Courage to Make Decisions
One of the more interesting organizational dynamics that we have witnessed in the past few years is upward delegation. This really has nothing to do with sending your boss a box of your filing that needs to be done or forwarding your overflow email to your manager. Upward delegation is the hesitancy, reluctance and avoidance of making a decision at the appropriate level and rolling it up to the higher organizational level.
As a symptom of a company’s toxicity, this is pretty predictive. When pervasive, this indicates an organization has not supported past decisions, hyper-criticized decisions, not provided positive feedback when decisions were good and not created leaders that are encouraged to make decisions. This bottlenecked approach will lead to dramatically reduced results and extremely poor morale.
Sometimes upward delegation is dressed in the form of “just wanted you to know” or “just wanted to see what you think.” Benign in presentation, these are just labels for “please make the decision for me” and if it goes bad, I can always come back and say that is what you suggested.
Effective leaders have two distinct responsibilities related to decision making. First, when the decision is appropriate for you and your level in the organization; make it. Think about it, review options and make the decision. Support and defend it if necessary but make the decision.
A special note to the over-thinkers in the group. There will never be all of the information needed to make a decision. You will have to utilize courage and select the most comfortable amount of information available to avoid delay and loss of opportunity. Delayed decisions from leaders also contribute to a significant loss in credibility.
A special note to the gunslinger types. Even though the best decision is often your first decision, take a little time and process consequences and outcomes. You don’t have to be the universal expert that has immediate responses to all situations. Take a little time to avoid pitfalls and unintended consequences and gather some information to support your decision.
Every leader has a little bit different tolerance for decision making, the time required for a decision and the information needed for a proper and correct decision. As a rule of thumb, the decision should come with less information than you are comfortable with but more than just your gut reaction. Timing in decision making is important as well. With delay and deferral, your credibility is lost in the eyes of subordinates and peer team members.
The best decision is the right decision. The next best decision is the wrong decision and the worst decision is no decision.
Courage to Stretch
The 110% myth is just that. A myth.
You are not giving 110%. You are probably giving somewhere around 30% to 40% of your capacity both intellectually and in energy.
Self-challenge is one of the more difficult leadership and work related hurdles you will face. Effective leaders are in a constant mode of self-challenge and self-push and gets them close to true capacity. They are looking for ways to accomplish more, produce more and achieve more. They are looking to kill off unproductive and unrelated behaviors that often derail this effort.
The leader that engages in self-challenge will need some courage to defer unproductive behaviors, avoid idle activities and really extend themselves beyond what they think they could produce.
The courage to stretch also has another side related to management of the status quo compared to true leadership. Many people in a leadership position see themselves as caretakers of the system and guardians of the way we do it now. Effective leaders stretch beyond the boundaries of what is occurring today, no matter how successful it might be, and focus on what the organization can become. This requires the courage to constantly ask questions and push the envelope of performance and innovation that is not always popular or welcome.
Courage to Do the Right Thing
A couple of times in each leader’s career they are faced with a choice about doing the right thing or doing the expedient thing. Thankfully, these types of choices only occur infrequently but they do happen.
Often these types of choices involve dealing with team members or how a team member situation is handled. Many times these choices also involve ethical dilemmas.
You are aware that your boss is harassing a new team member in another department. You have seen it and the team member has confided in you that the harassment is occurring but she needs this job and fears retaliation if she says anything. If you report it, you could face retaliation, up to and including the loss of your job. The easy answer is the put the burden on the team member being harassed but the harder answer is for you to stand up and do the right thing. Could there be consequences? Absolutely. Is reporting the harassment the right thing? Equally absolutely.
Betty is a long term team member in the twilight of her career. She is set to retire in a year but has become increasingly sloppy with her punctuality and is tardy two and three times a week. You have coached her and provided corrective feedback but she scoffed at the interaction and openly talks about her tenure with the company and how you really cannot do anything about it. You know that when you send paperwork to human resources, they are not going to let you discipline her formally. Do you write her up or do you just wait out the retirement party? Is there risks associated with attempting to discipline her at this stage in her career? The effective leader does what is right for the company and the team without deference to individual team member comfort or status. Will this require courage on your part? Yes and a healthy dose of stamina as well.
Some principles are going to be more important that your current job. The effective leader faces these obstacles directly and in a courageous and forthright manner.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Monday Mentor-Week 8-Open, Available and Visible
The tone setting competencies of openness, availability and visibility incorporate communication tone, situational responses, timing and physical environment.
Openness describes your approachability as a leader. Are you open to questions, comments and ideas in a one to one environment? Are you dismissive or are you accommodating? Openness is also one of the core service qualities associated with effective leaders. Leaders with a genuine heart for service and care for their team will often be more open and approachable.
The first step in achieving openness is to carefully manage your response to requests for your time. This is much more about your tone you choose rather than the words you use. When interrupted, you need to insure that you do not sound hurried or aggravated. Although the interruption is not the most important thing going on with you, it is the most important thing going on with your team member. Be polite, appreciative of their time and control the urge to hustle them through a response. The hurried or huffing response is a complete openness killer.
Another dynamic of openness is the response to ideas and suggestions. It is extremely important not to be dismissive of any idea, no matter how unrealistic it might be to implement. Thank people for their idea, commit to think about it and encourage them to keep thinking and coming up with ideas. One surefire way to keep ideas from coming to you is to dismiss one in a patronizing manner. One more idea flow killer is to constantly reply in a justifying manner that includes responses that you are aware of it and that you are already working on it. That sends the message that you are all seeing, all knowing and on top of everything and there is no need to share future ideas or suggestions with you.
