Is it possible to learn?

Do you ever think of something you “should” learn but you never really get around to doing it? Isn’t it easy to think things are impossible when it’s really just uncomfortable?

I can’t tell you how many times I have heard in the last few months that someone would like to know more about social networking because they just don’t understand it. Is that you? It’s me! Well, I have tried to stick my toes into the water little by little with the help of my daughter and a few friends, but I’m not convinced I do it very well. So, I have attended a couple webinars recently and I signed up for a comprehensive, hands-on social networking course offered by the Broken Arrow Chamber of Commerce. Hopefully, I might find I’m doing some things right as well as learning what else I should do.

It is so hard to keep up with the latest as the world is changing so fast. Therefore, it’s important to use the tools we have efficiently. I don’t have time to do everything, so I have to figure out what will give me the most results for the least effort.

Whatever it is you need to learn, get started right away. You don’t want to be one of those “old people” who don’t understand what this world is coming to. Be part of the change now and it will be easier down the road.

 

Respectful culture

An organizational culture is very important because it determines how you will do business, how you will treat your customers, and how you will treat your employees. This is a three-legged stool built with respect. The Key Principles for Toyota include Respect for Others. This means everyone.

Your employees will only treat their customers as well as they are treated. If someone does not feel respected, they are not likely to respect others. It will be easier to be judgmental and arbitrary toward others. For all the bad treatment we receive at the hands of others, it boils down to a lack of respect. If you respected the other person, you would not use a sarcastic tone of voice to them. You would not get mad at the slightest variance from your expectations. You would want to be helpful because you respect that their intentions are good.

How hard it is for employees today to feel that their management respects them when they are considered so disposable. So many employees feel they have no choice but to shut up and do as asked–even if they disagree or know it is wrong. How hard it is for managers today to feel that their employees respect them when they have to monitor their every movement for fear they will be not working or not doing what they are supposed to do without prodding.

How poorly served are customers today who have to deal with vendors who don’t seem to care about serving them. It is easy to get mad at the apathy or disrespect shown when seeking help. How does this translate into your business’s bottom line? Organizations that encourage respect bring repeat business from their customers, who tell more customers.

Respect cannot be legislated. You cannot command that someone respect you. You have to earn it and I think you have to give it in order to get it. If you want a respectful environment for your employees and customers, it is important to stop allowing disrespectful behavior. As leaders, set the tone by the way you treat others. Talk about the importance of the show of respect toward one another. Everyone can give you examples of what disrespect looks like, but there may be varying answers to what respect looks like. Start the dialog today and get people involved in setting the standards at your organization. It can start with you.

 

How much is enough?

With the reconstruction of our economy, I think an important question to ask is, “How much do we want or need?” This is in contrast to the question of “how extravagantly do we want to live?”

We have been through an era of bigger is better, but is that always the case? Some people have started small businesses after being laid off and are finding themselves happier. Many people have also downsized their homes, lifestyle, and cars in response to loss of income or retirement savings. While this has been painful, I have heard several people recently talking about making the changes permanent. Some business people have decided to keep their businesses smaller and easier to manage. Families are eating in more and finding ways to entertain at home. I heard a news story this morning about a lady who had started shopping at Walmart out of necessity, but has found that she likes shopping there because of the bargains. She said she didn’t think she would go back to the big brand stores.

It seems we might see more of a moderate approach to lifestyle yet I don’t think people are going to give up their upscale desires. I just think they will act on them less often. What are you seeing?

 

Time Travel

On recommendation from a friend, I have started to read “The Outlander” by Diana Gabaldon, which is a story about a nurse after WWII in Scotland who gets caught in a time warp and goes back in time. This is the first of a series of books about this character.

I have always found the thought of time travel very interesting. Wouldn’t it be great to have “do overs” or to really experience another time and place? I am definitely a modern woman and like this woman who finds herself in the eighteenth century suddenly, I would probably expect more equality than she is finding.

It makes me think about how far we have come in human rights and yet how far we have to go. As a baby boomer, I remember when I was in college and my chemistry lab teacher told me he didn’t know why I wasn’t getting married and having children instead of going to college. That scenario must seem far fetched to many young people today.

On the other hand, there are stories of discrimination and abuse every day in the news, so we definitely haven’t overcome these issues yet. It would be interesting to see how far in the future I would have to go to find a world of peace and harmony where people are valued individually and collectively. Maybe that is just another idealistic thought leftover from the 70’s. I hope not.

 

It’s what you do with it

I have been doing training for the last sixteen years and I have encountered all kinds of participants. Trainers are always charged with making the training practical and helping the organization get a return on investment. However, I have seen sessions that worked for some people and didn’t work at all for others. I have seen people walk away from a session that I thought was weak, but they got a lot out of it.

I truly believe that in the business of learning, it’s what you do with it that counts. It doesn’t matter whether you have fancy handouts, multimedia slide shows, games or quizzes. What matters is whether the participants engage with the learning and decide to put it to use.

I have seen very bright people who glossed over the material and barely did any of the assignments at work. I have also seen people who seemed average at first, but really decided to put some effort into their practice and started to blossom over time.

Leadership, like any other skill can be taught and learned. Over my years of working with leaders I have seen many people grow in their leadership ability and I have seen others who think they are already there and have better things to do with their time. It’s been my experience that those who have put effort into consciously and continuously improving their leadership skills have reaped the benefits of having employees who respect them more and are eager to work for them to produce whatever it is they do.

I believe the old adage that it’s not what you’ve got that’s important, it’s what you do with it.

