Like many of the best things in life, trust really is free. Doing without it, however, will cost you dearly, especially in business. What’s at stake is productivity, innovation, and ultimately, profits.
High functioning teams share goals that drive day-to-day activities. Their mutual self-interest greases the wheels of collaboration, but trust is the solid ground they ride on. Capitalizing on their energy and motivation so your team is productive requires that they collaborate freely, and for that, people need to trust each other.
Trust is based on a history of honest relationships. Do people at your company talk directly to a person when they have an issue with them or just complain about that person to someone else? Teams are subtly strengthened or gradually divided by the way simple, everyday differences are communicated.
Unified teams have integrity, demonstrating honesty through actions. Having integrity means that what an individual says and what they actually do are consistent with each other. Can your team count on one another to do what they say they will do?
Teams that operate in the absence of trust are guarded, and by necessity more cautious about everything they say and do. Communication becomes a way to defend and protect oneself, avoiding risk rather than reaching for results. The consequence for your business is more of the status quo, instead of the collaborative risk-taking that exemplifies off-the-charts growth.
Harnessing their inspiration and creativity depends on employees being able to trust each other and their managers. Groups innovate when they are comfortable sharing ideas, exploring “What if…?” and can rely on each other to keep the process moving. They need to feel safe discussing “what’s not working” in the context of exploring ways to make it better. If ideas are often met with cynicism and viewed as a waste of time (“Don’t bother, it’ll never be considered”), you may be missing out on great contributions. Are individuals viewed with respect for taking the initiative to pitch ideas, regardless of the outcome?
The answers to these questions are a good indicator of whether your company is already recognized as a creative industry leader or one that follows trends set by more innovative competitors. When trust levels are high, so is the potential that the talented people you’ve hired will coalesce to become a powerful team.
We work with our clients at many different levels to build an atmosphere of trust in their organization. Crucial interpersonal skills such as personal accountability and effective communication are essential, as well as understanding team norms, behavior styles and motivators. Contact us for more information.
This post written by our colleagues at TTI
Working in a knowledge economy, it's all about the people — work gets done through people. Therefore, successful leaders must have effective practices and methods for helping people adapt to new ways of work. One fundamental in this domain of action is for leaders to understand the difference between change and transitions;
- Change is an external event — an action or decision either planned or unplanned — that impacts us as individuals.
- Transition, on the other hand, is the psychological internal reorientation that we go through in order to come to terms with change.
The key to successfully navigating your organization through transition is knowing how the three phases impact individuals. William Bridges authored the book "Managing Transitions" and describes the process in detail. The first phase of transition marks an ending and is characterized by confusion, resistance and loss. The second phase — the neutral zone — is where opportunity exists because you can help individuals open up to a new way of thinking, stretch their skills and welcome innovative ideas. In the third phase — the new beginning — individuals need support, reminders, measurements and rewards to be successful.
Bridges wrote about the "Four Ps" leaders need to communicate for success. In my practice advising leaders who are driving any type of organizational change (and who isn't these days?) I find investing the time to design and craft key messages around these four elements is a critical success factor.
Purpose - Describe why you are making the change
Picture - Describe what the future will look like
Plan - Describe the steps you need to take to get there
Part -Describe the part you need the specific employee to play; specify your requests
Give it a go! The architecture of the Four Ps makes for an excellent 20 minute leadership talk. Make sure you also have the 2 minute version of the Four P's ready at hand to use any time. That's my litmus test of whether leaders and managers are ready to lead - whether or not they have command of the two minute version and can tailor it appropriately.
For more about Bridges and his work on transitions you can visit his website. If you need a partner in building your Four Ps and managing the transition process - contact us for a consultation.
Carpe Manana, Seize Tomorrow!
One of my favorite things to do when waiting for a customer in their office is browse their book shelves. It gives me a great sense for the models and theories that they already have in their head, which gives us a good foundation for shared understanding. It's also a great opportunity for my own learning!
