Ratings & Reckonings

 

Washington Post columnist Michele L. Norris wrote a piece about racial reckoning in December 2020. She described a reckoning as “...not an action item on a wish list. It is a thing. An accomplishment. A checked box. A reckoning by definition refers to the moment when we finally deal with an ugly situation. It is more than just admitting that there’s a problem.” An epiphany, she explained, is not the same thing as a reckoning. Think of epiphanies as those aha moments we often have.

Undoubtedly, 2020 was a year of disruptive discovery with lots of aha moments. Turned on our heads by the pandemic, we saw drastic changes when it came to working. Leaders in likely all organizations had epiphanies on many aspects of work. One that comes to mind: performance appraisals and evaluations.

Many organizations adjusted their performance evaluations in 2020 to account for the challenges created by the coronavirus. Google combined its usual two review periods into one and rated employees against revised expectations. Facebook suspended performance ratings in the first half and used a formula to calculate bonuses that were above the standard target. In the second half, it returned to its typical process. Box, the file-sharing service, encouraged more regular feedback between managers and employees and had just one, not two, formal review cycles.

On the same day that Norris’s column appeared, there was a post on LinkedIn by Dan L. Ward. “My best advice for those considering what sort of rating/ranking process to inflict on employees who have survived 2020 is to leave those poor people alone. They have suffered enough for one year!” Ward has led the redesign of employee performance management systems at three major organizations, processes that were rated industry best practices.

Other organizations made changes in 2020. Goldman Sachs, acknowledging that the dynamics of today’s challenges underscore the need for more transparency, had managers meet with employees three times a year, formalizing a process that was only encouraged before. Hopefully, employees received more meaningful feedback.

Some organizations suspended formal reviews for 2020, recognizing that no one, employees and managers alike, needed the additional stress. Some of these organizations are contemplating never bringing back a formal review process. 

Have these changes accelerated the shift toward more frequent feedback? The world of remote work forces managers to have more check-ins with team members. Will this be the new default?

When work returns to its normal rhythms, or something close to it, will leaders in organizations have a reckoning about performance management—namely, taking a systems approach rather than being preoccupied with performance ratings and rankings?  

Granted, performance management systems must be unique to every organization and meet their individual needs. However, the dreaded performance review, with its associated ratings, is an ugly situation in many organizations. One reason is that they are often tied to pay increases, promotions, and future layoffs. If the only time you talk to employees about their performance is when you are also talking about money, what are they listening to hear? Perhaps it’s time for a reckoning in many organizations―an opportunity to move their performance management system to a feedback mindset rather than one focused on quantitative measures.

Cornelia & Barbara

Simply Engaging

 Engaging employees is one of the many challenges for today’s managers. This has always been true but never more so than in 2021.

Here are a couple of suggestions for you to try to increase employee engagement:

• Solving all the issues facing your team at any one time can be exhausting for any manager. Ask your employees for suggestions to improve productivity or resolve a particularly tricky issue with a customer or client. Take time at each staff meeting or in one-on-one meetings with your employees to ask for their ideas. Simply put—give them a voice.

• Consider asking your employees what processes, reports, or paperwork gets in their way. You may learn that some of what you think is motivating them isn’t and is counterproductive. You certainly don’t want to be a demotivating manager. 

• Refrain from immediately rejecting ideas. Nothing will shut down new ideas quicker than being told “that won’t work” or “we’ve tried that before.” Instead, take the time to consider or even brainstorm these ideas. You might be surprised at the results.

It may take a while for them to be comfortable making suggestions, but give it time. You may solve a problem while finding a new way to energize your staff.

You’ve probably heard that people don’t leave organizations. Rather, they leave managers. Look at the people who manage or supervise others in your organization. 

• Do they listen to their employees? 
• Do they know how to counsel employees who are underperforming? 
• Are they providing coaching to their superstars? 

If the answer is no to any of these questions, the managers and employees may need professional development.

What engagement ideas work for you? We’d love to hear your best engagement ideas so send them on, and we’ll share them in future blogs. In the meantime, you can find additional information about employee engagement in The Big Book of HR which is available on Amazon  https://tinyurl.com/ya5vheak has a chapter devoted to the subject. 