 

Self-awareness

The first competency in Goleman’s emotional intelligence book Primal Leadership is Self-Awareness. This means you are aware of your own emotions and what causes them. It means having a realistic self-assessment of your own strengths and limitations.

This sounds easier than it often is. We almost always have a blindspot when it comes to ourselves. It is sometimes hard to be fully aware of what is really causing our anger, frustration, or loss of confidence. We kid ourselves into thinking it is someone else’s fault or someone else “made us feel…”

I have many times seen leaders who do not realize their role in how others respond to them. While blaming others they have failed to look in the mirror to ask what they could do differently to get a different response. As Dr. Phil is often quoted, “How’s that working for you?”

 

Being a Good Role Model

In John Maxwell’s book, Developing The Leader In You, he says, “Remember, we teach what we know, we reproduce what we are.” I found this a very interesting twist on the “Do as I say, not as I do.”

As leaders, how often do we hold ourselves to a different standard than our employees? Do you think they hold us to the same standard? As a consultant I often hear the complaint, “Why can’t they…” No matter what the subject or the audience, people always wonder why others don’t perform in a certain way.

I wonder if the answer isn’t as simple as the above quote. If we acted in a way that shows how we want others to perform and we reinforced it, how much more likely are we to get what we want?

I was at a Wal-mart Neighborhood grocery store yesterday and the elderly lady checking my groceries was dressed so strikingly different that I had to comment on how she raised the level of class in the store that evening. She had on a nice sweater, pearls, a pearl bracelet and pearl earrings. Her makeup was impeccable and she politely commented as she scanned the items. Another young lady at the register next to us was dressed in a baggy t-shirt and baggy pants. I wonder whether each of them thought the other was dressed inappropriately. It would be interesting to note if over time any change is made in either of their style of dress to be more like the other. I also wonder what the store management has to say about it. I didn’t see how the store manager was dressed.

 

Groundhog Day

I have been doing a lot of work with my coaching clients lately around holding people accountable. We have been using the book Crucial Confrontations–Tools for resolving broken promises, violated expectations, and bad behavior. In the book they discuss how to handle the recurring issues that make it seem like the movie, Groundhog Day. You feel like you keep having the same conversations over and over.

I really like the approach the authors take, which is that once you have had the conversation a couple times and the behavior doesn’t change even though the person promised they would, it is time to have a different conversation. The real issue becomes a lack of trust. “You said you would do X and you didn’t.” As the lack of trust grows, the relationship falters and it is difficult to work or live together.

It all goes back to setting good expectations and following up. Don’t let people use “something came up” as an all purpose excuse. Make sure that they know if something looks like it will prevent them from accomplishing what they said they would do, you want to know as soon as possible. Then you can make alternate plans if necessary instead of having the “you did it again” discussion.

I think this could be one of the most valuable tools in a leader’s toolbox.

 

Performance Management vs. Talent Management

There is a lot of talk today about performance management, but confusion about what it is. To me, performance management is about helping people understand what they are expected to do in their jobs and giving them clear and frequent feedback about how they are doing it.  This means that a once a year performance appraisal is not performance management.

So often an employee tells me his supervisor never talks to him about how he is doing unless he messes up. Employees need to know what they are doing right so they can keep doing it and they need to know what they are doing wrong so they can change it. This requires frequent feedback.

Talent management is about developing people’s skills, abilities, and knowledge so they can contribute effectively to your organization. This is not just about putting down a learning goal on a performance appraisal for the next year and sending someone to a seminar. This is about coaching and counseling, giving job assignments for learning and growth, and encouraging people to learn on their own.

Having a good performance management system can be used as a talent management tool if it is used to provide frequent feedback for the employee to know what he or she is doing well or should develop.  Goals can be set for honing skills or for learning new skills to prepare them for future positions.

Even though there are many people looking for jobs today, the time will come again soon when we have a talent shortage, so this is an excellent time to be making the most of the people assets you have by developing a consistent and frequent means of monitoring and measuring performance successes. This will also help you manage the talent you have now into the talent you will need in the future. Execution of your strategy requires that you be intentional about great performance.

One product I have found to be good for this is KeyneLink. It is web-based and very user friendly.  It is designed to facilitate frequent performance-related conversations, which clearly meets my criteria for performance management. It is a way to manage talent by measuring performance. More information can be found on their website.

 

Inspiration

I read a story that had no mention of where it came from, but I found it inspirational. It is probably one of those legend stories.

A young high school student was running around the track while several coaches were meeting on the sidelines. As he passed, he shouted that he would be the greatest hurdler of the whole school. The coaches didn’t pay much attention to him, but as they broke up the meeting, one of the coaches went over to him and asked why he thought he would be the greatest hurdler of the school. The boy said he had a secret. The coach asked him what the secret was and the boy leaned close and whispered, “Don’t think about the hurdle, go for the tape.”

You know, I wonder how many times we would be more successful if we didn’t let the obstacles control our actions, but instead keep our eyes on the goal. How many times have we given up because we didn’t see the obstacle as a stepping stone to the prize? Rarely are our dreams handed to us without some work on our part. You never know which obstacle will be the last one before the goal.

I remember when I worked at Purolator Products and our NASCAR driver, Derek Cope, won the Daytona 500 after Dale Earnhardt had a flat tire in the last lap. Some people minimized the win by saying that he wouldn’t have won if Dale hadn’t gotten the flat tire. However, I like to point out that he had to be in second place to be in a position to take over first.

I hope you will find inspiration to keep running this year.