Yesterday I was in a new customer's office and came across "The Fifith Discipline Fieldbook" by Peter Senge. I have seen Peter speak and read the original book years ago, but had not come across this particular version. My customer was generous enough to lend it to me.
Peter made famous the concepts of "systems thinking" and a "learning organization" just as we were coming out of the industrial age into the age of the knowledge worker. I was browsing through the text (as the author encourages) and found some very valuable and timeless insights and models. Some are almost a natural part of our collective consciousness, and some are concepts that clearly we are still struggling with in businesses of all sizes.
One chapter restated that the core of having a learning organization is based upon five "learning disciplines" - lifelong programs of study and practice. As I read it, I thought to myself: "for all my exposure to these concepts and familiarity with the book, I can't name the Five Disciplines" (I would love to hear from all of you masters that CAN!)
For those of us that need a refresher, or who have never been exposed to the key disciplines, here they are:
1. Personal Mastery - learning to expand our personal capacity to create the results we most desire
2. Mental Models - reflecting upon, continually clarifying and improving our internal pictures of the world, and seeing how they shape our actions and decisions
3. Shared vision - building a sense of comitment in a group by developing shared images of the future we seek to create
4. Team learning - transforming conversational and collective thinking so that groups of people can create ability greater than te sum of individual talents
5. Systems thinking- a way of thinking and communicating about the forces and interrelationships that shape the behavior of systems.
So here is my question. Are you a learning organizaition? Do you embody these disciplines as a leader? Do you promote and build the structure so that your team and business meets the criteria for a learning organization?
It is clear in these times, more than it was when the book was written, having a "learning organization" is critical for agility, competitive advantage, and even survival.
Please click here to read more from Senge's website, and make a commitment to take action on at least one of these ideas. If you need a little help getting started, just contact us!
Seize Tomorrow!
We are in a knowledge economy: the knowledge you have access to is your competitive advantage. How well are you managing yours?
Join us on July 20th for a provocative and pragmatic review of new practices for productivity designed specifically for business leaders: Personal Productivity in the Digital Era for Competitive Advantage. Learn how to use the cloud and search for instant access to the information you need, wherever you are. Kiss traditional filing systems good-bye. Stop wrestling with your email! “Search” is one of the most profound business changes of our lifetime. Often we think about search in terms of having others find us in the marketing game, but an even more powerful use, is how we can use search to manage personal and business information.
During our session, we will cover the fundamentals of personal productivity and share new practices. Topics include:- Clarifying your commitments
- Filtering out the noise
- Untethering yourself - connecting to the cloud
- Gathering relevant knowledge in central locations
- Never file again! Exploiting the power of personal search
- Sharing and collaborating effortlessly with others
The amount of information that is available to us is growing exponentially, and with it — the obligation to adopt new practices to effectively deal with it.
Contact us to reserve a spot at this exclusive workshop for business owners today, or learn more about how we can help you and your organization harness information for competitive advantage.
Change is continuous these days. The environment is changing, the market is changing, how work gets done is changing, our customers are changing, and so on. To be successful we must all make time to reflect on what we need to do differently to be successful in our new situation.
For years I have used a simple framework of START/STOP/MODIFY to help business leaders and their teams get specific about how they must adapt for future success. It is an essential practice for business leaders. Use this model for your own self-reflection, or lead a conversation using these questions with your team.
STOP - Make sure you begin with STOP first, most of us are over-committed. Unless we thoughtfully rethink what we are not going to do, we can't add anything new.
- What are we doing now that no longer adds value, is no longer necessary or effective?
- What are we doing that actually is derailing us from our objectives?
- What is stopping us from stopping? (habit, something outside our control, just need new thinking?)
- BRAINSTORM practices, actions or behaviors, eg: STOP having meetings without a clear agenda, STOP chasing prospects that are not qualified, STOP doing admin work that could be delegated, STOP breaking commitments to each other.
START -
- What new actions or practices do we need to start?