As a competency, availability is much more physical and logistical than it is attitudinal. Beginning with the work environment, availability is greatly hindered when your desk or workspace is setup in a way that puts your back towards people. Many of your team member will pass by and dismiss any interaction with you because you look busy. With you facing forward, many more people will stop and interact. The long term value of this is the flow of direct and accurate information to you will be much greater and your ability to evaluate the culture and tone for the environment will be much more accurate.
Availability is also about your approachability in informal settings. If you are only seen with a phone in your ear or responding to email on your PDA, your availability is hurt. Another behavior to avoid is the walking in packs syndrome that many manager types embrace. They stroll down the hall in a group of other managers. This will absolutely condemn any approachability from your team. Some of the best interactions and information gathering that you will achieve will be during hallway walks, break periods and other informal settings and you must insure that you appear available during those times.
Some people will misinterpret availability as an opportunity to micromanage. Being available and approachable is not your chance to tell people what to do as much as it is your chance to interact and aid them in finding the correct answers themselves. In another leadership commandment we talk about breeding and not breeding sheep. This will be an important tool set to remember when you improve your availability.
Michael Eisner, the former chairman of the Disney corporation, may have pioneered the programmed and systemic approach to visibility. He calendared a block of time each day to interact with a different area of his company. In some cases, he used more than an hour in this “management by wandering” style. The reason that he performed this ritual was to make sure he was connected to almost all team members in his organization, insure the culture that he visualized was being lived and to improve the accurate flow of information he needed to run the company. His visibility also demonstrated that he was connected to the line level of the operation and that he was in tune with the needs and challenges facing his team members.
No supervisor, manager or executive can lead their area via email or through a spreadsheet. You cannot hide in your office and expect your vision to be realized. You must be the highly visible symbol of everything that you want from your team. They must see you, see your caring and see your engagement for them to be engaged and caring. Over the years we have seen some very stark, and sometimes painful, examples of the difference between the impact of good visible leadership and those environments that only see the leader when something is wrong.
A cautionary note about visibility must be made about the difference between visibility and an inspection tour. Some leaders use the impetus of visibility to note and point out things that are wrong. There are plenty of chances and opportunities for inspections and quality control. When you are working on visibility, you are building relationships, setting the tone, getting to know your team and demonstrating support. After you launch down the path of an inspection tour, you will be amazed at how quickly people will hide from you on future tries to be visible.
From a programmed and systemic perspective, the best way to insure that your visibility remains high is to plan and calendar the activity. No different from any other appointment or calendar entry. Prioritized with the same urgency that you would give any other activity. Some managers, supervisors and leaders will struggle with visibility activities because they do not see it as a productive action. Remember, as a leader, your role is to insure the productivity of others and visibility is an ingredient to their production.
The Great Tone Setting Penalty
As many of you have already figured out, the most difficult challenge associated with all of the tone setting actions is being consistent. Being upbeat every day. Being optimistic, visible and approachable every day. Greeting team members every day. Showing interest, listening and being open every day.
This also leads us to one of the most significant penalties associated with leadership. You don’t get the luxury of having a bad day. We allow our team members to have bad days. We even compromise performance expectations when someone is struggling at home. You don’t get that. Not that you are immune to problems or even feeling ill, you just don’t get to share it with others or intimate you are struggling.
Many leader types come to work no matter what is going on at home or how poorly they feel. One of the most underutilized tools available to a leader is sick time. Compare for a moment the damage you cause by setting a poor tone compared with taking a single sick day to get yourself well. Contrast the poor morale you create when you could take a personal day to get your act together. Stop dragging yourself to work when the long term impact could be significantly bad.
Openness describes your approachability as a leader. Are you open to questions, comments and ideas in a one to one environment? Are you dismissive or are you accommodating? Openness is also one of the core service qualities associated with effective leaders. Leaders with a genuine heart for service and care for their team will often be more open and approachable.
The first step in achieving openness is to carefully manage your response to requests for your time. This is much more about your tone you choose rather than the words you use. When interrupted, you need to insure that you do not sound hurried or aggravated. Although the interruption is not the most important thing going on with you, it is the most important thing going on with your team member. Be polite, appreciative of their time and control the urge to hustle them through a response. The hurried or huffing response is a complete openness killer.
Another dynamic of openness is the response to ideas and suggestions. It is extremely important not to be dismissive of any idea, no matter how unrealistic it might be to implement. Thank people for their idea, commit to think about it and encourage them to keep thinking and coming up with ideas. One surefire way to keep ideas from coming to you is to dismiss one in a patronizing manner. One more idea flow killer is to constantly reply in a justifying manner that includes responses that you are aware of it and that you are already working on it. That sends the message that you are all seeing, all knowing and on top of everything and there is no need to share future ideas or suggestions with you.
As a competency, availability is much more physical and logistical than it is attitudinal. Beginning with the work environment, availability is greatly hindered when your desk or workspace is setup in a way that puts your back towards people. Many of your team member will pass by and dismiss any interaction with you because you look busy. With you facing forward, many more people will stop and interact. The long term value of this is the flow of direct and accurate information to you will be much greater and your ability to evaluate the culture and tone for the environment will be much more accurate.
