"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  

'Thank You' is for Wimps!

In a recent newsletter we discussed the importance of expressing appreciation to those around us. I told about a guy who essentially thought saying "Thank You" is for wimps. Though you likely don't share that opinion, many of us regularly miss opportunities to model a spirit of appreciation ourselves and to express it to others. Yet those opportunities are all around us.

Last week I was trying to fly home from facilitating a 3-day project management workshop in Pittsburgh. Flights were delayed into O’Hare because of weather. Controllers directed our regional jet, with its share of crabby passengers worrying about connections, into a holding pattern where we all bounced around in the turbulence with each loop.

We had a last second missed approach due to runway traffic which further delayed arrival. I had a blistering cold walk through a snowy lot to get to my car. My window was frozen shut so I got another taste of Chicago’s arctic weather when paying the attendant.

Do you know what I was thankful for as I drove away from O'Hare? Seat heat.

Glorious, soothing heat was warming my body and soul as I started the drive home. From there I moved onto other things I was thankful for, such as the privilege of driving home to a family that I not only love but truly enjoy. I’m thankful I get to fall asleep next to my incredible wife of almost 20 years instead of spending another night in a smelly hotel room. I’m thankful that I get to make a living doing what I do best. I'm thankful for a peace with God that makes me excited about the future instead of fearful of it.

The gratitude flowed freely for the entire drive home, which made me much more pleasant to be around when I finally stepped into our warm home. And it all started with a little seat heat on a cold night.

What are you thankful for today? Who are you thankful for and need to tell? Make it happen. Today.

Here are some links for further reading:

• "Staff Retention: The Power of Appreciation at Work", CIO.com
• Our "World of Thanks" survey, including responses from people all over the world, expressing what they are thankful for.

I invite you to leave a comment to this posting regarding what you are thankful for today. By the way, I'm thankful for the opportunity to pour into you! Make today a great one!

Labels: appreciation, choices, leadership, teams

posted by Andy at 10:10 AM  

Leadership Lessons from Howard Tullman

Crain's Chicago Business recently posted a short video from Howard Tullman that I recommend you take the time to watch. I appreciate the clarity in which he communicates the essence of what it means to lead. Though his lessons are tuned for entrepreneurs, they can easily apply to anyone who leads, whether a team, a department, or an entire company.

Key lessons to highlight include:

• Mistakes are inevitable. Admit, fix, and forget them. One of the great frustrations as an executive coach is to work with someone that tries to be so perfect that they won't make a mistake. Clearly that's impossible. We regularly work with our kids on this: when you make a mistake, admit it. Fix it. Then get past it. Learn from them, for sure, but you can't obsess over them or you will not lead.
• It's about winning, not being right. In our e-learning workshop "Beyond the Rock and the Hard Place: How to Deal with Conflict More Effectively", we talk about the difference between positions and interests. Too often people get wrapped up into their positions, having to be "right." I like how Tullman states "It's about winning, not being right."
• Tell a simple story: who are we, where are we going, and why. I find many aspiring leaders who are "how" people: they want to cut to the To-Do's and tasks right away, without first figuring out the "what". In our customized leadership workshops we coach leaders to first answer "Where?", "Why?" and "What?". Once leaders answer those questions, then you can get to the "How?", "Who?" and "When?". Click here for more information about how our customized leadership workshops can help your organization develop leaders.
• Keep raising the bar. Keep getting better. Celebrate successes but don't get complacent.
• Don't wait until it's perfect. Start with what you have.
• Look for people who want to build a career, not just a job. Presenteeism (employees who are at the worksite regularly, but for a variety of reasons, are not producing as they should) reportedly accounts for 80% of lost productivity. One of my biggest staffing fears is not those who leave, but those who have left but are still with us.
• Surround yourself with people who are different from you. It took me too many years to figure this one out. Now I cherish the principle, which helps me from driving over a cliff in business.
• Having to fire people comes with the job. It can be done respectfully, but if your desire is to be popular, it will get in your way.
• Part of a leader's job is to be an absorber of uncertainty and anxiety. Things can be ambiguous, but as a leader, we must continue telling the story, keeping people focused on the vision and direction. If we are freaking out when things get tough, it will simply spread the anxiety and be a distraction. In my book Navigating the Winds of Change: Staying on Course in Business & in Life I talk about the concept of keeping your eyes on the horizon when the wind and waves are raging. It's not only good advice for sailors: it works for leaders as well.

