 |
Derrick Strand
What's In A Name? Potentially A Lot!
I read an article last month that discussed the huge box office failure of the Disney movie, John Carter. The movie is projected to lose over $200 million dollars and resulted in the recent resignation of Walt Disney's film unit chairman.
In spite of all the bad press, I took my family to see John Carter and guess what......we thought it was great! It was very entertaining and my six year old liked it as well. So I began to wonder why a good movie (my family's interpretation) could do so poorly at the box office?
I'm sure there has been some sort of deep, complex analysis as to why it was such a failure but I don't think that is necessary. I think the reason is very simple. The movie had a really bad name! John Carter is simply not an interesting or exciting title.
Yes I know that is the main character's name from the Edgar Rice Burroughs novel but that doesn't mean they had to name the movie that. The name, John Carter, simply did not exude edgy, cool, action or fun in anyway. Ask your son under 10 (I did) if they wanted a John Carter action figure? My boy said no because he'd rather have a Ninjago, Ironman, Batman figure instead because they are "way cooler!"
This made me think of other great products or services that failed, not because it was necessarily a bad product, but because it had a bad name. Some examples include:
Retardex - An oral rinse meant to retard the growth of plaque. A terrible name that offended a large portion of the population.
Reebok Incubus - A women's shoe that failed badly. Reebok found out through a news broadcast that "Incubus" as defined in the dictionary was an evil spirit that in medieval times was thought to descend upon women and have sex with them. Not great for sales.
Nads Hair Removal - I don't think I need to even comment on this one!
There are many more but I will stop here. This made me think and wonder if the same things are happening in organizations. Do good ideas, good initiatives and good solutions sometimes fail simply by having a bad name? The answer is yes!
In a past life in a large management consulting firm, we had a change management practice that ended up failing due to the lack of business. We found that no one wanted to pay for "change management" as they didn't see the value in such a soft, touchy feely term.......especially at $400/hour!!
The practice dissolved but an interesting thing then occurred. We started to build change management practices into all of our engagements but we didn't call it change management. We called it communication planning, stakeholder needs analysis and other things that the client understood and didn't mind paying extra for since they liked the terms better. The work was the same, it was simply called something different.........and it sold!
Another example revolves around a client I had that was interested in detailed process improvement to improve quality and customer satisfaction. In many ways it was a textbook type of six sigma effort. Lucky for me I did not use that term as I interviewed the executive team and various employees. I found out that several years ago that someone rolled out a six sigma effort that was poorly led and poorly thought out. If failed miserably and "six sigma" was now a dirty word in the organization. You and I know this was not a failure in six sigma but a failure in leadership, design and execution. These facts did not matter. The perception was that six sigma doesn't work.
Our solution was to use similar tools and techniques as six sigma but change the names and subtly change the approaches to look slight different and to never, never use the term, "six sigma." The project was a success but it would have been "dead in the water" from day one had we used terminology that was deemed to be toxic in their organization.
My point is that you can have a great product or service that doesn't sell or doesn't work if the name or phrases used do not work for your client or customer. Do your homework and manage your risk accordingly prior to putting names to things. It literally could mean the difference between success and failure. Just ask The Walt Disney Company.
Change Your Habits and Improve Productivity in 2012
For many of us, the New Year means setting new goals and objectives both personally and professionally. We start off the year with high expectations for ourselves and of all the things we are going to accomplish. We get off to a fast start and then……. life happens! The constant noise of each new day and the unforeseen circumstances and events of life cause us to lose focus and set aside all of those things that we said we wanted to accomplish.
Before you know it, a year has gone by and very few, if any, of those initial goals or objectives are checked off as “done,” that is if you can actually find the original goal sheet in your cube or office! Sound familiar?
Well this is a new year and a new opportunity to not let that happen. A new opportunity to change your habits, become more disciplined and hold yourself accountable for achieving your goals. The key to all of this is managing your time more effectively. Below are a few tips and techniques to help you get better control of your time so you can accomplish more and meet your goals.
