Category: Leadership Skills

If an Agile Enterprise is an intersection of five big ideas that can, and will, change the way we experience work (see January 7, 2013 blog on this topic), how do we begin the process?

Many accomplished thinkers are addressing this question. For an ongoing review see The Drucker Society European Blog or Steve Denning. To join the conversation, the Stoos Network is having a global online event this week. If you are still on the sidelines and want to see how things unfold, consider this.

What is required, is a change in mindset for most leaders, managers, and employees. This is not insignificant and it is key to understand your current mindset if you want to participate in the evolution of business. So let’s start there.

Taylorism, and the form of management it generated, is based on a linear, mechanistic mindset. That means, a world that can be accurately analyzed and predicted, a strong predilection for the left brain cognitive operators (if-then duality, causality, and reductionism), and an objective reality that is (technically) completely knowable. Today this world exists primarily in the finance department and on the manufacturing floor (although Toyota Production Systems challenges even this idea).

While we may believe that we can operate in a world of complexity, non-linearity, and emergence from our linear mindset this is not only false, it is downright dangerous. To really understand the world today requires us to step across the divide and into a non-Newtonian world. From a complex mindset we are still able to use the tools of linearity (finance, SOPs, and planning) when they are applicable AND we can “Surf the Edge of Chaos” at the same time. This shift in mindset is not insignificant.

“…around 1475, the legacy of Prince Henry [of Portugal] inspired an expedition to cross the equator, and instead of falling off the end of the Earth, everyone came back to tell their tale. The breaking of this emotional barrier was similar in what it unleashed to breaking the sound barrier, the four-minute-mile, [etc]…” Edwin Friedman, A Failure of Nerve

“Once something is, we can’t work backward to change it. [Myron Rogers and I] were out walking and I remember we both stopped dead in our tracks, taking in the implications of this for our work …We can’t see what is coming until it arrives, and once something has emerged, we have to work with what is.” Margaret Wheatley, So Far From Home

“The shift is as fundamental and as necessary as the shift from a geocentric to a heliocentric view of the universe. You can’t “mend” the geocentric viewpoint that the sun revolves around the earth: you have to rethink fundamentally how the universe works.” Steve Denning, Forbes Blog, 11/27/2012

Why is this so hard? What is the problem?

To understand the dynamics of the situation we face when we consider the complexity of organizations, take a close look at the organizational map the Stoos21 participants came up with.

I defy anyone to explain this from a linear mindset! If the group got even 80% of the Root Causes, Intermediate Causes, External Causes, Symptoms and Consequences, and interdependencies on the map it is easy to see the complex mess we are faced with. So is the problem what is captured by the map or is it the mindset we are using to try to understand and change what we are seeing?

Can we view this map as “what has emerged,” understanding that “we have to work with what is?” Can we begin to “rethink fundamentally how the [organization] works?” Can we explore the edges and not fall off the Earth?

The intersection we are envisioning for organizations and business (Systems Thinking, Design Thinking, Lean Processes, Agile Framework, Leader/Manager as Coach) is not an innovation – i.e. a new answer or solution to an old question or problem – but rather a paradigm shift (see below). It reframes the world, changes the information that is relevant and important, and requires a new mindset from which we can act to create change. A paradigm shift begins the process of emergence anew, from different initial conditions, with curiosity and boldness.

With these thoughts in mind, and to further reflect on your mindset, let me leave you with the words of Gary Hamel (What Matters Now) and his 25 Moonshots for Management.

“I’m a management professor [read manager or leader], and I spend most of my time talking to business folks about nit-picky sorts of problems: How do you improve your planning process? How do you get more teamwork? How do you get products to market faster? …But what if we aimed higher? What if we dreamed bigger?

…management is the technology of human accomplishment. Solving the world’s toughest problems or, more modestly, creating organizations that are deeply human will require more than scientific breakthroughs; it will require new ways of planning, organizing, collaborating, allocating, motivating, and yes, controlling.

