How much leadership is right during Change?

This month I joined my colleague Meg Salter at a workshop on change management for HRPA members. Several of the attendees had questions about the role of their business leaders during change. Frankly, the challenge for HR professionals is often that leaders are too involved, or are not involved enough, in the change effort. So this month I’m talking about what research says about change leadership and I’ll share some ideas on how to find just the right balance.

Leadership, many would argue, is distinguished from management by its focus on initiating and implementing change. While researchers theoretically separate an emergent, organic approach and a planned approach to change, I’ve found that organizations benefit from a blended approach, taking into account the culture and readiness for the change. Your change interventions may be recommended by a project team (targeting processes) and your HR department (targeting people), but leading the change requires something special of you.

1. Decide early what won’t change. Sometimes in the excitement of a change, there is an urge to cut loose from everything that represents the status quo. While there is excitement and stimulation in breaking free, leaders need to discern what their organization is ready for. It’s true that change efforts find their beginning in creating tension and destabilization. But by anchoring the changes in something familiar, you make it psychologically safe to innovate and try something new. Many leaders take care to frame the changes in terms of how they support and align to long-held values. Talk about what is not being abandoned. If you are interested in supporting emergent changes, set the boundaries of the playing field to open up lots of possibilities for imaginative change. Your job here is to create the space from which the unpredictable can emerge.

2. Get in up to your elbows. All change requires actual intervention into the human dynamics of your organization, and at-arms-length, objective leadership will not work. Using working teams at the implementation level is quite common. If you’re a sponsor of the change, make time to attend working group meetings, and to have casual drop-in conversations with staff at all levels. Your organization is a complex and constantly adapting system, which doesn’t stand still during change planning and implementation. All leaders need to increase their networks and access to communication, or what shifts beneath you will go unnoticed before it’s too late.

3. Be positive about the unknown future. Once you have created a compelling reason for the change, be sure that others see your enthusiasm for the future. Sometimes you are able to describe a compelling vision, with concrete deliverables and milestones along the way. At other times, the future will be less clear. Focus then on higher-order core values, and a few simple rules that will guide behaviour and decisions when things get foggy. Whatever works best, your role is to encourage people that what they are losing today will be worth it tomorrow. Find the words that are an authentic expression of your hope.

4. Encourage participative processes. It’s easier to try new things and act differently when you’re not alone. Emphasize the interdependency of your work and increase opportunities to participate. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that “too many cooks ruin the soup”. Yes, you should clarify accountabilities for decisions, and once that is done ask the decision-makers to inform, consult and generally stay engaged in the system as they decide. Many changes have failed because the project team developed their solutions in isolation and then handed it over. You may think you are protecting people from the noise of the change, but you are actually robbing them of early engagement and increased ownership to its success.

5. Balance tension with support. Proponents of planned change say leaders should remove barriers so the change can march on. Emergent change advocates say that leaders should create more tension and escalate natural conflicts. I’d say do both. Learn to facilitate conversations that are tough and where dissension is predictable. Act as a “sense maker” when diversity threatens alignment, and ensure that no one is humiliated in the name of progress.

6. Ask for personal feedback. Research into decision-making has uncovered an array of biases that are almost impossible to avoid. These include inappropriate self-interest, relying on misleading experience and making judgments based on emotional tags. Leaders of change may think that times of uncertainty and crisis are when they need to stand strong and confident in their decisions. Find a trusted advisor that you can test your assumptions and perceptions with. HR partners are ideal coaches as they bring sensitivities to these areas.

Need help figuring out how you want to lead the change? Jill Malleck, Epiphany at Work and Meg Salter (megsalter.com) are experienced OD consultants and Integral Coaches™ ready to support you and your team to accelerate positive change. Send us a note.

Team Coaching a great alternative to teambuilding

Recently I presented a workshop at the Grand Valley HRPA’s biannual conference called “An Alternative to Teambuilding.” For those who couldn’t make it, I’m happy to share the highlights of my topic here.

Teams are important, and yet many of us dread working in a group. The typical responses to strengthening a team – improving communication and seeking role clarity – are a good solid start, yet they are often inadequate for dealing with the inevitable conflicts and cultural dysfunctions. Leaders often find that even well-designed teambuilding sessions are not enough to shift the habits and character of the team on-the-job.

At the same time, many leaders who engage in personal coaching are able to make significant changes in their working lives. Integral Coaching™, the method in which I am trained, uses human development theory and real-life practices that allow us to work at multiple levels: Growing Up – advancing and maturing the skills and abilities already in place, and Waking Up – become more aware of oneself and making conscious choices about behaviour. With Integral Coaching, leaders demonstrate sustainable change in behaviours and results.

Yet, we shouldn’t give up on our quest to develop stronger teams. They are the DNA of most organizations. Our ability to work well in groups is critical in the complexity of our world. As Katzenbach and Smith say in their book The Wisdom of Teams, “Teams naturally integrate performance and learning…learning not only occurs in teams, but endures.”

Could the principles of coaching be applied successfully to a team? Yes, they can. I have found that by integrating group development theories and group experience into a human development-centred approach, teams can have the same success as individuals when being coached. In the past year I have seen the real progress teams can make when they are coached together; when they share the experience of growing up and waking up.

