  “for ________” (insert where you need best practices or a prompt that goes with the theme of your all-hands meeting or company offsite).

For example:

“Best practices for fostering trust and connection”

… “for ensuring an amazing customer experience.”

… “for attracting and retaining talent.”

Then give everyone stickers to “vote” for the best practices they like the most. Depending on the size of your team you can then give people 10-20 minutes to talk with as many people as they can, exchange best practices, and “vote” for their favorites.

Note, the larger the group, the more time you should allot, as people get very excited about talking with people they’ve not yet met or haven’t seen in a while. We’ve done this exercise with up to 700 people.

Once your team has a chance to exchange ideas, invite the people with the most votes to share their idea with the larger group (you might even want to recognize them with a small token of recognition). For example, people often choose one of our leadership books as a thank-you for their inspiration.

2. Translate Strategy to Practical Actions and Behaviors

All-hands meetings, company offsites, and leadership events are a GREAT time to talk strategy – where you’re headed and most importantly why it matters.

What’s missing from many of these meetings is giving people time to marinate in the “how.”

One way to think about this is to not just talk EBITDA, but get real about “what I need from ya.”

Start by having your senior leaders share the strategies and the why behind them. And then, get people really thinking and talking about the practical ACTIVITIES, BEHAVIORS, and HABITS that will make the biggest impact.

One way to get to do this is through a proven technique called a Force Field Analysis. Where you invite groups of employees to work with a key strategic initiative and talk about the “driving forces” (that will help your strategy or initiative be successful), and “restraining forces”(obstacles that might get in the way).

And then, most importantly, have the team identify practical, tactical habits, behaviors, or initiatives they could do to leverage the driving forces and overcome the restraining forces.

3. Make Space to Share Practical, Usable, Remarkable Ideas

One of our favorite techniques to use in all-hands meetings, town halls, or leadership events is to host a Team Innovation Challenge (or Fishbowl Competition– think Shark Tank, only friendlier.

Your team works with a few of your strategic initiatives and uses our Courageous Cultures I.D.E.A. Incubator process to come up with and pitch practical ideas to the executive team. You can learn more about this process here and or watch the video below. Even better, drop us an email and we can set up some time to talk you through.

Click on the image to watch a short video recap of our I.D.E.A. Innovation Challenge at Nestlè

4. Encourage People to Talk About the Tough Stuff

Asking For a Friend Panel

One of the biggest complaints we hear about all-hands meetings and company offsites is that executives don’t seem to be in touch with the realities of actually implementing the plans that are presented. Or, people don’t feel safe, to speak up and share what’s on their hearts and minds.

Of course, you want to weave Q&A into your day. We also recommend finding a fun and easy way for people to submit their questions anonymously for your executive team to answer.

We often do this by putting “Asking for a Friend” cards on every table, so people can record their questions as they come up throughout the day. And then facilitate an executive panel toward the end of the day.

5. Make it Easy to Follow-Up and Follow Through

Of course, the true ROI comes from what happens after your all-hands meeting or company offsite. One best practice is to leave time toward the very end of the meeting to have people meet with their teams to talk about practical takeaways and the next steps. It’s also a good time to “schedule the finish” with a time to meet again, to continue their planning work after people have had time to marinate on what they’ve heard and what they’ve learned.

If your all-hands or company offsite is for leadership only, then an important activity is to help managers articulate what messages they’ll bring back to their team and how they’ll communicate them. Giving them tools and time to think this through and practice delivering key messages will ensure they’ve got the message right, as well as the confidence and skills to deliver it well.

You might even consider scaffolding your managers with additional tools and techniques to help accelerate their team’s performance after your all-hands meeting or company offsite.

Your Turn

We would love to hear from you. What are some of your best practices for a better all-hands meeting or company offsite?

The post All-Hands Meeting: How to Ensure Yours is Amazing and Worth the Investment appeared first on Let's Grow Leaders.

How to Improve Collaboration to Make Your Good Team Even Stronger

Transform Your Teamwork into True Collaboration

“Hi, Karin, my team gets along just fine, but I wouldn’t call it TRUE COLLABORATION. What advice do you have to get them to collaborate more? #AskingForaFriend

How Can I Improve Collaboration on My Team?

True collaboration leads to innovation, improved problem-solving, and efficiency. To harness the power of true collaboration. Today on Asking for a Friend, I share four practical ways to improve collaboration: Clarity, Connection, Curiosity, and Commitment.

Pave the way to Better Teamwork and Results with the Four C’s#1 Clarity

When we get a call from a leader looking to improve teamwork, one of the most common opportunities we find is a need for greater CLARITY. They need a shared vision of success. So, if you’re looking for more collaboration on your team, start here, “Does my team truly need one another to be successful?” You can’t really collaborate, f you’re not working toward the same goal. Or worse, when your goals compete.

#2 Connection

Real teamwork can’t happen without trust. This goes beyond just “getting along.” Does your team understand each other’s strengths? Do they know how to leverage them and help one another to grow? Do they have a solid understanding of how each person works at their best?

If you’re looking for a good place to start, here are 10 questions to talk about as a team.

Also, I recently interviewed Dr. David Burkus and he shared his great ideas about how to create a team manual and to help your team understand each other. Read about it here and watch the video. When team members feel valued and connected, they are more likely to collaborate openly and authentically, leading to better outcomes.

