Beam Me Up, Scotty

 

The year 2020 ushered in the #WFH (work from home) frenzy as offices closed during the pandemic. Zoom became the normal mode of communicating, meeting and collaborating. As employers contemplate the future and vaccinations allow people to slowly head back to work, it is certain that the workplace has changed forever. Hybrid workplace will undoubtedly be the new normal with employers rotating between working remotely and coming into physical office.

What will this do for collaboration? One thing we learned during the pandemic is that the lack of social interaction and in-person professional contact certainly put a strain on teams. If all team members are not in the same place at the same time, will that strain worsen? 

A colleague who consults with a client in another city shared that during the pandemic, Zoom meetings were a welcome change for her. In the past, she called into team meetings and was a lone voice on a speaker phone in the conference room. She felt more engaged in Zoom meetings when everyone was a square on the screen. Indeed, Zoom is working on a model where people who are present for a meeting in a conference room will have their own video boxes thereby allowing remote workers the same experience. Great start, but Zoom, a 2-D video call platform, does have its limitations.

Enter virtual reality and 3-D holograms. Dalvin Brown reported in The Washington Post on February 9, 2021, that a number of companies are launching 3-D display systems. One beams presenters into meetings and conferences, another enables hologram collaboration within virtual meeting rooms, and yet another enabled holographic-style virtual meetings on their platform. A number of other companies are racing to develop similar Web conferencing capabilities. 

The notion that is driving this innovation is that holograms are more engaging to work with than tiles of faces on a computer screen. Holograms provide the ability to read body language and other physical reactions in cyberspace, and they foster greater collaboration and communication among colleagues who are not or cannot be present in the same place. Not quite in-person professional contact, but certainly closer.

What about the expense of all of this? Traditionally, setting up high-definition holograms required expensive projection hardware and technicians. Software advancements, however, are unlocking ways to use laptops, computers, smartphones and other devices to engage with and stream holograms emitted elsewhere. 3-D display systems are also being developed and start-ups in the 3-D space are positioning their offerings.

It might not be much longer until we can all say, “Beam me up, Scotty,” or beam me into meetings and conferences we might otherwise be prohibited from attending. 

Cornelia Gamlem

Servant Leadership

 In the midst of a tumultuous post-election season, we lost a humble, but impactful, national leader. Former Maryland Senator, Paul Sarbanes, best known for the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act which overhauled accounting rules for publicly held business, died on December 6, 2020 in Baltimore.

Sometimes described as a “phantom senator,” he maintained a low profile and rarely issued news releases or held news conferences. Not comfortable with the backslapping, glad-handing and grandstanding of public office, he avoided the spotlight and the social circuit in the nation’s capital. Rather, he drove home to Baltimore each night to be with his family.  

Mr. Sarbanes described himself as a “different sort of politician. I’m not always out there blowing my own trumpet. . . . You can get a lot done if you let others take some, maybe all, of the credit for it.”

Throughout his public service, he worked to promote low-income housing, environmental protection and preservation, investor protection, and consumer privacy, and helped shape legislation affecting Social Security, tax policy and campaign financing. In 1974, while serving on the House of Representatives House Judiciary Committee, he drafted the first article of impeachment of President Richard Nixon—something not widely known. 

As I read about Senator Sarbanes’ death, I thought of all of the positive leadership characteristics he possessed and displayed—characteristics discussed in The Manager’s Answer Book. It inspired me to start writing this blog. Committed to his values and principles, he never contradicted them in his actions or words. A collaborator and negotiator, he focused on important, but unglamourous work such as drafting and redrafting amendments, and working on details that drew bipartisan support. 

That other’s sought him out for advice, especially on difficult issues, is a testament to his listening skills and his reputation of being a sound and ethical advisor. He was not afraid to delegate or let other’s take credit. These actions showed that he trusted people, knew their strengths and weaknesses, and recognized what motivated them. He saw value in recognizing other’s accomplishments. 

Critical thinking skills are important in any leader. Sarbanes’ colleagues in the Senate thought of him as someone who studied hard and was meticulously prepared—a clear and thorough thinker. A courageous leader, he knew the issues that were important to the people he represented and advocated for them and for the state’s natural resources rather than grandstand and advocate for his own self interests.