Create Your Own Strategy MapAlthough this is not a traditional time management tip, it is critical to shape everything you do. When you create a strategy map, you define your MVV’s (mission, vision and values.) This can be personal or career based. Staying true to your MVV’s, determine your strategic goals for the year. I would recommend only four or five. Once you have these goals, determine the activities you need to engage in to achieve those goals. Lastly, translate those activities into measures and have targets for those measures so you can hold yourself accountable.
The result of this exercise will be a one page diagram that summarizes what you are doing, why you are doing it, how you’re going to do it and how you’re going to measure it. I have my strategy map as my background on my laptop so that every morning it’s the first thing I see. This helps me to immediately focus my day on the things that matter most.
For a sample strategy map, please contact me at derrick@titanhr.com and I will send you one as well as directions on how to complete it.
Break Down Activities Into Smaller ChunksOne reason we don’t achieve our goals is because they are too big so we don’t even try. For instance, if my goal is to write a book this year, that goal may feel overwhelming on the surface. If I break down that goal into writing one page a day, it seems much more doable. If I do this, I will have a 365 page book written by year end. The key is to break large goals into smaller ones. This gets you started on a positive note which creates momentum along with the desire to continue.
Manage Two of your Biggest Time WastersEasily two of the biggest time wasters in the workplace are email and meetings. Look at your emails and ask yourself, “Did I really need to receive this email?” or “Does this email help my achieve my goals?” If not, start the purging process. Ask to be removed from unnecessary distribution lists and tell people to only copy you on things that require your attention. Also, remove yourself from newsletters etc. that distract you from your stated goals. At the very least, route those messages into a folder, “To Be Read Later.” Over time, you will greatly reduce the volume of email which frees up time to do more important things.
Meetings are an even a bigger waste of time, in most cases. If a meeting does not connect to your job duties or goals, don’t go. There is nothing wrong with refusing to be in meetings that are not productive. At a minimum, it may spark a discussion to change a meeting to become more relevant. You may not be able to get rid of all your unproductive meetings but you will be surprised at how many you can get out of that are not worthwhile which frees up time to do other things that align with your strategic goals.
Return to Batch ProcessingThis may sound counterintuitive in today’s real time environments but studies have shown that what we think of as multi-tasking at work is actually switch-tasking, meaning that we are switching our attention back and forth between different things. There is a cost each time we switch. There are many exercises available that prove this theory. So instead of switching back and forth from answering email, doing research, answering the phone and instant messaging, turn everything off but one thing and focus on that until it is done. Then move on to the next thing and completely focus on that. You will get more done, faster and with higher quality.
Some people have mastered this by only answering email at 10am and 3pm. The rest of the day, email is shut down. They answer message in batches and are much more productive than switching back and forth between different tasks. This also applies to the phone. Forward your phone to voice mail and answer messages at certain times of the day. You will be amazed how much more productive you will be.
Plan for Tomorrow at the End of TodayOne simple yet powerful technique is to plan out tomorrow’s work before you leave today or before you go to sleep at night. You will think more clearly than the next morning when the noise of the day can get you even before you start. Planning the night before with a clear head will greatly improve productivity tomorrow.
My Challenge To YouSome of you may think some of my suggestions are crazy or unrealistic in today’s fast paced world. In some cases that may be true but in the vast majority I bet that is not the case. My challenge to you is to just try them and see what happens. Even though you probably can’t eliminate all worthless meetings, what if this helps get one or two off your calendar. Wouldn’t that be worth a try?
Maybe you can’t answer email only at 10am and 3pm but why not shut it off for an hour and focus on only one thing and do it well. My guess is that the world will not explode if you aren’t on email for one hour.
How about breaking big goals into smaller ones that can be done in one day? Isn’t that worth a shot?
Please send me a note to let me know how these tips have helped you become more productive and focused. Just know I won’t respond until 10am or 3pm!!
Derrick Strand is Principal of Leadership and Organizational Development at the Titan Group in Richmond. He challenges people to “think differently” about leadership, organization, people, and process. His relentless assault on the status quo helps clients to address and solve issues in unique and innovative ways. For more information contact Derrick at derrick@titanhr.com or at 804-814-9921.
The Lost Discipline of Reading
I went to seven or eight different sessions where speakers referred to book after book and author after author during various parts of their presentations. In each case, the speaker would ask how many of you have read "this" book or have read anything by "this" author. In session after session, the speakers were amazed at how few people read or had even heard of certain business books or authors. I'm not talking about obscure books but best sellers like "Good To Great," "Balanced Scorecard, "Think and Grow Rich" and even "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People." I was stunned as well.