Why does Team Coaching work so well?
• When work teams learn together, the changes they make are more culturally sustainable. The team that is coached together supports and challenges one other to try new behaviours in the “real world”, not just during an experiential activity at an offsite. Peers help sustain commitment to the goal and provide support, so one isn’t ostracized for new behaviours.
• Personal accountability is enhanced with group accountability. The coaching topic is created together and each person is singularly accountable reaching the developmental objectives. The coaching results then become a shared work-product, something which everyone commits to. This provides a platform for teambuilding without disturbing the valid and normal attention given to our functional and operational agendas.
• Team coaching sessions provide a vehicle for what Chris Argyris calls “double loop learning”, with their focus on new behaviours, real-time inquiry and transparency and feedback amongst the team. The process itself builds the team’s capacity to work together, as well as each person’s skill in collective interactions.
• Coaching over a number of months gives the group a change to clearly see the myriad of ways they work together. There is awareness that the current reality is a starting point, not a problem to be fixed. Together the group is energized to move forward to a future that includes, and transcends, what they have today.
• Team coaching distinguishes between the awareness of what to do (cognition) and our ability to actually do it (embodiment). Brilliant leaders understand concepts quickly, but don’t assume actions will shift too. With the help of a coach, the team learns to be patient about their awkward, early attempts to change. Embodiment comes only after much practice and reflection, provided in-between meetings by coaching homework.
• Team Coaching gives leaders a concrete way to personally identify with the transformation they wish for their organizations. During the coaching program they are able to develop shared and consistent management practices that, in the long term, will institutionalize the desired cultural change.
A 2008 study by the Center for Creative Leadership showed that 46% of respondents thought their leadership teams could use team coaching to enable culture change. The researchers concluded, “Closing the gap is important because teams whose members focus on providing each other timely feedback, learning together and building upon their interdependent strengths typically show greater capacity to achieve organizational improvement than teams who do not follow these practices.”
Team Coaching, which requires a commitment from the group, a skilled Coach who can build a learning program for the group, and facilitated healthy conversations is a valid and powerful alternative to teambuilding.
For more about Integral Coaching for teams or individuals email malleck@golden.net

Smart Managers Don’t Play Monkey in the Middle

Do you remember playing that kid’s game, Monkey in the Middle where you were caught between two people (in my case, taller, older, teasing siblings) trying to catch what was being tossed back and forth? It was frustrating and often futile. I was reminded of this game recently by a client’s situation. The middle manager I coached really did feel frustratingly stuck in the middle. On the one hand, she had a team of professionals who were fatigued, unmotivated and disempowered. On the other, was the boss who’d hired her to breathe new life into the team? Within a few weeks she knew what she had to grab hold of. The boss, a dedicated professional who’d climbed the ranks, was constantly meddling in her team’s work. And, in an industry run on tight deadlines, he was notorious for making last minute changes.

What to do? She wouldn’t risk telling the boss to butt out – it really was obvious his aim was to improve quality and inspire people with his changes. Still, her staff would stay inertly frozen until she got this under control. After all, they reasoned, why try harder if it’s all going to be changed after all?

Leaders might make the mistake of playing monkey in the middle. In this scenario, the key is to avoid becoming the third party in a drama triangle. Already people are feeling victimized and vilified. If you become the hero, the victim and the villain roles are how the others will excuse their dysfunction.

Your best move is to step away from choosing sides, and take time to make visible the complex realities of the workplace. Become a bridge across – instead of a monkey in the middle.

Talk with your team in a way that acknowledges their frustration with last-minute changes, and get familiar with the real impact on workload and personal balance. It may frustrate them that hierarchy trumps, but remind them of a time the boss’s changes were professionally astute. Tell them you will be working on their behalf to ensure fewer interruptions. Ask them to talk more about the creative and solid thinking that powers their work so that you can firmly advocate “no change” with senior leaders. At the same time, be clear that a job requirement is that they be flexible and responsive, whether the change comes from the boss or from an important customer. You will not be able to stop all emergent change, and they need to be prepared to deal with it.

When you talk with your senior leader, be sensitive to possible causes of his disruptive behaviour. It could be a habit, born of disorganization and distraction. Maybe he’s not taking time to look at your team’s work until the 11th hour. Your solution is to schedule more formal “check ins” earlier in the process. In your one-on-one meetings, explain that you are committed to good planning so as to keep unnecessary stress and overtime out of the system. Discuss a mutually acceptable cutoff period for input. Be sure to draw attention to all the ways your team members demonstrate flexibility and responsiveness.

It may be that this leader feels obliged to add value by critiquing work, or offers opinions to prove he deserves top spot. Are there other avenues to showcase his brilliance? Perhaps you can schedule mentoring meetings with your staff.

Finally, learn to negotiate. The next time a last-minute request comes, stand up (in private) to challenge the wisdom of the change. Talk specifically about the negative staff impact and the risk vs. the perceived value of the change. Ask if it’s worth it. Strongly advocate for your staff’s work to stay unchanged, as a way to empower, engage and energize the team.

Over time, you will see that being a bridge-leader, instead of the monkey in the middle, will positively influence the workplace dynamics and politics.