Availability is also about your approachability in informal settings. If you are only seen with a phone in your ear or responding to email on your PDA, your availability is hurt. Another behavior to avoid is the walking in packs syndrome that many manager types embrace. They stroll down the hall in a group of other managers. This will absolutely condemn any approachability from your team. Some of the best interactions and information gathering that you will achieve will be during hallway walks, break periods and other informal settings and you must insure that you appear available during those times.
Some people will misinterpret availability as an opportunity to micromanage. Being available and approachable is not your chance to tell people what to do as much as it is your chance to interact and aid them in finding the correct answers themselves. In another leadership commandment we talk about breeding and not breeding sheep. This will be an important tool set to remember when you improve your availability.
Michael Eisner, the former chairman of the Disney corporation, may have pioneered the programmed and systemic approach to visibility. He calendared a block of time each day to interact with a different area of his company. In some cases, he used more than an hour in this “management by wandering” style. The reason that he performed this ritual was to make sure he was connected to almost all team members in his organization, insure the culture that he visualized was being lived and to improve the accurate flow of information he needed to run the company. His visibility also demonstrated that he was connected to the line level of the operation and that he was in tune with the needs and challenges facing his team members.
No supervisor, manager or executive can lead their area via email or through a spreadsheet. You cannot hide in your office and expect your vision to be realized. You must be the highly visible symbol of everything that you want from your team. They must see you, see your caring and see your engagement for them to be engaged and caring. Over the years we have seen some very stark, and sometimes painful, examples of the difference between the impact of good visible leadership and those environments that only see the leader when something is wrong.
A cautionary note about visibility must be made about the difference between visibility and an inspection tour. Some leaders use the impetus of visibility to note and point out things that are wrong. There are plenty of chances and opportunities for inspections and quality control. When you are working on visibility, you are building relationships, setting the tone, getting to know your team and demonstrating support. After you launch down the path of an inspection tour, you will be amazed at how quickly people will hide from you on future tries to be visible.
From a programmed and systemic perspective, the best way to insure that your visibility remains high is to plan and calendar the activity. No different from any other appointment or calendar entry. Prioritized with the same urgency that you would give any other activity. Some managers, supervisors and leaders will struggle with visibility activities because they do not see it as a productive action. Remember, as a leader, your role is to insure the productivity of others and visibility is an ingredient to their production.
The Great Tone Setting Penalty
As many of you have already figured out, the most difficult challenge associated with all of the tone setting actions is being consistent. Being upbeat every day. Being optimistic, visible and approachable every day. Greeting team members every day. Showing interest, listening and being open every day.
This also leads us to one of the most significant penalties associated with leadership. You don’t get the luxury of having a bad day. We allow our team members to have bad days. We even compromise performance expectations when someone is struggling at home. You don’t get that. Not that you are immune to problems or even feeling ill, you just don’t get to share it with others or intimate you are struggling.
Many leader types come to work no matter what is going on at home or how poorly they feel. One of the most underutilized tools available to a leader is sick time. Compare for a moment the damage you cause by setting a poor tone compared with taking a single sick day to get yourself well. Contrast the poor morale you create when you could take a personal day to get your act together. Stop dragging yourself to work when the long term impact could be significantly bad.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Leading in 2010-From ASTD
To effectively motivate and lead people as the market recovers over the new year, leaders should focus their efforts on four critical qualities. First is transparency.
Employees are extremely skittish due to growing unemployment, so it is important that leaders be open with employees. A good strategy is to hold town hall-style meetings where employees are encouraged to ask any question, and leaders answer honestly and openly.
Second, it is important to make employees feel appreciated. Let your best employees know just how much they are valued, which will keep them motivated during difficult times. Third, show respect for your employees, their jobs, and their skills.
The days of one-size-fits all jobs and inflexible hours are over. Modern workers want to be treated as individuals, and will stay longer in a job that is designed for his or her unique needs and skills. Fourth, be as honest as possible. As the economy recovers, employees need to know that rewards will return. Having an honest conversation during difficult times will make leaders more credible as conditions improve, provided organizations promise to deliver on their promises of rewards for loyalty and hard work during difficult times.
Read the entire article at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/08/AR2010010803780.html
Employees are extremely skittish due to growing unemployment, so it is important that leaders be open with employees. A good strategy is to hold town hall-style meetings where employees are encouraged to ask any question, and leaders answer honestly and openly.
Second, it is important to make employees feel appreciated. Let your best employees know just how much they are valued, which will keep them motivated during difficult times. Third, show respect for your employees, their jobs, and their skills.
The days of one-size-fits all jobs and inflexible hours are over. Modern workers want to be treated as individuals, and will stay longer in a job that is designed for his or her unique needs and skills. Fourth, be as honest as possible. As the economy recovers, employees need to know that rewards will return. Having an honest conversation during difficult times will make leaders more credible as conditions improve, provided organizations promise to deliver on their promises of rewards for loyalty and hard work during difficult times.
Read the entire article at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/08/AR2010010803780.html
You Can Teach an "Old" Employee New Tricks-From ASTD
At 54, Dan Johns wanted to find his future, and he decided it would be in renewable energy.
He'd spent nine years in the same role as leader of construction and engineering insurance for insurer RSA in Toronto, and was ready for a change. Captivated by the green movement himself, he also saw a niche the company had not yet tapped and felt there was opportunity for both to benefit.
