Performance Tools

Go With The Flow

I was having coffee with a close friend of mine this week and we started talking about the notion of what you resist persist.  I first heard that reference on the  Eckert Tolle and Oprah Winfrey  webcast.  As I left my friend, I began thinking of that quote and how applicable the meaning is for leaders.   

 

When we resist having a conversation with a co-worker , colleague or subordinate over an important issue, the challenge does not go away.  On the contrary, when issues are ignored they get bigger.  It’s like the elephant in the room that doesn’t get addressed but everyone knows it’s there.  That elephant got bigger because of the unspoken thoughts and emotions that were swirling around everyone’s heads.  When people can have honest dialogues, emotions are diffused and understanding eliminates confusion. 

 

A leader may resist taking an action they know needs to be taken, hoping that something miraculous will save them from the reaction they are anticipating. Yet, the problem does not go away, it only takes on new dimensions and often becomes tougher to solve.   Imagine, being caught in the current of the river and trying to fight against it to go the other way.  The energy required to fight the current is far greater than when we go with the flow of the water.    Resistance is part of nature so when leaders learn to work with this powerful force new beginnings and opportunities arise.   For instance, change initiatives are often met with opposition from many levels.  Yet, it is this resistance that if understood can make strategies stronger and create alliances and breakthroughs.  Think about how many people go to a gym and lift weights, and do other resistance training to make them stronger and fit.   Imagine leaders taking the same approach in business.  Instead of shying away – they embraced and actually looked for potential challenges.  

 

When faced with resistance A great technique to try is the STOP tool that  Timothy Galloway talked about in his book the Inner Game of Work.

 

S = Step back from action and emotion

T =  Think about what's most important at this moment

O = Organize your thoughts to create coherence

P = Proceed when purpose and next steps are clear

 

When we are able to stop and focus on what’s important at that moment we gain perspective on the situation and can recognize and acknowledge the conflict.  Just being aware of resistance minimizes its impact and gives us the ability to look at what’s happening around us without judgment or fear, allowing people to open up and share what’s on their minds.  With resistance comes inaction and open dialogue creates movement. 

 

What are you resisting?  What is temporarily stalled in your organization?  What conversations are you potentially avoiding?

 

The Power of Choice

"Personal mastery teaches us to choose. Choosing is a courageous act: picking the results and actions which you will make into your destiny. "
- Peter Senge

Every day we are confronted with choices about how we spend our time.   How we communicate to each other in any given moment, the actions that we take and decisions that are made.   The challenge is being aware in the moment rather than reacting to the events that come our way.   Accepting that our power lies in the choices that we make allows us to be conscious of our intentions and decisions to bring about the results that will propel us towards the future we envision

Our coaching model is  awareness - choices - action - reflection.  Through awareness of who we are and understanding of our core strengths we are to make choices and decisions that will create leverage for the future and the actions we take can produce solid results.  Taking the time to reflect on those actions and reactions gives us the wisdom for the future challenges that come our way. 

To view our coaching model click here:   http://www.reachandachieve.com/rts/index.php?id=coachingmodel&menuMode=subcontent

Leadership Lessons for Hard Times

There is an interesting article in the McKinsey Quarterly on Leadership Lessons for Hard Times. 

You can view it here:  http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/newsletters/2009_08.html.  The article is a result of interviewing leaders of 14 major companies, all seasoned CEOs or chairmen, asking them to reflect on what they felt they had learned. The companies they lead are in different industries, face different challenges, and have performed quite differently. What emerges from the interviews is agreement on some broad principles that can help guide behavior in the executive suite and the boardroom, as well as interactions with employees, customers, and investors.

The basic principles are: 

1.  Confront Reality:  Few companies saw coming the magnitude of the current crisis but those who were able to take a guess at the future were further ahead than those who were caught blind-sighted.  One of the attributes of resilient organizations is to learn from the past as a key to foresee what lies ahead.

2.  At Board Meetings - Put strategy center stage.  At a time of rapid change - most CEO's see the need for frequent communication with the board and many of those meetings discuss strategy.  Strategy is a topic that can no longer be discussed just once a year.  Plans need to be revisited, tested and discussed against current realities.

3.  Be Transparent with employees and investors.  Communicate, Communicate, Communicate the challenges as well as the successes.  Be transparent and open with employees and investors, don't wait until the end to communicate what happened, talk to them at every step and ask for input.  Openness breeds commitment and commitment breeds character.

4.  Build and Protect the Culture.  Companies cultures, values and beliefs are the first to get compromised in challenging economic times.  Yet, A healthy company is the result of a healthy culture and culture is built by the beliefs, values and shared meanings of the people in the organization.  When an organization is out of alignment with their values and beliefs - performance will suffer.

