Performance Tools

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.

                                        

Coaching Article

Below is a great article on coaching.   I personally loved it and agreed with everything.  Especially points 2, 3, 4.  These are my thoughts:  Coaching is a choice and privilege for both the coach and the coachee and should never be a requirement.  Once it is made mandatory, the relationship between the two parties of coach and coachee is compromised and trust is down.  As coaches we have to assume that we are not hearing everything and challenge our assumptions as well as the coachee's assumptions by getting the facts.   Coaching is not about advice, it's about asking the questions, the tough questions that people are not asking themselves.  Coaching is about building capability and we do that by expanding ourselves and answering the tough questions?

How to Coach
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(Article by Trisha D. Scudder)
http://tinyurl.com/3xrrtq

What do top performers in tennis, football, the Olympics and performing arts have in common? They aim for the highest level of excellence - and they work with a coach.

To them coaching isn't about something being wrong. It's about something more being possible. A coach sees things the player can't see. And that perspective and the unique way of communicating called coaching makes all the difference.

A coach's role is distinct from the role of a manager, teacher, doctor, therapist, friend or confidant. It is a relationship of equals, both committed to breakthroughs in the performance of the coachee.

Everyone wants to enhance his or her effectiveness and results in life, so everyone would benefit from skilled coaching. Look around you. Who would benefit if you were capable of coaching them on some important goal? An employee? Colleague? Client? Spouse? Friend? Teenager?

Being a professional executive coach requires years of training and experience. Here are seven necessary elements for being an effective, informal, unpaid coach:

1. The coachee must request coaching. If coaching is requested or your offer to give it is genuinely accepted then you have a basis for coaching. To give coaching to someone who doesn't want it is a waste of your time. Your coaching will be rejected and resented.

2. Stay above the fray. Hear what the situation, problem, goal or issue is for which the coachee wants coaching. If it's a soap opera, if there are bad guys and good guys, don't get sucked into your coachee's emotions and points of view. Stay above the fray. Don't agree. Don't take sides. Be compassionate but don't bemoan their situation. Provide the unshakeable center your coachee needs. If you can't provide that, don't coach this person.

3. Facts vs. interpretation. Hear the story. Then ask for the facts. If there's a lot of emotion around the goal or problem they will have difficulty telling you the factual, measurable aspects of the situation. You serve the person by helping them separate fact from interpretation. Worry and suffering comes from their interpretations. Ask questions that help them identify and acknowledge that the facts are the facts.

4. Speak in questions. Coaching is an inquiry, a creative conversation that leads to discovery. Coaching is not about giving your good advice. Nor telling your war stories. Nor sharing your experience. It's not even about you solving their problems for them! Ask questions instead. Ask more questions. Ask uncomfortable questions, with compassion and respect. Questions open up an inquiry. Your answers shut things down.

5. No victims allowed. No matter how horrific the story, your coachee is not a victim. Watch for coachees who blame everyone else for their situation - the clients, management, his/her assistant, the team, the economy. Those entities are not being coached, your person is! The route to a breakthrough is to interact with the coachee as if he/she is 100% responsible for their experience of their life. If you can't do this, don't coach this person.

6. From insight to action. Move the conversation to action once your coachee sees the situation in a new way or creates a new possibility for their future or invents a whole new solution. Since coaching is about performance and results, ask your coachee what actions he/she promises to take, and by when. Keep a record of all promises made. Ask the coachee to inform you whether he keeps his promise, or not, and the results achieved.

7. Integrity. No coaching relationship can succeed without integrity from both parties. Integrity includes all aspects of keeping your word to each other, from confidentiality, to being on time, to doing the promised actions. The minute the integrity is broken the relationship becomes ordinary and extraordinary results are out of reach.

Legendary NFL Coach Tom Landry once said "A coach is someone who tells you what you don't want to hear, so you can see what you don't want to see, so you can be what you've always wanted to be." Coaching is profound, creative and life-altering work. It's a privilege to do it.

Personal Resume

There is a great post on Tim Sanders Blog about reviewing your personal resume.  The end of the year is always a good time to reflect on what we have achieved and what we want to achieve in the next new year.  After all, this is the time of New Years resolutions. Thinking in terms of a personal resume forces us to think of accomplishments and the capabilities that we added to our professional repertoire this year and what new skills we want to develop next year? 

I began reflecting on 2006 and some of the things I have added to my resume include:

Recipient of Up and Coming BusinessWomen Award (Accomplishment)

Learned beginning Front Page (Capability)

Added new associate to Company (Accomplishment)

Hired Virtual Assistant (Accomplishment)

What accomplishments and capabilities did you add to your resume this year?

Quotes of the Ages

Looking for a unique holiday gift?

Consider Quotes of the Ages an E-book with over 150 quotes from all times.

Small bytes of motivational, inspirational and educational wisdom designed to let the wisdom of the ages never die.  Each page can be easily printed out and displayed as a way to motivate and inspire yourself and others. 

Henry Ford said, "You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do."  We all need that extra dose of motivation and inspiration from time to time to keep us focused and effective.  This book allows you to easily print out and display a quote to use as a motivational reminder for yourself and others. 

Start 2007 off with the inspiration to assure your success!

    "Unless commitment is made, there
     are only promises and hopes but no plans."
                   -- Peter Drucker

Studies confirm that thoughts have a huge impact on the success or failure that we achieve.  Use this e-book to keep your thoughts on What's Important and Remember the Wisdom of the Ages for only .$14.97.

For more information and to order, click here:
http://www.performanceleadershiptools.com/special.htm