Mending the Soul

• Moonshot # 1: Ensuring That Management Serves a Higher Purpose
• Moonshot # 2: Embedding the Ethos of Community and Citizenship
• Moonshot # 3: Humanizing the Language and Practice of Business

Unleashing Capabilities

• Moonshot # 4: Increasing Trust, Reducing Fear
• Moonshot # 5: Reinventing the Means of Control
• Moonshot # 6: Inspiring Leaps of Imagination
• Moonshot # 7: Expanding and Exploiting Diversity
• Moonshot # 8: Enabling Communities of Passion
• Moonshot # 9: Taking the Work out of Work

Fostering Renewal

• Moonshot # 10: Sharing the Work of Setting Direction
• Moonshot # 11: Harnessing the Power of Evolution
• Moonshot # 12: Destructuring and Disaggregating Organizations
• Moonshot # 13: Creating Internal Markets for Ideas, Talent, and Resources
• Moonshot # 14: Depoliticizing Decision Making

Distributing Power

• Moonshot # 15: Building Natural, Flexible Hierarchies
• Moonshot # 16: Expanding the Scope of Autonomy
• Moonshot # 17: Refocusing the Work of Leadership on Mobilizing and Mentoring
• Moonshot # 18: Creating a Democracy of Information
• Moonshot # 19: Encouraging the Dissenters

Seeking Harmony

• Moonshot # 20: Developing Holistic Performance Measures
• Moonshot # 21: Transcending Traditional Trade-offs
• Moonshot # 22: Stretching Management Time Frames and Perspectives

Reshaping Minds

• Moonshot # 23: Strengthening the Right Hemisphere
• Moonshot # 24: Retooling Management for an Open World
• Moonshot # 25: Reconstructing the Philosophical Foundations of Management

These 25 Moonshots help define the intersection we are creating and inform our journey.

For those of you with questions, comments, or needing help contact me directly or send me a note on LinkedIn (carolmase)

Dr. Carol Mase, carol.mase@cairnconsultants.com, 215-262-6666

“I’m at my wits end with one of my people regarding fill out reports in a consistent way. I’ve tried to be understanding and nice but it’s not working. I fear that I may explode the next time it happens.”

Not dealing directly with the performance problem is common response. Many managers struggle with their reluctance to deal with an employee regarding poor performance or inappropriate behavior. In Nip Performance Problems in the Bud I give these reasons for this reluctance.

• “I don’t want to rock the boat, especially when the employee is performing the function even if not up to expectations.”
• “Correcting an employee’s performance or behavior might spark a decision to leave. Then where will I be…no one to do the job.”
• “I’m concerned they’ll become defensive or even explode. I don’t know how to handle conflict. ”

Conflict Is Like An Iceberg

Above the water line are symptoms – averted eyes, people ‘claming up’, or work not getting done. Below the water line are the real or root causes – the expectations, problems and annoyances that are often not communicated. Remember conflict is not good or bad, it’s how you handle it that’s important.

So, the first step is to identify what might be going on. Does the person, for example, not know how to fill out the reports – this is a training issue; doesn’t want to do it – this is a motivation issue; or doesn’t have the right tools – this is a resource issue? You can determine this by observing the person filling out the reports and asking specific questions regarding how the person is doing the work.

Then, set up a problem solving meeting to focus on the performance, not the person. Here is a six-step approach:

1. Indicate your desire to seek an outcome that will be best for both sides and the organization.
2. Define the problem from your point of view. Be specific in describing the situation (who, what, where, when), the behaviors displayed, and the impact the behavior had.
3. Ask the direct report to define the problem from his or her point of view. Then find common ground by identifying issues on which you agree.
4. Identify and evaluate potential solutions. Consider unusual or creative options. Choose a solution each of you can accept.
5. Develop an action plan for implementation. Define the behaviors and results you expect to see. Find out how he or she sees the work going forward.
6. Plan follow-up meetings to check on progress. Both formal feedback sessions and general conversation will help you and the direct report stay on track.

