Tag Archive for: Factor In Talent

“The only constant is change.” – Unknown

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change is the only constant

 

Over the past several years this saying and many others about change have become rather trite. “Change is everywhere and to be successful you must embrace it.” “Change is the new normal.” “Champions eat change for breakfast.” Yeah, we’ve heard it all before.

What is somewhat new about change is the sheer pace of it. With the advent of breakneck technology advances, change is not only constant but accelerating. Every few months there is a new social media outlet that can help you reach your customers while you’re still trying to figure out Twitter. Some businesses are wondering if they should create an app for their services. Messages can travel around your company, not to mention the world, in nanoseconds. And there are still the usual changes like new product introductions, reorganizations, and new workflows.

– How should you take a leadership position around change in the 2015 workplace?

– Answer the big question, “WHY?” People yearn for context. They want to understand why things happen and how they fit into that equation. As things move ever more quickly, we often forget to answer this simple question in our haste to “just get it done.”

– Listen to the reactions. Sometimes we think that in order to lead change, we need to be the cheerleader, playing down the realities that change is hard and that there will be bumps along the way. Take the time to listen and to respond in a realistic way to the reactions people have — the good, the bad and the ugly. In some situations it’s okay to say, “Yes, this stinks and at times it is going to be difficult. When we get through this, here is how we will be in a better place…”

– Know that some people will be more ready to change than you. When it comes to introducing technological change, there are people in your organization who will be asking why the company isn’t moving more quickly. We have a whole generation who have grown up with IM, texting, Facebook and other forms of social media. Harness their enthusiasm to learn all you can about the benefits and the drawbacks of various technologies. Engage them in understanding how it could be used in your business or why your business isn’t ready for it.

– Be a storyteller. Think back to your childhood. I could probably mention a story that you haven’t heard in 30 years and you could tell it to me. If I asked you to explain Freshman Algebra concepts to me, that would probably not be so easy for most of us. We are wired to remember stories. They help us put ourselves in situations and to remember information. Tell stories about the successes of previous changes where people first had doubts. Tell stories about how a team worked together to make it happen. Tell stories that help people paint a picture and understand how to move forward.

-Use social media. More and more of our organizations are using social media as way for people within the company to communicate with each other. Use social media yourself to ask questions, share updates, talk about successes, and ask for ideas. Again, if you need help in this area, there are people in your organization who are social media savvy. Encourage your team to use it as a way to have a productive conversation about the changes that are occurring. Soon you’ll see leaders emerge on your team, taking the reins of championing change.

Too many meetings

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Factor In Talent - too many meetingsAsk anyone about meetings and you get a similar response. “Waste of time.” “They get in the way of real work.” “Too many meetings.” For most people, they represent the time sink that produces very little. I’m stunned by how even the most seasoned executives, with years of experience leading meetings, see them as nothing more than a forum for information sharing, status updates and data dumps. Here’s a secret — they don’t have to be that way. As a matter of fact, you can use them to get real work done.

Meetings are an opportunity for interaction. They are a place to discuss issues, share ideas, and gather information that can guide decision making. However, they usually include very little of this. There are many reasons for this including a lack of a clear objective for the meeting, no agenda, not having the right people in the room, spending too much time reviewing what’s been done instead of focusing on what needs to be done.

To make meetings more productive, start with these questions:

      • Why are we meeting? If the answer is to share updates, you most likely don’t need a meeting. Unless you need input from most of the meeting participants that impacts the ability to move an issue or imperative forward, find another way to share. Share updates via brief status reports on Box.net or Sharepoint. A good reason for a meeting is the need to discuss issues, debate a plan of action, gather input for decisions or finalize decisions.
      • Who should be in the room? Who are the right participants? Do they have the perspective, responsibility and accountability for the issues and actions you’ll be discussing.
      • How often do we need to have these conversations? There is no perfect number. In a rapidly growing dynamic company, it may be once a week. In a more mature firm with less change, maybe once a month or once a quarter. Too often meetings are scheduled more frequently than the content warrants.
      • Do I have tools to use that will facilitate the conversation? Sometimes it’s just asking the right question. Sometimes it’s having a framework for analyzing the issue or guiding the conversation. The most basic tool — have an agenda that is shared with people before the meeting.

