Top Ten Tips For Great Leaders

I saw this infogram on social media – Management Tips for Great Leaders. These are all great, common sense, pointers and we’ve been talking about them, in our books, in our blog posts, and in our videos and presentations. Here’s a quick review.

1.     Share Information.  Communicate the news that you can so minds don’t wander.

·       Communication and getting to the root of the problem is the topic discussed in Chapter 4 of The Essential Workplace Conflict Handbook. Open communication helps reduce conflict in every organization.  We can’t say enough about this.

2.     Say thanks.  People want to feel appreciated! A simple thank-you note doesn’t cost a thing and it makes a huge difference.

·       I think this infogram got this exact line from us. Take a look at our video 9 Must Haves for Small Business Success at https://www.bigbookofhr.com/9-must-haves-for-small-business-success. Saying thanks and letting people know that they are appreciated is one of the most important things a leader can do and the returns are significant.

3.     Empower through delegation.  We know no one can do it as well as you can, BUT you need to delegate to give yourself time to complete tasks more appropriate to your level.

·       Shout out to our friend and colleague Scott Eblin. His book The Next Level: What Insiders Know About Executive Success covers this topic in detail. It’s a great read. Along with his latest book Overworked & Overwhelmed – a topic last year in our blog Overworking in America at http://makingpeoplematter.blogspot.com/2015/12/overworking-in-america.html

4.     Adjust your style. You have many different communication styles and personalities on your team. Don’t think that you can manage everyone the same way, and don’t assume that everyone likes to be managed the way you like to be managed.

·       You also have different styles for dealing with conflict and we suggest in Chapter 8 of The Essential Workplace Conflict Handbook that conflict styles be adjusted to match the situation and the individuals involved.

5.     Set small milestones. If you can’t match last year’s numbers, set milestones that can be reached.

·       No management or business book would be complete without a discussion of SMART goals. Chapter 25 of The Big Book of HR talks about the importance of goals being attainable. If they are not, rethink them.

6.     Have fun. You team likes to enjoy going to work. Play ten minutes.

·       Our blog post from April 9, 2013, Lighten Up http://www.bigbookofhr.com/lighten-up talked about the importance of bringing levity into the workplace. It’s such an important tool for employee retention.

7.     Remove obstacles. Bureaucracy stifles creativity and innovation. Cut down some on the paperwork.

·       Clearing roadblocks is a critical way to Keep Employees Engaged and Excited, the subject of our April 30, 2013 blog http://www.bigbookofhr.com/keeping-employees-engaged-and-excited. Stop demotivating. Review policies and practices that may be getting in the way – they may be outdated. Small changes will excite everyone to do better work.

8.     Give feedback. Your team wants feedback, and it’s crucial in making your team as productive as possible.

·       Chapter 6 of The Essential Workplace Conflict Handbook is all about setting expectations and giving feedback – letting employees know they are doing a good job. Our blog post from June 6, 2015 The Middle Seat which encourages leaders to get out of “first class” and get to know the people who make their organizations fly. http://makingpeoplematter.blogspot.com/2015/06/the-middle-seat.html

9.     Raise your hand (and your head). When your team sees your extra effort, they are inspired and will follow your lead.

·       Employees, who are not tethered to their devices, will look up and take notice. They may be inspired to lead from wherever they sit in the organization, or as we discuss in Chapter 9 of The Essential Workplace Conflict Handbook, take responsibility for their own problems. Being visible and aware is the topic of our blog post Situational Awareness, on May 20, 2014. Read more at  http://www.bigbookofhr.com/situational-awareness

10.  Focus your time. Focus the majority of your time on the 20% of your team and projects that generate 80% of the results.

·         Well, if not focusing your time – which is great advice, we do talk a lot about focus in The Essential Workplace Conflict Handbook. Chapter 6 emphasizes the importance of focusing on interest and not positions in conflict resolution. Just as critical is the message to focus on the problem and not the people involved in the problem.

Empowerment and Recognition

I flew on Southwest Airlines recently and, as always, was impressed with the friendly service provided by everyone I met.  During my short flight from Washington, DC to Atlanta I skimmed the in-flight magazine and learned a lot about how Southwest values its employees.

Near the front of the magazine were pages (yes, I said pages) of letters from happy customers describing the excellent service they’d received from Southwest employees around the country. There was a letter from a customer who was traveling home from her father’s funeral. She was carrying the flag that had been presented to her to honor his service in World War II.  The pilot saw her carrying the flag and asked her the name of the person who had died and during the flight, he announced to the plane that he wanted to honor her father’s service to our country and shared his name with the passengers who applauded.  As you can imagine, the grieving daughter was touched and grateful.

There was another story of a mother who young son was traveling by himself.  After he boarded and the plane was about to taxi out to the runway, she realized her car keys were in his backpack. She begged the gate agent who quickly got on the phone and stopped the plane so that the keys could be returned.

 While some may think that sharing these letters may seem a little self serving, I think it demonstrates two very important things—

1.     Southwest employees are empowered to “go the extra mile” for customers!

2.     Southwest management knows the importance of recognizing outstanding service!

This is a very powerful combination—when we empower our employees to take care of customers and reward them for acting; it is a classic “win/win”.  Employees feel valued and customers are treated with care and respect!  Who doesn’t want that? 

