Communication

Can your organization survive an all out PC attack?

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Do the actions of the political correctness (“PC”) movement gone wild bother you?  They should.  The attacks taking place by the small but vocal minority of intellectual tyrants should grab the attention of every CEO in the country.  This movement is not about to stop with institutions of higher learning and our organizations could be next.  Can we survive?

I am a strong advocate of emotional correctness.  This is a philosophy which advocates that people treat one another with civility and respect, even when they disagree with a position, policy or statement.  Political correctness advocates that everyone is entitled to an opinion, so long as it agrees with the opinion held by the vocal minority.  Nothing suggests that when the PC  supporters encounter a different viewpoint that they have to be respectful of others or even civil.  On the contrary – shouting expletives seems to be the usual response.

On the other hand, emotional correctness is founded upon the belief that all people have value and are entitled to form their own opinions, whether they agree with ours or not.  As the leaders of our organizations, insuring that our organizational culture fosters and advances emotional correctness can be an effective first line of defense against PC assaults.  If allegations of harassment are made we have a responsibility to report that behavior to the proper authorities.  If the facts support a prosecution, we must support the actions by law enforcement and the courts.  If the facts do not support a prosecution our organizations must take steps to insure the situation is fully discussed and addressed.  Now is not the time to take the ostrich position.  Become proactive, implement emotional correctness within our organizational cultures and be prepared for the PC assault which may be heading our way.

My Goodness!

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Recently, I watched a news conference and witnessed something I never thought I would see in a chief executive – an exquisite non-verbal temper tantrum worthy of a two year old.  Now you know that seeing such behavior got me to thinking.  Are we aware of the non-verbal messages we send?

Any leadership or management class will teach us about the importance of attending to the non-verbal cues in any communication.  The various communication theories tell us that the majority of our interpersonal communication is non-verbal.  Are we cognizant of the non-verbal messages we send?  When a colleague is speaking do we glance at our watch, perhaps more than once?  What message did we just send?  When we are involved in conflict management, do we listen to opposing opinions with arms crossed?  If we make eye contact are we doing so in an aggressive manner, daring the individual to continue to publicly disagree with us?  Do we get aggressive in our stances, invade the other individual’s personal space?  Do we engage in non-verbal tantrums to let people know we are displeased?  Are we aware of what we are doing?

Here is a key point.  I do not know about you but I want my colleagues to disagree with me.  Their viewpoints and perspectives are critical to keeping me focused on our goal – resolve the problem in the best possible manner.  I am not diminished because someone has the temerity to disagree with me or point out where my approach might need some improvement.  I think we all improve our decision making when our staffs and colleagues provide honest assessments of those decisions.  I work hard to create a work environment where people provide constructive criticism.  The end result makes us all look good – an effective, realistic resolution to a difficult problem.

Our Fresh Approach!

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Several weeks ago we noted that change was coming to Problem Solving Consultants. We’re pleased to now share our fresh approach.

We are now affiliated with the Jay Block Companies, LLC.  As many of you know, Jay is renowned in the world of résumé writing and career counseling, as well as his work in motivation and empowerment.  After working with Jay in achieving my certification as an empowerment and motivational coach, he and I continued our conversations.  Last year Jay offered us an opportunity to help bring job search techniques and résumé writing into the 21st century reality that is the global job market.  Since Angela and I both teach at the college level, we think our affiliation with Jay will help us prepare our students for the reality of their job search in today’s market, as well as preparing them for the changes to come.  We will be utilizing Jay’s most recent program, set out in his bestseller, “5 Steps to Rapid Employment.”

Problem Solving Consultants has received accreditation by the Better Business Bureau in Arizona.  We are very pleased with this recognition as we have worked hard to establish ourselves as ethical professionals and consultants.

Finally, and most exciting to us, we are adding a new service.  Angela Buer is a recognized expert with the online presentation format of PREZI and both Angela and I are very experienced at developing training and teaching materials, especially materials used in conjunction with that format.  Our new service will be made available to organizations seeking to update and refresh their training materials and/or change their current presentation format to PREZI.  We are also very experienced in the development of workshops for presenting new materials and training others to make such presentations.  We are looking forward to providing this new service to corporations, businesses and other organizations, both large and small.

We are very excited about the positive changes we have implemented.  We look forward to working with you when our services can be of use.

Change or Chaos?

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Implementing change, even in the best of times, can be problematic and frustrating. If you want a real life example, did you see Tiger Woods’ less than stellar performance at this year’s Phoenix Open?  It raised a question in my mind – why would one of the best golfers in history seek out advice from recent swing coaches who, in my assessment, apparently rely heavily upon reading books and observing others?  Isn’t that like going to an elephant trainer to learn how to ride a horse?  Obviously Tiger has chaos, not change.