Barbara Mitchell

A Tip from The Manager’s Answer Book: Mentoring and Millennials

Remember when we thought that mentors had to be older people with many years of experience? Well, those days are over. A better definition of a mentor is “anyone who has knowledge you don’t have.” This new take on mentoring is playing out in organizations today as Millennials mentor Baby Boomers in how to get the most out of technology as often as Boomers mentor Millennials in how to survive office politics!

If this pandemic has shown us anything, it’s that we can learn a lot from the Millennials.  We’ve a younger colleague who had worked to get her organization up and running on Microsoft Teams—well before the pandemic hit. Her efforts were resisted at first, but lauded when the rest of the management team realized that the transition to working from home was seamless. The new normal that we’re facing isn’t necessarily hard, it’s just different, and we’ve got to adjust to the differences.  This is where the Millennials can help. They can show us how to use new tools and upgrade our technology and skills if we’re willing to listen and expand our point of view. 

Mentoring is the classic win/win situation. The mentee gains knowledge they didn’t have, and the mentor has the satisfaction that comes from doing something to benefit another. Those who are challenged by the new technology will come to realize that it’s taking business to the next level and it’s Millennials who are driving that path forward. Take them seriously and learn from them.

Manager’s Tip: If you want more ideas on mentoring, The Manager’s Answer Book answers this question: “I’ve had wonderful people during my career who served as mentors and helped me get to the management level. I’d like to start a formal mentoring program and have the support of senior management to do so. Can you give me some ideas on how to get started?”

“Answer: Good for you to want to ‘pay it forward’ and encourage mentoring in your organization. Mentoring is an excellent tool to develop staff that doesn’t cost much (or any) money but it can pay huge dividends for the individual and your organization, including your ability to hire talent employees. Smart job applicants ask if they might have a mentor to help them be productive if they join your organization. Other benefits of mentoring programs include the development of cross-organizational connections as people mentor employees from other departments and build channels of communication—often between people who might not have otherwise worked together.”

For more information on designing a formal mentoring program or selecting a mentor go to page 138 of The Manager’s Answer Book, a proud 2020 Winner of the Next Generation Indie Book Award. It’s available from Amazon -- https://tinyurl.com/y8umaqpz - Barnes & Noble or your local independent bookstore.  

Lifelong Learning – An Evergreen Concept - A Tip from The Manager’s Answer Book

“Lifelong learning is fundamental to building strong communities, companies, and economies.” This is a quote from a Harvard Business Review article published in its May-June 2018 issue entitled Why Lifelong Learning Matters More than Ever. In 2018, we could not have foreseen the circumstances under which we’d be managing in just two short years.

The article discusses how life long learning can go a long way toward helping us solve the skills shortage. There are more and more learning possibilities available to our employees, and during the pandemic we currently find ourselves in, everyone is having to get up to speed on technology and doing things virtually. That includes learning. People have been using their time in isolation to brush up on numerous learning opportunities. We’re all learning how to be more effective in virtual meetings. With webinars becoming more frequent events, there’s an opportunity to learn how to be an efficient presenter and an active participant.  

Manager’s Tip:  Life-long learning is a critical issue which we discuss in The Manager’s Answer Book:

Question: “I want to encourage my employees to continue to learn and grow. What can I do to help them see the importance of continuous learning?”

Answer: “Share what you’re learning with your staff. You can do this in a staff meeting by taking a few minutes to share a book, article, or other resource you’ve found to be helpful. If your employees seem receptive, it is a great idea to ask everyone to read a particular article or watch a specific video and then discuss it when you next meet. This is an easy way to get your employees interested in expanding their knowledge or skill base.”

There are so many ways to learn using available technologies, including:

• Webcasts
• Podcasts
• YouTube
• Online articles
• Audio books
• TED Talks

For more on this subject, see page 99 of The Manager’s Answer Book, available from Amazon -- https://tinyurl.com/y8umaqpz - Barnes & Noble or your local independent bookstore.

Finally, a shoutout to Next Generation Indie Book Awards. The Manager’s Answer Book is a proud 2020 Winner in their Career Book category.  The staff did an excellent job of conducting a virtual awards ceremony last month on Facebook Live. A learning opportunity for them.