Management Success Tip:

As a manager, it is your job to make sure work gets done right and in a timely manner. What happens when someone is not meeting the standards or expectations? The problems will continue and will soon affect others. Now you have a bigger headache. Deadlines are missed; Customer satisfaction goes down. Resources are squandered. And you’re working harder and longer. It’s time to STOP procrastinating and START dealing with the problem NOW. Also See Employee Coaching How to Make It Work and Performance Management: How To Do It Right

Do you want to develop your Management Smarts?

• Build your skills with The Effective Manager
• Sign up for Quick Wins: 101 Management Tips.
• Find performance boosters in the Smart Moves Blog.
• Need a speaker? Get the Edge keynotes-webinars-workshops.
• Copyright © 2012 Marcia Zidle business and leadership coach.

My loyal blog readers have read my post on the 5 Ps of Preparation – Purpose, Product, People, Probable Issues, and Process. While all are important, which “P” is the most essential when preparing for a meeting?

That’s right – Purpose. Otherwise, why would you be having the meeting in the first place if you didn’t know the purpose?

Smart Facilitators know that clarity on purpose is essential for effectiveness. Whenever a group comes together, facilitators are intentional about ensuring they understand purpose and that the purpose is communicated clearly to the participants.

Purpose answers the question: “Why are we doing this? What it is our overall objective?” Whether you are designing a conference, giving a speech or planning a vacation, it is important to have a clearly-stated purpose that is shared by all involved. When purpose is unclear or not shared, it is easy for an activity to go astray.

Applying the Secret of Purpose

How important is purpose? Consider these examples –

• An organization is considering introducing a new product and it is trying to decide whether to launch the product right away or delay the launch four months until the industry’s annual convention. Which is better?
• A department head is considering giving the same annual compensation increase to each employee, rather than varying the amounts. The department head believes this will reduce the amount of “water cooler” chatter about raises. Is the same increase a good idea?
• The family is considering multiple options for vacation, including seven days on a beach, a tour of Italy, visiting Disney World and hiking through the mountains together. Which should the family choose?

In all three cases, the answer lies in the purpose of the activity.

• In the case of the product launch, the answer depends on the purpose of the launch? If the purpose of the launch is to gain exposure for the company as an industry leader, delaying until the convention may be appropriate. But if the purpose of the launch is to increase revenues to the company as quickly as possible, launching immediately may make more sense.
• For the department head considering giving the same annual compensation increase to each employee, rather than varying the amounts, the question again is, “What is the purpose of compensation increases?” If the purpose is to reward performance, a level increase for everyone might only be appropriate if everyone has performed at the same level. However, if the purpose is to promote teamwork and to reward people based on the performance of the company, a level increase may be appropriate.
• For the family deciding what to do for vacation, the answer also lies in the question of purpose. Is the purpose of vacations for this family to get rest and relaxation, see sites the family hasn’t seen before, make sure the kids enjoy themselves, work through a challenging experience together, some combination of these, or something all together different? While members of the family may have different views of the purpose of vacation, once the family agrees on a shared purpose, the decision on where to go becomes much simpler.

These examples are intended to show how many decisions, whether professional or personal, should be made based on a clearly identified purpose. When groups remember their purpose when making decisions, the result can be greater consistency, clarity and effectiveness.

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For more resources, see the Library topic Facilitation.

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Michael Wilkinson is the CEO and Managing Director of Leadership Strategies, Inc., The Facilitation Company and author of the brand new The Secrets of Facilitation 2nd Edition, The Secrets to Masterful Meetings, and The Executive Guide to Facilitating Strategy. Leadership Strategies is a global leader in facilitation services, providing companies with dynamic professional facilitators who lead executive teams and task forces in areas like strategic planning, issue resolution, process improvement and others. They are also a leading provider of facilitation training in the United States.

I have just been promoted to a supervisor in a call center and I’m responsible for hiring. What are the best questions to ask when interviewing call center workers ?

A great deal depends upon whether these people will be taking orders (incoming and therefore the emphasis is on the applicant’s customer service skills) or truly attempting to sell a product (out-calling/cold calls that require a high level of selling skills). Each requires not only a different skill set but also a different mindset.

An order-taker needs to “be nice” to the customer, have good listening skills and be able to react quickly and accurately to a complaint or request. For these people, here are some potential questions.