But nobody at the company was approaching him to do anything different - and, he says, "you always have the question they might not think it's worth the investment at my age."
Read the article at: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/you-can-teach-an-old-employee-new-tricks/article1454215/
He'd spent nine years in the same role as leader of construction and engineering insurance for insurer RSA in Toronto, and was ready for a change. Captivated by the green movement himself, he also saw a niche the company had not yet tapped and felt there was opportunity for both to benefit.
But nobody at the company was approaching him to do anything different - and, he says, "you always have the question they might not think it's worth the investment at my age."
Read the article at: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/you-can-teach-an-old-employee-new-tricks/article1454215/
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Monday Mentor-Week 7-The Written Word
You have heard the comments. “I didn’t read the memo.” You have been frustrated by “the procedure was in the manual.” You felt like screaming when someone said “I read it but didn’t get it” or “I started to read it but didn’t get to that part.”
A common frustration among people in leadership positions is that much of what is provided in writing is not understood or misunderstood or ignored entirely. They send the memo or email and nothing changes. They send the memo or email and get fifty back in response. Still nothing changes. Someone accuses you of being mad or upset because of a two line email you sent. Unfortunately, all of this is a reflection of the written communication skills used by leaders.
We must also come to grips with the societal fact that many people in the workplace are reading at a significantly lower comprehension level compared to just ten years ago. Many more people are not native to English but rather to another language. The bottom line is, unless we write well and for the audience intended, much of it will be for naught.
Often described as the elephant in the room that no one can see, written communication skills in leadership is under-valued and frequently used poorly. A leader with overall general good communication habits and skills can lose a great deal of credibility with just one poor email.
Looking back in history for a moment, one of the primary reasons that the causality rate in the American Civil War was so high was the use of 17th and 18th century tactics with technology from the 19th century. Quite simply, they were using conical shaped bullets with rifle bored muskets, capable of accurate shots at well over two hundred yards, and lining up fifty yards from each other in straight lines.
Bringing us back to the present, we are experiencing the same phenomenon related to email and other electronic forms of communication. Twenty-first century technology being used with twentieth century tactics. Email is a great tool. It works well for follow-up, documenting previous conversations or meetings and to contact someone when no other method is available. As a primary communication tool, email is pretty bad and extremely over used.
First, a couple of simple rules about email. If the email is going outside the organization or outside of your circle of close associates, it should have all of the style elements of a standard business letter. That includes the address header, salutation and closing. It should be in block format using black, twelve point Arial or Times New Roman font and a plain white background. No smiley faces or dancing elves at the bottom. The simple point is that your email represents you and your organization and you want it to be professional in appearance.
The second easy rule about an email is to gauge both the urgency and the need to use email rather than the phone or an in-person visit. When you use written communication, you miss the tone and non-verbal elements of richness so the use should be limited to when no other source is available or there is the need to document the communication. Often, people use email as an avoidance to truly interacting with other people and this will lead to misunderstandings and mis-readings of the tone or intent of the email. If you can walk down the hall and talk to someone, do so, rather than sending the email.
One other point about email is learning to use the reply and reply all features. Reply all sends your message to everyone on the original distribution list, including the copy recipients. Reply sends it to the single sender of the original email. Avoid the killing of cyber trees by understanding that basic functionality.
We all assume that our written word is pretty important stuff and a lot of people would be interested in it. The final email comment is about how many people we choose to copy on emails. If you need to demonstrate to someone that you have followed-up on something that they requested, send the copy. If you just think they may be interested or you are trying to cover your posterior, don’t send the copy. There are some relatively current estimates of unnecessary email copies in larger organizations that account for 25% to 30% of total email volume.
Beyond just email, the leader’s word in writing is looked at a little different that a memo or note from anyone else. Many people try to look for hidden meaning. Others will try to look for spelling or grammatical mistakes. Because, after all, as the leader, you should be smarter than that.
When writing a memo, letter or email, the leader must practice the art of tone-setting. This is using the first sentence to thank, appreciate or praise the efforts of the group and can look like “Thanks to all of you, we are making great headway in the current fiscal year” or “I really appreciate all of your contributions and work this month.” This opening line invites any reader to continue and teaches the reader that your notes and emails are not to be feared. When closing a document, the tone-setting should be repeated and can just about be a mirror image of the opening line.
A common pitfall in written communication is the need to be overly wordy. As indicated previously, the best way to improve understanding and clarity is to use less words. This is especially true for written communication. Assume that all readers will tune out your document at about the 45 second mark. Make sure you get to substance and get to it quickly or you will lose understanding. The use of numbered lists or bullet points help this greatly.
The final thought on leadership written communication is the use of both spell and grammar check prior to pressing send or print. One more quality step would be to enlist a peer review prior to distribution. This final piece avoids the embarrassment over the use of their, there or they’re which will pass all spell check features.
It may not seem like much but when the leader commits his or her words to writing, they will live in perpetuity. Make sure those works make sense and reflect well on you and your credibility.
A common frustration among people in leadership positions is that much of what is provided in writing is not understood or misunderstood or ignored entirely. They send the memo or email and nothing changes. They send the memo or email and get fifty back in response. Still nothing changes. Someone accuses you of being mad or upset because of a two line email you sent. Unfortunately, all of this is a reflection of the written communication skills used by leaders.