Is There Anything Else I Should Know?

Kyle answered his ringing phone. His colleague, Renee, on the other end of the line sounded desperate.  “I need your advice,” she said, and then described an employee problem she was grappling with.  

It was an attendance problem. The employee was often late arriving for work, or taking time off during the day allegedly, for personal appointments, without notifying anyone.  Some days he was just missing in action -- somewhere in the building, but no one could find him.  His manager had spoken with him about it more than once and documented those conversations.  The last conversation resulted in a formal written warning for the employee. Yet his behavior had not changed.  Now they wanted to terminate his employment.  “What do you think, Kyle,” Renee asked, “Can we terminate him?”

Kyle verified with Renee that the documentation was clear and complete, and he was assured the employee received a copy of the written warning. “From everything you shared, it appears that the policy would support termination,” Kyle said. 

Imagine Kyle’s surprise when Karen London, the General Counsel, called several days later wanting to know why he gave the okay to terminate the employee. “Kyle, didn’t you know this employee had filed a harassment complaint the week before he was terminated?”

“Karen, this is the first I’m hearing about his complaint. Renee never told me when she called for my advice. She only described the attendance issue.” 

“Okay, Kyle,” said Karen. “This didn’t sound like something you’d do if you had all the facts and information.  I’ve got it from here.”

Kyle hung up the phone questioning his own competence, and feeling a bit betrayed by Renee. How was I supposed to know there was more to the situation?  I gave her my opinion based on the facts she provided and my interpretation of the policy. She twisted everything.  

He reached for a piece of and wrote something down. Then he taped the paper onto the message board above his desk and thought next time when anyone asks my advice or opinion, I’m ending the conversation with these words: “Is there anything else I should know?”  

Maryanne Robertson

P. S. Who is Maryanne Robertson and why is she writing this post? Find out more about her at

http://makingpeoplematter.blogspot.com/2020/01/meet-maryanne-robertson.html.

Learning and Teaching

I know I’m not alone in being a faithful reader of Seth Godin’s daily blogs (and yes, I still can’t believe he blogs every day and I think once a week is a challenge). Monday, March 23, 2020, his blog ended with this challenge: “What will you learn today? Who will you teach?”

As we’re all living in what seems to be an alternative universe in which we are working from home and keeping our social distance from neighbors and friends, this challenge is perfect.  Seth comments that “we may not be able to anything about external events, but we have control over our actions.”

Like everyone, I’m spending a lot of time on Zoom and conference calls, and I’m learning where to place my laptop so that I’m not focused on how wrinkled my neck is. I hope I am using this time to learn and teach others.

How about you? What will you learn today and who will you teach? Maybe not every day of this period of time, but I hope that more days than not, I learn something new that then I can turn around a share with someone else.

One of my passions is helping people who are considering a job or career change. While this may not be an ideal time to be interviewing, I’m trying to think of other things people can do during this time. It is a great time to update a LinkedIn Profile or reach out to people in their network that they haven’t talked to in a while. No, this is probably not the time to meet for coffee or lunch but why not certainly can do a Zoom call or even an old-fashioned phone call to reconnect?

Another thing I can learn is how to make better use of video technology. I’ve done plenty of webinars over the past few years and am pretty comfortable doing them, but I’m less confident about my ability to use some of the great features of other platforms. Great time to give this a try. 

I’ve always believed that it was a good thing to be a lifelong learner and now, thanks to this pesky virus that has stopped so much of our world, I have the time to do it.  Let’s learn together and make these necessary life changes into something positive. Maybe I can get motivated to blog more often…and then again, maybe not.

Barbara Mitchell

Look Who’s on the Global Stage!

My Asian adventure continues. In December 2006, I was part of a delegation of HR professionals that travelled to China through the People to People program.  The trip took us to Beijing and Shanghai where we visited businesses, including Lenovo and Texas Instrument, universities, and the Ministry of Personnel of The People’s Republic of China.  

Entering the Ministry and taking part in the presentations and discussion was surreal.  It’s primary function is human capital development in the public sector—Chinese civil servants and employees at institutions providing social and service delivery functions, such as schools, research facilities, and medical centers.  We learned about its role in the transition of China from a planned to a market economy.  