#3 Curiosity

One of the challenges that can derail collaboration and teamwork is when people have different ideas about how to explore new ways of doing things.

If you encourage team members to question assumptions, explore unconventional solutions, and seek diverse perspectives you can help guide your team to be curious together. Curiosity opens doors to new ideas and insights that might have otherwise gone unnoticed. When individuals are encouraged to ask “What if?” and “Why not?”, innovative solutions emerge.

#4 Commitment

Are people holding one another accountable? Are they having accountability conversations as needed? Collaboration is a journey, not a destination.

Set clear expectations for timelines, milestones, and regular check-ins. Carve out time to celebrate achievements to keep the team motivated and engaged. Acknowledge and reward the dedication and hard work of each team member. By building in these accountability conversations you can focus on commitment and create a sense of ownership and responsibility.

I’m curious, what would YOU add? What’s one of your favorite best practices for deeper collaboration at work?

Check out these related articles:

Workplace Conflict: 12 Powerful Phrases to Turn Conflict to Collaboration

3 Characteristics That Could Be Preventing Your Good Team from Becoming Great

The post How to Improve Collaboration to Make Your Good Team Even Stronger appeared first on Let's Grow Leaders.

Help for the Overwhelmed Working Manager

Can you relate to the phrase, overwhelmed working manager? Recently we received a question from a manager and this manager writes, “I am a working manager. Not that all managers aren’t working, but I have an enormous pile of my work besides having to lead my team. I constantly feel guilty that I’m not doing enough for them, but if I let my work go, my results will suffer. What should I do?”

In this episode, get eight practical ways to help you reduce the overwhelm and become a more effective working manager.

Help for the Overwhelmed Working Manager

Hey, it’s David, and you’re listening to Leadership Without Losing Your Soul, your source for practical leadership, inspiration tools and strategies you can use to achieve transformational results without sacrificing your humanity or your mind in the process.

00:37

So today we’re talking about a question that came from one of Let’s Grow Leaders Asking For A Friend segments, which is something we do in our leadership development programs. If you’ve ever attended any of those we always have an opportunity where you can ask a question for a friend. And of course, if you’ve been listening to this show for any length of time, you know that I love to answer your questions. And so please, if you have a question, I love to hear it. You can join the group we’re going to talk about, or you can send me your question directly, at david.dye@letsgrowleaders.com.

02:41

Alright, so our question today came from an overwhelmed working manager. A manager who is responsible for their own results and responsible for leading a team. Many managers, if you’re listening, you’re certainly familiar with that challenge. So when we talk about an overwhlemed working manager, we’re talking about someone who has significant individual responsibilities in addition to leading their team. They’ve got work assigned to them that they can’t really delegate. Maybe it’s because of the technical nature of the job or a unique skill that they bring to the table, or sometimes it’s just a matter of workload. Maybe there’s not enough budget for a pure manager leader in that role. So the business elevates a team member as a guide while they also do the work. It’s not ideal, but it’s a reality in many organizations.

03:26
If that sounds familiar, this shows for you. I’ve got eight practical ways to help you be more effective and de-stress some of that relationship with being an overwhelmed working manager.

Number one, something we’ve talked about many times in the show, is setting clear expectations for your team. As a team leader, it’s always important that you have a clear understanding of what success looks like and that you have ensured everyone on your team has it as well. Even more so when you can’t possibly meet everyone’s assumptions. So making sure that your team knows what everyone can fairly expect from one another, what you expect from them, and what they can expect from you and from each other. As a working manager, sometimes you’ll need to shut your open door to focus and finish an assignment, and you want to be upfront about that and how those things are gonna work together.

04:18
What can everyone expect from one another? Talk with your team about what they need and what you need and work together to figure out the best way to approach that for your individual and collaborative work. Because one thing I can tell you is if your door is always open and you’re constantly interruptible, you’re never going to be able to finish the things that you have to get done. Just from a matter of scheduling for yourself and for one another on the team, something you’re gonna have to define. Number one set clear expectations for your team.

Number two, relentlessly prioritize. This relentless prioritization as a working manager it’s almost an impossible challenge to balance your own responsibilities with those of the team and to manage that overwhelm. Minding the MIT or most important thing, as we say, to relentlessly prioritizing what matters most is to free yourself from that expectation that you can do everything.

05:17
The more you try to hold yourself to that standard, the bigger sense of overwhelming you will feel and the more stress you’ll experience. This is something you can control for yourself. What you have available is the time right now or the eight or 10 hours of this day. What are you going to do with that? You can’t possibly do everything and you probably can’t even do all the important tasks. Ultimately, it’s the only time that you have to do what matters most. Free yourself from that feeling that you have to do it all and focus your energy on making a real difference for your work and for your team by deciding which tasks are most important and then focusing on those first. So you can make your day a success in the first two hours, if at all possible. That’s gonna help you stay on track and ensure that you’re meeting your own goals while also supporting your team. As the day goes on, the next crisis comes along. Yes, you are going to have to reprioritize. You only have time for what matters most. So make sure you know what that is.