• Tell me about your most difficult call and how you handled it?
• How have you dealt with a customer who was very nasty? What was the result?
• Tell me about a time when you went far beyond what normally would be expected in order to satisfy the needs of a customer.
• After a difficult call, what do you do to prevent that call from influencing the way you handle the next caller?

The sales person needs not only to develop rapport with the caller but also influence his or her behavior… to say yes…to buy. Here are some questions to get at their sales ability:

• Tell me about your most difficult sale and/or most challenging customer and how you handled it.
• What steps do you take to prepare for a sales call?
• What strategies have you used to get an understanding of the customer’s needs?
• Tell me about a time you dealt with a “thinking-about-it” customer.

Then listen carefully and assess their qualifications:

1. The skills fit. Can this person do the job that they are interviewing for?
2. The motivation fit. Does the person have the traits and desire to effectively do the job?
3. The company culture fit. Does the person have the same values or work style or that would fit into the way we do things around here?

Management Success Tip:

A good interview follows an outline or guide. That means each applicant is asked the same set of questions. Then you’ll be able to compare apples with apples and oranges with oranges. A structured approach keeps the interview on track, gives all applicants a fair chance and provides more accurate information to select the most qualified.

Do you want to develop your Management Smarts?

• Build your skills with The Effective Manager
• Sign up for Quick Wins: 101 Management Tips.
• Find performance boosters in the Smart Moves Blog.
• Need a speaker? Get the Edge keynotes-webinars-workshops.
• Copyright © 2012 Marcia Zidle business and leadership coach.

The outstanding boss is more than a good manager; she’s a good leader. Pay attention to these 10 tips and be the boss everyone wants to work for.

1. Have a vision.
Before you can lead your people, you’ll need something to lead them to. Where are you going? How will you get there? How will you know when you have arrived?

2. Let people see their value.
Show them constantly how their jobs and your department are contributing to organization’s overall goals. Let them know what they do matters.

3. Give yourself permission to lead.
Overcome the discomfort of having a measure of control over another person’s life. It can be unsettling at first, but it is necessary for quality leadership.

4. Be in the eye of the hurricane.
When things go wrong, you can turn your attention to assigning blame or solving the problem. Good bosses choose the second and do it calmly and deliberately. In times of crisis people need a solid, confident presence to lean on.

5. Give yourself time to lead.
Set aside a portion of your day for nothing more than being with your people, hearing their problems, reinforcing the vision and communicating your support.

6. Get in up to your elbows.
Work hard with your people; relax with them; laugh with them. If you show that you’re really not above them, you will enhance their commitment to you.

7. Deal with surprises.
People and issues arrive unannounced. It’s your job to filter them for urgency and importance and help employee stay focused on priorities not problems.

8. Give up your old job.
You have a new job so don’t hang on to your old one. This can be hard. It’s because of your previous success that you’ve been promoted. But failure to let go of your old job causes more problems than anything else.

9. Don’t play favorites.
Not only has your job changed; your workplace relationships have changed. Yesterday you had co-workers; today you have employees. While it’s only natural to like some individuals more than others you no longer have that luxury.

10. Finally, manage.
Your employees will expect you to deal with poor performers at work. If they see someone getting away with it, they may think that they can as well. If you’re fair and decisive, your good performers will give you their hard earned respect and best effort.

Management Success Tip:

Regularly take stock of your leadership. Reflect on your progress every quarter. Identify issues that require close attention and ways to deal with them before they grow into big headaches. Also see What Makes a Great Boss, Staying Sane While Leading Others and Managing Is Hard Work: Avoid These Mistakes.

Do you want to develop your Management Smarts?

• Build your skills with The Effective Manager
• Sign up for Quick Wins: 101 Management Tips.
• Find performance boosters in the Smart Moves Blog.
• Need a speaker? Get the Edge keynotes-webinars-workshops.
• Copyright © 2012 Marcia Zidle business and leadership coach.