Inspired by Curiosity (and the teams at NASA)

The first week of August 2012 was inspiring in many ways. We’ve been watching Olympic athletes give it their all. Then, last night NASA’s space lab/rover Curiosity landed successfully on Mars and began to beam images to earth. This sounds easier than it was, as the scientists and engineers involved called the landing on the Red Planet “7 minutes of terror.”(To see why, watch NASA’s explanatory video on YouTube called “Challenges of Getting to Mars”.)  It’s great when we can look at what’s happening in the world and focus on being inspired instead of being disenchanted. As leaders, your role is to inspire the best performance and outcomes from your team.  Here’s how the landing of Curiosity provided me with leadership inspiration:

1.  Make ‘em believe it’ll work.  Obviously, the group working on this project had to share a collective belief in what was possible. They were building something based on theoretical knowledge and laboratory testing. There was no room for doubt.  Until she actually landed, Curiosity represented a wonderful innovative idea – one that many people wanted to see work. Path-goal theory tells us that followers need leaders to instill confidence that they will meet their goals.  What is it that your team needs to believe in? Perhaps you need to conduct a few small experiments to help turn doubt into belief. When someone says “That won’t work” your job is to say, “I think it will work. Let’s just try.”
2. Include many solutions. The combined solutions used to slow down Curiosity included a heat shield, a parachute, rockets, and a  tethered sky crane. The combination was new, and much of the technology was new too. Wouldn’t it have been fun to be part of the brainstorming session on this? It looks like the team had a inclusionary attitude – even the video included many diverse voices. Most complex problems today would benefit from a more collaborative approach. Try it in your group. Instead of sorting through a million bad ideas for the one or two good ones, try coming up with a few really good ideas and then say to each other, “How can we use them all?”  
3. Wait patiently for results. Curiosity was in space for 9 months before it landed. That’s a long time to wait for results of your hard work. In our society, we are used to quick fixes and quick results. Imagine that your work is going to enter the marketplace and hurtle through a vast darkness full of dangerous barriers and roadblocks. Are you still willing to launch it? I noticed that the engineers called it “7 minutes of terror” and not 9 months of terror.  I’m sure they have been busily working on other things while Curiosity was in transit. They focussed on the most crucial aspect of the voyage, and left up to fate that which they couldn’t control. In business, many good ideas are abandoned while still in orbit and never given the chance to land safely. How long are you willing to wait for success? Ask your team what they need to leave alone for a while.
4. Invite cheerleaders and advocates. There was positive momentum created by NASA, as more than 226,000 people around the world watched on-line to cheer Curiosity’s landing. Had it not landed, however, we would have mourned along with the team. Curiosity’s engineers shared their challenges and were vulnerable enough to admit it might fail. Instead of hiding behind their expertise (it IS rocket science!) they opened themselves up by talking to us in plain language. In business, some teams are afraid of looking like losers, and they talk exclusively about success. Whether an experiment works or not is only a small part of the equation. Future funding and resources come faster when others know that you are dead-serious about results (NASA called it zero margin of error) and that you’ve put all you have to the test.  Who in your organization do you need to better engage with? How can you help your team to communicate to others the ups and downs of their work? 
5. Get inspired by others. The Olympics and NASA both have rich histories of success and failure and they provide inspiration year and year. In many businesses, there are long-term employees, founders and others whose stories can inspire the most disenfranchised team. There is much to be learned from viewing the past retrospectively. Is there a team that is involved in crucial work which you have felt was too technical to learn about? Leaders can invite others to speak about their projects at a team meeting, or arrange a tour of another facility. Look outside your industry for inspiration too. At your next team meeting, why not watch the NASA or Olympic videos together? Talk about how they inspire each of you and how the lessons you’ve learned can be put to good use.

End Drama Triangles at Work

It’s frustrating for leaders to find themselves in conversations that don’t seem to end. These circular encounters, whether with a direct report, a peer or a boss (even a customer) waste your time, and leave you feeling unproductive.  You know there is problem when you actively avoid people. Notice your sinking feeling of déjà vu when certain people show up in your office. “Here we go again, the same old story.”

When the storytelling is prevalent and familiar, you may be caught in what is commonly called a drama triangle. This way of interacting is so prevalent that when you learn about it you see it EVERYWHERE. In the drama triangle there are three people (positions):  victim, villain and hero. And what happens interpersonally is that as one person takes on a position, the people around them jump right into the open spots.  You fall for this when an employee comes to you complaining about the latest change order from the top (victim of corporate villainy) and you jump in to become the hero. Or when a peer asks the boss for resources that sit in your budget, and you become the victim to their villainy, then going to your peers looking for a hero.

What’s interesting is that we each like one particular role in the triangle; it just comes naturally to us. And, the stories that we begin to spin from that place get in the way of our ability to have healthy and productive conversations.

This month I’d like to share with you a few tools that can help extradite you from triangular, unhealthy dramas, and also actually stop the cycle in its tracks. I want to give credit for these new learnings of mine to the brilliant Julie Westeinde of Breakthrough Learning Associates in Ottawa, who taught me the concept of Healthy Conversations based on her work around non-violent communications.