Based on this, I decided to do a little research and here's what I found based on a literary research study:
- 1/3 of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives.
- 42 percent of college graduates never read another book after college.
- 80 percent of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year.
- 70 percent of U.S. adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.
- 57 percent of new books are not read to completion.
Now I can't validate whether these statistics are true but even if they are half true it is disturbing and based on what I just witnessed at the conference I attended, it certainly appears to be a major issue.
Here's the good news! If you really want to grow professionally and run circles around others in the marketplace.......start reading! I truly believe this is a competitive advantage! It doesn't need to be more difficult than that!
Set a goal to read one new business book a month and start to watch how things change. Start with the classics and do it for one year. Whatever you are passionate about that also applies to your role or career aspirations. You will be amazed at how things will change. I bet that you will see significant improvements in the some of the below areas just to name a few:
- Problem Solving
- Managing Others
- Team Building
- Goal Setting
- Dealing with Conflict
- Communicating
- Leading Change
- Customer Service
Don't be one of those people who says they are too busy to read. Be the one who makes time to read because of it's huge return on investment for you and in your future. For list of great business books to get you started, click here.
Have you ever met an unsuccessful person that had a huge library in their house? I don't think so!
I would love to hear from you. Let me know your comments and thoughts by either commenting on this post or contacting me directly at derrick@titanhr.com or 804-814-9921.
You can also connect with me at:
Derrick Strand is a Principal in Leadership and Organizational Development at The Titan Group in Richmond, Virginia. He
designs and delivers innovative management and leadership courses to
the public and internally to clients who prefer customization. He also assesses and redesigns organizations to ensure they are structured in a way that facilitates, not hinders, their ability to achieve their vision and goals.
It's Likely That Team Performance Is Determined Before You Start!
High performing teams are a product of many factors. I believe many of these factors can be addressed BEFORE a team is formed. In fact, I know many project teams that were doomed to fail before they even started............I know you seen this since I'm sure you have been on at least one of those types of teams!
Let's talk about key components to team success BEFORE you even get started. For the sake of this discussion, I'll be referring to project teams that are assembled for different organizational initiatives. Here are the questions that need to be asked and answered:
Why are we doing this? - Before a team is ever put together, it should be "crystal clear" as to the reason for the project, how it ties to overall company objectives, who's the executive sponsor who is accountable and what defines success at project completion. It amazes me how many projects kick off without any of this information defined. Don't let it happen to you.
Make sure all of these components are clearly defined before agreeing to be a team lead or a team member. If no one has answers, run for the hills! The likelihood of project success without having these nailed down at project initiation is almost zero.
What attitudes do we need? - Many executives assign people to teams solely based on availability (where is a warm body to dump on this team!) Also, I've seen people assigned to project teams only based on skills and background. No one ever seems to ask these people whether they 1) have passion/enthusiasm about the project itself or if they are 2) excited to have the opportunity to be on the team. It's as if that doesn't matter.
I'm here to say that passion and excitement are crucial to having a high performing team. I would much rather have a team with average skills that had high energy and passion for the project than a highly skilled team that is not interested in the project at all. Before assigning people to teams, find out if they have passion and positive energy around solving the problem. If they don't, look for people that do.
What skills do we need? - Don't get me wrong, after passion and energy, skills are very important. If we did a good job defining the project and what success looks like, we should have a good idea of what skill sets are needed. Again, resist the urge to assign the "next available" person to the team. Find the people with the right skills.
What perspectives do we need? - Solutions to problems can be challenging and they require looking at the issues from many different angles or perspectives. You want a diversity of perspective and thought on your team so seek out people who think differently (e.g. left vs.right brained or customer focused vs. internal process efficiency), work in different functions or departments and who are at different levels organizationally.
The more perspectives you can have, the more comprehensive the problem solving will be.
