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March 23, 2009

Key Leadership and Management Messages

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , — Admin @ 8:45 am

What are you saying and who are you saying it to?

Remember that, in a void, employees will fill in the blanks with meaning and interpretation typically much worse than the truth! They will MSU (make stuff up). We are all quite good at it; interpreting body language, tone and inflection and often jumping straight to conclusions based in very little data! Right now, all of us are surrounded by negative messages. They dominate the news, breakroom conversations and radio waves. Almost everyone has a friend, family member or neighbor who has been laid off or will be soon. It is critical leaders over communicate and constantly state where you are going and why you can still win.

Employee ponderings are likely to include:

  • Is leadership clued in to what is going on?
  • Is the company responding quickly enough or will we be the next one to fall apart?
  • Is my project still important?
  • Am I still important?

Whether you are directly hearing these things are not, it is highly likely they are common thought bubbles among employees. Quite simply, almost everyone is at least a little worried about their job these days (according to a recent workplace poll by Gallup of US workers, more than 80% of all employees are ‘deeply concerned about the success of their organization’). This is a dramatic increase from one year ago when numbers averaged in the 20% range!

Remember, as leaders, we have been in countless meetings looking at the current environment and exploring how and why we can still win in the future. However, employees have not been privy to these conversations. They do, however, see messages and are impacted by cuts in travel and other expense reductions. They hear stories, typically with little data to back them up, about competition and what is going on in the market. After living in tough times for several months (and even longer for some organizations and industries) and with employees already feeling a bit worn down, it is more important than ever to over communicate!

Setting the stage and leadership responsibility:
What are the key messages you should communicate right now and what do you want all managers communicating throughout the organization? How can you keep this in front of managers and employees?

  • What are the significant forces at play in our markets?
  • How is our company positioned to win?
  • What is leadership concerned about AND addressing?
  • What is staying the same despite all these changes?
  • What are the top three most important business priorities for the next 3 months? …next 6 months?
  • What are some personal feelings about the current situation (what does it mean to leaders to navigate through this with a strong team, how are individual leaders keeping themselves focused, etc.)?

Following is a template to assist you in communicating effectively:

  • Develop the story
    • What has happened
      • honest and candid, providing as much information as possible (remember that employees will always fill in the blanks with negative stories so give as much detail as possible while focusing on the positive)
    • What’s next
      • where the organization needs to go & why
        • business justification
        • customer needs
        • industry demands/trends
        • internal efficiencies
        • what will it look like when we get there (as best as you can tell today)
      • what are the advantages/benefits of getting there
      • address implementation specifics for any changes
        • timing
        • how people will be kept informed throughout the process
        • employee responsibilities
          • employee next steps and “to do’s”
          • describe the support (e.g. people, technology, assistance) that will be provided
    • What it means to me
      • speak to both what it means to the leader(s) as well as what it means to each audience member
      • identify key things that will not be changing (what could provide a sense of stability, continuity, and identity to the group?)

You cannot communicate too much in tough times and there is little that is more important. Take the time each month to develop your message and make sure it gets shared throughout your organization.

March 17, 2009

Leading Effectively In Uncertainty

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , — Admin @ 9:39 am

Tips for being aware, asking the right questions, and making timely decisions

One of the few commonalities of almost every article, study or book about leadership is an agreement that self awareness is critical to be a great leader. Today, more than ever, it is important to understand what is driving you – what is influencing your behaviors, your decisions, the data you gather and the choices you make? What mental models, assumptions and beliefs do you have about the world, the economy, your company, your competitors, your employees, etc?

Following are a few questions to ask yourself to indicate how you are performing as a leader in tough and uncertain times:

  • Are you delaying important decisions?
    • There is nothing worse for employees than uncertainty right now. Make tough decisions even if you don’t have all the data you would like to have. You can almost always change them later, but not making them causes tremendous anxiety and a real lack of focus in your organization, draining energy and productivity.
  • Are you spending too much time in your office, avoiding communicating?
    • Even if you don’t have all the answers and there are things you cannot communicate, talk about what you can. Tell employees as much as you can – the good and the not so good. They are making up much worse in the breakroom, so fill in the blanks with more accurate information.
  • Are you ignoring the input and insight of the market, competitors, customers, employees, others?
    • Those closest to the customer often know the most about what you should and could change quickly to retain customers, market share, etc. Ask them! And if ideas are offered, even those that seem like a stretch, consider them seriously.
  • Have you considered multiple ways of winning?
    • If you are still trying to do the same things you were six or seven months ago, wake up and smell the burnt coffee. Things have changed and you must adapt your strategies and actions to adapt to the new realities.