We must also come to grips with the societal fact that many people in the workplace are reading at a significantly lower comprehension level compared to just ten years ago. Many more people are not native to English but rather to another language. The bottom line is, unless we write well and for the audience intended, much of it will be for naught.
Often described as the elephant in the room that no one can see, written communication skills in leadership is under-valued and frequently used poorly. A leader with overall general good communication habits and skills can lose a great deal of credibility with just one poor email.
Looking back in history for a moment, one of the primary reasons that the causality rate in the American Civil War was so high was the use of 17th and 18th century tactics with technology from the 19th century. Quite simply, they were using conical shaped bullets with rifle bored muskets, capable of accurate shots at well over two hundred yards, and lining up fifty yards from each other in straight lines.
Bringing us back to the present, we are experiencing the same phenomenon related to email and other electronic forms of communication. Twenty-first century technology being used with twentieth century tactics. Email is a great tool. It works well for follow-up, documenting previous conversations or meetings and to contact someone when no other method is available. As a primary communication tool, email is pretty bad and extremely over used.
First, a couple of simple rules about email. If the email is going outside the organization or outside of your circle of close associates, it should have all of the style elements of a standard business letter. That includes the address header, salutation and closing. It should be in block format using black, twelve point Arial or Times New Roman font and a plain white background. No smiley faces or dancing elves at the bottom. The simple point is that your email represents you and your organization and you want it to be professional in appearance.
The second easy rule about an email is to gauge both the urgency and the need to use email rather than the phone or an in-person visit. When you use written communication, you miss the tone and non-verbal elements of richness so the use should be limited to when no other source is available or there is the need to document the communication. Often, people use email as an avoidance to truly interacting with other people and this will lead to misunderstandings and mis-readings of the tone or intent of the email. If you can walk down the hall and talk to someone, do so, rather than sending the email.
One other point about email is learning to use the reply and reply all features. Reply all sends your message to everyone on the original distribution list, including the copy recipients. Reply sends it to the single sender of the original email. Avoid the killing of cyber trees by understanding that basic functionality.
We all assume that our written word is pretty important stuff and a lot of people would be interested in it. The final email comment is about how many people we choose to copy on emails. If you need to demonstrate to someone that you have followed-up on something that they requested, send the copy. If you just think they may be interested or you are trying to cover your posterior, don’t send the copy. There are some relatively current estimates of unnecessary email copies in larger organizations that account for 25% to 30% of total email volume.
Beyond just email, the leader’s word in writing is looked at a little different that a memo or note from anyone else. Many people try to look for hidden meaning. Others will try to look for spelling or grammatical mistakes. Because, after all, as the leader, you should be smarter than that.
When writing a memo, letter or email, the leader must practice the art of tone-setting. This is using the first sentence to thank, appreciate or praise the efforts of the group and can look like “Thanks to all of you, we are making great headway in the current fiscal year” or “I really appreciate all of your contributions and work this month.” This opening line invites any reader to continue and teaches the reader that your notes and emails are not to be feared. When closing a document, the tone-setting should be repeated and can just about be a mirror image of the opening line.
A common pitfall in written communication is the need to be overly wordy. As indicated previously, the best way to improve understanding and clarity is to use less words. This is especially true for written communication. Assume that all readers will tune out your document at about the 45 second mark. Make sure you get to substance and get to it quickly or you will lose understanding. The use of numbered lists or bullet points help this greatly.
The final thought on leadership written communication is the use of both spell and grammar check prior to pressing send or print. One more quality step would be to enlist a peer review prior to distribution. This final piece avoids the embarrassment over the use of their, there or they’re which will pass all spell check features.
It may not seem like much but when the leader commits his or her words to writing, they will live in perpetuity. Make sure those works make sense and reflect well on you and your credibility.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Beware of this ADA Trap in Your Hiring Process
February 5, 2010 by Tim Gould
Supervisors beware: Here’s new evidence of how easy it is to run afoul of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) during the hiring process.
The case involves a temp worker for an Alabama electronics firm who applied for a permanent position with the company
As part of the pre-employment process, the applicant was required to take a drug test. The man suffered from epilepsy, which was controlled through a prescription for barbiturates.
Questionable questions
When his drug test came back positive for the drug, the man was called into his supervisor’s office. The applicant explained he had a doctor’s prescription for the barbiturates. The supervisor later sat in a room as a doctor asked the employee a series of questions about the medication and his condition.
After that discussion, the company canceled its job offer. The man sued, claiming the company violated the ADA during the testing process.
An appeals court agreed. Although employers have the right to ask questions about the results of a failed drug test, they’re prohibited from “targeted disability-related inquiries.” The doctor’s questions – posed in a situation where the supervisor could overhear the responses – violated that prohibition, the judge ruled.
Cite: Harrison v. Benchmark Electronics
Supervisors beware: Here’s new evidence of how easy it is to run afoul of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) during the hiring process.
The case involves a temp worker for an Alabama electronics firm who applied for a permanent position with the company
As part of the pre-employment process, the applicant was required to take a drug test. The man suffered from epilepsy, which was controlled through a prescription for barbiturates.
Questionable questions
When his drug test came back positive for the drug, the man was called into his supervisor’s office. The applicant explained he had a doctor’s prescription for the barbiturates. The supervisor later sat in a room as a doctor asked the employee a series of questions about the medication and his condition.
After that discussion, the company canceled its job offer. The man sued, claiming the company violated the ADA during the testing process.
