Are You A Sleep Sick Leader

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Debra Olejownik

Sleeping Under Desk

An important aspect that helps lower our stress levels is getting regular, restful sleep. Sadly, many leaders experience periods of inadequate sleep that can last from just a few days, to several weeks or even longer.  

When this happens, leaders ability to deal with stress weakens.

Additionally, the frustration of not being able to either get to sleep, or stay asleep, adds to leaders source of stress and can eventually lead to burnout!

Some Serious Questions

  • Leaders, are you part of the Sleep Sick Society?
  • Do you ignore the fact that you are tired?
  • Do you do too much, and stress yourself to the point of exhaustion?

Millions of people suffer from sleep sickness. According to Dr. William C. Dement’s research; we are a sleep sick society! It’s a very common problem; here are some startling sleep stats.

Some Causes of Interrupted Sleep?

  • Stress eating - Stress unleashes hormones that have an effect on what we eat. When stressed, we have a tendency to grab the high fat, sugary “comfort foods.” Wheat is also a culprit according to Dr. William Davis in the book Wheat Belly
  • Physical tension – Stress can result from many things: a high-pressure job, relationships, financial problems, and personal changes in our life.
  • Surfing the Internet before bed - The bright light of our computer screens may alter our body’s biological clock and suppress the natural hormone production of melatonin that’s critical to the normal Sleep-Wake Cycle
  • Excessive caffeinated products –  Caffeinated beverages; stimulants that block adenosine (energy transfer). According to Psychology Today, your brain does not sense exhaustion and it receives a gradual stream of alertness-inducing adrenaline. You typically experience caffeine’s greatest effects within 30 minutes to an hour, and the extra pep boost may last up to four to six hours
  • Overworked – Taking your work to bed with you will definitely keep you awake at night.
  • Emotional Strain – Anxiety, depression, worrying, anger and resentment, and PTSD are all symptoms of emotional strain that keeps us awake at night.

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Consequences of Interrupted Sleep

“Did you know that sleep is the single most important factor in predicting how long you will live?” ~ William C. Dement

If sleep is cut short:

  • Cognitive abilities are compromised
  • We wake up less prepared
  • Have difficulty making decisions
  • Short-term memory becomes clouded
  • We feel like we are in a mental fog

“Lack of adequate sleep, or sleep deprivation, also reduces leaders workplace productivity, public safety, and personal well-being.”

Good Sleep Hygiene Habits

The most important sleep hygiene measure is to maintain a regular sleep/wake pattern seven days a week. Leaders need to get the proper amount of rest, 7 – 8 hours of sleep per night. Do you know when your mind is in a subconscious mental state of relaxation? Before you go to bed and when you wake up in the morning are times when your mind is relaxed.

“When you are playing mind games, exercising (earlier in the day), taking a hot shower/long bath, or just relaxing, your mind is in a relaxed state. “

Other things you can do to clear your mind before bedtime; keep a pen and pad on your night stand and write down goals you want to achieve. This will take the mental stress of what you want to accomplish off your mind so that you can sleep better. Additionally, try exercising your mind.

Brain Aerobics

What are brain aerobics? Challenging your brain with novel tasks (anything new or different). In order for an activity to be considered brain aerobics, three conditions must be met. The activity needs to:

  • Engage your attention
  • Involve more than one of your senses
  • Break a routine activity in an unexpected, nontrivial way

Feeling Sleepy?

Ever Try Reading Something Upside Down or Backwards?

.noitca gnillifluf-fles, evitisop a si yppah eb ot ediced oT .sevlesruo nihtiw seil ecruos sti dna, erawa-fles eht fo noitidnoc eurt eht si ssenippaH .pael siht ekam ot rewop ruoy nihtiw si tI .tahw seod ohw ro sneppah tahw rettam on, yadot yppah eb ot ediceD

Opposite Hand Tasks - If you are right-handed; try brushing your teeth with your left hand. If you are left handed; try writing a letter to yourself with your right hand.