06:18
Number three, investing in your team. The more effective and skilled your team is, the more you can accomplish together. You’ll have more time to do the work where you truly are the only one who can do it. As you choose your priorities for the week consistently look for ways to invest in your team. There are two ways to do this. You can do micro engagements and you can do formal development. So when time is tight, you don’t want to waste time encouraging someone who needs to be stretched or coaching someone who just needs more confidence. We have a tool, the confidence competence matrix that you can use to identify your team members and where they most need, what they most need from you, whether that’s training, encouragement, challenge, stretching, new assignments, or coaching performance feedback.

07:11
Then in your one-on-ones or your daily interactions, you can be prepared to support them with a very focused conversation that gives them what they need. So in those real small moments, those micro engagements, you can do a lot to help people grow, develop, and become more effective. The second way you can invest is with more formal development. What does this person need in order to get where they want to go or to become what they can be? You can spend 15 minutes each week thinking about your team, connecting with one growth opportunity each month. Those kinds of small formal investments yield big returns in growth and development. So for each person on your team, where can you teach them a new skill? Help them build relationships throughout the organization so they can be more resourceful. Maybe get them an assignment that helps them stretch or practice leadership. All of those investments make your team more effective, make the team more productive, and ultimately help with that overwhelm.

08:12
Number four is delegation. Alright, so we said up front I can’t delegate these things and you probably can delegate far more than you might think. And this isn’t going to just help you manage your workload, but it also empowers your team and helps them develop new skills. Delegation is one of those areas where leaders and managers so often sell themselves short and sell their people short. You really do have the opportunity and ability to delegate far beyond what you usually think of in the way that we self-limit. Delegating effectively takes some preparation and that can feel like a luxury for a working manager, but it’s not a luxury, it’s an investment for many activities. You’ll need to take some time to think through what does a successful outcome look like? What will it achieve? Giving your team member the success criteria so they know what they’re aiming for and they can evaluate their work against it.

09:10

Define what a successful outcome is to successfully delegate. Make sure you’re setting a clear finish line and then you’re scheduling the finish. Discuss when they are going to return with that finished assignment, task, or project. Look for those opportunities. What can you delegate? How can you get people ready in ways that maybe you haven’t been thinking about? Next time you’re thinking about something like, gosh, I wish somebody else could do this. Challenge yourself. Why can’t they? Well, because X, Y, Z. Okay, how can you solve that? How can you get them ready, and then give them a shot?

09:47
Number five that will help our overwhelmed working manager with individual responsibilities and team responsibilities leading their team is communication. Communicate reliably. This one is so important and I see so many leaders, and managers, whether they’re a working- manager or not, overwhelmed by this issue. Miscommunication will crush your spirit, crush your soul. You don’t have time to waste fixing misunderstandings and resolving miscommunication. You can make effective communication a feature of your team in two ways. First, create a reliable cadence of communication. What is the communication cadence that you and everyone on your team can expect? This is how communication’s going to happen. Get everybody used to that. Get yourself used to it. Be one that creates a send and a flow of information. And then teach everyone on your team to check for understanding.

10:53
That reliable communication cadence helps your team know exactly when to expect new information. And they’ll also know when they can most effectively bring concerns, ask questions, share their answers, and get clear about what information they’ll exchange in chat threads, and emails, what to reserve for meetings, and when those meetings will happen. That’s the cadence when you get everyone checking for understanding and practicing it yourself, that will ensure you’re not having misunderstandings. Communication’s gonna be mutually understood and you’re gonna reclaim an incredible amount of time for you and your team.

When we say check for understanding, it’s not saying, Hey, do you understand what I’m saying? Check for understanding is saying, Hey, I wanna make sure I’m communicating as clearly as I hope. What do you understand coming out of this conversation? What are our two action items? What does the commitment look like as you’re hearing it? And we close that loop so that every send has a matching receive, no matter who’s doing the communicating. Everything goes more smoothly and you’ll waste way less time chasing down and dealing with the stress, frustration, and headaches of miscommunication.

12:07
Number six is rapid accountability. This is another one. A common mistake that many working managers make is that they’ll avoid performance conversations. Those feedback conversations, you know, they might worry that, oh, I don’t have time for that or I can’t afford to lose this person. But what actually happens is that the mistakes compound. Your top performers get frustrated and now you’re spending way more time cleaning up messes, fixing problems, and doing last-minute work than someone else should have done. Short, timely performance conversations will reclaim your time, improve your team’s morale, and help everyone be their best. And if you need more on that, you can check out our Inspire method.

13:08
Number seven, in our ways to help the overwhelmed working manager, people with their own individual responsibilities plus leadership responsibilities. Number seven is to manage up because your manager is not trying to crush your spirit, at least it’s not likely, but they may not know the reality of what’s happening to you and your team. One of the most important conversations you can have is to manage up. In those conversations, you can practice saying yes to say no. Reiterate your commitment to what matters most and outline the decisions that you’re facing. You’re saying yes to what matters most outlining the decisions you face.

For example, we’re all in on getting this product launched, done on time, and on spec. We’ve also been asked to help support some bug fixes in the prior versions with the existing team. We can’t do both. I see a couple of options here. I can bring in some contractors to help. We can slide the launch date, we can access someone else to do the prior version support or we could just not worry about supporting prior versions. What are your thoughts on your one-on-one conversations with your manager? You can also clarify what success looks like for your leadership. What does your team need to achieve from their perspective? How does your manager view your leadership versus work responsibilities? Are you taking more responsibility in one area or the other than you truly need to? If the two of you have very different perspectives, talk about what’s happening, and where to adjust so you’re on the same page.