1. Advocate for personal accountability.  Many leaders wish those around them would take more accountability.  Our ability to do that is actually predicated on if our leaders and peers allow us the space to do that.  If you agree that we are all responsible for our own well-being, you need to be more aware of leaving the space for people to step up to that. There are times when it’s a gift to help someone else. Often, though, our helping is not as pure as all that. When we become the Helper, we can create a role called the Helpless in the other person ((another way to express Hero and Victim.) Help is helpful when it enables another person, and when the option to refuse the help is also explicit.  
2. Make requests, not demands. Remember that we all have choice. This sounds so primary, and yet it is a fact that people routinely forget. Listen to how many times people at work say, “I have to” or “I should” throughout the day.  In North America, we rarely are without choices (although our options may be limited).  Given certain options, we may decide to take no action or make a sacrifice. These are choices too.  Everyone you are in contact with is making choices. Speak to others with this knowledge.  Make requests instead of demands.
3. Step out of the triangle. When you hear language that sounds like part of a victim- villain-hero story, be careful not to fall into it. You can even say to others “I’m not going to be the (role) here.”  As a leader, you can coach staff to move out of the triangle and be sure not to collude with them. Ask questions such as, “What if you weren’t a victim in this scenario – what would you do differently?”  or “What if you didn’t need to be the hero – what would change?”  
4. Use healthy communication. If we move out of the drama triangle, we need to replace our drama stories with something else.  The best alternative to storytelling is truth-telling. Crisp, clear communication, which is authentic and rooted in personal accountability, works well. This means saying what you are observing, what feelings are created from that observation, and what you need. Take ownership for what you need by using the words “I” and “me” and “my”.  If you have been academically educated, you may find your training has stripped all the first-person voice from your messages. Write and speak in the first person.  It reminds you of your choices, it sounds more authentic and powerful, and it helps others to see that it is okay to take personal accountability.
5. Listen for authenticity in others. Communication skills are hard won, and many people struggle to articulate their innermost feelings and needs.  Leaders who listen deeply and without judgment make it safe for honest discourse.  First be a model of healthy communication. Then look and listen for clues that tell you something important is being unsaid. Ask questions about the unspoken feelings and guess at what the unmet need is. Express appreciation when others take a risk and share their feelings, needs and requests. When you decline a request, do it respectfully and being authentic about why you choose to do so.

For more on this topic, read Marshall B. Rosenberg’s work on Nonviolent Communication. Special thanks to Julie Westeinde, Breakthrough Learning Associates at learning@magma.ca

How to Hire for Cultural Fit

Occasionally, I’ve sat down with a talented professional who started a new job, at a new company, not too long ago. “How’s it going?” I ask. “Weeelll” they hesitate, eyes down. “I’m feeling discouraged.” “Is it the job? Because to be kind, you are on a learning curve and sometimes expectations to jump right in are a little unrealistic,” I offer. “No, it’s that I don’t think I fit in here.”

Ah, the “not fitting in” problem. Something that usually shows up in the first six months of a new job, and can encourage an otherwise talented employee to leave before they’ve even had a chance to make a difference. Bad staffing decisions are one of the most costly for any organization, and not just by concrete visible metrics like the cost of sourcing, selecting, hiring, on-boarding and training. Quick and unexpected loss of talented staff costs the organization in more subtle ways, such as impact on morale of the team being left and reputation of the firm with customers and potential vendors and employees.

Hiring for fit is not a new concept. Yet it still tends to be a theoretical one, as evidenced by the number of people who find themselves misfits inside organizations. The surprise is that often these people have gone through rigorous interviewing and testing protocols, which makes not fitting in a harder pill to swallow.

Here are some ideas, inspired by my friend and colleague, professional recruiter Janet Wendell, on ensuring good cultural fit for new hires:

1. Don’t glamorize the job or the position. Many managers, especially those desperate to fill a vacancy and get resources back into the team, will make the job sound more glamorous than it is. They will talk about the ability to influence senior management, the ability to grow and develop. Some will boldly make promises about career progression in just a short time. Of course you want the person to see all the benefits of working for your company and your team. It’s also important to have them understand the challenges and pain that comes along with the joy. If you can’t bring yourself to be brutally honest, come up with one or two challenges that your team faced in the last year and share those stories. You need to see how the recruit will survive these unpleasant times. Another good idea is to let your favourite candidates have an informal coffee chat with a few team members. Give them permission to tell it like it is, and then don’t attend the meeting. There may be something about your leadership that the new recruit needs a heads-up on.

2. Ask about the candidate’s current culture. How would they describe their current organization in terms of team norms, acceptable behaviour and how things get done? Try to get a sense of how comfortable the candidate felt in that culture. Were they able to adapt to the cultural norms and were they able to integrate into the team? Ask them to identify what aspects of their existing company they found frustrating or that they disagreed with, especially at first. Ask what they did to fit in. You may find that the candidate doesn’t want to bad-mouth their organization, even if they are leaving it behind. A second interview is often a better place to ask these questions, as the candidate will know they are part of a smaller pool and they may be more open with their technical competence off the table.