Riddles – Figure out riddles that require you to think outside the puzzle content itself and use knowledge of language, experience, and other “external mental activities” to solve it.

For example: ”What is yours yet others use more than you do?”

Leaders, are you part of the Sleep Sick Society? What is interrupting your sleep? Do you practice good sleep hygiene habits? Have you ever tried brain aerobics? I would love to hear your comments.

>>> Answer to Riddle: your name

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Debra Olejownik
Debra Olejownik is a consultant with DJC Core Consulting & Support Services, LLC
She helps clients identify comprehensive solutions to problems that inspires change
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Leading Customer Service

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Andy Uskavitch

Leading Customer Service

Good customer service doesn’t begin nor end with the customer.  

It begins with the leader and, well, I don’t believe it ever ends.

Defining Customer Service

You may have heard the saying that, “customer service is not a department,” right.  You may have a department called Customer Service, but by doing so, you make it feel as though that’s where it’s all taken care of.

  • But what about you, the leader?
  • Aren’t you supposed to be involved?
  • Don’t you have some say in the matter?

Absolutely, you do!  

If you want to dig even deeper, you should see that it’s everyone’s responsibility, not just yours, not just the Customer Service Department’s, but everyone who works within the organization. It is everyone’s responsibility to keep the organism healthy and functioning well.

Leadership is Influence

But leaders influence.  Some positively, some negatively.  Either one of those effects others’ customer service abilities.  You need to treat every employee you come in contact with, with the utmost sincerity and respect.

If you don’t do it, your employees won’t do it.  Unless you’re dedicated to taking the reigns to develop superior service in your employees, it’s not going to happen.

Taking a customer service class here and there or reading quotes on a poster once a month, is not going to furnish that sustained motivation that your employees need to provide that WOW service.

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Doing Your Whole Job

“I don’t have time to take on anything extra.”  How many times have you heard that or thought it?  Well first, customer service is not “something extra.”

Customers are where your revenue and profit comes from.  In any organization, there’s typically somewhere else they could go, or at least just stop coming. So when you’re that dependent on something like customers, how can you call service, “something extra?”

In Lee Cockerell’s (former VP of Operations, Walt Disney World Resort) new book, The Customer Rules, he points out that:

 “Great leaders speak loudly and often about what they want their organizations to focus on and what employees are expected to do.”

Hello . . .  How many of you, or other leaders you know in your organization, speak loudly about customer service?  But you always hear about sales, production, etc.

Keeping Ahead of the Pack

Don’t wait for customer service to get bad before you do anything about it.  By then it’s too late.  The damage has been done.  Now you’re into damage-control mode – which takes a lot more effort.

Monkey see, monkey do, here’s an easy activity to do (didn’t mean for that to rhyme, but I’ll take it).  Go to a few local retail stores or restaurants.  Spend just a few minutes in each one, just observing the employees.  You’ll be able to tell what the management is like within just a couple of minutes because the employees walk the leader’s talk.

No matter how good the stores’ customer service “program” is, it won’t be successful unless the leaders walk the talk.

You can’t just focus on the everyday business stuff – products, marketing, sales.  In his book, Lee goes on to say that, “Managers have to recognize that sustained profits depend on their ability to generate consistent, ongoing, excellent service”.  You have to keep good service in the forefront of everyone’s mind if you want it to be consistent.

A Whole New World

We don’t live in a world anymore where we can focus on one product and be the only place to get it.  You may come up with a one of kind product, but you, very soon, will have competition.  You must lead the customer service attitude.

“But seriously, I have very little time.”  In Beverly Kay & Julie Winkle Giulioni’s newest book, Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go, they say it so perfectly – “let’s get real.  You’re having conversations already . . . What if you could redirect some of that time and some of those conversations to focus on careers?”

In this case, bettering customer service is bettering a career.  A few words here, and a few words there.  Just be sure you’re backing up those words with what you do.