- Have we had good ideas in the past that never were adopted as ongoing practices?
- What new practices can we invent that will help us add value to our customers?
- Consider the ROI of the new practices in terms of time, energy, money and value returned.
- Hone the list down to a vital few and commit to adopting them.
MODIFY-
- What actions, practices, behaviors do we need to modify?
- What are we doing that works well... and what can we do to tweek the practice for higher performance or return?
- What best practices can we adopt from things that others are already doing?
- Where can technology help do something even more effectively?
- Where are there opportunities for process improvement?
These are the essential questions to ask. If you are doing it with your team, be sure to have a bit of conversation, allow for some individual reflection, and then come back to some commitments and document them. If you are doing it on your own, give yourself space for reflection, then find a colleague, coach, or a peer advisor to help your thinking and keep you accountable.
Of course, this exercise is useless unless you know where you are going and have defined a vision, objectives and strategies for yourself and your team - We can help you with that! Contact us today to learn more about leading change and creating high performance teams.
In fair weather and good markets, sometimes just drifting through the marketplace produces good results like new opportunities, revenue growth and profits. You don't need me to tell you that in these times if you are not navigating your business through rigorous strategic planning - you are likely to crash on the rocks. Here are key elements of leading your business, organization or career through these rough waters:
1. Develop and communicate your vision. As a leader, your destination is your vision- your direction and focus. It must be grounded in what you are trying to achieve and the most important concerns you need to take care of both personally and from a business perspective. You must communicate your vision and keep it very visible in front of you and your team, or in busy, trying, crazy times we live in...you will lose sight of it. Vision is what motivates us and mobilizes us into effective action. Navigating is making your everyday decisions with your vision in mind. Can you describe your vision in 2 minutes in a clear and compelling way? if not, this is where you need to start.
2. Identify the key internal and external factors that have an important affect on reaching your destination. You must make assessments about your situation to make good decisions about which course to take. SWOT is an easy framework to use to capture and consider key internal factors (strengths and weaknesses) and external factors (opportunities and threats.) Of all the strategic planning practices, SWOT requires the most outside perspective. As a business leader, it is impossible to see and interpret everything that is going on, and our psychology can get in the way of making well grounded assessments. Use employees, colleagues, customers, peers and coaches to thoroughly lay out your SWOT. Think of it as the chart for your navigation- a clear document which starts to point out the possible routes you could take given your situation and the hazards to be avoided. A thorough SWOT demands a rich understanding of employee competencies, your market, economics, technology, legislation and competition. By evaluating your SWOT you determine how to best utilize your assets, avoid threats, and identify the areas where you can build unique competitive advantage for the future.
3. Make a Plan, AND a Plan B! We all know how to plan, I think this just comes down to how much rigor we are willing to put into the practice. One of my TAB colleagues often notes that many of us put more time into planning our vacations than planning for our businesses:) Yes, planning takes time and energy on the front end. Having worked with hundreds of different business leaders in different situations, I know that it also pays off in the end with well coordinated, successful and effective action. A plan includes the who, what, where, why and how of navigating to your destination. Most importantly, it requires insights into the interim situations that are critical to achieving any goal. Business is complex and multi-faceted. Executing the strategies that gain us competitive advantage requires more than simple action. Navigating our course requires a bit of reverse engineering - determining the goals along the way that serve as a launching point for the next goal.
Over the past year it has also become clear that one plan is not enough. Business leaders must have a plan for the most likely scenario, and a backup plan as well. Your "Plan B" must also be well thought out and include a path to another satisfactory destination (even if it's not preferred.)
These three steps will get you on your way. I find once I help a business leader become a navigator using these steps, a new sense of control, peace, resolve and optimism follows. There is still work to do to make it happen...but I'll leave that for a future blog!
Seize Tomorrow!
Business as usual doesn't work anymore. The economy, globalization, technology and competition have all dramatically changed what we all need to do to be successful for the future. So as a business leader, how will you transform your organization in 2010 so that you will be successful and thrive?