At Tsinghua University’s School of Economics and Management in Beijing, we exchanged ideas about HR and management issues.  The faculty discussed their research on evolving business and management strategies and the emerging role for HR in China. Most of us in the delegation were surprised when a young and very assertive female Assistant Professor commented, "We encourage our old people to retire.” It was in response to a question regarding concern over losing institutional knowledge and experience. What we learned was that as China emerges from decades of a planned economy, they are suffering from a loss of talent, especially middle management.  What young managers and professionals lack most are experienced mentors.  Our take away from that discussion was their need for management training with an emphasis on middle management. Many of us in the delegation saw a big opportunity in that area.

Fast forward to February 2020.  Last week Barbara and I were each absolutely surprised and delighted to receive a very unexpected package in the mail.  Our publisher sent us presentation copies of the translation of The Manager’s Answer Book into Chinese and The Big Book of HR into Vietnamese. We knew that they sold the foreign rights to our books, and we knew The Big Book of HR had sold in countries such as Brazil, Germany, Spain, U.K., France, Australia, India, Mexico, Japan, Canada and Italy.  But to see it translated into two Asian languages—that was beyond our wildest expectations.

Looking back on that December 2006 afternoon at Tsinghua University, I’m delighted to be able to fill a part of that need for middle management training in China with The Manager’s Answer Book.

Cornelia Gamlem

Meet Maryanne Robertson.

So, who is Maryanne exactly? And why should you meet her?  

Maryanne is the central character in our upcoming book. She’s the Chief HR Officer of a fictitious restaurant chain headquartered in a large Midwest city. And the issues she deals with, often daily, are complex and simply unbelievable. 

Of course, Maryanne doesn’t deal with these issues alone. That wouldn’t be any fun. She wants to teach and inspire her staff, support her management team, and share challenges and ideas with outside colleagues so they can learn and grow together. It’s through Maryanne and her colleagues that the stories in the book will be told.

A little more about Maryanne. She’s married to an employment attorney, which often makes for interesting pillow talk. And don’t expect them to always agree. After working several years for a management consulting firm, she returned to work at the restaurant chain, where she’d worked as a server during college, and eventually found her way from operations into HR because she was driven by the challenge of making people matter. 

Maryanne has the respect of her peers on the management team, but there’s always one exception.  Larry Blackstone, the CFO, thinks Maryanne only sees the people side, the soft side as he likes to say, of business. He forgets that while she was an assistant manager at one of the largest restaurants in the chain, she developed retention strategies that significantly reduced turnover and resulted in significant savings.

Kyle Greene, the employee relations manager who reports to Maryanne, thinks she’s amazing and is grateful to be working for her so early in his career. “She’s smart and attractive with her dark hair and bright green eyes. People take notice when she walks into a room. She has a soft, yet commanding, presence and is admired as a business leader in the community outside the company as well.”  

Someone from the outside business community who greatly respects her is Jason Edison, although they do have some history. They worked together in the management consulting firm Maryanne joined right out of college and have remained good friends and colleagues. It was Jason’s idea to start the networking group of HR Executives. They support each other by sharing problems and offering solutions. 

These are just some of the peers and colleagues you’ll meet along the way. And it’s through all of them that the stories in the book are told. In the coming months, we’ll give you glimpses into the types of stories you’ll read in the book. You’ll read tales about managing in the grey zone because people and the situations they put themselves into are rarely black and white.

A Challenge for 2020

Best places to work. These competitions abound on the national and on the local level.  They cause many people to stop and think: Are they really objective?  That’s often going to depend on the process, the judging criteria and the judges.  I was asked to serve as a judge last year in a best professional contest.  With some reluctance I said yes.  Reluctance turned to enthusiasm when I received the well-defined criteria and realized that being new to the community, I didn’t know any of the entrants.  I could be totally objective and judge them against the standards.  And my top candidate won. 

It’s great when employees feel there is something special about finding a job, a company, an organization where they genuinely enjoy going to work every day and even putting in extra hours sometimes.  Who do you want judging you as an employer – a panel of external judges or your employees? 

