Susan Scott's Blog, page 118

A Guest Blog from Starbucks Coffee Company

We are  thrilled to share with you a recent blog written by Fierce client, Darla Balzer, Specialist and Program Manager, Assessing Performance and Fierce Conversations on Starbucks Coffee Company's internal blog. We hope you enjoy her insight, and we'd love to hear your thoughts!

HELP!

Help, I need somebody

Help, not just anybody

Help, you know I need someone, help" – Beatles

Last week I got stuck. I was trying to put together a budget using numbers from a previous form and realized I had no way to validate that the figures were still accurate. After hours of trying to track down the numbers myself, I finally gave in and asked a peer. They produced the current figures in 10 minutes.

If I had asked for help right when I realized there was a gap in my knowledge, the problem would have been solved much more quickly. So why did I hesitate to ask for help?  Some of my excuses sounded a lot like this; "I do not have enough time to slow down.": "I have a very tight deadline.": "I do not want to appear like I do not know what I am doing."

The truth is, there are many benefits to how "asking for help" helps you:

1. It helps you acknowledges that people around you add value.

2. A different perspective can help you look at a situation differently.

3. It can help enhance what you are producing for your customers.

Remember, in addition to moving a project along more quickly, people tend to have higher respect for those that admit when they need assistance. Fierce Inc. has developed a tool that outlines how to have conversations that 'ask for help' within your team or cross-functionally.

If you have more questions, here is a great outline of "When" and "How":

When to ask for help (from the Brazen Careerist Blog)

You are unclear on project details
You have questions about priorities or deadlines
If figuring it out yourself will take way too much time
If you really do not know what you are doing

How to ask for help (from the Fear No Project Blog )

Explain challenges or roadblocks in simple terms
Focus on the short and long term implications of the issue
Develop at least two optional approaches to try
Share the outcomes (what works and what does not)
As Mahatma Gandhi once said: "If you don't ask, you don't get."

Who will you ask for help this week?

Resources:

Fierce Blog: http://www.fierceinc.com/blog/a-workplace-youre-entitled-to

Relationship Management Institute: http://www.relationshipmanagementinstitute.com/2009/08/honesty-and-respect-can-you-lead-without-these-traits/

This blog was syndicated from Fierce client, Darla Balzer, Specialist and Program Manager, Assessing Performance and Fierce Conversation from the Starbucks Coffee Company's internal blog.

What Inspires You as a Leader?

As a leader, how long has it been since you asked yourself: what inspires me?

Have you taken it a step farther and shared the question with your team, your department, your organization?

Asking this of yourself and those who surround you is critical to success. It demands that you survey your world and take a close look at what motivates your actions. This directly impacts how and why you communicate the way you do.

It's important to get real with yourself. Below are four questions you can ask.

What inspires you day in and day out?

Does your inspiration motivate you toward accomplishing your future goals?

What about your inspiration scares you?

Are you stimulated regularly by your inspiration?

The beauty of asking these questions is there's no right or wrong answer. The benefits could be transformative.

As a leader, knowing these answers can provide clarity and purpose. By taking the time to have the conversation and learning more about what inspires your team, you will gain a greater understanding of what motivates your employees.

So, to start, do you know what inspires you?

Are your "best practices" a nightmare for employees? 3 tips for improvement

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We wanted to share with you Fierce CEO, Halley Bock's most recent article, exploring "best practices" and how to improve them.  It was first published on Ragan's HR Communication's website.You can read the full article here.

It's common practice in the corporate world to create "best practices" as a means to improve results. Organizations across the globe do this in order to achieve faster production, higher profit margins, and stronger employee engagement scores. You name the issue/metric/need, and there's likely a "best practice" existing to ensure we are all bringing our best to the table. The problem: Organizations rarely assess how these so-called "best practices" are contributing (or not) to long-term success.

In a recent survey my company conducted, we polled some 800 corporate executives, employees, and educators across an array of sectors to measure how organizational practices were impacting the workplace. The results were far from stellar.

The research revealed:

• 44 percent of respondents reported that their organization's practices hinder employee productivity and morale.

• 47 percent said their organization's practices consistently get in the way of desired results. The biggest offenders: Lack of transparency and top-down leadership where decisions occur behind closed doors.

Certainly not the results leadership envisions when adopting a new practice. So what gives?

Here are three steps to ensure your "best practices" are just that — the BEST.

1. Define. Organizational practices often come about in two ways. They may have germinated from a particular leader's philosophy, value system, or style and, over time, have become institutional practices that are accepted by default. Or they are brought on board because they worked at Company X, Y, and Z and have become widely accepted in the workforce.