These are the conversations we have with our customers to help them prepare for a future unlike the past:
- Organizing people, roles, practices, processes and systems for maximum effectiveness and agility
- Designing services to provide value in the new context
- Adopting new ways to connect and communicate with customers, employees, and stakeholders that exploit new technologies
- Rethinking sourcing models, decreasing overhead and eliminating waste
- Transforming your role as a leader
- Leading change
- Staying ahead of the curve with technology
Contact us if you are interested in exploring these conversations more and transforming your organization.
December is a perfect time for business leaders to reflect on the year's goals and accomplishments. Take the time over the next few weeks to slow down, and give yourself the time and space to consider what you and your team successfully completed this year, where you are satisfied with your progress against goals, and what areas need focus in 2010. And then, as the New Year rolls around... ACT!
- Make a SMART plan for 2010- one that is Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timed
- Design a strategic 90 day project- harness the energy of the first quarter
- Hold a team jumpstart meeting - align, energize and connect your employees for superior performance
Contact us if you want to learn more about how we can help you with any of these options. Enjoy the holiday season!
Here are some resources that I came across or used to help business owners and leaders over the past week:
1. Blogging for business- Click here for the ebook on this subject we used to kick off our TAB Social Media workshop series earlier this year. It covers why blogging is essential for business leaders as well as steps for getting started. It all starts with following and reading blogs (there is still time to add that KINDLE to your Christmas list- great way to keep up with blogs!) Please subscribe to our blog for a steady stream of resources for business leaders building their organizations for the future. Here are some of my favorite blogs on business from other great authors:
Small Business Marketing
Seth Godin
Small Biz Trends
Small Business Owner Blog
Awake at 2oclock
Still want more? Check out Inc.'s list of business bloggers you should follow now.
2. Standard Policies and Documents: Ben, one of our business advisory board members recommended "Business in a box" for off the shelf resources, including an employee policy for internet use. I took a brief look at it, seems like a broad resource for all sorts of business domains.
Along related lines, here is a copy of the standard employee manual that I provide to my customers. You can compare it to your own policy and adopt individual policies or, adopt the whole thing as your own by using "find and replace" with your name in word. Remember, best practice is to have your manual reviewed by your employment lawyer - this serves as a good foundation.
3. Dragon Dictation is a GREAT new app for the Iphone that was released this week. Among other things it allows you to speak your emails and text messages into the phone. The response time and accuracy of the conversion is amazing. One touch converts the message into an email or text.
Related posts:
Why-Apps-are-Essential-for-Biz-Leaders
the-blogging-three-step
Carpe Manana- Seize Tomorrow!
Business owners and leaders must recognize that this recession has brought on a new dynamic to our markets - long term frugal customers. When it comes to selling your product or solution today, you must develop new strategies.
1. Rethink Marketing: Because most customers go to the net first, you need to get savvy with search engine marketing, blogs, Facebook pages, Twitter and so on. They will not only engage potential customers but also build a growing digital footprint.
2. Value Message: You need to reflect on and re-craft your message. There's an ROI in every decision making process these days so make sure you demonstrate your value proposition from the start.
3. Customer Feedback: During tough times, your customers may be looking for alternatives. This means you need to communicate more and perhaps even provide enhanced offerings. In fact, this may help increase "word of mouth," which could result in getting more customers. Ask your customers some questions, such as: What do you value the most? What else would you want? This can be extremely valuable in terms of targeting new customers, as well as fine-tuning your marketing.
4. Be Upbeat: In light of the negative media, it's not easy to be positive. But as a leader, you need to set a mood mood of resolve and optimism. It's critical for mobilizing your employees and building confidence with vendors and potential customers. Plus, its infectious and just plain old feels great!!!
If you would like more information about creating new marketing messages, mobilizing employees, or redesigning your sales process in light of the new situation -Request a Free Consultation. We help business leaders achieve success through all of these strategies and more.
Related posts:
Do-You-Own-the-Mood?