Consider the following excerpt from an Albuquerque Journal article that appeared on December 12, 2019 about a local, top workplaces competition.  Two of the questions in survey for the 2019 competition were:  How satisfied are you with your job? How satisfied are you with your organization?  Some of the rave reviews from employees surveyed among last year’s winners include:

• Decisions are made based on member impact and the bottom line is not the primary focus. People who work here are generally passionate about helping our members and our community.
• I have the ability to make a meaningful difference in people’s lives every day.
• Have never worked in a place that makes you feel so welcome and needed.
• I really enjoy coming to work because it’s a very positive environment to be in! I love what I do and enjoy learning new things, but especially spending time with the students because they are an important part of our community and our lives.
• This job allows me to work to my strengths. I am able to balance work and personal life with my work setting. I love the people that I work with, they are all supportive.
• Every day is different, challenging and exciting.
• I am able to do what I love and grow.
• I enjoy my co-workers, team work and making the job fun. I look forward to coming to work every day for another new adventure. Having management understand and support our team is a huge factor.
• Every person I have interacted with is so helpful and happy to help teach me something new. I have never felt discouraged or dreaded coming into work. I truly feel like I am making a difference in other’s lives even without presently meeting them face to face.

Here’s the challenge for 2020: Think of the accolades you want your employees to shower on you as an employer – or even as a manager. Then make it happen. Engage your team every work day during the coming year. Get some ideas on page 37 of The Manager’s Answer Book.

Is this Respectful?

Microaggressions, those prejudiced comments and actions that are indirect, subtle, or intentional forms of bias, are more common in the workplace today than you might imagine them to be. Often hard to recognize, they have a negative impact at work.  Microaggressions cross boundaries—physical, personal, and interpersonal boundaries. They can devalue other people, impact feelings of inclusion, and diminish employees’ contributions.  If they are lodged against people of color, women, individuals with disabilities, or other protected groups, they can be forms of discrimination, especially if they occur frequently. 

On a Sunday morning in September of 2019, I read a cartoon, a column, and an article in the newspaper that all illustrated microaggressions—situations where boundaries were crossed.

Dilbert was mocking a bunch of men who are weak, stupid, and can’t solve a problem while the women can. Is it sexist because only the men are weak—not the women? Of course it is. Discrimination on the basis of sex covers both men and women, and this crossed an interpersonal boundary.

The work advice column discussed repeated and frequent disparaging comments about age directed to an older worker by a younger one. This is another example of crossing an interpersonal boundary and is a potential violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, especially if the behavior is persistent. 

Then there was the article was about workplace discrimination against natural hair—natural for African-Americans.  It cited allegations of job offers rescinded and terminations that occurred because of hair style—explicit discrimination. Subtle discrimination was also included—comments about natural hair being unprofessional and the microaggression of attempting to reach out and touch the hair of an African-American colleague. This crossed a physical boundary.

Another example from a different source illustrates a manager crossing a personal boundary.  She continually complained in staff meetings about her step-child’s medical needs. A staff member had a child with similar needs and was extremely uncomfortable with the manager’s comments.

What can individual employees do to contribute to a workplace of respect? 

• Be discreet and sensitive to others. Don’t assume that other people won’t be offended.
• Consider the impact of your behavior on others. 
• Respect privacy—yours and that of others. People have varying comfort levels about discussing certain topics.

What can organizations and managers do? 

• Raise the bar on acceptable workplace behavior and accept nothing less than respect and professionalism.  
• Acknowledge employees who treat each other with respect. 
• Talk about respect, civility, and your policies, with team members. 
• Encourage employees to speak up, and acknowledge them when they do. 
• Take concerns and complaints seriously, and have a neutral process to look into them. 
• Dispel any myths that anyone is exempt from your high behavior standards.

Don’t let microaggressions take your organization down a slippery slope toward a toxic workplace. It’s up to the leaders of the organization to take on the challenge of building and maintaining positive workplace cultures.  

Honor Veterans With Jobs!

Hiring veterans is a sound business investment. Yet there are myths or concerns that often cause reluctance to do so. 

One myth is that veterans suffering from PTSD are unstable or may be a liability. PTSD is not a condition confined to combat veterans. Anyone in the population can suffer from it. Don’t let that be a barrier.  