An appeals court agreed. Although employers have the right to ask questions about the results of a failed drug test, they’re prohibited from “targeted disability-related inquiries.” The doctor’s questions – posed in a situation where the supervisor could overhear the responses – violated that prohibition, the judge ruled.
Cite: Harrison v. Benchmark Electronics
10 Great Questions to Ask to Assess Your Own (and Others') Productivity
As some smart person once said, "There is no such thing as a stupid question - only stupid mistakes." Learn to ask questions before you make a mistake and to help yourself stay productive.
1. When you call someone on the phone or stop by someone's office, ask, "Good time, bad time?" This can become a standard question that you ask - such that people expect it of you and are ready to tell you the truth. This allows them to be more productive and you to be more productive. This question alone is worth more than the price of this article. You could stop reading now.
2. Ask, "When would be a better time?" You can ask this question if the answer to #1 was, "Bad time," or just when you perceive that someone is not quite ready to talk or meet or proceed on a project. Just ask.
3. Query, "Is this the right time for us to talk about this?" You can ask this question of an individual or an entire team. Note: It is also not a bad question to ask at home sometimes.
Read the entire article at: http://ezinearticles.com/?10-Great-Questions-to-Ask-to-Assess-Your-Own-(and-Others)-Productivity&id=3710874
1. When you call someone on the phone or stop by someone's office, ask, "Good time, bad time?" This can become a standard question that you ask - such that people expect it of you and are ready to tell you the truth. This allows them to be more productive and you to be more productive. This question alone is worth more than the price of this article. You could stop reading now.
2. Ask, "When would be a better time?" You can ask this question if the answer to #1 was, "Bad time," or just when you perceive that someone is not quite ready to talk or meet or proceed on a project. Just ask.
3. Query, "Is this the right time for us to talk about this?" You can ask this question of an individual or an entire team. Note: It is also not a bad question to ask at home sometimes.
Read the entire article at: http://ezinearticles.com/?10-Great-Questions-to-Ask-to-Assess-Your-Own-(and-Others)-Productivity&id=3710874
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Linkage Leader: 8 Indicators of an Extraordinary Group
Watch an extraordinary group in action and you will see...
1. Compelling Purpose, inspiring members, stretching them as they make the group's work the
priority.
2. Shared Leadership, demonstrating members' mutual responsibility for initiating toward
group success.
3. Just-Enough-Structure, moving the group forward together without becoming fixed or
burdensome.
4. Full Engagement, showing in everyone's readiness to dive in with focus, enthusiasm, and
passion--often chaotically.
5. Embracing of Differences, resulting in a widened group perspective, creativity, and more
options for action.
6. Unexpected Learning, going beyond the immediate task and useful in other work, groups,
and life.
Read the entire article at: http://www.linkageinc.com/thinking/linkageleader/Documents/Geoff_Bellman_Kathleen_Ryan_Eight_Indicators_of_an_Extraordinary_Group.pdf?CC=TLL10-EM2
1. Compelling Purpose, inspiring members, stretching them as they make the group's work the
priority.
2. Shared Leadership, demonstrating members' mutual responsibility for initiating toward
group success.
3. Just-Enough-Structure, moving the group forward together without becoming fixed or
burdensome.
4. Full Engagement, showing in everyone's readiness to dive in with focus, enthusiasm, and
passion--often chaotically.
5. Embracing of Differences, resulting in a widened group perspective, creativity, and more
options for action.
6. Unexpected Learning, going beyond the immediate task and useful in other work, groups,
and life.
Read the entire article at: http://www.linkageinc.com/thinking/linkageleader/Documents/Geoff_Bellman_Kathleen_Ryan_Eight_Indicators_of_an_Extraordinary_Group.pdf?CC=TLL10-EM2
Employee Engagement is More than Satisfaction-Linkage
Engagement encompasses more than traditional notions of job satisfaction. It consists of an
active commitment to doing the job well and helping the organization achieve its goals and
strategies. Engaged employees take pride in their organization and work; take ownership of
their projects; talk positively about themselves, their employer, and the goods and services they
help deliver; view working for their organization as a career, not just a job; and, above all,
perform better. A growing body of evidence is emerging to show that engagement is one of the
essential levers of individual and organizational productivity and success.
Read the Article/Report: http://www.linkageinc.com/thinking/linkageleader/Documents/Deborah_Schroeder_Saulnier_Employee_Engagement.pdf?CC=TLL10-EM2
active commitment to doing the job well and helping the organization achieve its goals and
strategies. Engaged employees take pride in their organization and work; take ownership of
their projects; talk positively about themselves, their employer, and the goods and services they
help deliver; view working for their organization as a career, not just a job; and, above all,
perform better. A growing body of evidence is emerging to show that engagement is one of the
essential levers of individual and organizational productivity and success.
Read the Article/Report: http://www.linkageinc.com/thinking/linkageleader/Documents/Deborah_Schroeder_Saulnier_Employee_Engagement.pdf?CC=TLL10-EM2
TrainingIndustry.com-What Happens After Training is as Important as the Training
**EXCELLENT ARTICLE AND WHITEPAPER**
A great deal of Learning & Development effort goes into
providing the right training: good content targeting specific
needs; well designed; and delivered in the best possible
way. Quite right too. The problem is that we think it’s all
over once the training is delivered. There is much to do, so
as soon as the training finishes, our attention turns to
making the next programme happen.