14:43
Finally, number eight, take care of you. One of the most common problems we see when you are an overwhelmed working manager, you stop investing in yourself. What does self-care look like, right? Sometimes sleep is the M.I.T.  Sleep is a weapon. Sleep is an investment you make in yourself critical to your effectiveness. It’s not a luxury time with family, friends, a good book, gym, hiking, trail, whatever it is. As a working manager, it’s easy to get caught up in the demands of your job and neglect your own health and well-being. I’m not trying to guilt you. I wrestle with this too, but nothing gets easier when you’re rundown, exhausted, and stressed out. So investing time and energy in yourself will help you do everything else with more love, perspective, and creativity.

15:48
All right, there you go. Eight ways to help answer our question from our working manager who’s feeling like an overwhelmed working manager with all their individual responsibilities as well as their team leadership responsibilities. Number one, set clear expectations. Ensure that those are shared and understood all the way around. Number two, relentlessly prioritize. And then do it again and again as things shift. Number three, invest in your team so that they are leveling up and improving their ability, uh, which will increase your ability. Number four, delegate effectively. You can probably delegate more than you think. Number five, communicating reliably. Establish a consistent cadence of communication and help everyone on your team learn how to check for understanding. Number six, rapid accountability. Don’t let those conversations slide. Keep them short, keep them fast, and have them as quickly as you can. Number seven, lead up. Have those conversations with your manager. And number eight, take care of yourself. Give yourself the energy you need through some good self-care there. Being a team member who’s a working manager can be challenging.

With the right mindset, communication, and tools, you can absolutely balance your individual work and your team leadership responsibilities. And when you do, you’re on your way to being the leader you’d want your boss to be.

The post Help for the Overwhelmed Working Manager appeared first on Let's Grow Leaders.

Let’s Talk About It: How to Have the Courageous Conversation You Would Rather Avoid

“As a young manager, having not done well at leading, my team approached me and addressed what they saw needed to change. We had a respectful and open conversation about our needs and agreed on what each party needed to change. From there on the collaboration changed completely – not to perfect – but to very good. I am still grateful that they decided to trust me and be open about how they saw the situation!”

–Male, 58, Denmark, World Workplace Conflict and Collaboration Survey

The Most Important Courageous Conversation is With Yourself

It can be tempting to avoid a courageous conversation at work. After all, it takes energy to initiate it, and you can’t predict exactly how it will go. That’s why so many people go for the diaper genie and wrap the conversation in so much self-protection that what they’re talking about has very little to do with what they really want to say.

Sure, sometimes it just feels easier to pretend everything’s good, avoid the negativity, keep the conversation light, and wait until you get home to vent to your dog.

And, much is lost when you can’t talk about what needs to be said. We often hear, “I wish I’d said something sooner,” when people finally muster the courage to have the conversation.

5 Questions to Ask Yourself to Start a Courageous Conversation

If you’re looking for the inspiration and tools to have a courageous conversation, here are five good questions to get you started.

1. “What do I want to happen because of what I say?”

This one might seem obvious, but a courageous conversation can be messy. You might want to say all the things. It’s helpful to start with why. When summoning the courage to have the conversation you’d rather avoid, one of the best things you can do is know specifically what you are looking to accomplish.

Get clear on your intention. Consider what you want the other person to think, feel, or do because of your conversation.

2. “Why does what I have to say matter?”

In addition to “what,” another important question is “why.”

Bernard Meltzer hosted a popular radio call-in show called “What’s Your Problem?” He summarized sage advice from many wisdom traditions this way: “Before you speak ask yourself if what you are going to say is true, is kind, is necessary, is helpful. If the answer is no, maybe what you are about to say should be left unsaid.”

That’s a good filter as you consider whether to start a courageous conversation. If what you have to say is true, kind, necessary, and helpful, then it matters.

Connect with that “why.”

3. “What’s preventing me from saying it?”

This is where you get in touch with your own fears and the story you’re telling yourself about what might happen.

Are you concerned about “last times?” Are you worried about the relationship? Understanding what’s holding you back can help form your message for your courageous conversation.

4. “What’s at stake if I stay silent?”

In our Courageous Cultures innovation programs, we’ll often ask participants to talk about one of their most “courageous moments” at work. You know what’s really interesting? In many cases, people tell us, “Well it didn’t feel particularly courageous at the time. It was just something I had to do.”

Those are people who understand the consequences of “safe silence.” Safe silence, isn’t really safe, because it comes at a cost.

Dr. Amy Edmondson, the pioneer of psychological safety, often talks about how people are more likely to discount the future benefits of speaking up and overweight their current fear.

When you ask yourself this powerful question, you consider the future and the risks of staying silent.

Martin Sheen shares this poignant Irish tale to emphasize that standing up for what you believe comes at a cost—but that it’s worth it.

A man arrives at the gates of heaven and asks to be let in. St. Peter says, “Of course, just show us your scars.”

The man says, “I have no scars”.

St. Peter replies, “What a pity. Was there nothing worth fighting for?”

When you’re nervous about starting the conversation, consider the long view. Are you the kind of person who cares enough to try?

5. “What’s the worst that can happen here?”

This Powerful Phrase can be strangely empowering. One of our clients, a US Marine veteran is fond of saying. “When I get too stressed about a workplace conflict, I just remember, no one is shooting at me.”