Leadership By Example

Most people aren’t going to personally try to get their teams to improve customer service.  It has to come from you.  If you bring the horse to the watering hole, the horse will have a drink.  But if you offer a trough, the horse will always be able to get a drink.

You’re always looking for new and better ways to increase sales, improve products, or streamline production.  If you can’t increase customers or keep the ones you have . . . none of that will matter.

Do you walk the talk when it comes to customer service?  How much time do you spend talking to employees?  How much time could you spend talking to employees? I would love to hear your thoughts!

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Andy Uskavitch
Andy Uskavitch is Leadership Development at Florida Blood Services
He develops and facilitates Leadership, Motivation & Teambuilding Seminars
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Leaders: Treat Them Like Adults and Watch What Happens

Posted on April 11, 2013 by Anil Saxena

Babies at Work

What is it about management that turns some good managers into nannies? Sometimes the role of a manager or team leader has morphed into something resembling a hall monitor.

The problem is this: The more the restriction, the greater the tendency to rebel.

A Chemical Reaction

Just like in history, any dictator is often undermined by a coordinated resistance. Therefore, tightly controlling your employees and putting restrictions on them may very well lead to employees that are looking to get around the system. Why?

Oftentimes human nature follows the laws of physics,

“To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction” – Sir Isaac Newton

Are there employees that will try to take advantage of the system were other people comply? Of course there will be. There are some people who simply want to get away with doing the least amount of work possible.

But this is not the norm, unless that’s the type of environment created. Yes, that type of distrustful environment doesn’t just happen, it’s created.

Rules Glorious Rules

Recently, I worked with a team that was challenged with its performance. The manager was certain that her employees needed to be to highly controlled because they could not be trusted. She told me about an employee that she monitored the start and end times of his day very closely.

“Why do you do that?” I asked.

She said, “Because he sometimes comes in late and leaves early. So now, I have demanded that he comes in no later than nine and leaves no earlier than five.“

“Has that made him or the team more effective?” I asked.

“I’m not sure,” she responded.

After interviewing the employee, I learned that he would often stay very late and sometimes come in very early to get projects done. He thought that it was really important to make sure that he met deadlines and milestones to make sure that projects were completed on time.

However, every time he left early his manager would question why he was not working a “full-day.”

No matter how many times he showed her that he had come in early or worked over the weekend or worked very late the day before, she would tell him that leaving early wasn’t fair to everyone else who was working on “full day” schedule.

She kept demanding that he was at his desk at nine and stay at least until five o’clock. He finally stopped coming in early or staying late, concluding, “If she wants me to work eight hours every day that I will, no more and no less.“

Creating an Environment of Trust

Like any healthy relationship, leaders and teams have to work in an environment where trust is high. This only happens if the relationship is an adult one.  Adults look for a few key elements in relationships:

Consistency

This is not about treating everyone exactly the same. Instead, consistency is about reacting to situations in a similar way regardless of who’s involved. It is important to adults that they don’t have to guess how the person they’re talking to is going to react.

Without consistency people tend to act in a way that is the least likely to “get them in trouble”, which often has people be guarded and defensive. There is little trust without consistency.

“Trust is built with consistency.” ~ Lincoln Chafee

Transparency

Nothing is worse than feeling like you don’t know what is going on in your workplace.  When employees are surprised about issues, problems or concerns there is little room for trust. It is imperative to make sure that employees know as much as possible.

“The principles of radical transparency improve business performance in terms of focus, engagement, and growing and recruiting talent.” ~ Ryan Smith and Golnaz Tabibnia

Autonomy

Giving an employee the latitude, authority and responsibility to complete the responsibilities of a job is not only a great way to treat an adult, it is good for business.

