It doesn't cost anything to meet us
Harvey Schachter's article in the Globe and Mail gives three great tips to improve your listening skills.
As coaches, we cannot emphasize enough how important it is to listen, at different levels, to what is said and what is not said. This listening is the key to asking powerful questions- which is the best way to develop people, and to develop business.
Take a minute to give this a read, and think about how you can show others you're listening.
This week I spoke with four people who have lost faith in their organizations. All four are successful. All four have very valuable and difficult to replace skill sets and business contacts. All four are feeling disaffected and not supported. All four are in different organizations.
These four people weathered the recession quite successfully. They came out of the other side of that recession tunnel, looked around and were disappointed. People they cared about had left their organization. There are new leaders and they don’t like them all. There is a new strategy and they are not at all sure it is right.
These four people may be part of the second wave. The first wave of change happened last year as most organizations restructured in response to the recession. For most organizations these changes resulted in planned terminations.
The second wave is when you lose your best people. They stuck it out and they are not sure they like what they see. Beware.
A good article on the "halo effect" -- a useful concept for everyone who works in an organization to understand. We apply it to people and to organizations. The halo effect can result in some poor decision making.
Read more about the "Halo Effect"
Posted by Sandra Oliver on June 15, 2009
Leadership, Leading in a Downturn, Strategy Development & Execution
One of my clients sent the following comments to my most recent blog.
"Read your blog this morning about connecting with people – and I totally agree. I was at my networking meeting yesterday and we were discussing business development. One of our members brought a suggestion to the table, which I thought was so great. Instead of focusing your business development on selling yourself, focus it (particularly at this time given the tough economy) on helping others. Lending some free advice, listening to people’s issues and offering suggestions without any expectations of immediate work – I think this will pay off big in the long run."
I couldn't say it better myself. I am a big fan of free advice. Of course eventually you'll need to get paid but before you do, you should plan to be helpful. How else will people know if you are good? So, don't worry about what you are going to get from meetings. Think about what you can give. The more you give, the better you'll feel and the more your network will appreciate you and refer you to others. Nothing wrong with that.
The downturn in the economy has pushed many of my clients away from paying severance and toward working notice. Employers are choosing to ask employees to work their notice rather than paying severance and letting them go immediately. One client asked me if I had an opinion on working notice. I do. It often doesn't work. Once you have decided to let someone go, you have mentally moved on. They have not. They can be bitter and demotivated and you can't really blame them. They were let go. It is tough for both parties to go to work each day and face one another.
When does working notice actually work?
When should you never use working notice?
As an employer, termination is a very difficult decision to make, even if it is the right decision. If you decide to use working notice try and park any guilt, anger or frustration and be pleasant and professional yourself. As much as possible, treat the employee the same as if you had not given notice. Continue to expect them to do their job while giving them plenty of time for job search and interviews. Keep the working notice short.
Some would call me "the eternal optimist". In fact, I think I am.
I wake up early every morning, sit and read the paper look on the bright side. I love what I do. IMPACT is an organization of coaches who do really great work. I am really proud of the work we do. We have a diverse set of clients who seem to appreciate our work. I think about these things and I think, "We will be fine. Just keep focusing on quality work and stay in the market."
This morning I woke up and felt tired and frankly almost battered. The current Canadian political situation (there is a crisis of confidence in our current minority government) has tipped me over the edge. It is very difficult to remain an optimist in the face of relentless, negative press on the front page of the paper.
I am happy to report my exhaustion and pessimism was short lived. By the afternoon today, the optimist is back.
I read an article this afternoon from McKinsey and it helped me move back to the "bright side". This article reminded me of something I already knew but really needed to reminded of. Change is an opportunity even when it is bad. How is it an opportunity? Change "unfreezes the status quo" and is an opportunity to do what you've always wanted to do and fix what you've always wanted to fix. (See Kotter's 8 step change model for more on this)
For leaders this means being really imaginative about your strategy. Bring your team together and really blue sky. Ask your team to think about how they would do things differently if the organization was new. Don't limit yourself to one answer. Develop a couple of possible approaches. Opportunities to pick up acquisitions and talent will fall in your lap in this economy. You will need to be ready. You need to be prepared to take some risks.
This economy is also an opportunity to get rid of what really gets in your way. Think about what is really "bugging you" and eliminate it. That might be eliminating administrative process (always a useful goal), eliminating organizational structures that get in the way (business units that are unprofitable, structural divisions that are cumbersome) and team members who really don't know what it means to be on a team.
For individuals this means embracing change (good and bad) and making it work for you. Develop a goal that is stretching and focus on that goal. Pay more attention to the goal and pay less attention to the bad economic news. Next, think about a small thing that is really bugging you and get it fixed. Finally, reach out and reconnect with people you like and people you haven't seen in a while. You'll be amazed at how powerful you feel if you do these three things.