Do we have an effective team leader? - If you have assembled a team with passion and energy towards the project that have good skills and also have differing perspectives and opinions, we better have an effective team leader! Why? Because a team with these characteristics is bound to have conflict. This is great if you have a team leader that is good at managing team dynamics and knows how to foster an environment of "constructive conflict." Constructive conflict is where there is significant debate, discussion and disagreement over issues and potential solutions.
You want team members to vigorously attack issues and problems, NOT each other. The team leader has to be skilled in managing this or a bar room brawl could break out!
Conclusion - A lot of what defines a high performing team happens before the team has it's first meeting. This of course does not guarantee team success but it certainly creates an environment that vastly increases the probability of success and high performance. This is a leadership lesson for everything, not just projects. One of the most important responsibilities of a leader is to create an environment where people can succeed. Are you creating these high performing environments?
I would love to hear from you. Let me know your comments and thoughts by either commenting on this post or contacting me directly at derrick@titanhr.com or 804-814-9921. You can connect with me at:
Derrick Strand is a Principal in Leadership Development at The Titan Group in Richmond, Virginia. He designs and delivers innovative management and leadership courses to the public and internally to clients who prefer customization.
Leadership Trap - "Sanitized For Your Protection"
Leaders rely heavily on others in their organization to accumulate data for reporting purposes. This includes daily sales figures, monthly end financial results, and project status updates. Many times this data is accompanied with powerpoint slides or “decks” (despise that term) to help interpret the meaning of the data and to “tell the story.”
Leaders I work with speak frequently about their desire to know exactly what is going in the business so they can make better, more timely decisions. As Jim Collins says in “Good to Great,” they want to hear and confront the brutal facts.
The question is, “Do they get the brutal facts on a consistent and timely basis?” I would argue that in the majority of cases, leadership does not.
Let's take a look by peeling back the covers to see the sanitation reporting cycle in action!
1. Raw Data is Generated by the Front Line Employees
- Here are results in its purest form. The actual results do not lie. This is what's really happening!
2. Data is Gathered and Reported to Middle Management
- Sit back and wait for the questions to massage, sanitize and reorganize the data
3. Middle Management Reviews
- Does the data make us look good or do we need to make some adjustments……..we better make some adjustments so this looks better! I don’t want to get yelled at. Send back to massage, sanitize and reorganize (MSR’s) the data
- After repeated MSR’s, we now feel comfortable sending to senior management
4. Senior Management Reviews
- Does the data make us look good…..……..we better make some more adjustments so this looks even better! I don’t want to get yelled at either!! Send back to middle management for more massaging, sanitizing and reorganizing
- After repeated MSR’s, we now feel comfortable sending it to executive leadership
- Cross our fingers that our MSR’s have eliminated all questions and potential objections
5. Executive Leaders See Sanitized Results
- Review of results indicate things are in order and senior management had great answers to all of our questions. Great job! Meeting adjourned.
I hope you don’t think I’m exaggerating for effect because I am not! I see this cycle all the time and it is quite disturbing. Leaders are not getting the information they need to make good decisions. They get a false sense of state of the business which can eliminate any sense of urgency to take action………..until it’s too late.
The end result is layers of management spending significant time and resources creating misleading information, at best, which leadership either acts or doesn’t act on. Not only is time wasted on non-value activity, the activity’s main objective is to create misleading information. Not a recipe for success.
Key Leadership Question
As a leader, the first question I would ask is, “Am I the problem?” Have I created a culture that does not encourage sharing the truth? Many leaders say they want the truth but then go "ballistic" on everyone when they hear it. If that is you, you may have created the “trickle down” culture of sanitation.
Action Steps to De-Sanitize
High performing leaders really want the truth..........so ask for it. Ask for the bad news. Ask your senior management team what we stink at and what is trending in the wrong direction. If they can’t come up with anything, you know that information is being withheld.
React to bad news in a constructive way and encourage your team to share the unvarnished truth. Recognize members on your team that speak the truth. Start changing the culture so that “confronting the brutal facts” becomes the norm as opposed to the cycle of truth avoidance.
You can’t solve problems until you are aware of them. Encourage unvarnished, unsanitized reporting so you can work on solving the problems instead of ignoring them.
Remember, bad news is not like fine wine, it does not improve with age!