“Autonomous motivation has proven to generate higher productivity, less burnout, and greater levels of psychological well-being.” ~ Chad Renado

Everyone is Accountable

There is a caveat though with this approach.  There has to be accountability from top to bottom.  The team members, managers and leaders all have to be held accountable for their actions, successes and failures.  It has to be known and acceptable to

  • Reward well when goals are met and teams are successful.
  • Give nothing or take action when they are not.

It is not about firing people, but making sure that each person makes their very best effort to reach and exceed personal, team and organizational goals.

“Greater accountability eliminates the time and energy spent in unproductive behavior that produces wasted effort and confusing distractions.  Everyone is clear about what they are responsible to accomplish and take action to make that happen.” ~ The Oz Principle

Treating employees like adults frees them up to do great things and create results not thought possible.

“Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results. ~ George S. Patton

Are you surprised by your team’s awesome results and accomplishments?  What kind of environment are you creating?

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Anil Saxena
Anil Saxena is a Senior Consultant and Business Partner with Coffman Organization
He helps organizations create environments that generate repeatable superior results
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10 Steps to Create a Killer Succession Plan

Posted on April 1, 2013 by Wayne Kehl

Retirement Watch

As a matter of age and evolution, every 10 to 20 years or so almost every business is forced to find new leaders to carry it into the future. As older leaders retire, replacements must be brought in to carry on their work.

In some cases leaders quit, die, are promoted, or transfer elsewhere.

Staying in Business

In all of those cases, they must be replaced if the business is to survive. Despite that inescapable truth, many businesses and organizations I work with are not properly prepared to replace their outgoing talent.

Often there seems to be a “head-in-the-sand” mind-set wherein, decision makers choose to leave well enough alone and hope that their current personnel structure will last forever or that a new, exciting leader will fall out of the woodwork on cue, when necessary.

Unfortunately, woodwork is often populated by termites, ants and beetles…none of which offer any great organizational leadership potential.

In order to build a valuable and effective succession plan, decision makers must firstly, “always” be on the lookout for future leaders. They must be thinking at all times about perpetuation of their organization and what will happen when their current good or bad leaders move on.

Succession should not be an emergency decision.

It should be like a cougar on the hunt…ready, alert and waiting to pounce when the opportunity arises.

10 Steps to Create a Killer Succession Plan

Here are some things to think about when planning for the perpetuation of your organization:

1) Be a savvy shopper.

In order to identify your future leaders you must accept that it is not always a good idea to buy your talent at the head-hunter store. In many cases, people who register with head-hunters have issues that have prevented them from finding work through other channels. You might want to consider them your last resort as they may be your potential undoing.

2)  Always try to promote from within.

This is a commonly accepted business principle that is often avoided or overlooked. It takes much less time to bring an existing employee up to speed than it does an outsider. Current staff members know your business, your culture and your brand…and you already know them.

3) Select from values-ready candidates.

Always promote or hire leaders who already possess your corporate values rather than trying to teach them your values after the employment contract is signed. Perform some professional skills and talent testing and use solid investigative interviewing techniques before you give them an office and an email address.

4) Never promote people out of obligation.

Organizations of all types tend to offer promotions to people who have hung-in-there the longest regardless of skills, talents or value. Tenure is NOT necessarily an indication of leadership ability and it should not be rewarded with a leadership position unless the person is actually a good leader.

5) Always be on the lookout for “keeners.” 

Keeners are people who love their jobs and quite naturally encourage others to excel in theirs. These people often offer advice and counsel to other even when not in a formal leadership role. There are many of them in many organizations and they often go unnoticed by the decision makers. They may or may not thrive in an elevated leadership position but if they are ignored or passed-over they will never realize their full capacity for leadership. Be a talent-scout within your own organization.

6) Once you have identified a potential leader, talk to them.

Let them know that you appreciate their work and that you see a bright future for them. Human beings of all personality types and skill levels love to be encouraged and they appreciate knowing that they have a future.

7) Put your future leaders on a “career path.”

Most people of the current younger generation want to know where they are going and how long it will take them to get there. Work with them to create milestones and expectations so that when the time comes, they can easily slip into a new leadership position.