Looking to industry standards for guideposts can be beneficial, but your organization is unique and should be treated as such. As a leader, be intentional with each practice you bring into the organization and clearly define what it is, why it is in place, and the results you expect. Also, take inventory of your current practices and be prepared to toss them out if you can't fully justify their worth.

2. Refine. Once you have a defined purpose and intent, introduce the practice to a larger circle of corporate citizens — gathering perspectives from diverse points of view. In this way, one can check perception with reality to ensure the intention is fully realized. If refinement is needed, do so. And when resonance is achieved, roll it out purposefully.

3. Evaluate. Here is where we typically fail. What was once introduced as our new, favorite stroke of brilliance is often discarded into the bin of forgotten stepchildren where, perhaps, our mission statement and corporate values languish, too. It's a sad sight. And rather than dust off our wares, we allow an excessive amount of time to pass. Subsequently, we would rather toss them out and begin again from scratch — with the hottest new facilitator, of course.

I propose that you choose a different course and revisit your practices periodically throughout the year. This is done by going back to the "what", "why", and "results" that you defined in Step No. 1.

Poll your employees, discuss in meetings, whatever your method — just ensure that the conversation is ongoing.

At the end of the day, there are few things worse than a "best practice" gone badly in the workplace

How to Delegate and Feel Good About It

Recently, I went through the Fierce Delegation O2 training, and I was confronted with just how much anxiety I have around delegating. Logically, I know that I have responsibilities on my plate that others would benefit to now own, and yet, I don't delegate them.

Why?

The honest truth- I want to remain in control. I've been doing it my own way for a while now, and I know it works.

Does this mentality do anyone- myself, my organization, my colleagues – any good?

No.

While revisiting the delegation training I had an "aha" moment: my control was standing in the way of not just my colleague's growth…also my own.

The Fierce Delegation training is designed to use delegation as a relationship builder. Delegating effectively is an opportunity to review your workload and make sure your time is being well spent. It is also about switching your perspective away from only delegating menial tasks and, instead, thinking of delegating as a way to  grow the skill set of a colleague or direct report.

Knowing all this, here are three next steps to delegate and feel good about it:

Survey your responsibilities. Really look at what you are currently in charge of, and write those responsibilities down. Keep in the back of your mind the question- should this be on my plate? Sometimes you can only take certain things so far, by looking at your list and seeing what your team members' strengths are, there's a good chance a process or idea can be greatly improved by delegating it to someone else.
Look ahead to your goals. Do you have big plans for the role you're in and the impact it can have within the organization? Ask yourself: if I delegate nothing, can I meet those goals? Would that benefit my team? My organization?
Have the conversation! The last step is to engage with those you're working with and have the conversation. Using a framework like the Delegation Tree model, can help you effectively communicate your expectations and be open for feedback as well.

My plan is to start this today. This is a tough challenge, and I want to keep the momentum of my epiphany moving me forward!

My question to you is: are you currently delegating as effectively as you could be?

What if They Don't Want to Be Managers?

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The debate over whether leaders are born or made wages on, and despite not having a clear answer people continue to be promoted to leadership positions.

The question is: what happens if people don't want to lead others?

Being a Manager is hard.

Some gravitate to the role because their personality lends itself to the position. On the other hand, others are noticed for their excellence in their jobs, and just don't see themselves in that type of leadership position.

There is more to it, though. Chances are if you offer the latter employees a manager role they won't turn it down.There are many reasons that people take on a responsibility they don't want. It may be because they feel it would be disrespectful to not accept, or the pay increase might be hard to forgo. Maybe the reality is they simply can't turn it down. They are needed in the role; it's what's best for the company.

The problem is they assumed that leadership position for all the wrong reasons, making a tough role, tougher.

So what do you do?

Live within your reality.

If you have an employee who is innovative, good at his or her job, and moving the company forward and that person is not knocking down your door to lead others, recognize that this may not be the goal.

A company shouldn't assume that every employee wants this great responsibility. And, that only those employees who do want it are always best for the role.

Take the time to learn what might be holding them back from wanting to manage others, and then take those concerns seriously. Maybe it's as simple as their perception of leadership within your organization, and just one conversation can move the needle to create more excitement about the role.

Engaging with those moving into manager positions and really learning about how they perceive leadership will better help you support them.

It might even redefine how leadership looks within your organization.

How to Manage Social Interactions With Direct Reports

This month, Fierce CEO, Halley Bock wrote an article for Talent Management providing insight on how managers can make interactions with their direct reports more personal while still remaining professional. To read this article on the Talent Management website click here.

Unlike the workplace of yesteryear, 21st century organizations have come to understand that taking care of the whole employee is good for business. No longer do employees expect to drop their personal lives at the door to become happy little cogs in the corporate machine, satisfied to take home a paycheck in exchange for their time.