As the leader of your organization, do you want to do something better than Tiger?  Successful implementation of change means involving key players in the development of your implementation plan.  Would it surprise you to learn that your key players may not be the people you think of first?  Your key players are those folks who know their jobs better than anyone else in your organization and can talk easily to you about those jobs.  They constantly seek out opportunities to improve their skills, expand their knowledge, and share that with the team.   They have an inherent desire to excel and to give the organization their best every day. Identify those folks, engage them in a dialog (you ask questions and then actively listen to their responses) and task them with developing a realistic plan to implement the changes needed.  I think you’ll be pleased with how smoothly that whole process goes.

Oh, and a note to Tiger – drop the swing coaches and go talk to  the legends in golf like Arnie, Jack, Tom Watson, Greg Norman, Gary Player and others who have proven their greatness. You’ll gain more from a session or two with these stellar players than from all the folks you’ve hired recently.

Silence is Golden

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Have you ever watched a public figure say something in an interview that leaves you yelling at the TV?  I had just such a moment recently while watching Howard Dean.  His commentary on all those who had gone to see “American Sniper” had me recalling a piece of advice given me long ago – ’tis better to be quiet and only thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt.  That piece of advice is good in any venue.  Despite the old nursery rhyme about sticks and stones, words spoken in haste or used to demean or hurt create significant harm and carry long lasting effects.

As the leader of your organization do you have the reputation for speaking before thinking? Do you pride yourself on speaking your mind,  not afraid, according to you, to “tell it like it is?” Let me ask a few questions.  How helpful has your approach been in correctly identifying the root cause of problems within your organization? Is your staff confident enough to give you honest and accurate assessments – or afraid to speak up for fear of being verbally cut to shreds, usually in as public a setting as you can arrange so as to reinforce your reputation for blunt talk? Do you take pride in that reputation, often doing so without full information? When the information you should have considered shows you’re on the wrong side of the issue, is that when you remain silent?

Silence is golden, especially when we take time to think before we speak.  Before making a decision, listen actively to your staff and trust them to do their jobs.  Let your organization know your decision by speaking quietly, respectfully, and candidly so as to do no more harm.

Business Leaders Needed

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Our nation has been dealing with some hot button topics of late, with increasingly violent rhetoric unchecked and tragic consequences occurring.  Our concern is to find an appropriate forum where reasonable adults can come together and FINALLY engage in collaborative problem solving.  My challenge to today’s organization and business leaders – are you up to the task?

Why do I challenge you?  Logic tells us that organizations and businesses cannot thrive in communities where the physical safety of individuals and businesses is in jeopardy.

How can you contribute to a reasonable goal directed dialog?  First, business leaders can be good role models of active listening.  As we’ve discussed via this blog, name calling and finger pointing are useless when it comes to correctly identifying the root cause of a problem.

Second, business leaders can serve as voices of moderation.  Problem solving cannot take place when people refuse to engage in effective communication.  Creating opportunities within your organizations where diversity of opinion can be heard and respected will have far reaching effects.  The people involved will talk about how they were able to express themselves, be heard, and be respected.  Modeling emotional correctness does good things for all involved.

Many will simply note that you’re only engaging in this conduct because you want to increase your bottom line.  True, but your bottom line can’t and won’t improve unless the toxic atmosphere in this country is addressed.  Engaging in reasonable conversation will improve your ability to resolve issues responsibly.  Tell me what business won’t benefit from more reasoned dialog on a local, national, and global level?

For the naysayers – my question to them would be why are they continuing to be part of the problem rather than the solution?

Business leaders – are you up to the challenge?

Seriously?

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I’ve watched the recent events in Ferguson and all the talking heads both in Ferguson, Washington DC and elsewhere.  I’ve listened carefully to the major points of both sides of the issue.   Seriously, folks?  With all the name calling and political correctness are we any closer to getting to the heart of the problem?  Are we any closer to a realistic and acceptable resolution?   Unbelievable.  Names and bad intent have been attributed to individuals on opposing sides and no one – and I mean no one – is taking a moment to consider how best to engage in collaborative problem solving. I don’t see any progress toward civil dialog and cooperative efforts.   But all is not lost – we have yet another teachable moment.