Really good future leaders want advancement and if you don’t provide it, someone else will.

8) Provide leadership training to future leaders.

Although some people possess almost “natural” leadership skills, there is a lot to be learned about leading that cannot be gleaned through osmosis or exposure to ones immediate supervisor or manager. Formalize your leadership training and offer it to anyone who wants an opportunity to learn.

9) If you hire a new leader from outside of your own firm, never hire based on your “gut instincts.”

Your guts might help you in a fight–or-flight situation or when you are selecting an item on a restaurant menu, but they don’t work well for talent selection. Always utilize good talent assessment tools and have a panel of your peers and/or employees participate in the interview process so that your decision is not tainted by your guts.

Job applicants almost always adapt their behaviour to the interview process and what you saw is seldom what you get a month or two after they have settled into a new job.

10) Never hire in your own image or enforce your own leadership style.

Most of us tend to feel comfortable with people who are most like us. However, it takes many types of personalities to make a great team and one leadership style is not the “best” or the “only” way to lead. Take your personal feelings out of how a new leader should lead and allow them to deal with people in the way that works best for them.

Give them an array of leadership tools and then stand back and watch them fly.

A Brighter Future

In an increasingly competitive world you must have the best-of-the-best leaders if you want to have a commanding presence in the new millennium. If you have not started to build a leadership plan for the future, now is the time.

What have you done to ensure a successful succession process in your organization? If you have not yet started a succession plan, what’s stopping you? What would be an easy next-step in this direction to get you started? I would love to hear your thoughts!

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Wayne Kehl

Wayne Kehl is President and CCO at Dynamic Leadership Inc
He is author and behavioral analyst who lectures on leadership and motivation
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Top 5 Most Important Leadership Traits

Posted on March 27, 2013 by Robert Cordray

Leadership Traits

Whether you are responsible for a thousand employees or just starting an online business with a few friends, you need to know how to be a leader.

In the business world, and in life in general, there are those who lead and those who follow.

The quality of leadership has a strong influence on a company’s ultimate outcome. While every company is different, there are certain general qualities that every leader should have.

While this is certainly not a comprehensive list, it may be a good place to start.

Top 5 Most Important Leadership Traits

1. Honesty

Few qualities will transfer directly to employees faster than honesty. As a leader you hold up the standard for how work in your company should be done. If employees can tell that you are dishonest with clients they will likely follow your example, and vice versa.

Honesty is directly tied to trust.

If you are dishonest with employees, chances aren’t good that they will trust you in the future. When you lose the trust of your employees you lose control of the company.

2. Ability to Delegate

If your company consists of three people, or if you are running it completely on your own this may not be as much of an issue. Most leaders however are in charge of a large group of people.

Realize that you simply cannot do everything yourself.

You may feel that you can complete assignments more efficiently than others, but try exercising a bit of trust in other people’s capacity. Identify specific skills in people and delegate assignments accordingly. You never know, they may surprise you.

3. Humor

The workplace can be a tense and stressful place. If you can’t find a way to relieve that stress, it will start to impact the quality of your work. One of the best ways to increase productivity in the office is to take a break and laugh a little. Show a funny video or tell some jokes.

If you can loosen up your employees, they will enjoy being at work more.

This is important because overall happiness directly influences the work people do. Of course when its time to get down to business there may not be time for jokes. Too much humor can turn the workplace into a circus. Find a balance that is appropriate for your office.

4. Creativity

There is no handbook on how to run your business specifically. Situations will arise that you don’t expect, especially if you are an entrepreneur. You will need to be flexible, adaptable and able to come up with creative solutions to complex problems.

Some of the best leaders don’t necessarily follow the rules exactly.

They come up with their own guidelines based on their companies needs.

5. Positive Attitude

No business is perfect and things will inevitably go wrong. In difficult times employees will look to their leader. It is important that you know how to keep calm and stay positive.