Welcome to 2013! It’s not only a new year, it is a new age. Although the Mayans started it, I think it is only fitting that the rest of us join in. In business, I declare that we are entering the age of Intersectionalism! No longer will one discipline or idea have the scope to move business, society, civilization, and individuals forward. Nor can we simply be generalists. We must activity bring together different ideas, disciplines, knowledge domains and let them impact each other to create something new, bigger, more robust and responsive to the needs of the situation.

I began the practice of Intersectionalism in 2005, totally unaware of its potential, and find that intersections of five are the perfect size. So let me begin the new year describing the business intersection that I am most passionate about – the intersection that creates the Agile Enterprise. Lets take a look.

First let me admit that I have been behind the curve on this one. I was so wrapped up in trying to create adaptive organizations that I missed the whole agile movement. There now exists an extensive body of literature that I am loving and leaders, we need to get up to speed fast.

Why? Because this movement is replacing Fredrick Taylor’s “Scientific Management.” To be clear, it’s not dead yet! But the Agile Manifesto started an alternative way of working collectively and in true collaboration that is as right for today’s environment as Taylorism was at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.

More importantly, Agile conceptually creates an intersection that has room for the key management theories of the day (Figure above).

The Agile Enterprise

This intersection brings together five big ideas to create a workplace environment that really rocks!! It has the capacity to address, and maybe even solve, the enormous challenges humankind (and by default the planet) faces. But capacity is not capability…that still has to be taught, learned, implemented, embedded, and enacted. No small task for our Scientific Management mindset!

Systems Thinking: Systems are the dynamic interactions that produce what we “see” as cause-and-effect events. Without a systems mindset we believe the obvious and miss the root causes (subtle feedback loops, unintended consequences, and mental models) that actually create reality. From a systems perspective we can attain value on the global level, but it comes at the price of optimization at the local level. This is a tough concept for leaders and managers who have been taught that the whole equals the sum of the parts, and have been optimizing parts their whole career. It means a whole new way of decision-making, resource allocation, portfolio management, and strategic planning. For ways to do this contact Pegasus Communications, malpert@pegasuscom.com, 781-398-9701. Recommended reading includes: Peter Senge, The Fifth Discipline, Russell Ackoff et al, Idealized Design, and Nonaka and Takeuchi, The Knowledge-Creating Company.

Agile Framework: This framework reorients what we do and how we do it. It is a way of working that engages employees, builds trust between people as well as on the organizational level, and it thrives in complex environments – there, that takes care of the top three challenges of management today! The best way to introduce this framework is the Agile Manifesto:

We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it. Through this work we have come to value:

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

Working software over comprehensive documentation

Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

Responding to change over following a plan

That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.

One key outcome of the Agile Framework is the process of Scrum, both have much to contribute to organizations, leaders, and business at all levels. For now, let me admonish you to “BE agile rather than do agile.” To learn how 1) read the full manifesto, www.AgileManifesto.org, 2) visit the Agile Alliance, www.agilealliance.org, and 3) and take a course from the Scrum Alliance, www.scrumalliance.org. Both alliances have national meetings, so leaders you can learn by submersion if you are courageous.

Lean Processes: This discipline took on new meaning for me when I read Mike Rother’s book Toyota Kata. Lean is based on two pillars, Respect for People and Continuous Improvement, which create a system of lean processes. Starting to see the intersection? Lean and systems combine to create thinking tools that allow you to map your business and discover where you are adding value and where you are allowing waste (time and effort) to dominate. Lean establishes what I think of as “the working surface” within organizations, the place where the saw meets the wood, the mind meets the challenge, the process meets the target condition. There is so much written about lean that I will only reference Rother’s book and send you to his presentations (http://www.slideshare.net/mike734).

Design Thinking: I could wax eloquent about this domain and how it defines the intersection. Design Thinking contributes significantly to how the other domains are performed. Let me also point out that this domain challenges the leadership techniques that have been engrained in leaders today. Readers, pick up Roger Martin’s The Design of Business, Stickdorn and Schneider (eds.) This is Service Design, and IDEO’s Human-Centered Design Tool Kit (online free at http://www.hcdconnect.org/toolkit/en). For courses, Human Centered and Service Design is popping up everywhere and watch for leaders like Tim and David Kelley and Thomas Lockwood speaking at OD and leadership conferences.

