How Could This Be Handled? Issue #2: Motivating Team Members

Sometimes it seems impossible to reach certain team members – you may even wonder why they get up to come to this job each day because they seem so uninterested and removed.

But…they work here and you have to unlock the door that gets them turned on about working here!

Volumes have been written on this topic, yet the bottom line always comes back to “you can’t motivate others, they’re motivated by their own desires”.
 

If that’s the case, what are you, the team leader, supposed to do to light the fire in some team members?

Well, you CAN - and as an effective leader, you MUST - address the situation!

Read more here…

How Could This Be Handled? Issue #1: Burned-out Team Members

How Could This Be Handled? #1

This is the first issue in a series of Leadership Dilemmas.

Today’s quandary is about dissatisfied and burned-out team members:

“Your team members are working hard, but you're seeing signs of frustration and discontent. As you've talked to team members one-on-one the theme is best summed up as "I'm tired, I'm burned out and I just feel stuck.’”

Read the entire article here

The Age-Old Question: What is Great Leadership?

I’m reading an engrossing book on leadership: Too Many Bosses, Too Few Leaders by Rajeev Peshawaria – in the intro he poses the question: “Of all the bosses you’ve had in your career, how many would you call truly great leaders? For the purpose of this question, a great leader is someone who inspired you to show up every morning and do your best possible work, someone who made you believe in yourself, someone who genuinely cared about your success, and someone whom you wanted to follow willingly.”

 

Peshawaria’s comments following  this question are sadly revealing about the lack of great leadership, but his book goes on to outline some outstanding leadership practices.

 

I also like his statement: “Effective leaders take it upon themselves to dig deep and find solutions to the most pressing problems of their times. They feel deeply about the inadequacies of current reality and decide to do something about it. They do not wait to be appointed to important positions before doing so. It is their deep desire to change the status quo than makes them leaders.”

 

Well said! Anyone with some work history knows that leadership isn’t about titles and positions, but about influencing others.  His core principles of leadership are explored at length in the book and I suppose I like it because it meshes with my beliefs about leadership. He begins with how important it is to clearly define your purpose and values.

 
Coincidently, I’ve been following an interesting discussion on LinkedIn where someone posed this question: “If there were one 'master problem' that, if solved, would enable leaders to really breakthrough to new levels of sustainable business and prosperity - what do you think it is?” It's interesting how many responses are tied to crating a culture where values are continue to grapple with a very old question: “What is great leadership?”

Give the book a try.

Circle versus Graphs?

If you use DiSC Profiles, which is easier to remember, the graph or the circle version? People are finding the circle has more personal meaning and application – learn more…


Read the next installment in the Everything DiSC Blog: http://blog.everythingdisc.com/527/disc-circle-disc-classic-graph-memorable/#more-527

Leaders as Teachers

So often leaders forget – or overlook – their role as teachers, but teaching is a BIG part of successful leadership. Ken Blanchard’s current newsletter has  great article on the topic  - it begins with:

"A lot of leaders are disappointed these days. They work hard to create clear messages to their people but often, when they follow up at the end of the month, they find that little has changed. It’s a pattern that Vicki Halsey, Vice President of Applied Learning at The Ken Blanchard Companies, has seen many times.

"It’s because leaders confuse telling with teaching," she explains. "If leaders want people to develop new behaviors, they have to become better teachers of what to do and how to do it."

Most leaders are trained in how to succeed in business. They know how to create strategic initiatives, allocate resources, and implement plans. But few leaders have been trained to teach..." Read the entire article here

...A Fire To Be Kindled"

We completed watching the mini series From the Earth to the Moon last night and one of the flight directors offered this quote from Plutarch: “The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled.” He was explaining why the later Apollo missions had to be so much more than just getting to the moon, they had to have scientific purpose, a search for the origins of our own planet and I was very taken with the quote – had never heard it before. But you can Google it easily enough!

In this particular episode, it was delightful to watch the astronauts learning geology, asking new questions, developing an awareness of the landscape around them; it was equal delightful to watch the geology professor break through their minds, to light the fire – and it paid off in what the astronauts brought back from the moon.

 “…a fire to be kindled” -  I suppose that’s why our ALD mantra is You Never Stop Learning – we hopeto  kindle fires, not just fill vessels.

Don't Be Fearful of Trying a New Behavior

Most of us know how uncomfortable it can be to try a new behavior – think of any sport where you’ve developed habits, but it turns out they’re the wrong habits to really good at the swing or the return.

It’s the same for any new behavior we attempt to put in place – change is tough! Whether it’s:
• quit smoking
• rising earlier each day
• going to gym steadily
• giving feedback to your team members more regularly
• listening with intent to hear
• being more patient with others

– wow! The list can go on and on, can’t it?