Other myths, or assumptions, are veterans always want to be in charge or they are overly qualified and likely to leave for more pay. Like any assumptions, they may apply to some individuals but are not likely to apply to all veterans. Grant qualified veterans an interview and ask them about their knowledge, experiences and skills—in other words, their job-related backstory.

Finally, there’s the assumption that if a veteran does not have a degree needed for a particular job, then skills and knowledge are lacking.  The training the military invests in technical skills such as pharmacy tech, dental assistants, payroll specialists can be the equivalent of up to two and one-half years of civilian training. In basic training, which equals approximately six months of civilian training, veterans learn critical thinking, problem solving and accountability.  

Aside from the technical skills and security clearances veterans bring to the table, here are just some of the other reasons to consider them for jobs in your organizations.

Veterans foster teamwork. In the military, it’s critical to work as a team to accomplish the mission.  Veterans have extensive experience working to complete a mission, regardless of the time it took, or the levels of stress and adversity they faced.

Strong leadership and followership qualities.  Veterans are trained in effective leadership and are given authority over others. They are accountable for the success of the team and the mission. A good leader needs good followers to succeed and veterans understand this like no other members of the civilian society.

Trust and respect. Organizations can’t succeed without trust among its members. This couldn’t be truer than in military organizations where trust is critical for mission success. Veterans learn the importance of respect—respect for each other, for authority, and for policies and protocols along with the potential consequences of not following protocols and procedures.

Tax credits. Organizations can earn Work Opportunity Tax Credits of up to $9,600 for hiring unemployed or disabled veterans. The credit can be higher for wounded warriors.

It’s true veterans are not necessarily prepared to get jobs outside the military. That should not be a barrier either. Consider using veterans who are currently in your workforce to help recruiters understand and interpret the qualifications listed on a veteran’s resume or application.  An experienced veteran can help translate military experience to civilian job requirements.  

All veterans want to make valued contributions to the workforce, not unlike most civilian workers. Don’t be reluctant to hire these qualified man and women who are enthusiastic to learn and move your organizations forward. 

Tips for Collaborating

Collaborating can be fun and a way to find new approaches to your work. Barbara and I always joke that we’ve written several books together and we’re still talking to each other, sometimes several times a day. Here are some tips we came across recently for getting the most out of your collaboration experience. 

Be clear. Don’t assume others understand you or what you’re going to do next. Don’t assume they are mine readers. 

Carry your weight. Once you have a clearly defined next step, do it. You can’t control other people, so focus on one thing you can control—your own work.

Have an agenda. Aimless meetings or phone calls that don’t produce anything are problems.  An agenda with clear goals and discussion items keeps you the project on track and everyone accountable. 

Don’t be shy. Yes, be polite, but don’t accept ideas you think are inferior. Don’t hesitate to offer your own ideas.

Stay visible. Nothing is more frustrating than someone who doesn’t respond to emails or texts for days at a time. Be responsive.

Remind yourself that no idea is too small. Don’t sacrifice details for focus on big picture stuff. Sometimes going down a lengthy rabbit hole can yield pure gold. 

Prepare your arguments. When you’re collaborating, you’re a committee member. Take time to organize your thoughts. 

Embrace discomfort. Collaboration sometimes means ways of working that you’re uncomfortable with, but unless this involves illegal or unethical activities, make an effort to embrace it.

Speak up early. If you’re not happy or comfortable with something, don’t simmer for months and then blow everything up. Speak up right away. And if you lose the point, be diplomatic and graceful.

Be prepared to go on alone. Give the project your best, and approach the partnership honestly. But if your partners fail and drop away, have a plan for how you’ll get something out of it anyway—and know how you’re going to handle it if you are the one who has to drop out. 

Collaborating with someone might be an amazing experience that changes how you work, or miserable one—either way it’s going to teach you something.

Adapted from an article by Jeff Summers, All Together Now, in Writer’s Digest, November/December 2019.

Optimism & Positive Thinking

“Optimism—It’s not just a mindset. It’s a behavior.” I saw this on a meme posted on social media. It got me thinking about several things. How do you observe optimism? How do you observe any behavior for that matter? Is it important to observe behavior?