Attitude is contagious and makes a huge difference in the success of any company.

So, what attributes or traits would you add to this list to make it the Top 10? How are you doing at keeping these important traits on your mind, in your heart, and on your lips? Do you struggle with maintaining any of these traits? I would love to hear your thoughts!

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Robert Cordray

Robert Cordray is a freelance writer with over 20 years of business experience
He does the occasional business consult to help increase employee morale
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Communication Breakdown: Are You Thinking About Your Audience?

Posted on March 23, 2013 by David Grossman

Communication Breakdown

Over the course of my career many leaders have lamented this: “Little I say seems to be resonating!?!?”

Although this can be very frustrating, it certainly does not mean that you should just stop communicating (as I’ve also heard…)

Knowing Your Audience

Problem:

Most likely, the failure to communicate effectively an indicator that you need to take more time to find out what makes your audience tick, and how and when they’re most receptive to information.

Solution:

Think about any questions and concerns they might have that will impede their ability to hear you. By anticipating audience needs and concerns, you can ensure that you shape your message in a way that will resonate with your listeners.

The Real Communications Challenge

As challenging as it can feel to state your thoughts clearly and concisely, the real challenge is shaping those thoughts clearly and concisely for your audience.

Employees (and any audience) want you to appeal to them in terms that speak to them and their needs, often on a personal and emotional level—yes, even if you’re just talking about work.

Especially if you’re talking about work.

When leaders don’t understand their audiences’ needs or perspectives, they make these two common missteps:

  • They mistake any communication for good communication
  • They communicate from their perspective instead of the audience’s

Your Communication Role as a Leader

As a leader it’s your job to use communication to help your audience make the connection between business objectives and their role in helping you meet them. But it’s important to understand that before you can get to the business big picture, you’ll need to address employees’ personal needs first.

At the end of the day, employees want to know “What’s in it for me?”

They might articulate that need in any number of ways:

  • “How does this affect me?”
  • “What does this have to do with me?”
  • “What should I be doing?”
  • “Does anyone care about me?”

The Solution: Know Your Audience

Know your audience and speak to them. There’s real magic in addressing your audience’s needs first. When you do your audience is more likely to trust you, and as a result be more generous, open and receptive to big-picture, strategic communication.

All communication should always be tailored to the specific audience to make them aware of their role in the organizational whole.

That’s what leads to engagement and the discretionary effort all of us want.

Then, you can truly inspire employees to action as only a great leader can by giving them feelings of significance, community, and excitement through your communications.

Specifically as a leader you should:

  • Contextualize organizational information to ensure your team understands how it fits in.
  • Craft information so that it’s relevant to individual employees and teams.
  • Provide job-related information so that individuals and teams can do their jobs effectively.

When it comes right down to it, it doesn’t matter what you say, it’s whether you can make it relevant to your employees.

So, how clear are you about who EXACTLY is your audience? Have you developed the right mindset to serve them in a way that will work with them? Or are you stuck in a place where you seemingly don’t connect well? If you are, what would you do to get to a more effective platform for your audience? I would love to hear you thoughts!

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David Grossman
David Grossman is Founder and CEO of The Grossman Group
He is a much sought-after Consultant, Speaker, and Executive Coach 
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Defeating the Fear Monster! Part 2

Posted on March 19, 2013 by Al Gonzalez

Fear Monster Canyon

In my last article, Defeating the Fear Monster! Part 1, I listed the fears that make up what Jim Haudan, CEO and Founder or Root Inc, calls the Fear Monster. 

In Part 2, I will focus on two specific strategies that managers and supervisors can use to help all employees lead through the never-ending change we face at the workplace.

The strategies are:

 Using Visuals and Establishing a Common Language

As the saying goes, a picture tells a thousand words, so lets start with the visual.

Using Visuals

Take a moment and examine the stories found in “The Canyon” picture above.