I would love to hear from you. Let me know your comments and thoughts by either commenting on this post or contacting me directly at derrick@titanhr.com or 804-814-9921. You can connect with me at:
Derrick Strand is a Principal in Leadership Development at The Titan Group in Richmond, Virginia. He
designs and delivers innovative management and leadership courses to
the public and internally to clients who prefer customization.
How Numb Have You Become?
This post is in honor of the dreaded tax filing day that just passed. When I do my taxes, I'm reminded of how much of my hard earned money goes to federal and state taxes. Most of us tend not to think about the size of our individual tax bill until tax time because of how taxes are collected during the year.......otherwise known as withholding.
I googled "origin of tax withholding" and found that withholding came about with The Current Tax Payment Act of 1943. It was enacted as an emergency to fund World War II but after the war, it was never repealed. We've had income taxes withheld from our paychecks ever since. Because of tax withholding being automatic and being withheld from our checks, we never actually have that money in our hands. Because of that, we have become numb to the fact that it was technically ours to begin with. We only seem to get upset about it once a year, when we file our taxes.
This made me wonder, "What else have we become "numb" to? When I say "numb" I mean things that we take for granted, things we accept as "okay," things that we used to object to and things that we used to be passionate about that have gone stagnant. Below is a list of areas you may want to examine to see if numbness has taken over.
1. Family and Friends - Have you slowly, over time, let these relationships deteriorate or have seriously taken them for granted? Take a relationship inventory and determine which relationships need repair or a "jump start." Then develop a plan to address each important relationship and get them back on the right track. There are few things, if any, that are more important than family or friends.
2. Work - Do you find yourself going through the motions at work or do you have energy and passion for what you do? If not, why not? Have you become accepting of your current work situation? Be honest with yourself. Maybe it's as simple as regaining focus and setting clear goals and objectives. Sometimes that alone can re-energize you. If things have become too numb and you can’t get your energy back, maybe it's time to change roles or seek out other opportunities.
3. Meetings – Do you hold boring meetings or attend boring meetings? What are you doing about it? How about holding fewer meetings and going to fewer meetings? If you need to have a meeting, make it productive, interesting and fun. Don’t accept that meetings have to occur or have to be boring. Please contact me if you’d like some ideas on how to “spice” up your meetings to get better results.
4. Communications – Do you find yourself engaging in less and less “in person” interaction due to email, instant messaging, Facebook, Twitter etc. Only 7% of effective communication relates to content (words). The other 93% relates to pitch, tone, delivery and body language. Also, one way communication does not guarantee comprehension. Face to face interaction and dialogue helps to eliminate confusion and miscommunication. Do not become “numb” to fact that personal interaction is critical to effective communication.
5. New Ideas – How many new ideas or thoughts do you generate in a given day? Do you have systems in place at work and in life that intentionally spark creativity and innovation. A recent IBM global study showed that the number one quality CEO’s are looking for in their workforce is creativity. You CAN be creative and you CAN build systems and structure in your work and life that foster creativity and innovation. Please contact me on tips and techniques related to creativity and innovation.
Take a moment to do a self checkup and look for areas that have gone “numb” in your work and in your life. Make today the first day of “numbness elimination” and moving forward, be intentional in maintaining and growing your passion and energy towards all things you do.
I would love to hear from you. Let me know your comments and thoughts by either commenting on this post or contacting me directly at derrick@titanhr.com or 804-814-9921. You can connect with Derrick at:
Derrick Strand is a Principal in Leadership Development at The Titan Group in Richmond, Virginia. He designs and delivers innovative management and leadership courses to the public and internally to clients who prefer customization.
Why Personal Motivations Matter
Yet for some reason, when all of these unique people walk into the door at work, they are supposed to conform and be like everyone else. It's as if all the uniqueness is checked at the door and I am now an "employee."
Kind of depressing, isn't it?
When I talk to individuals at different clients, I hear a lot of the great ideas they have but they are unwilling to share them. They say the work environment is not receptive to new ideas or concepts that challenge the status quo. Sure, the leadership team talks a good game but these employees have seen first hand theirs or others ideas shot down in flames at many management meetings.
Sometimes they even get the title of "trouble maker," just for challenging things and sharing new ideas and thoughts that may threaten management or even higher. You may try it once but never again! What a shame!