The fact is that when training finishes, we have only just
begun the process of converting training into business
benefit (the reason why we do training in the first place).
Think of the process as having three stages:
Stage 1: Good training causes learning to happen.
Stage 2: Learners use what they have learned, their
skills increase and they become more productive.
Stage 3: Greater productivity leads to business benefit.
Stage 2 is pivotal – unless learners use what they learn,
how can any learning convert into business benefit? And
yet this is precisely the point where we usually stop paying
attention, and turn to the next programme.
As we’ll see later, our data shows that a quarter of all
training fails to yield significant performance improvement.
This paper will show you how we arrive at that figure, and
we’ll also show how you can go about reducing it.
Read the report at: http://www.trainingindustry.com/media/2624955/knowledgepool-they%20think%20it%27s%20all%20over.pdf
Or: http://www.trainingindustry.com/training-outsourcing/white-papers/they-think-it%27s-all-over.aspx
A great deal of Learning & Development effort goes into
providing the right training: good content targeting specific
needs; well designed; and delivered in the best possible
way. Quite right too. The problem is that we think it’s all
over once the training is delivered. There is much to do, so
as soon as the training finishes, our attention turns to
making the next programme happen.
The fact is that when training finishes, we have only just
begun the process of converting training into business
benefit (the reason why we do training in the first place).
Think of the process as having three stages:
Stage 1: Good training causes learning to happen.
Stage 2: Learners use what they have learned, their
skills increase and they become more productive.
Stage 3: Greater productivity leads to business benefit.
Stage 2 is pivotal – unless learners use what they learn,
how can any learning convert into business benefit? And
yet this is precisely the point where we usually stop paying
attention, and turn to the next programme.
As we’ll see later, our data shows that a quarter of all
training fails to yield significant performance improvement.
This paper will show you how we arrive at that figure, and
we’ll also show how you can go about reducing it.
Read the report at: http://www.trainingindustry.com/media/2624955/knowledgepool-they%20think%20it%27s%20all%20over.pdf
Or: http://www.trainingindustry.com/training-outsourcing/white-papers/they-think-it%27s-all-over.aspx
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
From Biz Brief: Walt Disney's 8 Secrets to Success
Walt Disney was an innovator and a visionary. But he was also one of the most successful business leaders of his time. Here are eight principles that made Walt Disney one of the greatest icons of the 20th century:
1. Provide a promise, not a product: The legend goes that Walt Disney was sitting on a bench watching his daughters ride a carousel when he came up with the concept for Disney World. He noticed amusement parks and state fairs were always littered and poorly organized, and the employees were generally rude and resentful.His wife once asked, “Why do you want to build an amusement park? They’re so dirty.” To which Walt replied, “That’s the point. Mine won’t be.” From day one, Disney has focused on “the experience” as a key component to increasing the value of its parks.
Read the rest of the article at: http://www.businessbrief.com/walt-disneys-8-secrets-to-success/
1. Provide a promise, not a product: The legend goes that Walt Disney was sitting on a bench watching his daughters ride a carousel when he came up with the concept for Disney World. He noticed amusement parks and state fairs were always littered and poorly organized, and the employees were generally rude and resentful.His wife once asked, “Why do you want to build an amusement park? They’re so dirty.” To which Walt replied, “That’s the point. Mine won’t be.” From day one, Disney has focused on “the experience” as a key component to increasing the value of its parks.
Read the rest of the article at: http://www.businessbrief.com/walt-disneys-8-secrets-to-success/
Friday, February 5, 2010
Monday Mentor-Week 6-Leadership Influence in Turnover and Morale
Turnover and the Role of the Leader
Many organizations have an exit interview process that is usually administered by the human resources function. Almost without fail, the exit interviewer asks why the person is leaving. Almost equally without fail, the exiting team member says something about compensation. Box checked. Exit interview complete. Statistics now tell this organization that turnover is due to compensation issues.
Unfortunately, most organizations are asking the wrong questions in exit interviews. Rather than ask about why someone is leaving, ask why someone started looking for a new job. Why did they put themselves through resume’ updates, interviews and background checks for just a few more disposable dollars per year? It is with this line of questioning that you receive significantly different responses and ones that are more connected to the leadership within an organization.
With the “why were you looking” question, you will tend to hear more about how they were unappreciated by their boss, not connected to the group or never built a relationship with the leader. All of those point directly back to the personal connection of leadership and the impact it has on turnover.
The finance department does not have a turnover problem, it has a leadership problem. There is not a turnover issue in the Pawtucket branch, there is a leadership problem in that location.
Reasonable stability in employment will be a good measure of leadership quality within a working unit. There are some economic factors in play, especially with entry level team members, but this is largely about the leader.
There is an additional extrapolation in this topic. Good people want to work for good leadership. Conversely, poor team members will often tolerate poor leadership. Poor and difficult team members will struggle with good leadership because it challenges them and undermines their power over the working environment.
Morale and the Role of the Leader
Just as with turnover, the personal connection of leadership plays and important part of team morale. The marketing unit does not have a morale problem, there is a leadership failure in the marketing unit.
Just as children will follow the tone lead of their parents, team members will derive their queues for attitude and morale from the work leader. If the work leader is consistently upbeat and in good morale, the team will demonstrate the same. By contrast, if the leader is sullen, unresponsive, abrasive or hidden, that will suck the life out of the team.