As I mentioned in my first article, Root Inc’s ability to develop powerful imagery to simplify complex topics is truly superior.  The image above, called The Canyon, quickly shows why I feel so strongly about the many talents of Jim Haudan and his team of gifted artists.

First and foremost, does the Canyon depict a scary place?

Not only are the symbolic precipices scary, there is a huge tornado coming!

That tornado symbolizes CHANGE;  the main reason Jim accounts to our inability to feel safe at work.  Constant change…

Now let’s take a close look at the middle-manager for a moment.

Fear Monster Middle Manager

Not only is the middle manager about to get swallowed by the tornado, he is getting pulled apart by two forces that are not in alignment!

  • Does this image scare you?
  • Have you ever felt like this at work?
  • Not only have I felt like this for most of my career, many of my employees feel the same way!
  • In terms of feedback, do you think it is easy for a middle manager to explain to senior management that he that he finds himself pulled in two different directions?
  • That seems like a tough message to deliver, don’t you think?
  • Or, is it easier for middle managers to look at a visual like The Canyon when it is being shared by the senior executives and say, “We often feel like this.”

[More on this in the Common Language section of the article below.]

Engineered Brilliance

In his passionate and wise manner, Jim explains that well crafted visuals are:

“elegantly engineered brilliance… The brain gym for systemic thinking.”

Visuals can help us discuss and understand our shared situations.  By using visuals we can simplify context that helps us create a shared meaning with our audience.  In the case of The Canyon, the audience is the workforce.

While Root Inc. is in a class by itself when it comes to developing imagery that can capture the challenges facing an organization, we all can use images to help us find shared meaning with those who work with us.

Some of us may be able to develop graphics, while others can draw on boards, and, of course, there is always the internet, where I found The Canyon and shared it with my staff years ago.

Establishing a Common Language

Do you see some similarities between The Canyon and places where you have worked or your current workplace?

I see so many similarities!

Would it surprise you to know that The Canyon was first published over 20-years ago?

I was truly amazed when Jim told me this!  And the interesting part is – many of the same issues that were going on 20 years ago are still happening in organizations today! I asked Jim if The Canyon was based on one specific company and he explained that he had encountered these issues in company after company, after company.

Thanks to their learning design expertise and visual design skills, Jim and his team have been successful in helping companies develop a common language.   Jim explained that when teams find time to feel that they are in it together, all collaborators and accountable for the success of the organization, they develop partnerships and new standards.

Time after time teams have converted areas of dissatisfaction into shared future collaborations.

Defeating the Fear Monster 

As I mentioned in the example of the middle-manager, it is a lot easier and a lot less scary for all of us to share tough messages when there is a shared meaning.

I was recently involved in a conflict with a  manager whom I have worked with for more than 7 years.   I needed to find a safe way for us to work through the issue, so I emailed him The Canyon graphic and asked if he felt like the middle manager in the illustration.

The strategy worked exactly as I had hoped!

He replied with a smiley and explained that he felt I was the senior manager pulling in one direction and his staff was pulling him in the other.  The stress and tension we had both been feeling was over.  We then met and worked together to solve the issue in a spirit of collaboration.

Before, we were at odds.  He was afraid that I was going to be upset with him and I was afraid to tell him I didn’t know all the answers.

After I sent him the graphic and we met, we partnered and did the best we could do, together.

The visual helped us develop a common language.

We not only used this strategy to help the organization move forward, we were able to maintain our relationship!

Now it’s your turn…

Do you identify with The Canyon? If so, in which area to do find yourself? Were you surprised that Root Inc published the Canyon in 1992? I would love to hear your thoughts!

**********

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——————–
Al Gonzalez
Al Gonzalez is Founding Partner at GIVE Leadership
He helps clients develop trust and leverage the strengths of all team members
Email | LinkedIn |  Twitter | Web

Image Sources: Root Inc.

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Filed under: Authentic Leadership, Future Leadership Issues, Organizational Health, Practical Steps to Influence, Servant Leadership | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

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