Look at the meetings you are currently leading. How could they be better?

About Edith Onderick-Harvey

Edith Onderick-Harvey is a highly regarded consultant, leadership and talent expert, and speaker. Edith is frequently quoted in the media including The New York Times, CNN.com, HR Executive, and American Executive. As the President of Factor In Talent, Edith works with leaders to take performance — their own, their team’s and their organization’s — to the next level.

Announcing the launch of our new website!

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We’re proud to announce the launch of our new website!

We’ve spent the past several months revamping the site to be:

Easier to navigate

More representative of who we are, what we do and how we do it

More informative about our services and programs
You can use the site to access information about our four service lines, specific programs and tools, and our BLOG!

Take a look around.

I’m looking forward to hearing your feedback.

Big News! My book “Getting Real: Strategies for Leadership In Today’s Resource-Constrained, Time-Strapped, Multi-TaskingWorld of Work” will be released soon. Stay tuned!

Let’s work together to make sure your company is ready to meet its challenges in 2014. Call me at 978.475.8424 or via email at eoharvey@factorintalent.com

Creating Space for Innovation

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Biogen Huddle 260 x 176There was an interesting article in the Boston Globe recently about my client, Biogen Idec’s, new space. It doesn’t have offices or cubes (finally, the death of the cube). It has open adaptive space, workstations connected to treadmills and huddle rooms for impromptu meetings. The hope for this radically different design is to drive innovation, speed and allow for more informal, unplanned communication.

Many, many companies are talking about how to drive innovation in the workplace. The design of physical space definitely plays a part. But, it only helps if people can free up mental space and time to take advantage of the space. There doesn’t seem to be enough of either in the world of work. In many of my client’s work environments; there is no time for informal, unplanned communication because people are scheduled into back to back meetings day after day after day. They have so many things on their ‘to do’ list and little time to prioritize so the focus is on getting them done but not on what if we did this instead? Or how can it be done better? Colleagues are unavailable because they are on the road or in other meetings.

If innovation is part of your company’s mantra these days, look at how you spend your days.

• Is there enough time for informal conversations that are spurred by an idea or new issue?
• Are there scheduled meetings that can be combined or don’t need to happen at all?
• How easy is it for me to get in touch with colleagues either in person or through technology?
• Have interactions become so formalized that there’s no time for what’s not on the agenda?

You may also want to think about bringing down a few cubicle walls.

 

Love vs. Fear, Making It Great and a Sense of Purpose

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leadership and relationships
August is upon us, and our New England summer is winding down…

I decided to share other people’s thinking with you this week. Check these out:

Connect, then Lead. Stop leading with your strength. A growing body of research shows that influence — which is the heart of leadership — starts with warmth. Without trust, emphasizing strength leads to fear and compliance not engaged followership. For additional tips on establishing trust, check out my blog article on the trust equation.

7 Ways to Make the Rest of 2013 Amazing. Kevin Baum shares some additional thoughts on Finishing Strong in his blog for Inc.

‘Culture of Purpose’ Is Key To Success According To New Research From Deloitte. A new study from Deloitte shows that a culture of purpose is key to strong financial performance and…Companies aren’t doing enough to create a shared sense of purpose. Take a look at the full article on Forbes.com.

The Story Stays the Same

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man loves his job 396 x 260Gallup’s 2013 State of the American Workplace Report has just been released. Here’s the highlights:

  • 30% of employees are engaged and inspired at work — up from 28% in 2010
  • 18% are actively disengaged
  • 52% are showing up

What drives engagement?