5.  Keep Faith with the Future. It's important to keep your eyes focused on the future, for potential growth opportunities. It can be easy to just hunker down and cut cost with no real looking at current talent and performance and what needs to happen to assure that you are ready for the future that will emerge.

When I look at these principles, I'm struck by how they all relate to what's necessary for resilience.  Check out this article on Resilience:  http://www.performanceleadershiptools.com/Performance%20matters.%20Resilience.pdf
      

100% Responsibility - Let Your Voice Be Heard!

"You are not only responsible for what you say, but also for what you do not say.”
                                                                                     --Martin Luther

Every time people skirt their responsibilities, they lose their strength and their voice. When they don’t stand accountable for something they did, they are not claiming their rightful power or ability.  In this changing world, people are becoming more and more quiet, afraid to stand up for what they believe and hesitant to stand accountable for their words and actions.  In short, people are losing their voices and without those voices individuals and organizations will not develop and flourish.

What stops us from using our voice?

In their book, How The Way We Talk Can Change The Way We Work, by Robert Kegan and Lisa Lascow, they speak about competing commitments.  We have hidden goals that often conflict with our stated intentions.  Many of these commitments are not conscious on our part, but they do influence our actions. Let’s say that I am committed to the success of a particular project, and at the same time equally committed to being accepted by members of my team.  If I am in a situation where I have to choose between speaking out about the project and taking responsibility for my actions or being accepted by others on the team, the intention that is stronger in me will win out.  We all have these competing commitments and they impact us every day.  When we start to identify areas where our behavior does not match our stated intention, we can begin to identify some of our competing commitments and choose where to focus our attention and actions.

Another reason people don’t speak out and act is because of sheer information overload.  Statistics point out that we listen at 500 wpm and speak at 150 wpm. On any given day, we are bombarded with information and stimulation.  What happens as a result of the information overload is a degree of shut-down.  We end up not really focusing on anything; we just do our best to absorb the information and react to the crises of the moment.  What is missing in this is the ability to identify and act on what is most important.  There is a hidden force to respond to the pressures of the moment, and due to the volume, we are unable to adequately respond.  It is only through being able to consciously choose what is most important that we can fully act and use our voice.  If our attention is diluted, our voice and actions will lack strength and effectiveness.

How do we develop our voice?

The first step in developing our voice and speaking out is self-knowledge.  It is through understanding what is most important, knowing what holds us back and what our strengths and weaknesses are, that ultimately gives us the power to act.  Without sufficient awareness, our voice and our actions lack clarity and we become victims of our thoughts and emotions.  Through self-understanding, we gain awareness. The sheet between the conscious and the unconscious becomes thinner, which allows us to speak from a point of clarity and intention. 

Once we gain a better understanding of ourselves, we can make conscious choices and our actions will reflect those choices.  We can get out of automatic pilot and respond rather then react to the pressures of the moment.  Responsibility and accountability are easier if we sift through our competing commitments and line up to what is most important.   

As we move more and more into a global economy, the pressure will intensify for people to rise to the challenges.  As a society, we must not only challenge ourselves to speak out, but challenge our peers as well.  Let us all rise to the challenge and speak and act on what’s most important!

Giving and Receiving Feedback

There is a good article on how to give effective feedback in Fast Company Magazine.  The article quotes a 1997 survey by Aon Consulting and the Society for Human Resource Management reported that only 5% of HR professionals were "very satisfied" with their performance-management systems. In 1995, William M. Mercer Inc., based in New York City, polled executives about reviews. Only 7% said their systems were "excellent"; more than 70% had revamped them or were planning to.

Honest, direct and compassionate feedback is essential for increasing individual and organizational performance.  Yet, far too often we shy away from giving feedback to others or wanting to receive it.  We don't want to fully embrace our shortcomings and potentially fear the potential reaction when we give feedback to others.  One of the problems is that feedback is typically done only with performance reviews and tied up with  a person's money.   This automatically sets it up to fail, it's difficult for a person to be open and responsive to feedback when linked to their raise.  Feedback should be given all the time and needs to be in the form of a conversation, not a one way dialog.  It's about two people conversing with each other about how they can get better at what they do.  We all need someone to share their perception about our behavior and give us guidance in an honest, forthcoming and caring way.  Direct and frequent conversations about performance is essential to individual and organizational growth and creates a culture of openness and responsiveness.  In the beginning feedback will feel awkward to both parties but with practice and time it will create openings.