Leadership and Management: The last component of this intersection is the one that has to adopt the other four to make a real difference. Yikes! That means you dear reader. As we look at this intersection we see that how and who are tightly coupled. Rother covers this in his book in the section on Toyota’s Coaching Kata which is integral to the achievement of continuous improvement. Agile and Scrum have a defined role for coaches and mentors. And no where is this better described than Dan Pinks book, Drive. But the leader of the pack is Gary Hamel, see his book What Matters Now, and more importantly spend time on the Management Innovation eXchange, http://www.managementexchange.com/.

This is a lot to take in, and it is the topic of my contribution to this blog for the forseeable future. For those of you with questions, comments, or needing help contact me directly.

Dr. Carol Mase, carol.mase@cairnconsultants.com, 215-262-6666

PS: my website is completely out of date due to this new Age

If you don’t know where to begin in a meeting, let this secret be your starting point – Secret #8: The Secret of Standard Agendas. After all, it is the New Year and all about beginnings. Agenda setting will not only steer the course of your meeting – it will provide your beginning.

Using Standard Agendas

You all remember the 5 Ps, right? In a meeting, the agenda, or process, must be designed to achieve the purpose and must take into account the other three Ps – the product, participants and probable issues.

For example, if the team’s purpose in a meeting is to streamline the hiring process, you might use a “process improvement” agenda. If the product you are trying to create is a plan for a program, you might use a “project planning” agenda. If the key to the session is to resolve a particular issue, you might use an “issue resolution” agenda. Each of these agendas is different because the purpose and products are different.

Secret #8 – The Secret of Standard Agendas Standard agendas create the starting point. Maintain a set of standard agendas you can use as a starting point for addressing the specific needs of a meeting. The purpose and desired products of the meeting determine which standard agenda is best used as a starting point.

To maximize their effectiveness, Smart Facilitators draw from a set of standard agendas that they can customize for a specific situation. Standard agendas have several advantages:

• They reduce the amount of time needed to prepare for a session by giving you a starting point.
• They help ensure that you do not miss a critical step.
• They provide a level of consistency from one assignment to another and from one facilitator to another.

Below, I’ve identified several standard agenda types commonly used:

Agenda	Purpose	Key Activities / Products
1 Conference Facilitation	Have conference attendees understand a topic and identify actions to take collectively and individually to address it	Current SituationPast Successes and Challenges Potential Solutions Collective/Individual Action Next Steps
2 Issue Resolution	Reach consensus on an approach to address a specific issue	Delineation of AlternativesStrengths and Weaknesses Selection of Alternative
3 Process Improvement	Define the changes necessary to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of a business process	Current ProcessProblems and Root Causes Improvements Implementation Plan
4 Project Planning	Develop a detailed plan for implementing a project or program	Purpose and ObjectivesScope and Deliverables Approach and Budget Action List
5 Strategic Planning	Develop a shared vision and document the steps to achieve that vision	Current AssessmentVision and Mission Guiding Principles Goals and Objectives Strategies and Priorities
6 Team Building	Improve the ability of a team to work together	What makes Teams workOur Team Vision and Barriers Strategies to achieve our Vision Monitoring and Accountability

For the easy extra step, use our models for these agenda types so that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Our Facilitator Guides can help you: http://www.leadstrat.com/products-and-solutions/facilitator-guides/55-facilitator-guides-electronic-copy

Happy New Year!

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For more resources, see the Library topic Facilitation.

________________________

Michael Wilkinson is the CEO and Managing Director of Leadership Strategies, Inc., The Facilitation Company and author of the brand new The Secrets of Facilitation 2nd Edition, The Secrets to Masterful Meetings, and The Executive Guide to Facilitating Strategy. Leadership Strategies is a global leader in facilitation services, providing companies with dynamic professional facilitators who lead executive teams and task forces in areas like strategic planning, issue resolution, process improvement and others. They are also a leading provider of facilitation training in the United States.

