"Punish Inaction"

I've become a major fan of Dev Patnaik's book Wired to Care: How Companies Prosper When They Create Widespread Empathy I'm looking forward to interviewing Dev tomorrow for an upcoming People and Projects Podcast episode.

Don't wait for the interview--get the book now and start reading.

While prepping for the interview I came across what I expect to be my favorite quote for this entire month, from a recent article Dev wrote for BusinessWeek.

The quote is credited to Stanford University engineering professor Jim Adams who said, "Good companies reward success, punish failure, and ignore inaction. Great companies reward success and failure and punish inaction."

This hits on a common theme in both my interview with Michael Roberto about his book Know What You Don't Know: How Great Leaders Prevent Problems Before They Happen and in my discussion with Ralph Heath, author of Celebrating Failure: The Power of Taking Risks, Making Mistakes and Thinking Big: we too often seek first to punish failure instead of learn from it.

Yet the even greater wisdom of the quote has to do with how we deal with inaction. You be the judge. How have you seen inaction most often handled?

Tolerated? Expected? Ignored? Seriously. How many times have you said, "I thought of that years ago!" as someone makes money off an idea you had in the shower but went down the drain because you didn't take action.

"Punish inaction."

Do you want to excel at delivering projects and leading teams? Take those strong words to heart today. And don't just consider the inaction of those on your teams and the stakeholders you work with.

You and I both need to look in the mirror to consider the inaction that has been holding us back.

Do you want to make big things happen this year? Reward success. Enthusiastically learn from mistakes. And develop a disdain for inaction.

P.S. Have you still not taken action on getting a copy of Dev's book? :)

Labels: accountability, Books I Love, executives, innovation, learning, managing stakeholders, mistakes, podcast, project management, teambuilding, teams

posted by Andy at 1:52 PM  

"Develop Your Skills? Hey, You're Just Lucky to Have a Job!"

I recall speaking at a national sales meeting back in early 2002 (a difficult time for many companies who were still digging out from 9/11). I hung out for a while afterwards for a meet and greet and decided to stay for the next session, which was led by the VP of Sales. He started talking about the new commission structure, which was clearly not being embraced by the sales team. In frustration the VP eventually blurted out, "Hey, if you don't like this--go get a job somewhere else! You're lucky to have a job!"

That'll rally the troops!

During difficult times, it's easy to fall into the trap of neglecting our teams: dropping the priority of developing our people under the presumption of "they're lucky to have a job and won't go elsewhere." I'm not advocating we put up with whining over difficult changes that need to be made. Rather, I'm talking about managers who don't keep employee development a priority because they think "they don't have to" or "can't" during difficult economic times.

Stephanie Overby wrote a nice piece in a recent CIO Magazine issue entitled Forging Good Leaders in Bad Times. I particularly appreciated contributions by Dr. Karen Sobel-Lojeski: "Leaders are developing whether you want them to or not. The question is: Do we want to be aware of that and guide that in a conscious way?"

Toyota CIO Barbra Cooper added a point we emphasize in our leadership development keynotes and workshops: "I try to take advantage of everyday events—problems or personnel issues—and turn them into real-time learning opportunities." Leadership development training is happening all around us, every day, if we pay attention.

Add this article to your list to read this week. And contact us to learn how we can help you develop your teams. We can do so effectively without capsizing your budget! Even as you work to keep your business afloat during these stormy times, remember that everyone wins when you develop your people. When the ill winds pass (and they will), your organization well be better positioned than ever to take advantage of new opportunities.

Labels: appreciation, executives, leadership, teambuilding, teams

posted by Andy at 8:45 AM  

Do You "Get" Twitter?

For months I watched my friend and colleague Ron send Twitter updates such as "Leaving for work" or "Traffic really nasty today." As much as I really like Ron, I had to wonder: does anyone really care that he overslept this morning?

For six months I didn't get Twitter. Against my better judgement I started using it. And now I get it. Finally.

The idea of Twitter is remarkably simple: answer the question "What are you doing?" in 140 characters or less (each update is referred to as a tweat).

What seemed like an impersonal platform for the self-obsessed suddenly became a tool to bring me closer to people I care about.

Are there people you'd like to stay in touch with but there's no way you would call them or e-mail them daily?