I recently heard in a writing workshop—writing about emotions—that a significant amount of communication is transmitted through non-verbal means, such as expressions, body language or vocal tones.  So, I went on to research how you describe optimism in a character.  Here’s what I learned.

The character may display a wide grin, make joking observations, or turn away and burst out into laughter. Their speech may be bubbly, their eyes may glow, or their gestures may be animated. An optimistic character may lean in, make strong eye contact and smile a lot. 

Why is observing behavior and emotions important? Alan Alda talks about listening with eyes, ears, and feelings—or emotions—in his book, If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face? This observation helps you relate to other people and better understand them.  

I got to test this out recently while talking with people about workplace issues.  Reading their non-verbal cues proved to be just as important as asking questions and listening to responses. Was there a disconnect between what the words they were saying and what their expressions and body language were telling me?  In one case, yes there was, which led me to explore some facts further.

On page 127 of The Manager’s Answer Book, we explain that nonverbal communication is an indicator of the effect you are having on others and whether your message is being heard and understood. More importantly it allows you to observe other people’s emotions and emotional state and to be comfortable. When you are comfortable with one another, you are able to relate to that person and track their ability to follow you. The result is that you are in sync with each other—you are communicating.

Friday, September 13, is Positive Thinking Day—a day to celebrate optimism. Show your optimism—smile, laugh, be bubbly and glow. Let those around you be comfortable so it’s easy to relate to each other. It’s a great way to build positive and respectful workplace relationships.

Inspiring Confidence

A local business owner shared an interesting experience with me recently. She received an inquiry through her company’s website. Would she be interested in a certain niche service for her business? Her interest was piqued enough to want additional information and she thought a phone call would be helpful.  So, she conferred with her business partner and then responded to the email suggesting a phone call with the individual who contacted her.

Now you know how difficult it is to coordinate a call among three people. Here’s what happened next:  After numerous emails among the three, a call was finally arranged with Billy, the business developer who’d sent the inquiry. The next day, Billy sent an email advising that the call would be with Justin, the founder, because Justin took all new business development calls. Strange, but okay thought the partners.  Justin tried to join a call on Tuesday, but the call was scheduled for Friday because Tuesday didn’t work for the partners. Justin wasn’t available on Friday, the day arranged by Billy.  Confused yet? They sure were. They asked Justin to provide available days and times for a call.  He took two weeks to respond.  

There’s an old saying — too many cooks spoil the broth. Justin sure spoiled a potential business opportunity for his firm for a number of reasons:

• Lack of clear communication — when would the call take place,
• Lack of clear expectations — with whom would the call take place; and
• Lack of trust, at least that’s what the partners perceived — didn’t he trust Billy to take an initial call with potential clients?

At this point, the partners had pretty much written off Justin and his firm. They were questioning if things were this difficult to get a simple call arranged, what would they encounter if they proceeded with a business arrangement? Simply stated, Justin hadn’t inspired confidence in himself or his firm.

Confidence, like trust, isn’t an event. It’s a process. Confidence and trust are something you build over time — with your employees, with your clients and customers and with your stakeholders.  Set expectations in the beginning of the business relationship and reinforce them. Have clear processes and communicate those processes early to everyone affected by them. You want your employees and your customers to be emotionally engaged in a positive way.  The emotional engagement the partners in this story experienced was confusion.  Justin’s going to have to work hard to change that.

You Know What You Should Do

Not long after we wrote The Big Book of HR, we were speaking at an event and signing books.  During a lull in the activity, someone came and sat down next to us — uninvited — and starting chatting away.  “My father wrote a book,” she said and proceeded to tell us about it.  We weren’t paying much attention, not that we were rude, but potential book buyers approached and we turned our focus to them. 

When the conference attendees returned to their session, our new best friend remained behind, once again engaging us in a conversation. “You know what you should do?” she said before proceeding to give us unsolicited advice about book marketing — this from someone who never wrote nor marketed a book.  You Know What You Should Do has become a standard joke between Barbara and me. But kidding aside, we are both always sensitive to offering advice to others — solicited or unsolicited.  And when we do, we frame it in positive terms and phrases: “You might consider” or “Have you ever thought of..” or “Something that might work is...”