One month to the day after his death, on January 6, 2021, the U. S. Capitol building was stormed by our own citizens brandishing weapons and laying siege to the seat of our government and disrupting a joint session of Congress. Later, when Congress convened, some members took the opportunity to grandstand for their own self interests. This is not leadership in any form. It  certainly is not servant leadership as exemplified by Senator Paul Sarbanes. 

It’s time to have many critical and difficult conversations in our organizations and in our nation.

We’ll leave you with the words of another servant leader we lost in 2020, Representative John Lewis: “When you see something that is not right, not just, not fair, you have a moral obligation to say something, to do something.” 

Cornelia & Barbara

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.

How Managers Can Teach Employees To Solve Their Own Problems

Managers often find themselves trapped in the middle of situations that aren't theirs to solve. Say one of your team members comes to you pleading that you compel another of your direct reports to handling something a certain way. It's your job to give direction and make judgment calls, but where does that duty shade into arbitrating conflicts your teams should be handling?

To be fair, that's often a tough call. In some cases, an exasperated team member will take an issue up with their manager because they genuinely think their approach will lead to the best results. But chances are the person they disagree with is just as convinced of their own ideas. Before you intervene, think about the possible outcomes. If you step in, will it look like you're taking sides? Will your team be able to work together effectively afterward if you do? Ideally, both of your quarreling employees are valuable, and you want to keep both of them engaged, even if you can't make both happy.

But worst of all, arbitrating certain disputes robs your team members of developing their own conflict management skills. One of your other jobs as a manager is to help your team grow, both individually and together. To do that, you need to help them resolve some of their own issues collaboratively. Here are five tips to help managers do just that.

1. Know When And How To Intervene

Different circumstances call for different responses. If one employee’s weak performance is preventing other employees from getting their jobs done, you most certainly have a role to play. Address the performance deficiencies of that team member. If it comes down to an issue of harassment, stepping in is a much easier call, and your organization is legally required to investigate it. If an employee is struggling because of issues either in or outside the workplace, offer the support and resources you can in order to help them through it.

But if the matter comes down to disagreement over strategy or tactics involving a certain project, that might be a time to step back and encourage your team members to sort it out. You can and should give guidance, but you don't always need to make a final call from on high.

2. Give Your Employees Room To Grow

Employees need the freedom and authority to solve problems that relate to their work. Today’s workers (especially millennials) want training that helps them advance their career. So give them the opportunity to learn conflict management techniques and develop problem-solving skills. In the midst of a dispute, your team members can get frustrated and aren't always likely to see it as a teaching moment. That's where you come in.

Needless to say, every conflict requires its own response, but you should model the techniques and skills you want your employees to learn each time. It behooves your company to cultivate a staff that's capable not only of resolving issues and crises independently but of heading them off in the first place.

3. Recognize When Egos And Emotions Get In The Way

Define the problem and the impact it’s having in the workplace—tempers and egos aside. That won't calm everyone down automatically, of course, but it will help your team members focus on the issue itself and not how they feel about it. Remember that the dispute could involve someone's passion project. If emotions flare, help your employees control them so they don’t interfere with the resolution. Then give them space to work toward it. Call for a break and ask everyone to step away and reflect on things. It’s an opportunity to regain balance so conversations can carry on constructively.

4. Facilitate, Don't Dictate

As a manager who takes this approach, you’ll be a neutral observer. From that vantage point, you can help mediate the discussion. When you meet with the employees to do that, you should define roles and set ground rules. Again, the employees are the primary players here, not you. They're the ones who you want asking questions of each other and proposing solutions. You won’t offer advice, opinions, or solutions, even if asked. You’re there to keep the discussion on track.

5. Make The Conflict Mean Something

When team members butt heads over a project-related issue, it's sometimes the sign of creativity and innovation trying to break through. Employees who are close to the work often have great ideas for better solutions. So help them brainstorm these ideas, then help them evaluate and prioritize them.

When people sit down and talk, calmly and rationally, information is exchanged—not assertions, opinions, or insults. There's an opportunity to hear and understand different viewpoints. But as a manager, you need to create and protect those opportunities, otherwise they'll become far less productive than they can be. By coaching your team members to sit back down together and work things out, you'll end up strengthening their working relationships.

That employee who asks you to step in and resolve an issue may not know it at the time, but they're really asking for help to grow. So embrace the conflict, don't solve it. When everyone on your team can step up and own the issues they confront by working together, everyone benefits.

This article was originally appeared on fastcompany.com on September 28, 2015

Cornelia Gamlem & Barbara Mitchell