3. Use a diverse panel to conduct the final interview. We often think of using a panel interview as a way of getting a broader perspective on the client, and to ensure fairness when scoring candidates. When putting together the panel you may want to diversify in terms of the panelists’ experience of your organization. A long-term employee, a newer employee, and someone who works with your team but not inside the team, are all good additions. Ask them to share something they personally know about the culture of the organization. Tell them you want to make sure that the candidate can fit-in and be successful. They can be coached (by HR) to ask a behavioural-event type question that probes how the candidate would cope in the real-world of work: “Tell me about a time when you worked on something and, at the last minute before delivery, additional demands were made. What did you do in that case? How did you manage last-minute changes?”

4. Ask directly about fit. Almost so obvious it’s not worth mentioning, right? Don’t forget to ask the candidate how they have gone about trying to ensure that a prospective company is a good fit for them. Don’t be surprised if they have instead focused on the technical aspects of the job – most of us want to make sure we are competent in a job before we apply. You can ask them to describe what value this type of job/role brings to the organization in their opinion. Before a second interview, suggest that they read up on your organization and give them any additional materials that they might not find on-line (internal newsletter, annual report), business plan, if it will help them understand the culture and the industry.

5. Ask references. This is an area that is often overlooked. As part of the reference checking process, design several questions to probe about how effectively the candidate “fit” into their previous organizations. Listen to the referee’s voice, inflection, hesitation and careful wording. If a red flag is raised you have a chance to check in with your candidate. It could be that they were “over sold” on that job, and that the recruiting process was not geared for fit-checking at all!

6. Extend your on-boarding and orientation efforts. You likely have an Orientation program, although many HR people say they would like to improve what is currently being done. Getting someone assimilated to the organization includes more than a few hours of training and pointing them to the internal website. Think about setting up an official buddy-program, where someone on your team helps the new employee for about a month. If the hire is in management, get them an experienced mentor right away, or ensure your HR business partners have time to provide cultural support. As a team leader, vocalize your expectations to the existing team – both before the new hire arrives and afterward in their presence. Tell team members it’s their job to help this person fit-in. While you may see some team conflict, be careful not to take sides or become part of a dysfunctional drama-triangle. Instead, gently guide everyone forward on a foundation of common goals and common interests.

Thanks to my friend and colleague, Janet Wendell, Staffing Consultant.
Find her on Linked In. http://ca.linkedin.com/pub/janet-wendell/9/b4a/b9

Building Trust at Work – It’s not as easy as it looks.

by Jill Malleck

Lately I’ve been hearing about the significant role of trust in the workplace: People follow leaders that they trust. High-performing teams trust each other.  New-comers must quickly spot allies and enemies – so they know who to trust.

Trust is one of those slippery conceptual words that evokes all kinds of emotional reactions. I think that’s because so many people carry personal stories of work place pain and betrayal. What is more insulting than to say someone “can’t be trusted”?  If you are gossiping, there is no better way to imply they are very, very bad without having to specify exactly what has been done.  Trust is also an insidious word that can quickly cause work place anxiety because it is so poorly defined.  I have had many people tell me about a new leader:  “I intuitively knew, right from the start, that I couldn’t trust them.” Now isn’t that a hard thing to overcome?

Let’s see if I can make the concept a little more concrete, along with giving you some tips on how to increase the trust others feel toward you.

Trust is an outcome in a relationship where several behaviours, characteristics and attitudes are being assessed.  What’s slippery is that each person puts different weighting on what particular aspect means most to them. For some people its technical competency, for others experience. Still others only trust those people whose personal life they admire. You may inadvertently be creating distrust in someone because they only trust people who (fill in their version of what trustworthiness looks like) – and you don’t. Until you figure out what they need to see demonstrated, you’ll never make their trusted list. It’s okay to ask someone: “What can I do to help you trust my actions in this?”

Research shows that several key factors can increase trust in the workplace.  Usually, we trust others when we share a common goal or interest. If that isn’t the case, and we can’t create a common goal, then we look to see if the other person has a high regard for us.  In other words, I want to see that you care about what I care about. And if that’s not the reality, than I want to see that you care about me. Being more transparent, sharing more information and disclosing something personal can often uncover commonality.  However, if we differ, your ability to show respect for my viewpoint and dignity may make up the difference.  Wise leaders learn that gestures of respect must be applied equally, regardless of  the other person’s status, if they are to be trusted.

Whatever gestures you make, remember that trust is hard to earn and easy to lose.

It’s hard to earn because trust takes time to build. One of the ways in which our brains work is to store memories about the people we work with, and over time we begin to notice patterns. This leads us to make inferences about how a person will act in the future. Of course, this brilliant cognitive ability saves us the trouble of trying to figure every one out each new day of work (remember the hilarious movie “50 First Dates”!) But it also creates problems, especially for long-term employees in one company. Even when you develop a new skill and more effective, healthier ways of behaving people will remember the “old” you, and they will expect and trust that you will behave as you have before. Leading well is a skill that is learned the hard way. Many managers have suffered from one embarrassing blunder early in their career, only to realize it can take months or even years to recover the team’s trust. Best thing to do is to confess your mistake and show confidence in your current self.