I heard an interesting quote recently that says it all and has such wide application today — in business and in politics. “The world is changed by your example not by your opinion,” Paul Coelho. People are so quick to voice their opinions without stopping to think if anyone is interested, if they are relevant or if they add value.

Managers can take a valuable lesson from this and apply it to their interactions with team members and others in their organization. Remember that in your role as a manager, all eyes are on you. How you present yourself, how you communicate, how you act, all reflect on the type of leader and person you are — and you will want to reflect on those traits that project confidence, credibility and integrity.

For more insights on leading by example, you know what you should do?  Check out Section 4 of The Manager’s Answer Book. Seriously, if you don’t already have a copy, we’d be so honored and thankful if you’d pick one up.  And if you do have the book, we’re confident that you’ll find thought provoking ideas in that section and others.

Commencements and Commitments

It’s June, the month of graduations and weddings — commencements and commitments. 

Graduations.  They occur at the end of an academic phase — the end of high school or college, for example — with a commencement ceremony. A commencement is a beginning or start of something new. So, graduations are about ending one phase and starting a new one. 

We are in a commencement phase ourselves. Since 2011, we’ve been writing and publishing nonfiction business books of a prescriptive nature. Now, however, we’re on the cusp of a new chapter — writing and publishing in a new genre — narrative nonfiction. Narrative nonfiction is like a novel. It tells a story or stories.

We've been on a journey writing this narrative nonfiction book. Recognizing there are many stories to tell about the dynamics of workplace behavior, we set out to gather them from our colleagues. Since we wanted to write a compelling and enticing book, we took many storytelling liberties. The stories we heard were molded, tweaked, and often combined with others to fit the structure of the scenes we created throughout this book.

In order to preserve the privacy and identity of the individuals and organizations involved, we created a fictitious company and cast of characters as a backdrop against which we tell these tales. The characters portrayed are composites of a large number of professionals across a wide variety of industries and throughout multiple careers. 

Weddings. They represent commitments. A couple on a journey is looking forward and making commitments to each other about the future.  Our idea for this work of narrative nonfiction formed in 2011 as we concluded writing The Big Book of HR. Along the journey — gathering stories, countless drafts, rewrites, and edits — we were interrupted with requests from our publisher to write three more books. Then there were other life events that stalled us. 

Now we are rocking it. This year alone the manuscript has been in the hands of four HR colleagues for peer review and now it’s been turned over to three beta readers for their critique.  Once we get all this feedback, more rewrites will be done. Then we can move onward to get the book to market.

We know there’s still a great deal more to do — cover design, editing, formatting — but we’re on a solid path to the next stop on our journey. Publication and book launch are planned for 2020. 

Many of our readers have been along on this journey with us.  Now, we invite all of you to keep up with our progress and hold us to our commitment. We’ll be sharing more information in our weekly blog — makingpeoplematter.blogspot.com — and in this monthly newsletter, so please be on the lookout for them. 

Barbara and Cornelia

Namaste

“Imagine what impact this single word – Namaste – could have on the world if every day you looked each person that you passed in the eye and said in effect: I salute the Divine within you. I salute what you do best. I salute your natural gifts. I honor your uniqueness and your specialness.” Kevin Hall

This traditional Indian greeting is a gesture of respect, and respect is at the core of understanding diversity. Each of us possesses many unique characteristics that are often described as dimensions of diversity. They include obvious characteristics such as age, ethnicity, sex, mental or physical abilities, and race.  They also include other, not so obvious characteristics, such as education, military experience, religious beliefs, work experience, work and communication styles and, yes those special talents and gifts that we all possess.

At a time when we are experiencing so much divisiveness in our society, wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could all take the time to heed Kevin Hall’s advice and incorporate it into our daily routine. It may not be realistic to stop and say it out loud to everyone you pass - but take the time to mentally honor the uniqueness and special gifts of others, especially people who appear to be different from you. Listen to colleagues in meetings. Hear what they have to say. Don’t make assumptions about people around you. 

We’ve gathered a number of blogs we’ve written over the years into a new e-booklet entitled “Diversity & Discrimination”. You can find it at www.bigbookofhr.com. Feel free to download a copy. 

Namaste.