When a persistent problem continues to simmer, periodically rearing its ugly head, that’s a good indication that the solutions tried to date haven’t addressed the issue.  Such problems persist because the folks involved are unable or unwilling to recognize and address the underlying issues.  Unless those issues are effectively dealt with the problem will persist.  How many of you can really afford to continue to spend resources and time re-inventing the wheel?  Don’t you have better things to do? Do you really want your legacy to be the unsatisfactory record of addressing symptoms of problems but never the true cause?

Effective leaders will take all the needed steps, including bringing in problem solving consultants, to insure that the true cause of the issue at hand is identified and realistic solutions developed and implemented.  Failing to recognize the importance of engaging in collaborative problem solving with the help of a consultant can result in less than satisfactory solutions, reduced productivity and lowered job satisfaction.  Re-inventing the wheel does nothing to improve your bottom line.

Too Many Cooks

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Have you ever participated in a decision making process where virtually everyone had an opinion and far too many had a personal agenda?  Oftentimes such situations reveal the following:  There are just too many “cooks” involved.
(For this blog, let’s envision the collaborative problem solving process as a recipe meant to be implemented by various “cooks” or individuals within your organization.)
First, we have those cooks who go along with the leader or majority, even knowing there’s something wrong with the soup recipe.  They care nothing about the final product but simply go along to avoid having to make a decision.
Second, we have cooks who are bound and determined to disagree with anything proposed by either the leader or the majority.  This group works hard to make sure there’s no consensus on the recipe.  They have an agenda and don’t care one bit about the outcome so long as they can remain on center stage.
Finally, there is the group of cooks who approach the decision making process with a collaborative problem solving perspective.  These are the folks who engage in active listening and willingly participate in the entire process, keeping their focus on the concept that any goal can be achieved so long as it doesn’t matter who gets the credit.  This group finds common ground and builds on that, producing a final product that is a realistic solution to the problem or they produce a sound, effective decision.
As the leader of your organization how do you insure which group of “cooks” you have helping you resolve problems and implement decisions?  How good are you at identifying those “cooks” who won’t spoil the soup?

Technology is my friend!

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For the past three days I have participated in a faculty meeting via the Internet which enabled us to connect with faculty from all over with the University of Phoenix.  It brought out a whole lot of good conversation and ideas on how to resolve common issues.  What was so exciting about the meeting was that we could jump in and out as our schedules allowed and stay up with the conversations and dialog.

Here’s another challenge – how well are you using technology to advance your leadership and effective management of your organization?  We all know that smartphones and tablets are all the rage and Lord help us all if those devices are lost, quit working, or just go haywire.  But can we all say that we’re effectively using the technology to promote an effective and dynamic communication channel for our employees?  Have you thought of using such a forum to begin the process of problem solving?  What would you think of using an Internet forum to let your employees voice their concerns over the implementation of a new program?  The postings won’t be anonymous – everyone has to join the group and names are tied to each posting.  Think of it like this – can technology be helpful in promoting the all important first step of effective brainstorming in a time and manner that allows your employees to engage in the process more fully?  How much more willing will they be to engage in this forum rather than a formal staff meeting with management reps that really don’t want to listen and line staff that really don’t want to talk.  Is there something about posting on a group forum that seems to free us from these constraints?  Is it worth the try?  After all, technology really is our friend.  Let me know how it goes!

Emotional Correctness

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Effective problem solving is an essential tool to help insure the success of any organization.  In the past decade or so many organizations have surrendered to the social pressure of implementing political correctness into the organizational culture.  I suggest that rather than help solve problems PC has stifled constructive dialog and collaborative problem solving.  PC advocates have basically shut down any differing viewpoint. This has eliminated any real chance to find common ground where the parties can begin to work toward finding long term solutions.

I propose that leaders implement a new approach – emotional correctness.  What is emotional correctness?  We all have learned it by another name – the Golden Rule.  Treat others as you would like to be treated.  No fancy titles, no fancy outcomes.  By providing your employees with opportunities to get to know one another and modeling the same behavior, you set the stage where dialog and collaboration are valued.  It’s very difficult to be a negative influence when all around you are showing respect and decency to one another.  Emotional correctness (“EC”) encourages collaborative problem solving because we start from a point of common ground and a point where manners and respect are valued.  Treating one another with respect encourages brainstorming and realistic evaluation of the various selected alternatives.  Why?  Because it encourages people to treat others as if they have value.  With EC in place, the focus remains on the issue, situation or behavior, not the individual.

So, by whatever name we call it – EC, the Golden Rule, mutual respect, or whatever, let’s give this approach another try.  Let’s see if we can return to an atmosphere of problem solving which focuses on the issues rather than allowing PC attacks on those who dare to have an original thought or idea.