Trust is easy to lose because our pattern-making also relies on seeing consistency. Many staff say they feel better with a leader who is reliably the same day to day. Predictability has become so important in many people’s minds that any deviation from previous behaviour is immediately suspected. Yet, the human condition is ripe for inconsistency. As we grow, develop and learn new skills we change. As our situations and experiences impact us, we change. As our hormones, emotions, physical states and moods impact us, we change. One would wish for freedom and unconditional support when making change. Many leaders who are in Coaching and intensely working on new competencies are discouraged by the lack-luster support of those around them. “I can’t trust what they’ll do tomorrow” a staff person might lament. Yet, often we are forced back into the discarded behaviours that others expect, in order that they can relax around us. Many dieters are pulled back to the buffet table by well-meaning friends! It takes a lot of courage to sustain a change that others don’t yet trust. Leaders who are able to verbally link what they do to what they believe, to a stable set of core values, have a better chance. In this way, new behaviours while strange and awkward, will not seem illogical or arbitrary to others.

Focus on reliability instead of consistency. Especially in chaotic times, reliability  goes a long way toward building trust. In organizations that move at break-neck speed, where leaders are called upon to respond urgently, there is the fear that what was said today is forgotten tomorrow. Followers want to know that you will stand by your word and keep your promises.  That means you need to be careful what you say in times of crisis – never placating or creating false hope with empty promises. It also means you need a decent method for organizing yourself. Lost emails, lost files, missed deadlines are all deadly sins in the arena of reliability. It may seem a petty concern to someone dealing with high-stakes decisions, but sloppiness in reliability can be misconstrued as disrespect for others and it’s an Achilles heel worth fixing. Forgetting or misplacing a promise is one thing, but retracting it in the face of adversity is another. A leader must demonstrate the courage to stand up for their decisions, not quickly withdrawing at the first sign of trouble.

Keep Your Career Development Plans to Yourself

As a Leadership Coach, I enjoy my work with business people who are eager to improve how they lead and how they get results at work. I know the desire for Coaching is often created when people receive honest performance feedback or are engaged in an internal development planning process. Therefore, why would I say that career planning programs are best kept to oneself, when they often bring me new clients?

Let me distinguish between performance development and career development. Most internally-driven programs focus on ways to make you more valuable to the company. To me, career planning speaks to the age-old question: “What do I want to be when I grow up?” True career planning asks you to think long-term about where to invest yourself professionally. I agree there is also value in having short-term career goals, as they can focus scarce energy and help you make better training choices. What’s less agreeable to me is poorly designed  “career planning”,  which is actually performance development or succession planning in masquerade. Let me share some of my observations.

• For career planning, many internally-used assessment tools are inadequate. They do a poor job of assessing the whole person you are. Instead, they attempt to show you what you are currently demonstrating. Much of this is a function of the work expectations and reward structures of your current environment. For example, using 360 degree feedback surveys is okay for job performance improvement, but not for career development. Most systems don’t ask your reviewers enough situational questions such as “Is your boss able to perform to his/her best ability in your workplace?” and “Does this person have the support from the organization that they need to be successful?” How about asking: “Do you think this person could do a better job if they had more freedom or support?” In other words, little attention is paid to the limitations and expectations you toil under, and how these impact your ability to really shine. For career planning, much better information comes from the confidential interviewing of raters, allowing them a more open arena to talk about what your gifts and talents likely are.  
    
• Another limitation is the annual assessment that includes behavioural competencies. Sure, some of these will be common to any leadership job, but mostly they’ll be ones that your organization has decided to pay attention to. Unfortunately, many workplaces haven’t done the work to make the definitions relevant to real-life experience. Some are still just buzz-words and HR-speak. For example, a typical model includes the competency “Self Awareness.” We have seen research that shows leaders who are self-aware can use that knowledge to increase their effectiveness and their interactions (although not all do). But generally speaking, you are monitored every day for your ability to get things done, self-aware or not. Another over-used and under-supported competency called for is “Innovativeness.” True innovation requires the space to do about 2-3 hours a day of “nothing” – which is definitely not supported in most workplaces where you best look like you are getting things done! Innovation – as it is called for – is instead the ability to make a practical improvement to something you’re already doing, while not causing damage during the change. For personal career planning, you’d do well instead to concentrate on finding opportunities that give you a place to test work behaviours that feel consistent with your values.
   
• A few more sophisticated systems will attempt to have you identify your “interests and passions.” Perhaps the designer was inspired by a TED video on doing what you love. Don’t let them mislead you. It’s a rare organization that cares about your personal passion or your calling if it doesn’t also align with the business or mandate. In fact, revealing the passion you have for a particular cause or hobby can be detrimental to your career progression, as it is seen as distracting. You will immediately be less valuable than that leader whose whole life is work. Employment, unless it is self-employment, is simply a contract to provide services for hire. Attempts to make it more personal than that are almost always grounded in the belief that says “if you care more (are more engaged) in our business, you’ll give more (for the same cost to us).” It is safest to indicate that you care deeply and passionately about whatever it is your organization says it cares about too.
   