The worst that can happen is usually nowhere near as bad as your imagination suggests.

Powerful Phrases to Invite Others into the Conversation

After connecting with your intention, it’s time to start the conversation. Here are some phrases to begin the conversation with curiosity.

“I’m concerned that we might not be talking about _________. And my hunch is that’s because of _________. Here’s why I think we need to have the conversation anyway. What do you think?”

This technique can help get a courageous conversation started because when you don’t know for sure what’s causing the silence—you might have some hunches. You open with a conversation about the conversation. By providing a possible answer, you make it safer for people to respond.

Here are three variations you can use in different circumstances:

“What’s one issue we’re not talking about that would make all the difference in our effectiveness?”“I’m sensing that there’s something important we’re not talking about. Do you feel that way too?”“I care too much about our relationship to not talk about this.”

If you sense your conflict might be due to unspoken fears and misaligned expectations, this next Powerful Phrases cane can use to help everyone know what everyone else feels and thinks. They can lead to incredibly powerful discussions.

“In the next six months, what are you most looking forward to, and what you’re your biggest concerns?”

These questions are powerful when forming a new team, starting a new project, or any new initiative. As people share their answers, the discussion builds connection and an opportunity to solve problems early. It’s amazing how eager people are to share what’s on their hearts and minds. You can easily surface the conversations that need to happen and discuss tangible solutions.

Finding the courage to start an uncomfortable or courageous conversation can be tricky, but when you connect with yourself and invite people into the conversation, you’ll save everyone from future headaches and heartaches.

Workplace Conflict: 12 Powerful Phrases to Turn Conflict to Collaboration

The post Let’s Talk About It: How to Have the Courageous Conversation You Would Rather Avoid appeared first on Let's Grow Leaders.

Is Maintaining a Dirty Word for Leaders

Why do we have to have a conversation about maintaining our infrastructure? When you build a road, you know it’s going to deteriorate. You build a bridge, the engineers will tell you upfront what the serviceable life of that bridge will be. And they even have fun graphs that show the downward curve of the bridge’s reliability over time. Are conversations about how we will maintain our business, work, or team infrastructure more difficult topics for some leaders?

Is Maintaining a Dirty Word for Leaders

02:10
Today we are talking about why we have to have conversations about maintaining things. I was thinking about a couple of years ago if you’re listening in real time, the political leaders in the United States were negotiating and that might be a generous characterization, but they were negotiating a large infrastructure bill. And if I’m generalizing, one side took the position that infrastructure includes things like roads, bridges, ports, transit systems, the electric grid, and so on. The other position took a broader approach and included items like healthcare, technology, job training, scientific research, and so on in their definition of infrastructure. And if you were paying attention to this, there’s much more nuance in the arguments from both perspectives. But what’s important here is that there’s even a discussion about infrastructure. Both parties agreed they needed to invest in infrastructure. The questions aren’t if they’re what, where, and how much.

03:07
My question, the question I want you to pay attention to as a leader is why did, and why do we need to have conversations about maintaining things? So, like I said, when you build a road, you know it’s going to deteriorate. There’s gonna be a replacement cost. Same with bridges. It’s not a surprise, not in the way that like societally, the need for new internet access grew over the past 20 years that kind of crept up and it’s like, okay, we weren’t planning for this, but it’s gonna need to happen. And once it’s done, yes, it’s going to need to be maintained. So why aren’t those costs planned for and incorporated as a normal, regular part of our civic business? And what does that have to do with you as a leader? But the short answer to the question is, we just don’t value maintenance.

04:01
And I mean, culturally. I recognize there are many individual citizens, towns and states, and countries that do a wonderful job planning and maintaining their infrastructure. I’m speaking culturally and in the United States where I’m recording and where I live, we emphasize the new, the forward. And we don’t put a lot of focus, energy, or value into keeping things going healthy, and whole. It’s the continual forward focus that is a problem when we look at deteriorating infrastructure. It’s a problem for our budgeting when we save for the house or a car, but we don’t plan for the maintenance cost of those things. Looking for the new, and not the cost of maintenance is also a problem for us in leadership and in relationships. There’s cultural negativity associated with maintaining. I mean, you can even think about the language if we say, “Hey, you’re just maintaining,” you’re confessing to underperforming being a slacker, treading water going nowhere.

04:56
Our maintenance workers are arguably some of the most vital people to continue our way of life and the comforts that we take for granted. But maintenance workers don’t get a cultural spotlight. Those jobs aren’t portrayed as shiny and meaningful and popular culture because they don’t uncover, explore, discover what’s new and that’s a natural part of our brain. We like the shiny, we like the new, the things that grab our attention. It’s kind of how we’re wired. But that can have a really damaging impact on us as leaders if we’re not careful about it. Early in my career, I worked for a human service organization whose leader had a strong disdain for maintenance. And he’d frame our work in terms of warfare. You don’t see soldiers storming the beaches at Normandy, stopping and taking care of the injured. He told me that one time and he said, neither can we. We’ve gotta take ground and keep moving forward. For me, I cringe when I replay those words. His values and vision focused entirely on the new and shiny at the cost of caring for the organization that he’d built and the people who were part of it. And you can imagine the culture of chaos that ensues when you’re focused only on the new and maintenance in his view, wouldn’t build the future. And yet maintaining gets us to the future.