The mere fact that I am writing about this tells me that there are not very many organizations that get the importance of employee empowerment and even fewer do a good job of recognizing outstanding performance.  I think many managers are afraid of giving too much power to employees—in other words, they don’t trust their employees to do the right thing.

Yes, it is a bit frightening for managers to allow employees to make decisions but if you hire the right people and train them to do their jobs and instill in them the values your organization lives by-- then they should be able to be trusted with making good decisions.

We talk a lot about getting employees to trust their leaders and their organizations but maybe there should be some discussion about how leaders can learn to trust their valued employees!

Conflict: What’s Change Got To Do With It?

Just about everything is new at work these days – shifts in the world economy, different skills, new technologies – the list is endless. These changes have the potential for creating conflict in the workplace. The interesting thing about change – we each choose how to approach it.  Different people respond to major changes in different ways.

·       The innovators/change agents, people who embrace change as an opportunity, seeking answers to questions, looking for ways to move change forward and easily adapting. Approximately 20% of employees fall into this category. They are often the first ones to get involved and may end up leading the change effort.

·       The pragmatics who take a wait-and-see approach.  They do whatever is possible to stay out of site and out of harm's way, keeping quiet and waiting to see who wins. Pragmatic so withhold their sponsorship and energy.  Approximately half of the employees are pragmatics.

·       The skeptics/traditionalists are the ones who resist change, actively or passively, and the significantly affect the organization's ability to move forward. They have a huge impact on morale. Approximately 30% of an organization's employees are skeptics.

Helping employees understand their response towards change helps frame their actions. While change is often uncomfortable, it can also bring a whole new energy level to the organization. As soon as everyone gets on board with the change, things can happen that move the group/team/department forward. The challenge – getting through the change and conflicts to get to the other side! Managers must be on the lookout for conflicts to ensure these conflicts positively drive the changes the organization is seeking.

When people are open to the possibilities that the change may bring, and they believe they share some of the responsibility for making change successful, they will select observable data, draw conclusions, and take action to support the change.

However, if people are not sure what is happening, and do not feel responsible for the outcome, they will select data that reinforces their belief leading to actions that actively or passively resist the change.

Everyone, even the innovators, needs to understand how the change will affect them. They need to know where they fit. For example,

·         What are the business drivers?

·         What are the job expectations? Have they changed?

·         How have roles and responsibilities changed?

Navigating change is similar to experienced river guides approaching whitewater. They rely on their experiences but are prepared for the unexpected, like the appearance of previously submerged rocks. Based on their experience, they know how to approach difficult sections of the river, have the tools and techniques to guide their rafts and work with the water's movement and dynamics.

What can leaders do to support employees during periods of major change?

·         Provide them with honest feedback.

·         Help them find answers to their questions.

·         Be clear in communicating expectations.

·         Encourage them to connect, inquire, and perform. In other words, take positive action.

·         Actively listen to what’s being said

·         Understand the root causes of resistance

Change will occur in your organization. It’s so important that we devoted a chapter to it – What’s New At Work? – in The Essential Workplace Conflict Handbook. The steps that you take to mitigate the effects of that change will determine the number and types of conflict that occur, and whether conflict is a constructive or destructive force for your organization. 

Valuing People

Northern Virginia Family Services is a great organization that is dedicated to helping vulnerable families and children.  Each year they help more than 34,000 people find housing and learn job skills while also providing emergency services for at-risk people.  They have received national recognition for their effectiveness in creating sustained financial and social independence for their clients.

Each year they also do a wonderful service for the community through their CARE Awards. These awards are given, after a tremendous amount of research, to companies and organizations.  CARE stands for Companies as Responsive Employers.

I attended their award breakfast this year and was delighted to hear what the winning organizations had to say about how they value their employees.  We hear a lot of talk from leaders about “people are our greatest asset” but what I heard at the breakfast was far more than words—I saw these organizations commitment to their people in action.  The message was clear—you can be a successful organization AND a caring one!

In order to win a CARE award, organizations have to jump through some hoops—finalists are selected from a comprehensive application process and then are visited by a volunteer team who tour the organization and interview a cross-section of employees to verify information received on the application.  Finalists are also asked to submit a web-based survey to a random sampling of employees.  Winners are selected based on all information gathered and are honored at a breakfast at a Washington, DC area hotel.

The exciting part of the award ceremony for me was hearing from CEO’s of the winning organizations.  They get a short time period to share their commitment to their employees and it was so refreshing to hear what these organizations are doing to be responsive to their employees.  Some of the CEO’s relinquished their acceptance speech time and showed a video of their employees talking about the organization and its commitment to its people—powerful stuff!

One CEO talked about how they “infuse fun into everything we do.”  Another talked about learning how important it was to do what he considered “simple things” like sending a personal condolence note to an employee. He said he was blown away by the impact it had on the employee and now he sends handwritten notes whenever he can.  Another CEO talked about his organization’s goal to become a culture of caring!

Saying you value your people is one thing—putting it into action is another!  Most of what the award winning organizations offer to their employees are things that just make sense AND, they build loyalty to the organization!  Are you a responsive employer?  Something to consider.