• I hate to break it to you, but career progression is not based on great job performance. As any high performer who has had to leave an organization knows, career progression is mostly based on your ability to navigate the political arena of your particular company or industry, and reach goals that you have been pre-agreed upon. Hard work and doing very well are important to keeping your job, but it’s mostly relationships – who you know – and how much you can influence them, that makes the difference for promotion. Opportunities that exist when you begin writing your internal career plan disappear quickly as organizations merge, morph and restructure. In this case, focus on what you want to learn and look for jobs and projects that will give you that. 
   
• I think that internal career development processes can create a false sense of security and entitlement. Did you see the movie “Horrible Bosses” yet? We laugh because it’s a parody of real life: So, we understand what it feels like when Jason Bateman, after 8 years of slaving for a promotion, watches his senior manager take the title and pay unto himself. Career development plans ask us to invest more time and energy (usually after a long work day) in work that will most benefit the organization. Career development plans give us the impression that if we take on the hard personal work of developing certain skills, abilities or knowledge, we will be rewarded at the end. Sometimes that is true. Alas, often structures and leaders change, and not everyone is rewarded.

You can’t always opt out of the annual development planning process, and you don’t want to be seen as the rebel that does. It works for you if you hold this as a “partial” piece of your actual career planning. Frame it in terms of a road-map of what you need to do to succeed in this particular company or industry. Decide how much, or how little, of yourself you wish to invest in this path forward. Use it for what it’s worth – to keep your job and get better at what the company needs.

For true career development, look for an alternative that sits outside of the company’s agenda. Work on your career aspirations on your own time, and with those who have your interests in mind. While you look out into the future, continue to take personal accountability for the decisions you make in the present moment. The ripple effect from your present moment will likely impact your future career choices more than your official written plan.

How can Tired Teams generate new Solutions?

We are only two months into the year, but are you and your team feeling overwhelmed, de-motivated and stressed? It’s frustrating when you are leading a tired team of professionals who care about their work.  Still, this fatigue is not uncommon. Small teams charged with large mandates are especially vulnerable as they plug away with little hope of reaching their goals. Sometimes an expected vacancy is what pushes everyone over the edge. Of course, demands increase as you deliver good results, but it’s hard to be celebratory when you are exhausted.  As a leader you may be asking yourself if there is any truth to the worn adage that smart teams “do more with less.”

While a little bit of socializing and relaxation might smooth some frayed nerves, you’ll need a different approach to really inject new energy. I have discovered a way to structure a facilitated planning session so that it lifts your team out of the mire and helps them to see new possibilities. The process I’ve used encourages generative dialogue (a way to learn together) and is a hybrid of Appreciative Inquiry (a method of asking questions about what is working) and Solutions Focus (a way of staying focused on the future without blame).

How does this approach work with a tired team? Team members are invited to bring their knowledge and experience into the newly defined meeting space. It’s encouraging when the participants bring their deep business content to a Facilitator who is highly curious and enthusiastic at the start. By infusing intelligent optimism and interested energy the Facilitator guides the team through a process of dialogue. It’s much the way in which a stimulating dinner-party conversation with a stranger can make your seemingly dreary life seem worth talking about. Together, the group carefully explores linkages and possibilities, integrating all the complex pieces with a balance of inquiry and advocacy.

Each team’s session unfolds differently because of whom they are and their unique business context, but all four design aspects below are integral to the discussion. Often, these conversations happen over more than one meeting.   

1. Create a shared deeper appreciation of the work.  First I ask direct and simple questions that demand unembellished answers.  The group describes their work – not a detailed list of tasks, but higher-level sentences about what they do. I ask “Why?” a lot. Personal expressions of the published mandate or mission are encouraged.  I bring a child-like, curious mind to the group’s discussion, and listen for what resonates and when their energy spikes.  We strive toward a shared mindset of the function and purpose of the group, using inspirational words.  Here’s the individual internal view – now on display for the group to enjoy.
2. Describe the concrete change longed for.   The act of creating a transitional list “We want to go from here to there” begins to uncover the painful heart of the situation. While feeling the pain we begin to imagine its contributions to the future.  I help the team to tease out new perspectives – using metaphors, comparisons, reframing, brainstorming and interpretation. Together we start to “make new sense” of what the team is about every day.
3. Celebrate success to create stronger energy.  David Cooperrider, who developed Appreciative Inquiry, proved that success stories show what is actually possible. Successes increase the team’s optimism for going forward. Real-life stories, from their own perspective as well as those of the customer, remind the team of the capabilities they already have. Overworked teams often have no time to stop and celebrate, and incremental progress may be invisible to them.
4. Make choices to continue momentum and build capacity. From this new, stronger and more energized vantage point, the leader and group begin to imagine more success in the coming months. A solutions-focus asks us to identify anything that can be leveraged. With a shared mindset about what is needed, the whole team senses the energy for change. We discuss how to increase capacity through ruthless focus and right resourcing. All that is needed now are concrete plans and a leader who will back the team up on their shared mandate.

Can leaders facilitate their own teams through a generative discussion? They can if they themselves are not yet fallen prey to the team’s exhaustion – and if they are not the major cause of it. Internal HR business partners and enthusiastic peer-leaders (with some distance to the work) can also be great allies if an external facilitator is not available.