06:18
So a side note here, I love baking bread in the slow, natural, artisan way. Feed and maintain a starter that is flour, water, yeast, and bacteria, and let it sit till it triples in size. Mix it with flour, water, and a little salt. Give it time, knead it, fold it over the course of three or four hours, you feel the dough come together and the yeast multiplies, and proteins in the flour align and connect. And then you shape the dough a final time, put it in a proofing basket, and give it even more time, sometimes overnight in the refrigerator before you bake it. And while it bakes the aroma temps you, it’s so tempting, you want to cut into that freshly baked loaf. But even then, you’re better to wait a little longer and let the interior cool down and develop all the way. There’s so much maintenance in this bread.

07:03
You have to maintain the starter. You have to feed it regularly. The dough is tended and maintained. The bread itself feeds, nurtures, and maintains me, my family, and my friends. Cooking for family and friends brings me joy. And it is maintenance, literal life connection, joy, and energy in fueling and caring for one another. You maintain a friendship by investing in it. You maintain a car with regular service. You maintain the culture of your team by regularly paying attention, investing in it, maintaining your health, and maintaining your relationships. So these acts of maintenance get you to the future in a healthy way so that you can do something meaningful.

07:45
So when we’re talking about leadership, what are the acts of maintenance for your team? You know, when we talk about five-by-five communication here at Let’s Grow Leaders, five by five, that if it’s critically important to your team’s success, critical messages, we need to communicate them no less than five times, different times, and five different ways using different communication channels and methods. Why? To help people internalize and to help maintain those messages. So what are the critical outcomes? What does success look like for your team? When was the last time you talked about it? If you’re not reinforcing and maintaining those commitments at the minimum every couple of weeks, they’ll deteriorate. Same thing for your values, the same thing for your conflict conversations, and your accountability. Are you having those conversations in a meaningful way? Same thing for rest and play and all of those elements of what it means for your team to succeed.

08:42
Part of your job as an effective leader is to pay attention to maintenance. What does it look like to maintain your team’s health and those ongoing regular activities? No, they’re not as shiny, not as exciting, but they get you to the future where you can do those shiny, meaningful new things. Because life isn’t only maintenance. This is like a yin-yang kind of energy here. If you build your body’s strengths, you need the energy of movement and recovery. You need to run and rest. If you don’t, if one is without the other, you’ll lead to illness or injury. And maintenance is the same way. If you are one of those young filled, high-energy explorer, builder, creator type of leaders who still find maintenance challenging, I’m going to leave you with a thought from the Jason Borne series, not the movies, the books by Robert Ludlum, the author. The character Jason Bourne is constantly remembering sleep is a weapon. So even if you do need to be thinking about moving forward, exploring, building, and creating that new, the sleep and maintenance are going to help you get there and be the leader you’d want your boss to be.

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How Leaders Use Small Habits for Big Results

Transform your leadership and team’s results with the power of small habits

Your team won’t become a high-functioning powerhouse after one offsite. You can’t be a trusted, influential leader after one week on the job. There are no leadership hacks or shortcuts that will transform your organization or results. But there is a way to do all these things that’s available to you and every leader: the power of small habits.

A Riddle and a Dream

Let’s kick things off with a quick riddle: What tips the scales at over a hundred million tons, floats, and can inspire daydreams or cause destruction?

Keep thinking about it as we travel back to 1845.

In the mid-19th century, no suspension bridge designed for trains existed. The idea was deemed far too risky, and most engineers wrote it off as an unsafe proposal. Fast forward ten years, the world was introduced to its first railway suspension bridge, connecting the US and Canada over the Niagara River. The story of this engineering marvel begins with a simple picnic and a letter.

While Canadian entrepreneur William Merritt was enjoying a picnic with his wife, they received a letter from their children touring Europe. In this letter, the kids described an impressive suspension bridge they’d seen in Switzerland. This sparked a dream in Merritt – he envisioned a similar bridge across the Niagara River, capable of facilitating rail travel and enhancing trade with the rapidly growing US network.

Merritt obtained the government’s permission, formed a company, and hired the right talent – in this case, Charles Elliot Jr., a dynamic engineer with a knack for promotion.

A Small Solution to a Big Problem

The initial challenge was how to get a line across the gorge. The simplest approach, one Leonardo da Vinci had suggested centuries earlier, was to use a kite. Elliot saw an opportunity for publicity and staged a competition: a $5 prize to the boy who could first fly a kite across the Niagara Gorge.

The winner, a young boy named Homan Walsh, succeeded on his second attempt. Elliot tied a thicker string to the kite string and pulled it across the gorge. Gradually, thicker ropes were tied and pulled across until eventually, a cable could be drawn across the river. This was the starting point of the bridge that took another seven years and a different engineer to complete.

Monumental projects often start with a simple act. An inconsequential kite string laid the foundation for a groundbreaking bridge. When you’re overwhelmed with massive projects, look for your “kite string”—the smallest action that gets the ball rolling.

A Small Answer to a Big Riddle

This brings me back to the riddle. What weighs over a hundred million tons and can both float and stir up a multitude of emotions?

Clouds.

Clouds are millions of small, almost negligible droplets. Despite their massive cumulative weight, these droplets are less dense than the air around them, which allows them to float. What an incredible metaphor for the power of small activity to make a big difference.