Why do so many people give up sharing their unique ideas so quickly?
Here's where the personal motivations kick in. It called job preservation and security. Many people have very unique situations in their personal lives that shape what they do at work. Severe hardships, family illnesses and sending multiple kids through college are examples that may create financial and emotional strains. They need their job, even if they don't like it or don't feel challenged or appreciated. They simply need it to survive and there aren't any other good options. I have heard employees at least 50 times over my career say, "I'm not sharing that! I have bills to pay and mouths to feed." Again, what a shame!
If this is the case and the company culture does not reward new ideas or challenging the status quo, these individuals will keep their ideas to themselves in the name of job security. The end result is an organizational void of new thoughts and ideas. This leads to being less competitive and can ultimately lead to an organization's demise.
Organizations do not spend near enough time, if any at all, understanding the uniqueness of its people and the uniqueness of their personal motivations. If they did and then created a safe environment where new ideas and challenging the status quo actually created more job security, the amount of creativity and innovation would be astounding!
The organizations that understand this, embrace it and then create safe environments to foster creativity and innovation will have an enormous competitive advantage, regardless of the industry.
How do you think personal motivations affect organizational performance? I'd love to hear from you. You can also check out my website at www.derrickstrand.com or email me at dstrand@derrickstrand.com for general information or to sign up for my monthly newsletter. Also, connect with me at the following social media links:
My Top Ten Most Influential Business Books
Here they are in no particular order:
Good to Great by Jim Collins - Studies why some companies that were average for many years suddenly changed and became great over a sustainable period of time. Real research on certain companies across many different industries that made this leap. Filled with great organizational themes for success.
The Balanced Scorecard by Robert Kaplan & David Norton - Groundbreaking book on the limitation of financial measures and analysis. Linking leading and lagging indicators from different dimensions and understanding their relationships has been a big part of my performance management work over the years. Hard to believe this was written back in 1992.
Leading Change by John Kotter - My bible for the fundamentals of leading and driving change in organizations.
The Discipline of Market Leaders by Michael Treacy & Fred Wiersema - Taught me that you can't be all things to all people and be a market leader. Decide what you are and what you are not and stick to it.
Nuts by Kevin & Jackie Freiberg - The story of Southwest Airlines. This book taught me there can be a method in the madness and that everything you do should be intentional. Also, you can have fun and be successful at the same time.
At Work with Thomas Edison by Blaine McCormick - Taught me that innovation just for innovation's sake it not productive. You must be trying to solve something and create value for the marketplace. Edison is known as a great inventor but he was also a great businessman.
Serious Creativity - Edward de Bono - One of the most mentally challenging books I've read. Teaches ways to think differently in order to come up with solutions to problems. Also, that creativity can be learned and can become part of an organization's culture.
Customers for Life - Carl Sewell - So simple and so powerful. Basic concepts for creating life long customers that are as relevant today as they were the first time I read it.
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni - Like all of Patrick's books, it's a novel filled with all kinds of business lessons. I use his team building pyramid in all of my teambuilding training.
The Customer Comes Second by Hal Rosenbluth - Focus on your employees first and other things will take care of themselves. Highly innovative ideas in creating an employee based culture that delivers extraordinary results.
You can find all of these titles and more at my website's best business books web page or copy and paste the following url http://www.derrickstrand.com/Best_Business_Books.html
What books have influenced you the most? I'd love to hear from you. You can also check out my website at www.derrickstrand.com or email me at dstrand@derrickstrand.com for general information or to sign up for my newsletter. Also, connect with me at the following social media links:
/>
Only Use the "E" Word (Empowerment) When You Mean It!
A popular buzz word today when it comes to engaging employees is empowerment. Leaders say, “We empower our employees to solve problems,” or “you are empowered to change things.”
This is powerful to employees only IF it is true. If they are only words that are not followed by actions, you can do much more harm than good.
For example, you want to put together a task team to solve a specific business problem. You ask for volunteers to be a part of this important initiative and tell them they are “empowered” to come up with a solution. The team is excited about the opportunity. They work additional hours outside of their normal duties and come up with recommendations they firmly believe will solve the problem.
