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.

New Year’s Resolutions – New or Recycled?

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It’s that time of year when we all tend to make resolutions for ourselves, personally and professionally.  With respect to your organization – are you recycling previous resolutions?  You are if you’re still dealing with problems which have been addressed before but never successfully resolved.  How do you get out of the recycling habit and actually develop and implement new resolutions?

It’s not easy and I’ll be the first one to tell you this.  Been there, done that.  The key to making new resolutions is to be as honest and objective as possible.  If something didn’t go as planned, own up.  Being able to complete a fair and honest assessment of your organization’s performance is a good place to start.  How well did your solutions for difficult or under-achieving employees improve the organization’s performance? If your solutions haven’t made a significant positive impact, it’s time to go back to the drawing board.  Why?  Do you really want to deal with that difficult employee for yet another year?  Do you really want to try to explain the anemic performance level to your stockholders, much less explain it to Aunt Nell?

Let’s try a different approach.  Call in a professional problem solver to help you with the assessment.  This person can be very helpful in identifying the root of the problems and then helping you develop realistic and achievable solutions.  Maybe that should be your one New Year’s resolution and it will certainly be a new one.

So what will it be – new resolution with a realistic chance of working or old recycled resolution known for its failure?  Happy New Year.

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.

Happy Thanksgiving

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I want to wish each of you a blessed and Happy Thanksgiving.  We have much to be grateful for and taking that special moment to reflect on our blessings helps us keep things in proper perspective.  If you all are traveling I wish you safe travels and we’ll chat again after the holiday.

 

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?

Boundaries

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About a month ago a large four-year old red Doberman “pup” joined the household.  I share this with you because of some lessons I’ve had reinforced for me.  Elliot was, until about a month ago,  emotionally neglected.  The basics of food, water, and shelter were met but the emotional connection was missing. To tug on your heart strings, he cried himself to sleep that first night, forlorn sobs reflecting his confusion and his anxiety.  It’s been a  daily task to help him learn the rules and boundaries.  Why put him through this?  Because dogs can completely stress out when boundaries are not clearly stated and enforced.  As he learns what is expected of him Elliot’s behavior is getting much better, his anxiety is lower and life is getting so much easier for him.

Let’s jump to your organizations.  Do you and all your employees know the boundaries?  Are the rules, regulations, policies and procedures of your organization clearly stated?  Does everyone know the consequences of failing to adhere to those boundaries?  Are you consistent in enforcing the boundaries or do some employees get a pass while others have their feet held to the fire?  If the latter scenario is at play is it any wonder that employee morale, loyalty and performance may be much lower than expected. Given that scenario it’s no surprise to me that problems persist and collaborative problem solving may simply exist on paper as a goal to be achieved.  Take a good hard look at your organization – better still have a professional problem solver take that look with you.  Identification of the boundaries will be more accurate, as will the assessment of how well they’re enforced.

Boundaries – they really are that important.

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!

Answer the Challenge!

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I recently began another career development program with Jay Block.  Jay’s knowledge and expertise are world renowned and if you’re interested in learning more about him I encourage you to read some of his works.  Better still, reach out and communicate with him.  Jay doesn’t need me to advance his career – his hard work speaks for itself.  My mentioning the study with him was to showcase the importance I place on continuing my professional and personal development.

How many of you in leadership positions within your organizations have continued your professional and personal development?  Or do you use your work as an excuse for not having the time?  If you’re going to effectively implement the new program of emotional correctness within your organization, how can you truly empathize with those staff members who seek out professional development in an ever changing work environment?  Relying upon your own experience from ten or fifteen years ago will only showcase how out of touch you may be.  How will you support and encourage your staff’s development if you don’t take care of your own?  Experience has taught me that we’re never too old to learn.  And despite our comments to the contrary we’re not so busy that we can’t pay attention to our personal and professional development.  We can expand our knowledge base and even our comfort zones by seeking new information and new perspectives on how we do our work.

So – the challenge has been issued.  Are you up to meeting it?

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.