Vincent van Gogh once said, “Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.” He probably wasn’t contemplating clouds, avalanches, or railway bridges, but his words ring true for leadership. Small habits, repeated consistently, bring transformative results.

The Leadership Power of Small Habits

Whether it’s a small act of defiance against an unjust system, a brief moment to reinforce a value, or a celebration of progress, each seemingly insignificant step contributes to a larger outcome over time.

In nearly every core leadership development program we lead, we start with six foundational skills you can build on for greater influence and transformational results:

Show up with confidence and humilityFocus on results and relationshipsMind the M.I.T. (know what matters most and the specific initiatives, activities, and small habits that lead to success)Communicate Consistently (Communicate key messages at least five times, in five different ways)Check for Understanding (Ensure communication happened)Schedule the Finish (Discuss priorities and create mutually agreed moments for completion)

These activities are critical examples of small habits with a big payoff. Checking for understanding avoids misunderstandings and wasted time. Scheduling the finish increases accountability and energizes your team. Consistent 5 x 5 communication keeps everyone aligned and aware of what matters most.

But maintaining this consistency is easier said than done. Some days you’re in a hurry. Tired. Feel overwhelmed. And it’s easy to forget to check for understanding, schedule the finish, repeat your team’s purpose, or follow up when someone doesn’t follow through.

And for that one day, it may not make a big difference. That’s the problem with small habits – missing it once doesn’t feel consequential. But miss the habit too often and soon you have a problem.

One skipped “check for understanding” leads to days or weeks of wasted time and frustration. Forget to “schedule the finish” and you waste time you don’t have chasing down projects and frustrating team members who are working on other time-sensitive tasks.

What’s Your Small?

It’s easy to get discouraged when the big wins seem far away. Your struggle today may not feel all that glamorous but know that every small step matters, especially when it’s a step you’ve taken before.

Each moment of encouragement, each clarification of purpose, goals, and success habits, each kind word, every moment of accountability or clarification with your team has an accumulative effect. Like threads in a towel, each small action weaves into a larger tapestry of leadership, influence, and meaningful outcomes.

So, what’s your kite string? Where can you get small today?

Where can you take that micro step that will make a macro difference?

Small habits are mighty, and incremental changes lead to monumental outcomes.

 

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Your Leadership Brand Authority with Deb Gabor

What does your Leadership Brand Authority say? Brands are the new voice of authority. We look to brands for what to do, what to think, and how to feel. We want to know what to support and what to stand against. Now is the perfect time to reveal the humanity behind the brand. Consumers want to connect with the brands they support. Business leaders want to create purposeful, passionate companies. At this intersection of shared values is where a brand’s authority is established and humanity shines through.

How do you ensure a meaningful connection? How do you make it last? How do you establish an authoritative footprint that encourages growth wherever you are and follows you throughout your career? In this episode, brand impresario Deb Gabor shares the secrets to differentiating yourself and your company by exposing the humans behind the business. Get one-of-a-kind strategies, inspiring stories, and key exercises to point you in the right direction.

Your Leadership Brand Authority

06:55

In terms of branding today, let’s start with what you mean by authority.

11:15

Brand authority exists both at the level of an organization or a product but they also exist for us individually as leaders.

16:14

Your values, your beliefs, what you’re passionate about, and what your expertise is are all part of the recipe for authority. It is unique to you, it is distinctive, and you are a brand whether you like it or not.

25:36

What the gooey insides are organizationally and individually.

27:29

How brands have become a magnet designed to attract people to them who are aligned with your values and beliefs.

35:30

What is the strategic foundation for your leadership brand authority?

46:48

The importance of asking, where the community is in the conversation because they are the ones who either buy in or not to your brand authority.

 

Connect with Deb

Website

LinkedIn

Twitter 

Facebook

 

Get the Book

 

 

 

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3 Characteristics That Could Be Preventing Your Good Team from Becoming Great

You’ve Got a Good Team, Don’t Let That Stop You From Making it Great

You’ve got a good team. The results are solid. You genuinely like one another. Trust is good too. And yet. You have a feeling you’re capable of more. What’s missing?

If you’re fortunate to be working on a good team, it can be tempting to keep doing what you’ve always done. But Marshall Goldsmith’s advice for leaders is true for teams too, “What got you here, might not get you there.”

3 Characteristics You Want in a Team, That Might Also Slow Future Success

If you want your good team to continue to take their performance to the next level, you might consider if any of these seemingly good indicators could be potentially sabotaging future success.

1. Great Results

Wait what? Aren’t great results precisely the point? Yes. And, if you want your good results to continue, what matters most is knowing how you got them.

If your good team’s results are the outcome of a deliberate strategy, well executed. Game on. Congratulations! Keep creating that clarity and focus on what matters most and support your team to get there.

And in this wild ride of the last few years, we’ve been hearing lots of examples of teams that got results BECAUSE of a wacky turn of events that tipped the tables in their favor… for a minute: An unexpected surge in demand due to the pandemic or a literal change in the weather, or a competitor folder their tent… In these kinds of circumstances, the team is celebrating their great results, but at the same time, might not have a solid plan to replicate them in the future.

An important part of celebrating a win is to ask “Why did we win, and what can we learn from that in the future?” If the answer is, “and then we pray for a break like that again,” you probably need a bit more planning to ensure sustained success. A regular cadence of post-project celebrations can work wonders here.