To help make the transition, listen to my colleague, Meredith Bell’s video:

How to Go from Awkward to Automatic When Learning a New Behavior

You’ll appreciate the tips. I can also suggest that you sign up for the Golden Eggs Ezine where this kind of useful counsel is always provided – Golden Eggs arrives weekly, is free, yet worth so much more. Please register here and begin enjoying the golden nuggets.

Are Fortune Cookies for Real?!

I want to encourage you to learn more about ProStar Coach, the creative virtual gym for your personal and professional growth. This is leadership development at its very best!

Let me give you one example now of what's inside ProStar.

If you have explored ProStar Coach, you've discovered Fortunes Cookies, one of the creative learning-exercises within the system.

The touching story of how Fortune Cookies was created is one you’ll want to read - you will be moved!

When you read Denny Coates' blog, you'll find yourself reading for a long time! He's provacative and inspiring.

New Book! Why Leadership Isn't One Face to All

The 8 Dimensions of Leadership

by Jeffrey Sugerman, Mark Scullard and Emma Wilhelm

To be an effective leader you need to know your strengths—but that’s only part of the story. You also need a broad perspective on all the behaviors needed to be an effective leader. This book provides both.

Using the third-generation DiSC® online personality assessment — one of the most scientifically validated tools available — The 8 Dimensions of Leadership helps you identify your primary leadership dimension.

Whether you are a Pioneering, Energizing, Affirming, Inclusive, Humble, Deliberate, Resolute, or Commanding leader, the authors help you understand the psychological drivers, motivations, and “blind spots” characteristic of your style.

But no single style will take you all the way.

A Humble leader may have a hard time making tough decisions. A Commanding leader may run roughshod over potential allies. The authors detail the lessons all leaders can learn from each style, enabling you to craft a multidimensional approach to becoming the leader you aspire to be.

Click here to learn more

Step 6
of
Managing Performance

Provide Recognition & Reward

Dignity does not consist in possessing honors, but in deserving them.
Aristotle

How well do you reinforce behaviors and actions through employee recognition and reward? Employees consistently rate this as a major “dissatisfier” about their jobs feeling over-looked and undervalued.

Do the right things with recognition and enjoy the results – you’ll be amazed at what a motivator sincere, genuine recognition can be - and I said “recognition”, not just “reward”.

To begin, take a look at your own practices based on the statements below – determine whether you’re

• Satisfied with your own performance or
• Not Satisfied with the effort you’re making here

Also decide the Importance of each practice to your success and to your team members’ success.

• I actively look for opportunities to provide recognition.
• I use a variety of "non-cash" approaches to give recognition.
• I practice the following effective recognition-giving techniques:
  - Recognize the steady day-in-day-out good performance of people, not
  only the exceptional top performers.
  - Deliver recognition and reward, when appropriate, in an open and honest
  way.
  - Develop awareness of what types of recognition are most meaningful to people.
  - Creatively individualize recognition where possible.
  - Use a personally comfortable style so acknowledgments of contributions
  feel sincere.
  - Recognize people as soon as possible after the achievement.
  - Specific as to the achievement being recognized.
  

Your team members want and need recognition. Think back to when you were personally recognized for something – how did it feel? Did it give you an extra spark of energy that said, “Someone really sees what I’m doing and they appreciate it?”

Without the genuine pat-on-the-back or its equivalent, team members may not feel valued or appreciated. Checks of Not Satisfied in the quick inventory above could lead to high turnover, team members doing only what is expected and low morale.

Recognizing and rewarding the behavior and performance that we desire in our organizations a sure way to initiate change. Team members will respond favorably, be more highly motivated, exceed job requirements and stay with the organization when they feel their efforts are recognized and rewarded.

Recognition and reward need not always be a check in a dollar amount to be effective! We do tend to associate reward with money, but that need not be the case. What does the person enjoy doing outside work? Tap into those interests and several outcomes can be realized:

• you learn more about the person
• the relationship strengthens
• trust begins to develop
• the word on you is that you care about people and results

Some simple ideas that aren't a check: get a magazine subscription, a dinner for the team member and guest, gift certificate to a favorite store, compensatory time off, sitting in with you in a higher level meeting (yes, that’s recognition for some people!), taking on a project they want to spearhead, a good word to others in the organization and to the team member, a personal note, a mention at a team meeting or just a quiet positive comment.

Team leaders who look for people who are "doing it right" and recognize that type of performance or behavior with a will create a positive work environment where people will feel valued and committed. And if you involve your team members in identifying ideas for providing recognition, you’ll be amazed at the range of suggestions!

Praising or expressing appreciation for employees on a regular basis can enhance employee engagement and be as effective as a cash award, according to a recent Forbes article.

Plus, it doesn't cost employers a thing.

The key, the author writes, is to express appreciation specifically as opposed to just saying something like, "Great job, Joe!"

You'd have to then wonder why more than three-fourths of employees in the United States received little or no recognition from their managers in 2009, as a recent study pointed out.