Our organization continues to downsize. We are getting a lot of “flack” from our managers saying there are not enough qualified employees to do the work in their department and everyone is overwhelmed and grumbling. Are they right or are they lobbying to prevent additional layoffs?

Here are some examples why they may, indeed be right. See if they apply to you.

1. Staff cuts go too far.
In the spirit of fairness, companies implement an across-the-board layoff. Each department is required to reduce their staff by so many people. In conducting an employee survey of “the survivors” of an agency, we found that the workload problems were particularly severe in the smaller departments.

2. Unexpected workload change.
An office manager of a busy, large medical practice was told one day that 1) the practice would be adding a new physician and 2) one of their larger HMOs was changing procedures and the office would now be required to complete additional paperwork. She had to ramp-up fast but there was a hiring freeze.

3. Required skills change.
A financial service organization had many dedicated, long tenure employees. To improve efficiency, the company had been gradually updating their internal systems. Many functions previously performed by hand by the “long-timers” are now fully automated. Our audit found that, as a result, the technical staff fells overworked and the long-timers feel under-utilized. What they needed were fewer of the “do-it-by hands “and more computer savvy workers.

What You Can Do:

• Conduct periodic staffing audits. Staffing levels evolve over time but don’t necessarily match the needs of a changing business. A systematic audit of the volume of work to be performed and the needed skills can identify the mismatches. With this information, you can now be more effective in staffing.
• Retrain staff. Once an audit identifies shortages, retraining existing staff can often fill the gap. It may be cheaper in the end to develop your good employees than hiring new folks who may or may not turn out well. Also you will send the message to them that they are valued. This is important especially in times of organization change. when good people may start to look elsewhere.
• Ask employees. Employees are often the best source of information about the needs of the department or team because they are on the front line dealing with customers or production every single day. They may have greeter insight into operations issues and solutions.

Management Success Tip:

One of the most pressing problems companies face is staffing – having the right people,s, in the right place doing the right things to grow the business or maintain it’s market position. Make sure your employee bullpen is filled with the right kinds and right number of employees for today and tomorrow. Also see Managing is Hard Work, Make Good Decisions and Staff Feeling Overwhelmed.

Do you want to develop your Management Smarts?

• Build your skills with The Effective Manager
• Sign up for Quick Wins: 101 Management Tips.
• Find performance boosters in the Smart Moves Blog.
• Need a speaker? Get the Edge keynotes-webinars-workshops.
• Copyright © 2012 Marcia Zidle business and leadership coach.

This post is the second one from Unleashing the Power of your Story, an upcoming E-Book by Steven Ober.

The world and our species are in states of deep transition. Many describe our present situation as a planet and a people as one of great turmoil. We experience constant “wars and rumors of wars;” we hover on the verge of economic collapse; our political systems seem unable to address societal problems.

Even more profoundly, the ecosystem necessary to sustain human life on our planet is at risk; we have created for ourselves a major threat to our civilizations, and to our survival as a species. Our climate is changing; extreme weather events are occurring more frequently, and time is running out.

As Kurt Vonnegut stated so poignantly, these realities are having a powerful effect on our consciousness:

”Is there nothing about the United States of my youth, aside from youth itself, that I miss sorely now?” opined Vonnegut. “There is one thing I miss so much that I can hardly stand it, which is freedom from the certain knowledge that human beings will very soon have made this moist, blue-green planed uninhabitable by human beings.”

From Our Choice by Al Gore

Indeed, earlier civilizations have experienced economic, political and environmental Collapse. Numerous Central and South American civilizations had come and gone over the thousands of years before Columbus arrived at islands off this continent’s shores. Some of these earlier civilizations destroyed themselves through war, some through greed, and, yes, some through destruction of their environment. Others were destroyed by disease brought by visitors from across the oceans. (See 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles Mann and Guns, Germs and Steele buy Jared Diamond).

The difference now is not that we as a species are encountering these cataclysmic shifts for the first time. The difference now is the scale on which we are experiencing them. Our species has become so large in number, and so interconnected, that we now face these challenges on a global scale. We are regarded by many, and I think accurately so, as a species out of control, a species in danger of destroying not only ourselves, but also the ecosystem on which we depend for survival.