Following are a few tips for continuing to be a great leader in tough and uncertain times:

  • Spend time evaluating what is and what isn’t possible.
    • Take stock of what you do know about your industry and the economic climate. Be cautious to check your understanding – just because you knew it a year ago, does not mean it is still accurate. Invest in getting better business intelligence right now. It will serve you well.
    • Do scenario planning to expand your brain’s ability to see multiple alternatives and course of action. Ask yourself and others “What if…?” You’ll be amazed at what people can come up with if you give them a target and then ask questions to help them see it and believe it is possible.
    • Examining and considering multiple possibilities will help you be prepared to take action if an opportunity presents itself.
  • Prioritize so that you and others remain focused on the right things.
    • Once you have reset your strategies and tactics, make sure everyone in your organization knows what they are. Most people are working incredibly hard today. The problem is, some are working on the wrong things – projects and initiatives that are now unimportant or less important to success. But no one told them! Constantly communicate priorities and the ‘why’ behind them.
  • Deepen customer relationships.
    • Make sure you have a senior executive assigned to connect with significant customers on a regular basis. Customers are making tough decisions on where to spend limited dollars, so make sure your name is front and center because you have built a good relationship.
  • Work on building as much resilience in your organization as possible.
    • Things are changing at a pace that is almost impossible for us to absorb and assimilate. Resilient organizations are focused, proactive, positive, flexible and organized. Don’t assume your employees can constantly adapt to all that is going on. Make it one of your areas of focus and invest the energy to build the capability to deal with the accelerating pace of change.
  • Examine everything!
    • Just because something served the organization well a year ago, does not mean it is the best approach today. Pause and consider all the things that are ‘set in stone’ and consider changing them to adapt to the current environment.

Someone will win. Will it be you and your organization?

March 9, 2009

Trust

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — Admin @ 9:24 am

What creates it & how do you maintain it today?

Trust is the state of readiness for unguarded interaction with someone or something. Trust is built and maintained by many small actions over time. Trust is telling the truth, even when it is difficult, and being honest, authentic, and reliable in your dealings with customers and employees. Trust exists on many levels in an organization: with the direct manager, with the leadership, with the team and with the company.

Individuals must have a capacity for trust based on his/her experiences (with the current manager and company as well as with previous employers). The experiences we each have develop or diminish the capacity and willingness to risk trusting others. In the current business environment, there is a continuing decline of trust in companies and leadership overall. Employees watch the news, hear stories and wonder constantly if “it” (being laid off, denied a promotion or raise, having their project stopped, shutting down the company, etc.) is going to happen to them.

Individuals must perceive and believe in the ability of others they work with to perform competently at whatever is needed. During tough times, this belief in others tends to erode especially when communications are lacking concerning how changes impact the organization and success. Couple that with the increasing amount of communication about all the problems in the economy and you quickly have a lopsided equation with the negative far outweighing the positive. Employees are deeply concerned about who is going to be the next company or ‘leader’ exposed in some sort of scandal or unethical behavior.

Lastly, but incredibly important to trust, is a belief that the actions, words, direction, mission, and/or decisions are motivated by mutually-serving rather than self-serving motives. Employees have to know you care about them and are considering their best interests as well as the company’s. During tough times, there is an even greater likelihood that employees will fill in the blanks with negative intentions if they are not getting constant communication about what is going on, how the company will still win and what is in it for them to stay, work hard and remain productive. In almost every breakroom around the country today, employees are wondering how some leaders and senior managers are asking for and getting multi-million dollar bonuses as they are laying off employees and their businesses are failing by every measure. What kind of beliefs does an individual have to justify that sort of behavior and why would you expect that they will ever consider your interests?

There are critical leadership & management behaviors to build and grow trust in today’s environment:

Read the whole post here

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