Is recognition part of the culture of your organization? Why or why not and what results are you seeing?

Here are some resources to help you Provide Recognition and Reward

ProStar Coach - the People Skills of Encouraging Ideas, Listening, Interacting with the Team and more will help you learn, practice and ingrain techniques for delivering recognition.

The Carrot Principle: How the Best Managers Use Recognition to Engage Their People, Retain Talent, and Accelerate Performance by Elton & Gostick.

Another excellent resource for ideas on reward and recognition is the book 1001 Ways to Reward Employees by Bob Nelson.

That concludes the overview of the Managing Performance Process. Having assessed your own management practices, you may have found some areas where personal development would assist in creating a more productive, results-oriented environment.

In what areas do you excel and where do you need to improve organizational or individual practices to best serve your team members and to get best results?

Keep this in mind...This fundamental techniques in this process work in all organizations. People want to know what is expected, how they are performing and to be fairly evaluated and recognized.

A consistent process keeps the organization focused on (1) business results as well as the (2) growth and development of the organization's most important investment and asset, the people.

Be more aware of yourself -- look into your mirror - check your own practices and attributes. As a leader, be knowledgeable about what people expect and
how well you provide that leadership

.

Step 5
of
Managing Performance

Evaluate Performance

It's what you learn after you know it all that counts.
John Wooden

As you read the steps in this process, I know you recognize that it’s not a rigid, lockstep progression – you’ve always got to deal with the unexpected with your team members – they have personal and professional emergencies that must be handled – those may through you off your stride!

But what everyone is looking at is whether you are fair, unbiased, willing to balance personal and business demands. It all comes down to your process and recognition that you practice in a consistent, but fair manner.

It not’s about treating everyone the same – we’re none of us exactly the same anyway are we? It’s about being fair…and why you did such a thorough job of setting expectations – those give you the basis for making decisions and judgments about each team member as an individual.

Evaluation – once a year? Oh no. You’re making evals all year long and they may or may not come down to a performance appraisal, they may be quarterly or monthly summaries you provide; they may be on-the-fly evals, but they’re all based on those fair judgments you’ve be making as you observe preface, right?

Think about these recommendations:

Performance should be evaluated against the established expectations.

Guidelines for fairly evaluating include:

• Provide honest, objective evaluation of team member performance as measured against expectations.
• Substantiate evaluation with specific examples of behaviors and results - positive and negative.
• Separate the delivery of praise and criticism, supporting each with descriptive statements, not impressions or hearsay.
• Include no surprise information. Positive or negative news should be discussed with the team member prior to putting it in an evaluative format.
  
  Now take a look at your own practices based on the statements below – determine whether you’re
  

Satisfied with your own performance or
Not Satisfied with the effort you’re making here

Also decide the Importance of each practice to your success and to your team members’ success.

• I compare individual results against mutually agreed-upon established expectations.
• I do not compare one individual against another - I hold each accountable to his / her own established expectations.
• I do not allow one overwhelming event - positive or negative -- to influence my evaluation.
• I spring no surprises during an evaluation. The good or bad news has previously been discussed with the employee.
• I cite specific examples and observations in my evaluations.
• I am honest in my evaluations.
• I comment on the positives as well as the negatives.
• I do not allow my own moods, stylistic differences and personal feelings to impact my ability to evaluate fairly
  
  

In your own survey above, items checked as Not Satisfied in this step could lead to many problems organizationally: without the foundation of setting expectations, observation of the work and the behavior, providing timely feedback and effectively coaching people, the evaluation step is generally ineffective.

Most studies conducted on people who have quit their jobs reveal a fairly common thread. People generally do not leave their jobs because of pay; they leave their jobs because of how they are treated and whether they feel valued. They leave their boss!

Think about the environment created within your organization by the existing performance management practices. Are people treated well and do they feel valued? Is your process fair and consistent for all?

If I asked your team members, would THEY say you were fair and consistent? That’s the ultimate test.

Remember, this process doesn’t mean treating everyone the SAME, but having a simple set of behaiors that allow you to provide the guidance and support for each team member according to the expectations you two have negotiated.

That fairness also allows you to deal with totally unexpected emergencies that occur for everyone – you avoid the charges of favoritism and people know they can depend on you to balance the business demands with the personal demands each of us must face.

Speaking Up

How Do You Know if Your Open Door Policy is Actually Working?

The Speaking Up study identifies many situations in which people have information that would benefit the company if this knowledge or perspective could be incorporated into decision making.

Researched and written by colleague, Lunell Haught, this study is relevant to ALD and our clients because it discusses how effectively feedback is received - one of our favorite topics!

We usually think of feedback in terms of "giving" it, but how ready are many organizations to actually have feedback go UP the organization; information that is often necessary to the real effectiveness of managers and the organization itself.

Read the study here