2. Everyone LOVES one Another… We’re like Family

(see also: How to Motivate Your Team: Stop Treating Your Team Like Family)

You know we’re HUGE believers in putting people before projects and fostering trust and connection. Trust and connection at their very best lead to candor, productive conflict, and accountability conversations that lead to better results AND relationships.

And, a dynamic we notice quite frequently on tight-knit teams, is that they sometimes shy away from important accountability conversations. They dance around conflict or stuff it in the diaper genie. 

In many teams, the closer the relationship, the harder it is to speak the truth. Future success and innovation require genuine conversation, even when it’s hard.

3. Your Amazing SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures)

Yes, yes, yes. Systems and processes are vital when it comes to high-performing teams. If they’re working for you, keep them. And if you’ve got a nagging feeling that your good team could be better, it might be time to ask a few courageous questions. 

“What’s one of our SOPs that’s getting in our way?”

“If you had a magic wand and could instantly change one of our SOPs, which one would that be and why?”

Here’s the good news. The best time to help a good team become even better is when it’s already a high-functioning good team. When trust is high, you’re connected, and results are good, that’s the perfect time to surface the conversation.

Your turn. What have you experienced? What are some of the good team characteristics that can hold them back from being great?

Let’s Talk About It: How To Start the Conversation Everyone Wants to Avoid

 

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Leadership Decisions with Richard Moran

The numerous daily leadership decisions we make, both at work and in life, are small chances to make a big impact. In this episode Richard Moran, author of Never Say Whenever: How Small Decisions Make a Big Difference, offers a blueprint to help everyone understand why and how the choices we make, even the minor ones, are pivotal to professional development and career trajectory. For young graduates just starting out to seasoned professionals seeking ways to reenergize their careers, it’s a timely call to get on track and stay on track with boosted productivity and an impressive personal brand.

Leadership Decisions

06:05

There are so many different ways to use the word whatever. Let’s define what we’re talking about when we say “whatever.”

07:22

A lot of research has been done on decisions and it turns out there are a few main big decisions we all make throughout life. Many of the leadership decisions that may feel big aren’t as big as they feel.

13:52

How can we give attention to the decisions that warrant attention and avoid decision fatigue?

19:25

So we know the research says that for many decisions, the faster you make them, the more successful you’ll be. There’s also a comfort required with the risk because not all of these decisions are going to go our way. How do we navigate that risk-to-reward balance in making leadership decisions?

28:59

What is if-then scenario thinking and how can we use that in our day-to-day leadership?

33:54

There’s a place for using our gut, making gut decisions, and trusting your gut. And it’s important to recognize the level of how informed your gut is.

42:20

What are the kinds of questions as a leader that you want to be consciously thinking about and making conscious leadership decisions?

Connect with RichardLinkedInWebsiteGet the Book

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As a New Employee, How to I Ensure My Ideas at Work are Taken Seriously?

Want to make an impact in your new role? Position your ideas at work so they’re more likely to be heard.

“Hey Karin, “I was hired for my ideas and my extensive experience. I was told “We welcome your different perspectives, experiences, and ideas at work. That’s exactly what we need here! And now, I’m here. And I’m constantly hearing, “ahhh, I don’t think we can do it that way.” “Eh…. we tried that before…” “THIS IS THE WAY WE DO THINGS AROUND HERE…”

I’m frustrated and I’m getting the sense that I’m frustrating other people too. What should I do?” #AskingforaFriend

Three Practical Ways to Help Your Idea Get the Best Chance of Traction

Of course, every situation is different. But I’d start by paying attention to context, collaboration, and focus.

Context

The best way to gain credibility for your ideas at work is to show that you understand the context. Will your ideas solve burning problems that solve strategic business challenges? Have you spent time really getting curious about the systems and processes in the business? Do you understand the mission, vision, and values? Do you have a solid understanding of how new ideas are considered and implemented?

Connect your ideas to the bigger picture – goals, values, long-term vision– and also consider the technical nuances and challenges for implementation.

Collaboration

Make sure your team knows that you have their (and the organization’s) best interest at heart. Worry more about the idea, than who gets the credit. Include others and get curious about their perspectives. Foster collaboration by taking time to learn from your colleagues and include them in your planning. Put people before projects and build trust.

Focus

When you come blazing into a new-to-you organization with tons of great ideas, focus is key. It can be overwhelming for your team and manager when you share too many innovative ideas at work all at once. Implementing new ideas takes work, time, and energy. So, what are the one or two changes that would make the biggest impact? Share your ideas at work strategically so that you are addressing those most impactful areas first. You will lose credibility if you start recommending changes to everything, everywhere, all at once.

I’m curious. What ideas do you have for this friend? How can you help them ensure their ideas at work are welcomed in their new role? Leave a comment below.

Are you a manager, senior leader, CEO, or team leader ready to cultivate a Courageous Culture at your organization? With higher engagement and a results-oriented approach to innovation? Where your employees speak up, share their ideas, and drive quality performance and productivity? Check out our Live Online and Hybrid Leadership Training. Let’s Grow Leaders programs are highly customized to your organization’s needs, practical, and interactive. Get ready for leadership development that sticks.

And check out these related articles:

How to Get Your Coworkers to Embrace Your Great Idea

How to Build Trust More Quickly With New Employees

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