How The Future Looks

Lately I have been reading a lot of predictions for 2012. It’s hard not to – everyone from editors to researchers to artists are speculating about trends all over the place. It seems a normal New Year’s diversion – to get ahead of the pack by figuring out what is in store for us. I’ve found that reading an abundance of predictions at once can have quite an impact. For some people it is inspiring and engaging; creating an “I can’t wait to experience that” kind of feeling. Others might feel irritated, frightened or annoyed – like wanting back the peace-of-mind of current reality.
No matter how thinking about the future impacts you, it does seem like January is a good time to do so. Here are the changes I am personally noticing about how we live and work.

• The pace of change will be slowed by what people can handle. As I look at all of the new technology, gadgets and processes that are becoming available I could easily be sucked into thinking that the people using them are super-fast too. This holiday season I experienced airport line-ups and general mash-ups. Sure there were smart-phone apps and kiosks to print out boarding passes. But put all that in the hands of people – cranky, tired, confused and just plain rude passengers and you quickly see the result. Slick technology will never trump our plain-old less-than-perfect human nature.
• And because of that, we will avoid each other. On-line shopping is taking off – I think even the die-hard paranoids are figuring out ways to use PayPal. Delivery services and courier companies have it made. One of the benefits is, let’s be honest, not having to drive, wait in line or deal with a sales clerk. During the busy season, I can avoid the crowds and perhaps avoid the cold and flu germs it carries. So I can order a gift, wrapped, and have it delivered to another town. I get my prescription by touching a keypad on my phone, and I can order what I want on my pizza without talking to anyone. Cool.
• Adding to our physical isolation. Political correctness has removed any physical contact from the world of work or school. So has the fear of a pandemic. Aren’t you amazed at how many anti-bacterial hand stations have sprung up? (Another industry I should have invested in.) Yet the desire to touch is seen in our renewed attention to the tactile: Interior decorators are plugging grass wallpaper and faux-fur cushions and throws. There has been a resurgence of actual concrete products accompanying the virtual; e-books released as hard-covers with linen pages and rough edges. Retro kitsch pieces – which touch us nostalgically – are snapped up off e-bay. And spa services like massages and pedicures are used to alleviate stress by bringing physical touch to us. Admit it; touch screens are our new playthings.
• Less cars and home phones. A number of my friends and family members no longer have land-lines – they rely solely on their cell phones. Think about how quiet your home phone has been lately (not counting solicitors or politicians). I predict many people will avoid buying cars too – the price of gas, maintenance and insurance is too high and public transit continues to improve. I hope those one-driver vehicles clogging our highways will start to fill up with carpoolers – workmates with a shared commitment to be “green.” Zipcars has a Toronto and Vancouver location offering shared car ownership and advertise they take 15 cars off the road. Employers who think they can advertise entry level jobs with a car required will have to get real.
• Simple and integrated will be demanded. Many predictions say we desire to better integrate the disparate and fractured aspects of our world – the multitude of competing technologies, products and channels. I agree: It’s tiresome to jump gaps between tools meant to serve us. If it’s not intuitive and useful, I don’t want it. I’m sick of companies competing instead of collaborating so their products work together. How many pass-codes can a person remember? The best appliances will be those that I can just buy and use, without having to read a 40 page manual. Once you use a phone that can type your spoken texts it’s hard to go back to manual texting. Same for customer service – efficient, fast and friendly please. Fix it before it breaks if you can. Some companies are now offering to take back their used products when you’re done with them, for recycling or redistribution. Nice.
• Hey, pay attention here!! In a world with a smorgasbord of information at your fingertips (thanks Google) and many jobs structured around multi-tasking, people are forgetting how to pay attention. Reading Tweets makes it seem like an essay this long is a novel. People read email on their morning 5 km runs. We’ve learned to skim the surface and have trained our brains to hunt and peck. The constant stimulus makes anything normal speed seem boring. Of course conflicts flare and misunderstandings spin out of control because text-messages are written furtively, quickly, in the dark at the opera: “Hey, it was a slow part!” Every conversation is a side-bar. In a world like this, intimacy is lost. How rare become the skills of patience, listening and focusing. I think many people will confuse attention with love. Mindfulness and meditation practices will continue to gain in popularity and that will help. In the future schools might re-teach concentration, memorization and paying attention.
• Mini-vacations mean leaving the device off. The pervasive social network and over-stimulation of 24/7 availability has started to create a backlash. With so little privacy and so many attempts by marketers to niche them together, people are starting to long for their own space. Coming off the grid, even for a few hours, feels like leisure and relax time. Anyone who has forgotten their phone and then felt the unexpected freedom knows what I mean. Brave souls are going further to open up space for random discovery and spontaneous events to occur. They are turning off the GPS and checking out tripped-upon restaurants before seeking smart-phone peer reviews. Then, after the surprise delight, deciding to not share their experiences on-line but keeping them secret and personal.
• No matter what, the future arrives one day at a time. Thinking about change and the future is strange because it’s such a cognitive experience. You might decide to think about the future today, or to remember the past. As an escapist pursuit it can be fun and nurturing. But the present moment is where everything happens. Our lives arrive one moment after another. Have fun using your brain to plan, daydream or anticipate – but be mindful of this present moment. It’s all there actually is.