Rather, they expect benefits that address their overall well-being — including daycare resources, wellness programs, sabbaticals, etc. What they also expect are genuine relationships with managers and colleagues that provide meaningful connections.

Here are five tips on how managers can make things personal while remaining professional.

Talk about leisure activities. Allow time in team meetings for everyone to share something personal, such as what they did over the weekend. This serves as a great connection point into each other's lives without being invasive.

Schedule consistent one-on-ones with employees. If all employees know they have designated time with their leader, it will alleviate any potential fears of favoritism they may harbor when leaders appear to only meet with certain people and never find the time for others.

Express genuine interest in the significant events of your employees' lives. Leaders can get to know their employees' family, hobbies and personal aspirations. By supporting them in these aspects, it can improve their commitment to the leader as well as the organization.

Host off-site events. These outings allow the team an opportunity to get to know each other outside of the workplace. Creating strong friendships within the team is a proven indicator of higher retention.

Connect via social media. When it comes to social media, leaders can consider following their direct reports on Twitter and connecting with them on LinkedIn, but Facebook is a much more personal platform and it could make for an awkward situation should they prefer to keep it private.

Overall, managers shouldn't shy away from the conversation or avoid engaging in meaningful dialogue that fosters deep connections with employees. After all, a leader can be an employee's primary source of inspiration and motivation, and that cannot be achieved at arms' length.

New Report: Conversations: The Linchpin of Leadership Competencies

We're pleased to share with you a new Fierce, Inc. report that shows a competency-based approach to development builds competitive advantage.

While some leadership competencies are universally required, others are distinct to your particular organization. The linchpin that connects and anchors all leadership competencies, directly or indirectly, is conversations.

Conversations: The Linchpin of Leadership Competencies, now available for complimentary download, explains how the first steps to closing competency gaps at the individual, team, and organizational level is to connect deeply and regularly with the people around you- whether they're across the table or across the globe.

With this whitepaper, you will:

• Understand Why Communication is a Top Leadership Competency

• Discover How Conversations Replace Checklist Mentality

• Learn the Advantage of Building a Culture of Leaders

To learn more, download your complimentary copy of Conversations: The Linchpin of Leadership Competencies now.

Confusing Authenticity with Perfection

Has authenticity been hijacked?

And in its place is a skewed idea of what it means to be authentic. An idea where you can become a more authentic person by learning how to message the "real" you – the better you.

We see it in the larger public arena, with political leaders who all claim to be showing their authentic selves. Those selves appear to be neatly packaged, never wrong, and always in control.

This warped version of authenticity shows up in organizations. CEOs, managers and employees present a very calculated version of their companies. They paint the picture that the company is in complete control of all situations – look to some of the recent PR debacles for examples.

The days of being wrong and saying sorry seem to be gone.

Since when did being authentic translate to being perfect?

Is your company in the authenticity/perfection struggle?

Do you want to start tackling challenges like employee engagement, employee retention, job satisfaction, and ultimately your bottom line?

The very definition of authenticity is to be original, flaws and all.

Start with asking: how authentic are our company's actions? Our leaders? Are we being pulled down in the murky depths of legislated optimism?

Good Management Requires Openness

Fierce CEO, Halley Bock, is currently writing a column for Seattle Business Week Magazine focusing on family owned businesses. We wanted to share with you her most recent article on how good management requires openness.

In organizational theory, it is believed that open systems (ones that receive input from the environment) tend toward higher levels of organization/energy while closed systems can only maintain or decrease in organization/energy. In other words, the success of any organization relies on its ability to create and sustain energy through openness and feedback.

Although this notion is steeped in science, simpler (and truer!) words have never been said. And as the CEO of a leadership development company who preaches the importance of inclusion and collaboration on a daily basis, it's nice to know that science is there to back me up. But how can family-owned businesses apply this theory while still ensuring a healthy balance between family needs versus non-family needs? Here are 3 management structures guaranteed to create the all-important open system.

1. Develop a Leadership Team. As the leader/owner of a family business, you know what you know. That's the good news and the bad news. Once an organization reaches 20 employees and/or $10M in revenue, it becomes virtually impossible to keep an ear to the ground, hand on the rudder, and head above water all on your own. It's time to enlist the perspectives of others in order to stay on top of all issues that arise.

To that end, take a look around your organization and identify a select few outside of the family who can provide you with all vantage points on the business, including the ability to discuss "sensitive" topics that would remain underground should an issue involve a family member. Aside from genetics, diversity of thought, position, tenure, and strengths are essential components to building a team that will foster an "open system". Consider these questions as you assemble your crew:

Is each business unit and/or discipline represented?

Have I invited at least one person who frequently pushes back on my ideas?