My sisters come to mind. I got them to start tweating as well and now I've never been more in the know about what's going on with them and their families. In fact, I even call them more often. Even my dad in his mid-70's is tweating. By integrating Flickr and Twitter we're sharing memories more easily than ever.

Can it work beyond close family and friends? Absolutely. Imagine getting short updates from team members, particularly when you are not co-located. Business owners can use Twitter to develop closer relationships with customers. There are some intriguing possibilities.

I encourage you to try it. Sign up for Twitter for free at http://www.twitter.com/. Invite some people you want to stay in touch with. Keep in mind that they'll probably look at you funny and think you have way too much time on your hands.

That's OK. But once they get it, you'll be glad you started.

You can find me on Twitter with the user name "andy_kaufman". Happy Tweating!

P.S. As with any social networking tool, Twitter can be a major distraction to your attempts to manage your time. Contact me for some ideas on how to avoid that.

Another P.S. Click here to find out how Ron is doing. :)

Labels: networking, teambuilding, tools I love

posted by Andy at 1:56 PM  

Killer Whale Sized Opportunities to Teach and Learn

What can you learn from "the new guy?"

I've been enjoying Andy Jordan's blog on the People Side of Project Management. In a recent posting he talks about interacting with "the new guy" and how we can not only help them as mentors but that we can also learn from them in the process.

In Amy Sutherland's book What Shamu Taught Me About Life, Love, and Marriage she relates that killer whale trainers remember that "every interaction is training." (click here for a post I made about this book). Every time trainers interact with Shamu they are teaching, whether they realize it or not. Both Shamu and the trainers are learning about what is expected, how to treat each other, consequences for actions, etc.

I'm convinced that I miss killer whale-sized opportunities to learn each day because I'm not sufficiently paying attention. But when I do, those lessons can be more valuable than an expensive weeklong workshop.

I remember when I finally got that the dirty little secret of business is that it's all done on relationships. Previously I wanted to believe that the smartest one wins. Or that the best argument wins. Or that filling out the "right" paperwork and following the "right" process was the secret to successfully delivering projects.

But through the gift of a couple great mentors who modeled the secret of building relationships, I've been able to navigate situations that would have left me as Shamu Chow years before!

Our interactions with the new guy (and the old guys!) are modeling how to look at the world of projects and business and people in a potentially different way. May we all be forces for good as we teach (and have our eyes and minds wide open as we observe).

Want to become a more effective leader? Join our Leadership Fast Track Program to accelerate your ability to lead with confidence, take focused action, and achieve the results you desire.

Labels: leadership, learning, listening, managing up, mistakes, project management, project sponsors, teambuilding

posted by Andy at 1:46 PM  

Does teambuilding work?

I had to chuckle when reading Lorna MacLaren's article "Can this really make you a better boss?"(from Scotland's "The Herald" Online).

As she's perched some 14 feet up on a wooden pole during a teambuilding exercise, she wonders how effective it can be for companies to be "shelling out small fortunes to scare the wits out of their managers and staff."

Last week I was facilitating a 3-day project management workshop for a well-known company in Wisconsin. When we got on the subject of teambuilding, multiple stories surfaced about people who got hurt during past teambuilding exercises. I don't recall ever hearing of someone dying during a teambuilding exercise but I can imagine it's happened.

I Googled "team building exercises" this morning, which returned around 143 million results. The options ranged from organized scaventure hunts to mental challenges to demanding physical activities. In Lorna's article she refers to some UK providers offering everything from sumo wrestling simulations to duck herding. Hmm...

Clearly companies around the world are shelling out a lot of clams for this stuff. But does it work?

The key from our perspective: whatever the teambuilding approach, it must help the team work better afterwards.

That may sound obvious but I've seen too many teambuilding exercises/offerings that were fun, but didn't necessarily build the team. Fun is fine and has it's place, but it's not always teambuilding.

The teambuilding workshops and exercises that we facilitate here at the Institute focus on helping participants learn more about themselves, their teammates, and the mission of their teams.

Here's my question for your comments: "What are examples from your career where you saw teambuilding done well? Or not well?"

Click the "Post a Comment" link below to share your story.

Labels: leadership, teambuilding, teams

posted by Andy at 8:18 AM