A New Year – A New Opportunity

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It’s a new year and we’ve all had a little time to adjust to writing “2014” on those important documents.  With the new year comes the opportunity to take a fresh look at how we are responding to the problems and issues that occur within our organizations.

This is not an encouragement to make a New Year’s Resolution – most of those only last the first week.  Rather, this is encouragement to take a fresh look at how you identify and resolve problems.  If in the last year you realized that your usual approach wasn’t working, now is a great time to assess your problem solving skills, emphasize the ones that are working and seek out help to improve those that were less productive than you wanted or knew.  Why not also make the decision to call in individuals who have experience with problem solving to help?  Such a decision is not an admission of failure.  It is a testament to your willingness to learn and to grow in your position and a testament to your commitment to seeing your staff and your organization succeed.  Let’s chat!

A surprising finding

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(Thought I would share a recent posting to our Facebook page  – Check us out on Facebook under Problem Solving Consultants.)

I was recently asked to serve as a subject matter expert in the development of a course on critical and creative thinking in criminal justice.  At first I had a doubt about whether I could complete my end of the bargain on time.  I’m finding a couple of things – the most important is that I’m working with two very gifted and professional curriculum developers (I don’t think that’s their real title but it does describe what they do) who work very nicely with me as my mind takes some strange turns, especially when it comes to the creative thinking!  The second is a bit of a surprise – I’m actually enjoying the pressure of a quick deadline.  Why is that?  I think it’s because it’s pressure of my own choosing.  I could have turned down the request, citing time management issues involving the course I was teaching and various projects I have going on right now.  But I chose not to and I’m having a really good time with this.  Best of all – I’m refreshing some learning and gaining new insights and information on topics I’ve known for quite some time.

The purpose of sharing this is to open your thinking to the concept that not all pressure is bad and stretching yourself by not staying in a professional rut can be enlightening and refreshing.  Is it time for you to get out of your office and take on a new project that challenges your thinking, your skills and your creativity?

Can it get any worse?

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Aunt Nell was furious with you.  Over the objections of the board you went ahead and commissioned a new program to implement political correctness.  After spending almost half a million dollars on your plan, the new employee job satisfaction surveys have come in.  Good Lord!  Aunt Nell pointed out that despite the money spent productivity is no higher and surprisingly, employee satisfaction is flat in some areas and down significantly in others.   “All you’ve done is introduce our employees to tyranny cloaked in the appearance of manners,” she pointed out.  When you stated that we’re now in the 21st century and political correctness was the dominant approach, meaning the company had to consider the feelings of people, she slammed her hand on your desk.  “You’ve forgotten our history,” she said in a frosty tone of voice.  “You’ve just told me that treating people with dignity and respect is obsolete.  When your grandparents started this company people were hired on the basis of their qualifications.  We didn’t care about their race, sex, color or creed and we still don’t.  We don’t even care what they do in the privacy of their own homes as long as it’s not illegal.  What matters is that we created and maintain a business where people feel valued for their contributions.  You’ve created an atmosphere where people can’t even talk with one another about issues or behaviors, for fear of being labeled a racist, bigot, sexist or whatever.”  She got up to leave.  “Since when have the demands of a vocal tyrannical minority been more important than treating everyone with dignity and respect?  All of our employees matter, not just those who want to promote their own agenda.  Give me one concrete example where your political correctness has built a cooperative sense of belonging to a team that truly values you as an individual.  You need to take a good hard look at what you’ve done to this company. More importantly, take a hard look at the message you’ve sent our employees. You don’t listen to what our employees have to say.  Instead, you hide behind some fad set of policies. You think I’m a meddler because I frequently visit with our employees.  What’s the name of the foreman in our Branch #2?  How’s his wife doing after her surgery?”  Aunt Nell walked to the door.  “We don’t need your political correctness.  We need to continue to treasure our employees because at the end of the day, they’re the foundation of our success.”

Thank You

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Monday is November 11, Veteran’s Day.  I want to take a moment to thank all our nation’s veterans and their families, young, old and in-between.    Thanks to those who served in combat and those who supported them.  Without your dedication and willingness to make the supreme sacrifice, our nation would not be what it is today.  I hope and pray that our nation continues to be deserving of such service from a new generation of American men and women – committed to defending our freedoms and making us better for it.

Is this any way to start a Monday?

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Like Mondays aren’t bad enough.   Think about starting your Monday out at the car dealership because  of car problems.   Not the way to start any day, especially the one day that can set the tone for your entire week.  Does that have to be the case?

Like many mechanical issues the car will be fixed in reasonable time.  Today’s technology insures that you’re in full communication with your office.  Just because things started out badly why let that dictate what the rest of your day or even your week will be like?  After that first moment (or three) of frustration didn’t you set a new course to deal effectively with this unforeseen event, thus reasserting control?  Now that you’ve righted the ship why keep wallowing in the frustration?  I don’t know about you all but staying in a frustrated state isn’t high on my list of favorite things.  I’d rather deal with the source of the frustration in a constructive way.

How do you approach unforeseen problems within your organization?  Do you allow the frustration to dictate your response to the situation and your dealings with others?  I know firsthand how hard it can be to not let your frustration creep into your conversations, meetings or dealings with personnel issues.  But as the head of your organization you have to work just a bit harder to model the behavior of focusing on the issue.  Does snapping your assistant’s head off make things better?  Really?  Is it his/her fault your car wasn’t running this morning?

As if things weren’t difficult enough your assistant just informed you that Aunt Nell’s on her way to your office.  Relax.  This will pass.  Put on a smile and keep Aunt Nell guessing. Give me a call later and we’ll chat.

A Teachable Moment

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Like many of you I have been watching with increasing frustration the daily debacle coming from Washington.  Rather than just fume I’ve decided to try to turn this into a teachable moment.  I’m not going to play the blame game – there’s more than enough blame to cover the professional politicians involved in this mess.  Instead, let’s look at this in terms of compromise and consensus.

Compromise is a term often used to characterize negotiations.  “Everyone has to compromise” is the phrase often heard, usually an instruction from the party in power to the weaker party, right?  How many of you have been involved in negotiations where demands were made on you to give up something in order for you to gain something?  Here’s the problem.  If what you have to give up has a greater perceived value than what you receive how willing are you to compromise?  Compromise works best when mature adults engage in a balancing act where the guiding principle is fairness, not getting one over on someone.

Consensus is defined as achieving general agreement through harmony.  The starting point is the focus on the issue or situation,  usually accompanied by an objective identification of the problems.  When engaged in trying to find a general agreement mature adults use creative and critical thinking skills.   Again, the guiding principle is fairness.  The parties involved in consensus are not asked to give up anything in order to gain something in return.  Consensus works best when the communication stays open and fair.   Ultimately what results generally treats the staff fairly.  Isn’t it an accepted business practice that if you do right by the people who work for you they will do right by the organization?

So which approach works best for you?

Calm in the Storm

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Does it seem like every day brings with it new uncertainty and chaos to business rules and regulations? How can any leader feel like they have total control over what the future brings for their organization? I can well imagine how the confusion coming out of Washington these days is adding to the anxiety and concern. How do you stay calm in the midst of all this chaos? Do you get the feeling that you’re a very small rowboat in an unsettled ocean and the storm clouds continue to build?
One way to try to stay calm is literally take a deep breath or a short walk. Then take the time to sit with your senior staff and go over all the new things that you are or will be required to handle. Divide them into two categories – the things over which you have control, and the things over which you have no control and which are mandatory. Making that move starts the calming process because it helps define what you can do. If you have absolutely no control over whether a form is submitted or not, why waste time and effort fighting the requirement?
An area of concern lately is how organizations have been changing their employment practices due to the new regulations. Most of the attention has been on the large national and international organizations. But what if you’re a small “mom and pop” organization in a small community? Obviously some very difficult decisions lie ahead for you. The same thing also applies to the larger corporations. It may seem like an impersonal approach but decisions affecting human beings are never easy. In this climate, effective leaders will insure that they communicate honestly and fairly with the entire staff. Even bad news is accepted a little easier when the communication channels are used effectively. Hopefully your organization has effective lines of communication in place and ready to go. It doesn’t make the decision making any easier but it does ease the anxiety just a bit.

Anxiety

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A few weeks ago I monitored a test in my class and was intrigued by the anxiety level exhibited as time approached for the test to start. It wasn’t just one student, either. I knew this was a class of folks who took their studies seriously and worked hard both in class and on their assignments. Why am I bringing this up in a blog that for the most part talks about leadership and management issues? I bring it up for the simple reason that anxiety is not limited to classroom settings.
Any time there is a performance measure anxiety may be present to some extent. Psychologists have noted that anxiety at some level heightens awareness and can lead to enhanced performance. However, too much anxiety may have the opposite effect. It may detract from performance. Psychologists have identified and studied the phenomenon of test anxiety in classroom settings. Within your organization do your workers have “classroom” settings which might evoke so much anxiety that their work is affected? Is this really any concern to you? It might be if precision and accuracy are of paramount importance. Simply put, if anxiety levels are so high that work suffers, how can you expect to fill your customers’ orders or complete the contract on time?
How high does your anxiety level go when you hear Aunt Nell is on the phone or on her way to your office? Is that a good time to measure your performance as a leader? Wouldn’t the same consideration apply to your staff?