Here is the link to the article:  http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/17/feedback.html

Getting off the Treadmill

Recently my life has felt more and more like a whirlwind.  Endless to do list and pressures of not being able to get everything done.  Intersting enough my clients all seem to be saying the same thing.  We are on that treadmill moving fast but not sure how much we are really getting ahead.  Can anyone relate?  It's at these times, I take to reflect.  Why am I doing my profession?  What purpose does it fulfill for me?  What is important?  What are my goals this year?  This month?  What are my important task today?  Next month?  Next year?  How is my time being spent and what can I give up?  Asking myself these questions assures I am focusing on the important and reminds me of my purpose.  If you're on that treadmill, take time to step off and focus on the important that treadmill will be waiting for you when you finish. 

"The creative individual has the capacity to free himself from the web of social pressures in which the rest of us are caught.  He is capable of questioning the assumptions that the rest of us are accept."

                                                             -- John Gardner

Q & A with Jim Collins

Here is an excerpt taken from Fortune Magazine with a Q & A with Jim Collins.  Jim Collins in his book Good to Great spoke about having Big Hairy Audacious Goals.  In this Q&A, Collins says not to obsess on finding the “great idea.”  In fact, their research shows a somewhat negative correlation between pioneering a great idea and building a great company. Many of the greatest started with either no great idea or even failed ideas.  He goes on to say that many started with a relationship before the idea and uses people like Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard as an example.  Their big idea was simply to work together the rest followed.  Proving that relationships count more than the big ideas. Having big dreams is the easy part the challenge is building relationships that make those ideas worth something. 

You can read the post here:  http://greathumancapital.wordpress.com/2007/02/16/qa-with-management-guru-jim-collins/

What is your big idea and who can you build a relationship with to bring that idea into fruition? 

Coaching Week February 4 - February 10

Next week February 4 - February 10, 2007 is International Coaching Week.

The purpose of this event is to provide a week each year to educate the public about the value of coaching. 

Coaching is a relatively young profession that is growing quickly.  According to a  nationwide survey of more than 300 companies by Manchester,a human capital consulting firm.  59% of organizations are currently offering coaching to their managers and executives, this is expected to grow by 20% in the next year. 

The reason:

In order for organizations to thrive in the coming years increasing the capability of the managers is a necessity.  Everyone has a certain level of capacity and that level determines the opportunities that are available for that person at any given time.   The thing about capacity is that it expands.  The more you develop people’s talents, the greater their ability becomes and the more opportunities become available for the individual and the company.  Relationships and the development of interpersonal skills are critical in the coming years.  Don Peterson, former Ford CEO said "Results Depend on Relationships"   Executive Coaching builds capability and develops the interpersonal skills.  We all need need mentors and coaches to help us reveal our blind spots and take the right actions that produce the strongest results.

I have a few slots available for executive coaching.  If you are interested in producing strong results for 2007.  Contact me at info@ReachandAchieve.com

CEO Read

I love reading business books but there is so much out there that at times it's hard to know what to choose.  CEO Read gives you recommendations, book reviews and even podcast.  Check out the site here:  http://800ceoread.com/  Check out their blog here:  http://800ceoread.com/blog/. 

Happy Reading and let me know what you think!

E-Learning Market Research Results

Reach and Achieve Associates and Shared Results International completed a market research study on e-learning in 2006.

Here were some of our key findings:

How ALIGNED are your e-LEARNING programs with your organization’s BUSINESS OBJECTIVES?  (40.6% - positive)

How SATISFIED are you that your organization's current approach to e-LEARNING is helping to achieve BUSINESS OBJECTIVES?  (28.1%) [No one chose “Very Satisfied”]

How Important / Effective is Each e-Learning Feature?

DESCRIPTION                                                                                                            

Manager Involvement      

Having manager involved in the individual's e-learning for reinforcement and coaching               (87% Important 31% Effective)

Encouraging manager / employee conversations about what training to take and why    (85% Important 28% Effective)

Having managers share insight on the effectiveness of the training for the individual   (88%  Important 21% Effective)

Helping managers have discussions that tie what they learned to business objectives  (91% Important 28% Effective)               

Individualizing Learning
 
Identifying an individual's needs before deciding on training  (90% Important  43% Effective)

Relating the learning to an individual's job  (88% Important 43% Effective)

Ensuring training supports an individual's performance goals  (85% Important 50% Effective)

Having 360 / assessment tools for individual development part of e-learning (50% Important 12% Effective)      

Our conclusion from these findings suggest that organizations lack an integrated solution helping managers and employees plan, execute and talk about how to align e-learning with business results. 

As a result of this research we are designing a program - AlignedResults that we think meets these needs.  Stay tuned for further information on this.