  • Job satisfaction – having a great boss, room to grow and job tasks that are stimulating
  • Workplace culture, especially those that encourage people to voice their opinions and work together.

Before you think about providing free lunches and massages on site, look at how you’re doing on the fundamentals. “If you don’t have those fundamentals, the perks aren’t going to fix it,” says Randy Allen, the associate dean of Cornell University’s Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management.. “You may keep them for a while, but at some point they’re going to leave.”

Enough said?

Tell the Story

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teamwork 660 x 330As you and your team are thinking about how to Finish Strong, take a lesson from Twitter to get them fired up.

If you use Twitter you know that you have 140 characters to tell your story. It forces you to really think about what you want to say and about how you’ll say it. To get your team to buy in to your Finish Strong projects you need to give them a compelling reason to join in the effort. You need to engage them in a story about why this is important. And, you need to make it short and sweet. You need to make the message simple and easy to remember so that when asked, each of your team members can share what the team is doing and why.

WHAT OTHER THOUGHT LEADERS ARE THINKING

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thought leadership

On a regular basis, I take a look at what other thought leaders are saying about leadership, change, and work. Here are some great ones I’ve found recently.

Do you have someone interested in moving into a leadership position? Share this with them.

Turns out being likeable has more impact on being an effective leader than we may think. Click here to read more.

When you think you have leadership mastered, the world may change on you. Watch this TED talk with General Stanley McChrystal on listening, learning and then, leading.

Now that the economy is picking up, maybe you’re concerned about losing some of your best people. Avoid being dumped by your best employees. Read the full Forbes article here.

RAISE YOUR HAND IF YOU FEEL OVERLOADED

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raised hands 220x125If you raised your hand, you’re not alone. A new survey by Harris Interactive for Everest College says that 83% of us are stressed by at least one thing at work. That’s up 10 points from 2012.  

 What’s causing the stress?  The #1 reason is low pay and unreasonable workloads.  Many of us can’t do much about the pay.  However, we can impact workloads. One of the things I see contributing to the unreasonable workloads is how much change is being introduced and how it’s being introduced. 

Often, introducing change and innovation is a bit like changing the tire on a bus going 60 miles an hour.  You have to keep the bus going but you also have to change the tire so the bus can get where it needs to go more efficiently, is able to take rougher roads or deal with dangerous conditions.  Still, slowing the bus down, just a little can make getting that tire changed go a lot faster.  Too often, when companies introduce change it is done rapid fire. We’ll change something over here, something’s over there and a few more while we’re at it.  In even the most change ready and change rich environments — those where people love innovation and change– you will reach the point of overload. 

 To make sure your team or company are not tipping into change overload, implement listening posts to check in and talk about the pace of change, the frustrations, how it could be done better. A listening post is a regularly scheduled time for people to talk, as a group or one-on-one, with you, about what’s working and what’s not.  Your job during a listening post is not to spend the majority of the time on updates about change or innovation projects. It’s not the time to sell change. It’s a time for people to talk about the personal side of change — how it feels, what it’s like for them and the impact it’s having. It’s a time to listen to what’s going on and to synthesize that input into how change is being managed and lead. 

Labor Day

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For most of us, Labor Day is the last long weekend of the summer. We host a cookout or try to get to the ocean one last time. We close up the summer camp or cottage. We buy those final school supplies and get ready for Fall. Often, we forget that the reason for the holiday is to “recognize and pay tribute to the contributions and achievements of the American worker.”

The past few years have been tough for the American Worker. We’ve asked them to do more with less and take on heavier workloads. They’ve continued to give their best while worrying about when and if the next lay off will come. In some industries, like financial services, the trust the public had in their companies is deeply eroded and it’s difficult to feel pride.

In the lead up to Labor Day 2012, take time to recognize the contributions of the team of people who work with you. Show appreciation for the hours they’ve put in. Remind them of all they’ve achieved. Thank them for the results. Celebrate the accomplishments. Remind them what Labor Day is all about.