Am I involving multiple generations? (i.e., Baby Boomers, Gen X, Gen Y)

Are there remote workers that could provide a unique perspective?

Am I comfortable speaking and hearing the unabashed truth from each of these people? If not, why? And how can I improve those relationships?

After identifying your leadership team, hold monthly meetings to report in and stay current. Develop ground rules and a code of conduct to ensure expectations are clear.

2. Establish an Advisory Board. Every business, regardless of size, structure or genetic makeup, needs both the motivation and objectivity that only an Advisory Board can provide. If the success of an organization depends on a consistent exchange of information and feedback, then this surely speaks to that.

While you have your Leadership Team in place to bring diverse perspectives from within the company, you now need to engage members who can deliver viewpoints outside of your organization's peripheral vision. Advisory Boards not only provide well-timed reality checks, they can also increase accountability at all levels. When more than one family member is involved in the business, increased accountability can be invaluable in ensuring all parties are treating the business as a business and not a personal hobby or (gasp!) personal bank account.

As with developing your Leadership Team, aim to seek diversity within your Advisory Board. Involve those not only from your industry but from others as well. Also, try to place at least one member who has grown a company from your size to the next level. Their insights will prove invaluable to you!

3. Hold Family Meetings. The third component rests within the system itself – the family. After all, it's why the business exists in the first place and its importance shouldn't be minimized.

As a family member, the long-term success of the business can be no more important to anyone than to you. As the saying goes, "Blood is thicker than water." Which is great, of course, unless your family consists of one or more vampires hungry for a good old-fashioned bloodletting. After all, what family worth its salt doesn't like to take a stab or two at other family members? Hence, my recommendations in bullets 1 and 2. Anyhow, I digress…

As family members, you are cut from the same cloth and the germ of brilliance that was shared by the founding member(s) will reside in the next generation as well. That rich soil must be cultivated. For smaller companies, hold at least one family meeting a year where each member actively involved in the business is represented. For companies that employ many family members, hold this meeting but also form a 'Family Council' with decision-making power to sort through any issues that arise from those meetings.

Employing this 3-pronged approach to your management structure will not only assist in creating and sustaining an "open system", the framework of each group will allow you to align your business and achieve maximum benefit from all.

This article first appeared in Seattle Business Week Magazine. Click here to see the full article.

Fierce 6 Challenge Wrap Up!

The ultimate measure of a person is not where they stand in moments of comfort and convenience, but where they stand in times of challenge and controversy.

-    Martin Luther King

I've always loved this quote. It reminds me that while sometimes it's easy to stay in the comfortable valleys that life can offer you, as Dr. King says, the ultimate measure of a person is how one scales those larger hills.

Every day we face challenges, and the willingness to tackle one more challenge is honorable. For the past six weeks, we've invited you to join us in the Fierce 6 Challenge. For each week, you examined one part of the way you communicated with others. At Fierce, we took the challenges with you and blogged about both our successes and failures.

How did you measure?

Here is a recap of the Fierce 6 Challenges:

1.    Spread JOY through conversation.

When you feel gratitude and appreciation for others, let them know.

2.    Interrogate REALITY.

Resist the urge to automatically accept what you see at face value. Test assumptions by seeking out differing perspectives and asking questions.

3.    Be INTENTIONAL.

Words that are "loaded" overshadow true intent. Find the right words to accurately name and describe what you want to say without laying blame.

4.    Seek to UNDERSTAND.

Avoid jumping in with advice before an issue has been clarified. Instead, get curious to learn more.

5.    Be PRESENT.

Choose to have conversations in person or on the phone rather than via email or text. Build relationships and avoid misunderstandings by connecting in the moment.

6.    Embrace the power of SILENCE.

Invite more pauses into your conversations. Silence provides space for creative thinking, reflection and the formulation of thoughtful responses.

Every challenge had the hope of further stretching your boundaries. They were intended to encourage taking a closer look at how you were communicating with those around you.

We've asked everyone who participated in the challenges to take a quick survey, and it's been great to hear the feedback. The survey is still open, and we would love your perspective!

Here are some highlights from the responses so far:

72.6% of you joined the Fierce Challenge because you were curious! This is very exciting, and I applaud you for staying open to challenging yourselves.
Week 6: Embrace the power of SILENCE was the hardest week for a lot of you. I had the pleasure of blogging that week, and I have to agree, it was my toughest challenge as well.
85.5% of you said you would join Fierce again in taking another challenge, and that is music to our ears! At Fierce, we  felt connected to a large group of people with this challenge, and we will be exploring how we can incorporate this feedback in what we do.

Thank you to everyone who participated, commented, and engaged with us.

We'd love to know: when looking to the rest of 2012, how will you incorporate these challenges?