The team puts together a formal presentation and shares the results with you and the leadership team. Here’s where the problems can start. If you do not like the recommendations and decide not to implement them, the potential impact on the morale of the team members is significant:
- They will feel like all of their hard work was wasted
- They will not trust senior management moving forward
- They will not volunteer for future projects
- They will share their experiences with co-workers and spread the distrust
This scenario can have severe consequences on employee morale, production and retention.
If you truly believe in empowering your people, then you have to manage the process from beginning to end to make sure employees are truly empowered.
1. Provide guidelines and constraints – you need to limit the exposure and risk but setting guidelines like no additional spending or the recommendations must align to strategic objectives.
2. Trust your employees –Have faith that your employees are capable of solving problems without your intervention. You have set the guidelines and constraints, now leave them alone.
3. Hold them accountable for the solutions– Along with empowerment comes accountability. When they present their solutions, you need to make sure they are within the guidelines and constraints and they are fact based solutions. If not, they need to go back and rework their recommendations.
4. Support the implementation of the recommendations – Once they have met the requirements and their solutions are based on sound decisioning, then you must support the implementation. This is true empowerment.
5. Celebrate the successes – A key to getting more people involved is to communicate to all employees the success of a project and reward the team members based on their contribution. This will help in getting future volunteers for the next initiative and will build morale.
Use the “E” word carefully but if you use it appropriately, it can lead to significant results for your business and for your people.
Please share your thoughts and comments on this topic. I'd love to hear from you. You can also check out my website at www.derrickstrand.com or email me at dstrand@derrickstrand.com for general information or to sign up for my newsletter. Also, connect with me at the following social media links:
Why Some Leaders Are Like Bad College Professors
Let's start with the bad ones. There are a variety of different reasons why some professors are not particularly liked by students but it's not usually because they don't know the subject matter thoroughly. I remember the teachers I struggled with the most were the ones that were absolutely brilliant.
So what was the issue? In my view, the main reason why these professors didn't deliver is simple. They did not have the ability to translate their wealth of knowledge into simpler terms that college students could grasp onto and comprehend.
The professors got frustrated when students didn't understand what they were saying and they didn't have any alternative ways of teaching. Now, here's the worst part........they don't see it. They think their teaching approach and style are fine and it's the students that just aren't "getting it."
The end result?? Students didn't learn the material and they were frustrated because they did poorly on examinations.
In the business world, I see many leaders that have the same issues as bad college professors. There are extremely intelligent and know the business inside and out. However, they are not able to translate vision and strategic thinking into simple and concise concepts that employees at all levels can understand. These leaders can't understand why their employees don't "get it" and assume it's the employee's problem.
Also in this case, there is no attempt by leadership to simplify the message in order gain broader comprehension. They don't believe it's a problem with the messenger or the message. This leadership "blind spot" causes visions and strategies to be misinterpreted and misunderstood. Employees are left confused as to what the message is or what it is they can do to support it. Here are some things to avoid so you don't become the "bad professor" in your company.
Ensure your message is clear, concise and simple. Fifty plus page powerpoint presentations are a NO NO! Keep the message to one or two slides if possible. If you need more than this, your message isn't concise enough.
Ask for feedback. After your presentation, ask for electronic feedback. Do people understand the message or not? If not, take that feedback and do it again with a different approach. Keep doing this until the message is clear.
Don't try to look like you are smarter than everyone else. People resent that. Keep it simple and people will respond positively. Remember, the goal here isn't communication, it's effective communication. Effective communication means that the largest number of people comprehend the message and know how to apply it.
Let's now focus on the really good professors you had. The ones I remember had the following qualities:
- Fun
- Interesting
- Deep knowledge of the subject
- Passionate about the subject
- Passionate about you learning
- Flexible with learning approaches
- Self deprecating
- Able to break down complex things into simple, bite size chunks
They also felt that if students didn't learn, it was a failure on their part, not the students.
Asa leader, focus on being one of the "good professors." These leaders understand the ultimate goals of communication are comprehension and application. Organizations will achieve incredible results with these"professors" at the helm!
Please share your thoughts and comments on this topic. I'd love to hear from you. You can also check out my website at www.derrickstrand.com or email me at dstrand@derrickstrand.com for general information or to sign up for my newsletter. Also, connect with me at the following social media links:
