Posted on Mon, Jan 31, 2011 @ 03:00 AM
I like the way I am. I don’t want to change. I am good enough. Leave me alone.
Have you ever tried to work with a person or a group like that? Apathy, what do you do when you are faced with it? It is really hard to get through.
Why do individuals and groups become apathetic?
Here are some thoughts:
It might cover something. What might that be? What is the person (or group) afraid to look at or reveal to others?
Fear of criticism. Raising the bar implies criticism. Maybe the group views acceptance of mediocrity as being kind to each other.
Conflict aversion. This is related to fear of criticism…I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, so I won’t mention that I see a possible improvement or an error.
No burning platform. Maybe they are unaware of any reason to change. Good enough is good enough. Change is hard and the status quo is comfortable.
Lack of awareness that things can be different. We have never seen it done any other way.
No competition. If we are the only providers of this service, we might not be very good, but we are the best there is.
Here are some possible antidotes:
Challenge with specifics. Apathy thrives on generalities. Require specific improvements.
Measure outcomes. You know the acronym…Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time Bounded (SMART).
Educate. Increase awareness of competition and the accomplishments of others.
Make challenge acceptable. Normalize challenging the process and each other.
Ban personal attacks. Create an atmosphere that allows objective dialogue only, no personal attacking.
Posted on Mon, Dec 06, 2010 @ 03:00 AM
When I was 26, I volunteered to be the “Assistant to the Director” of a two week summer day camp program. I was to function as her “go-fer” and runner. Four days before the camp started, she broke her ankle. Suddenly I was on point. It was before the days of cell phones and instant messaging, so I was able to confer with her only once or twice a day, tethered to a phone on the wall. She was there (at home) to guide me, but the job was really on my shoulders.
Looking back on it, I bet she was more stressed and frustrated than I was. I bet she did not want to be directing me; she probably wanted to be doing the job herself. But we did it. We worked together and successfully directed a program for 300 kids with a crippled director and a green assistant.
It was risky. It was scary. It was a stretch. It was stressful. I have never learned more in two weeks time. Not even in an MBA course.
So what is the point? We all know that sometimes it feels like it is easier to do it yourself than to teach someone else, then follow-up, and correct and review.
Maybe that is a big stretch for you, to let go, to trust and support instead of being the doer. And besides, you feel bad because the extra work stresses your staff. They have enough to do. So you just keep doing it yourself. No one stretches, no one is stressed, and no one grows.
Can you remember a time that someone gave you a stretch assignment? It was hard, but you did it. How did you feel when you were successful?
Are you willing to be a teacher to someone else? Let them stretch their wings? Can you let go long enough to do that for a staff member? They might complain in the moment, but they will always be grateful.
Thanks Ruth, you really taught me a lot.
Posted on Mon, Nov 22, 2010 @ 05:46 PM
One way to reduce turnover and increase employee engagement in your team is to foster an environment where people can grow their interests and talents as well as their technical skills. Finding opportunities to do that is sometimes hard. How do you identify a person’s talents within the scope of job descriptions and the business realities of getting things done?
Pay attention. What special projects do they volunteer for? Is there a pattern? Steve always volunteers to interface with the customers; he loves to solve the customer service issues. Mike is always happiest when he has a complex problem to solve; it is like a puzzle to him, working quietly at his desk, he always comes up with the answer.
Offer challenges. Give employees a chance to try out new roles. Rotate representation at external meetings or leadership in team meetings to give everyone experience and see who likes which role. See who stands out and thrives.
Ask. There is a revolutionary thought! Ask employees what they are interested in and what they would like to work toward. Then arrange opportunities for interim assignments. I know a leader who invited employees to switch roles and locations for 3 month periods. It gave them an opportunity to work with new people. Most of them went on to be promoted.
Train yourself to watch for clues and offer employees a chance to try new duties if you want to improve your retention of talent. It will pay off; your most talented employees will appreciate the opportunities and begin to search for opportunities for others who are talented to come along with them.
What do you feel most successful doing?
What are you doing as a volunteer outside of work?
Posted on Mon, Oct 04, 2010 @ 03:12 AM
Coaching can be an intimidating process to someone who has not had the opportunity to participate before. Sometimes the whole idea of talking with someone who will be messing around in their business can lead strong individuals to hesitate in their participation.
Reluctance to coaching can take several forms:
- Failure to set up appointments
- Missed appointments
- Not doing the work
- Avoiding difficult topics
All of these behaviors can be traced back to set of common themes. Internal, personal resistance to change. A fear of someone getting too close. Not wanting/willing to look weak. A perceived loss of control.
Powerful But Not Fatal. All of these themes are powerful, but they do not have to be fatal. Coaching is the process of facilitating change.
So openly addressing any of the above behaviors gives both the coach and the coachee the opportunity to discover things they did not know about themselves, including the ability to deal straightforwardly with very difficult issues.
Identify and Label. The most important step in dealing with reluctance is to identify it and label it in an honest, straightforward way. Calling it what it is frees both parties up to have the hard discussion around what is creating the reluctance and what they want to do to remove it.
This recognition and removal opens up opportunities to talk about where reluctance may be showing up in other areas of the individual’s professional life. This is where the real growth begins.
Posted on Mon, Sep 20, 2010 @ 03:06 AM
CEO Disease is a phenomenon that is not limited to the top echelons of a company. It can, and does, occur at every level. CEO disease has to do with telling the truth to individuals who have power and who control access, information, and jobs.
Telling the truth to power is an invaluable service, enabling the boss to hear information that is crucial to the effective operations of the organization. So what makes this so difficult?
Risk vs Reward. When the risk of saying something difficult is higher than the reward, any normal person will stop talking. But without complete information, how can a manager, a director, a CEO make good decisions?
Truth Telling. Telling the truth in any organization is often uncomfortable for both the teller and the receiver. But it is the responsibility of the individual in the power position to set a tone that opens up the road to truth. It is their responsibility to manage their own fears and to create an atmosphere of trust within the organization that makes it possible for everyone to tell the truth.
Hearing the truth requires strength of character and courage to hear what they might not want to hear. But it also gives them the opportunity to solve problems that will inevitably surface later, costing time, energy, and money.
Telling the truth to power is essential. Setting the stage and making it possible are what separate the world-class leaders from the also-rans.
Posted on Mon, Sep 06, 2010 @ 03:58 AM
A few years ago, I worked with a very successful individual who had reached a crossroads in her career. She had been promoted several times and had risen to a very high level in her organization. But she was worried.
As I began working with her, she opened up and revealed that she was scared of being found out. She felt like a phony because she had a couple of weaknesses that she had successfully worked around for years.
The more we talked, the clearer it became that this very successful woman had never taken the time to look honestly at these perceived weaknesses, and so she never understood them or addressed them. Instead, she developed a series of effective work-arounds that helped her get by at each level. Finally, she reached a level where she knew she could not hide them any longer.
So what to do? I encouraged her to be absolutely honest about what she had been hiding from herself, and it turned out that several of her issues were easily addressed with some focused effort.
However, some of the other “weaknesses” were more likely related to physical issues that she had never understood before. For these we worked out a plan to go to a specialist to see if there were underlying physiological issues that had gone undiagnosed. Once she learned about these she was able to work out a treatment plan with her doctor and discovered a completely new way to function.
The message here is that having someone ask us the right questions can point us in new directions with a renewed opportunity to stop working around problems and finally resolve them.
Posted on Mon, Jul 12, 2010 @ 03:00 AM
Getting the right people on the bus. This is a phrase we often hear from executives concerned about staffing strength. Making sure that you have the right people in your organization is critical to efficiency and growth.
But getting the right people on the bus doesn’t solve your problems if they aren’t in the right seats.
The right person in the wrong place is just as unproductive as the wrong person in the right place.
Putting the right person properly placed requires a combination of knowledge and insight. Knowledge means getting to know your staff. Not just how well they do their jobs, but how well they communicate. How effectively they work as part of a team. How well they manage conflict.
Management Skills. Promoting an individual because of strong technical skills is a frequently used strategy. But management requires a completely different set of skills—people skills necessary to effectively move others to higher levels of performance.
Hidden Gems. So be on the lookout for the hidden gems. These are often the individuals who handle conflict effectively. Those who can inspire others to do more. Those who can reduce problems instead of creating them. And those who can get more work done through other people instead of doing it themselves.
These are the people who will be most effective as they move up the management ladder, because they are the ones who will be most likely to shine.
Posted on Mon, Apr 05, 2010 @ 01:30 AM
Have you had a conversation like this with yourself? “I am a very smart person, I have gotten along quite well with expertise in my field, common sense and drive. Coaches charge a lot of money. Expensive cheerleaders. What can they do for me that I can’t do for myself?”
Here is what a coach can do for you
A good coach listens. Fully. Really hearing. And while they are listening, they are connecting the dots – looking for nuances and fine points that will help to move you toward your goal.
A good coach questions. “What does that really mean?” “How did your boss react to that?” “What is the logical conclusion of your theory?” Probing and challenging your viewpoint and perspective.
A good coach provides new information. “Have you thought about….?” “What if you tried…?”
“Sometimes it helps to…”
A good coach holds you accountable. “Were you able to…?” Did you have that difficult conversation?” “What is your progress on…?”
A good coach gives you the gift of the truth – 100% of the time. Whether it feels positive or not.
A good coach is interested in your development and success and is focused 100% on you.?
Posted on Fri, Feb 05, 2010 @ 10:40 AM
In a continuing effort to improve supply management and to add value to the company, purchasing is currently testing innovative relationships with three suppliers at the Chester, SC, Works 54 plant. Although high levels of outsourcing have not been appropriate for all PPG fiber glass plants, excellent
management support at the Chester facility created an opportunity to implement on-site strategic supplier alliances. By maintaining open communications and a cooperative, flexible, solution-oriented environment, management at Chester created an atmosphere which encouraged these relationships.
download the whitepaper (pdf)