I commend Mr. Tullman's video for your viewing pleasure and personal development.

Labels: anxiety, Beyond the Rock and the Hard Place, conflict, crisis, executives, leadership, managing change, mistakes, recommended sites, strategy, teams, uncertainty

posted by Andy at 2:34 PM  

Silence is deadly (for projects and teams)

If you've been around projects long enough you know the drill... There are real problems being encountered but everyone above you seems to either be unaware or uninterested in grappling with them.

Denial is a powerful defense mechanism but rarely an effective project management strategy.
Eventually there's a project crisis. Rinse and repeat.

Since we regularly help organizations deal with issues related to these, I was pleased to read some recent results from research performed by VitalSmarts and The Concours Group. They surveyed more than 1,000 executives and project management professionals across 40 companies in a wide variety of industries.

Their Silence Fails study found direct correlations between our willingness and ability to speak up about issues and how successfully we deliver projects. The five most lethal issues that don't get discussed are:

• Fact-free planning. Failure is nearly predestined through insufficient acceptance of reality when it comes to timeframes and resources. The problem isn't that the limitations exist. The problem is people won't discuss the reality.
• Absent without leave (AWOL) sponsors. What happens when the sponsor doesn't lead? Can we talk about that? If not, prepare for failure.
• Skirting. When people skirt around the predefined process, we're often left with the resulting scope creep. If we can't discuss how this impacts projects, we'll likely soon be discussing why the project failed.
• Project chicken. We know we're late but we also know another team is late so we don't speak up. It's a deadly game that happens way too often. And the result? It's not pretty.
• Team failures. Just because we put people on a team together doesn't make them a team. Do we perpetuate the dysfunction by pretending everything's fine or do we intentionally work to improve the team dynamics. The answer can significantly impact a project's success.

Does your team or organization struggle with these issues? Contact us today about our Lipstick on a Pig: How Illusion Leads to Crisis in Real World Projects keynote. It's perfect for a company meeting, offsite, or retreat.

We discuss these dynamics in more detail, including practical ideas about how to break out of the rut of failure caused by illusion. Contact us today for more information.

Labels: crisis, denial, Lipstick on a Pig, planning, project management, project sponsors, risk management, teams

posted by Andy at 12:17 PM  

Stakeholders and Trust

Ever find yourself complaining about people in other departments or on other teams? You have to rely on them to get things done but they're always challenging you?

Or maybe it's management. Yeah, they're the problem. They're so pushy, won't listen to logic, and too often micro-manage.

If you run a company or are in sales, maybe you slip into whining about customers that are a pain to deal with.

In project management terms, those people are stakeholders, defined as individuals and organizations who are actively involved in what we're doing or whose interests may be effected as a result.

When I hear an executive coaching client or teams complaining about stakeholders, I typically reframe the conversation to a discussion about trust.

Trust.

We know it's important. We know it's difficult to develop and easy to betray. Yet I find too many aspiring leaders who are not actively, intentionally working to develop it.

If you have the time, I strongly recommend you read the Edelman 2006 Annual Trust Barometer. It's bursting with analysis on trust, slicing data on the topic in ways I found incredibly engaging.

Here's one snapshot that is relevant to those who are actively managing stakeholders. It's a quote from Dr. Jennifer Scott, president of StrategyOne, the research company that conducts the Trust Barometer studies:

"When there's trust, stakeholders cooperate more eagerly. They challenge
less. They tend not to ask for verification or look for other partners. With
trust, things get done. Without trust, things cost more, take more time,and
exert more strain on an organization. Stakeholders will double-check every word you say before cooperating with you. They’ll make almost any task more ponderous and exhausting.”

Are you actively, intentionally working to develop trust with your stakeholders? Don't answer flippantly. What more should you do?

Instead of being annoyed by your stakeholders, look at it as a sign that you need to improve trust. Trust me. :)

Labels: leadership, managing stakeholders, project management, teams, trust

posted by Andy at 10:08 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