Some refer to this period as “The Great Turning.” Many believe that we are at a critical, make or break turning point as a species. One fork in the road will lead to disaster, to a situation in which our planet can no longer support human life and human civilization as we know them. The other path leads to a new level of integration with one another and our environment and a new level of consciousness as a species. Depending upon the choices we make, we can either destroy ourselves or evolve to a higher state.

We need many things to address today’s crises and to evolve, including a clear vision of a better world, the ability to collaborate in ways we haven’t yet imagined, and the political will to make the required changes in our legal and social infrastructures. Another of the things we certainly need is to be grounded in who we are—to be able to act with a conviction based on our deepest view of ourselves. To meet today’s challenges effectively, we need leaders and followers who can operate from this deeply grounded state and draw upon our wellsprings of wisdom, strength and courage. Story work can help us become so grounded and operate from that place of personal alignment. It will help us be clear about who we are and enable us to have the reserves of strength, authenticity, and good sense to address contemporary challenges successfully.

If you would like to learn more about story work and/or consider story coaching, feel free to call or email me at:

Steven P. Ober EdD
President: Chrysalis Executive Coaching & Consulting
Affiliate: Systems Perspectives, LLC
Office: PO Box 278, Oakham, MA 01068
Home: 278 Crocker Nye Rd., Oakham, MA 01068
O: 508.882.1025 M: 978.590.4219
Email: steven.p.ober@gmail.com
www.ChrysalisCoaching.org

Leadership Blog: HYPERLINK “https://staging.management.org/blogs/leadership” \t “_blank” https://staging.management.org/blogs/leadership

Steve is a senior executive coach and consultant. He has developed and successfully uses a powerful approach to leadership coaching, Creating your Leadership Story, which enables leaders to make deep, lasting improvements in their leadership effectiveness in short periods of time. He and a group of partners created a breakthrough educational program, Coaching from a Systems Perspective, in which you can significantly enhance your abilities as a systemic leadership coach. See HYPERLINK “http://SystemsPerspectivesLLC.com” http://SystemsPerspectivesLLC.com.

Big Ideas aren’t for commoners, right? Facebook. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Pennies for Peace. Apple. All Big Ideas. So, big, in fact, that they seem like the kinds of things other people do, not the things us common-folk do.

Hmmmm… you know I’m not going to buy that one, right? I proudly own the moniker ‘Big Idea Success Strategist’ — if I bought the “big thinking is for everyone else” excuse, I wouldn’t have much of a practice… or a Big Idea of my own. The focus of my work with clients is in tapping hidden potential, transforming mindsets to inspire Big Thinking, and implementing the systems and structure to turn Big Thinking into successful action. Fact is, I’m a sucker for a Big Idea, I can smell one from a mile away, and I know you have one… we all do. You may just not have called it that yet.

What IS a Big Idea?

Big Ideas don’t always look like international phenomena. They’re not always translated into billions of dollars, or impact millions of people. And, in fact, sometimes Big Ideas aren’t even what you do, but how you do it.

Do these sound like Big Ideas to you?

• The choice to stop competing as if your unique leadership is a commodity.
• Refusing to live a divided life and inviting who you are into what you do.
• Heeding the ache to restructure your business to fit your evolving life.
• Leading a business or a team that is grounded in purpose, passion, and profit.

All Big Ideas. All necessitate that you to be authentic and courageous. All invite you to be an innovator, a thought-leader, and a role-model. All require that you care enough to take action.

Big Ideas don’t always start out looking big. In fact, most of the time, they just start out looking like you doing what you do best and care about the most. And they always start with small steps.

In the words of Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, when talking about Facebook:

“The craziest thing to me in all of this, is that I remember having these conversations with my friends when I was in college. We would just sort of take it as an assumption that the world would get to the state where it is now. But, we figured, we’re just college kids. Why were we the people who were most qualified to do that? I mean, that’s crazy…. I guess what it probably turns out is, other people didn’t care as much as we did.”

And we all know how that story turned out. What’s the first small step to your Big Idea?