The second leading question that we often ask in leadership training programs is if you can motivate someone else. About half to two-thirds of a typical group will respond in the affirmative while the remainder believes that motivation is an individual and personal function. The second group is correct but the example of how to be motivated is provided by the group’s leader. Motivation is personal but the role model is the leader. Motivation is personal but the spark to ignite motivation is often provided by the leader.
In the absence of a high quality, tone setting leader, other voices become stronger. The complainers set the tone. The whiners are the tone makers. The pot-stirrers become powerful. Team morale is not slightly dependent upon the leader, it is wholly dependent upon the leader.
Many organizations have an exit interview process that is usually administered by the human resources function. Almost without fail, the exit interviewer asks why the person is leaving. Almost equally without fail, the exiting team member says something about compensation. Box checked. Exit interview complete. Statistics now tell this organization that turnover is due to compensation issues.
Unfortunately, most organizations are asking the wrong questions in exit interviews. Rather than ask about why someone is leaving, ask why someone started looking for a new job. Why did they put themselves through resume’ updates, interviews and background checks for just a few more disposable dollars per year? It is with this line of questioning that you receive significantly different responses and ones that are more connected to the leadership within an organization.
With the “why were you looking” question, you will tend to hear more about how they were unappreciated by their boss, not connected to the group or never built a relationship with the leader. All of those point directly back to the personal connection of leadership and the impact it has on turnover.
The finance department does not have a turnover problem, it has a leadership problem. There is not a turnover issue in the Pawtucket branch, there is a leadership problem in that location.
Reasonable stability in employment will be a good measure of leadership quality within a working unit. There are some economic factors in play, especially with entry level team members, but this is largely about the leader.
There is an additional extrapolation in this topic. Good people want to work for good leadership. Conversely, poor team members will often tolerate poor leadership. Poor and difficult team members will struggle with good leadership because it challenges them and undermines their power over the working environment.
Morale and the Role of the Leader
Just as with turnover, the personal connection of leadership plays and important part of team morale. The marketing unit does not have a morale problem, there is a leadership failure in the marketing unit.
Just as children will follow the tone lead of their parents, team members will derive their queues for attitude and morale from the work leader. If the work leader is consistently upbeat and in good morale, the team will demonstrate the same. By contrast, if the leader is sullen, unresponsive, abrasive or hidden, that will suck the life out of the team.
The second leading question that we often ask in leadership training programs is if you can motivate someone else. About half to two-thirds of a typical group will respond in the affirmative while the remainder believes that motivation is an individual and personal function. The second group is correct but the example of how to be motivated is provided by the group’s leader. Motivation is personal but the role model is the leader. Motivation is personal but the spark to ignite motivation is often provided by the leader.
In the absence of a high quality, tone setting leader, other voices become stronger. The complainers set the tone. The whiners are the tone makers. The pot-stirrers become powerful. Team morale is not slightly dependent upon the leader, it is wholly dependent upon the leader.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Overcoming Cynicism, Misconceptions, and Apathy about Employee Engagement
Written by: Leigh Branham and published with permission by Canadian Management Centre
Will the new decade bring new hope or just more cynicism to the business world? You may have seen this recent Dilbert cartoon, printed last month in the winter of our recessionary discontent:
Dilbert's Boss: "We need more of what the management experts call employee engagement. I don't know the details, but it has something to do with you idiots working harder for the same pay."Dilbert: "Is anything different on your end?"Dilbert's Boss: "I think I'm supposed to be happier."
The cartoon was an instant classic. Unfortunately, it captured the deep employee cynicism about the most highly misunderstood business buzzword of the decade just ended. As the cartoon suggests, many employers have earned the cynicism by invoking the term "employee engagement" to mean "doing more with less"-aburden to be borne by employees. Consider the following recent survey reports:
Seventy-two percent of companies have reduced their workforces in response to the recession, according to Towers Perrin
The number of actively disengaged workers increased from 3 percent to 24 percent in organizations that have laid off employees, Gallup researchers found Watson Wyatt's Employee Engagement Index declined 9 percent for all employees from 2008 to 2009. More importantly, among top-performing employees, engagement dropped a much steeper 23 percent.
Read the entire article: http://www.trainingindustry.com/training-outsourcing/articles/overcoming-cynicism.aspx
Will the new decade bring new hope or just more cynicism to the business world? You may have seen this recent Dilbert cartoon, printed last month in the winter of our recessionary discontent:
Dilbert's Boss: "We need more of what the management experts call employee engagement. I don't know the details, but it has something to do with you idiots working harder for the same pay."Dilbert: "Is anything different on your end?"Dilbert's Boss: "I think I'm supposed to be happier."
The cartoon was an instant classic. Unfortunately, it captured the deep employee cynicism about the most highly misunderstood business buzzword of the decade just ended. As the cartoon suggests, many employers have earned the cynicism by invoking the term "employee engagement" to mean "doing more with less"-aburden to be borne by employees. Consider the following recent survey reports:
Seventy-two percent of companies have reduced their workforces in response to the recession, according to Towers Perrin
The number of actively disengaged workers increased from 3 percent to 24 percent in organizations that have laid off employees, Gallup researchers found Watson Wyatt's Employee Engagement Index declined 9 percent for all employees from 2008 to 2009. More importantly, among top-performing employees, engagement dropped a much steeper 23 percent.
Read the entire article: http://www.trainingindustry.com/training-outsourcing/articles/overcoming-cynicism.aspx
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