Here's my goal-- my new strategy. I have been lucky over the past year or two to begin to work with some very senior leaders. I am thoroughly enjoying that work and would like to do more. I have also been lucky to have some great coaches join IMPACT over the past year or two. I am thoroughly enjoying partnering with them and coaching them. I would like to do more of that as well. My new strategy is to continue to move aggressively into what I love and not focus too much on worrying about the economy. I know it isn't rocket science but it has worked so far.
Posted by Sandra Oliver on December 2, 2008
Coaching, Leadership, Leading in a Downturn, Managing Change, Strategy Development & Execution
In the book "What They Don't Teach You in the Harvard Business School", Mark McCormack tells a study conducted on students in the 1979 Harvard MBA program. In that year, the students were asked, "Have you set clear, written goals for your future and made plans to accomplish them?" Only three percent of the graduates had written goals and plans; 13 percent had goals, but they were not in writing; and a whopping 84 percent had no specific goals at all.
Ten years later, the members of the class were interviewed again, and the findings, while somewhat predictable, were nonetheless astonishing.
Learn more about the findings.
Posted by Sandra Oliver on November 25, 2008
Leadership, Leading in a Downturn, Personal Effectiveness
Why? A down economy drives a lot of really good decisions. We are all tightening our belts. Our priorities shift. Things we thought were so important a month ago suddenly seem unimportant. For many, the shift is towards things that have lasting value and away from things that provide fleeting satisfaction. We take more time to enjoy that great glass of wine. Suddenly it seems more important to savour every sip. We delay purchases to focus on what we already have. A good wash and tune up and that old car still gets us to where we want to go in style. We spend more time having family dinners and less time in fancy restaurants.
These shifts are good for us personally and professionally.
The personal benefits are obvious. Moving away from consumption and towards preservation generates a sense of personal satisfaction. Doing things yourself drives confidence and autonomy. It also drives a feeling of team with those who are close to you. Cooking dinner, setting the table, washing up: all much better at bringing people closer than eating out.
From a business standpoint, the "bad" economy drives a similar value shift. Business people will also be doing more themselves. They will be looking for greater value when they purchase a product or service.
If service providers deliver great value there will be work and there may even be more work. Marginal businesses, marginal products and marginal service providers will disappear. This is a good thing. Marginal service providers "muddy the market" by creating bad experiences for clients that better service providers must address.
To be successful in this economy, the trick is to focus on what you are really good at and on the clients who really matter most to your business.
A client of mine is currently rebuilding a struggling business unit. Margins are low. Growth is stagnant. Turnover is high. He recently presented his strategy to his team. His strategy is to focus on building and refining his core business. By this he means ensuring each of his existing clients receive both excellent service and value in all of the products they need to be successful in their work. I challenged him on this strategy, "In this economy shouldn't your focus be on sell, sell, sell not deliver, deliver, deliver?" He said "No, the better my business unit delivers what they are really good at to their best clients, the more work our business unit will get and the more we will grow."
Brilliant and simple and a little counter-intuitive. While everyone else is running around networking with anyone and everyone ("sell, sell, sell"), this team of people will be focusing on what they are really good at with the people who already appreciate it. How can they help but grow?
he front page of every newspaper is full of doom and gloom today and almost every client I know is the midst of business planning.
What is their temptation in this environment? Give your strategy a haircut. Cut back on everything. No new initiatives. No new hires. No business travel. No external consultants. No big pay increases.
What is the impact? Mediocrity.
What's the alternative? Use business planning as an opportunity to be really thoughtful about which initiatives you will keep and fully support and which initiatives should be axed or shelved. Review each major initiative in detail.
Ask yourself a few questions about each major project in your business plan.
Is this initiative essential to our organization's long term objectives? Will this initiative matter to us in 5 years? Is this initiative well planned and well resourced? Is this initiative important but not urgent? (i.e. Can it wait?) If the initiative is not mission critical, not well planned and not urgent -- axe it or shelve it.
For the critical few initiatives that survive, make sure they are fully resourced. Do not give them a haircut. Focused spending is always tougher. It takes more work and it takes more courage. It is almost always the right way to go.
Similarly, as you review your business strategy, review and manage your talent.
Save costs by removing people who are under-performers and wait to replace them if possible. Remove low performing businesses but keep and redeploy the good people where possible. Do not save costs by cutting salary increases to star performers. Make sure your star performers are working those mission critical initiatives you identified in business planning. At all costs keep your good people motivated and busy.
Doom and gloom can be a great opportunity to focus on the right things and become even better.
Posted by Sandra Oliver on September 17, 2008
Leadership, Leading in a Downturn, Strategy Development & Execution
Despite a good economy, many continue to be worried about their future. This no doubt affects you as a leader - undoubtedly there will be people on your team who are concerned for their job and their overall economic well-being.
In the article High Anxiety (Forbes), Dennis Zeleny talks about personal economic anxiety as a real issue today and explores 7 areas where leaders can help to their people to deal with these anxieties.
