Monday, August 31, 2020

Never Underestimate The Power Of Support

Recently, I have been thinking about something that Rodd Wagner and James K. Harter wrote in their book, 12: The Elements of Great Managing. As they note, “Before a person can deliver what he should as a manager, he must first receive what he needs as an employee.”


As the worries and uncertainties pile up about the on-going global pandemic, we often forget that a great manager needs a great manager in order to be a great manager. On one level, this feels like I am stating the obvious. On the other hand, because it is so basic and fundamental to good leadership, I think many people forget to recognize how important and powerful the above short sentence by Wagner and Harter is to the success of any action within the company.


When I grasp the power of this concept, I also need to link it to a second and equally powerful insight that Marshall Goldsmith noted in a chapter called “Recruiting Supportive Coaches: A Key to Achieving Positive Behavioral Change" from the book, The Many Facets of Leadership (Prentice Hall, 2003) by Marshall Goldsmith, Vijay Govindarajan, Beverly Kaye, Albert A. Vicere. In this chapter, Goldsmith wrote, “Another clear finding of our literature search is that positive behavioral change is much more likely to last if the individual who is trying to change has a "support group" (or at least "support person") who is assisting in the change process.”


When an employee has a good manager who is supporting people to work on highly functional teams and giving the same employee support on the one to one level, then an employee will move in the right direction and activate their talents to achieve desirable outcomes. As Goldsmith points out, "Your best coaches may often be people whom you respect and who impact your life on a daily basis.” And right now, one of the people who is impacting your life at work, and to a degree at home, is your supervisor. If they are choosing to be supportive and clarifying expectations, priorities and goals, then all involved will be engaged and effective as they rise to the on-going challenges of this time period.


This week, be the leader people need you to be, namely one who is supportive and is a catalyst between the goals of the company and the talents of all involved. Then, even in the midst of COVID-19, we will see continual positive and effective progress from everyone.


Geery Howe, M.A. Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer in Leadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational Change Morning Star Associates 319 - 643 - 2257

Monday, August 24, 2020

An Important Strategic Choice As We Head Into The Fall

“The health of an organization”, writes Patrick Lencioni in his book, The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business (Jossey-Bass, 2012), “provides the context for strategy, finance, marketing, technology, and everything else that happens within it, which is why it is the single greatest factor determining an organization’s success.” As Lencioni explains, there are two fundamental strategic choices, being smart or being healthy. Being smart is about strategy, marketing, finances, and technology, and, to a degree, it is something of a commodity. Many other organizations can have what your company has.


However, Lencioni points out that being healthy, i.e. having “minimal politics and confusion, high degree of morale and productivity, and very low turnover among good employees”, is not something every other organization can have. “An organization that is healthy,” writes Lencioni, “will inevitably get smarter over time….  In contrast, smart organizations don’t seem to have any greater chance of getting healthier by virtue of their intelligence. In fact, the reverse may actually be true because leaders who pride themselves on expertise and intelligence often struggle to acknowledge their flaws and learn from peers.”


One important strategic choice we need to make as we head into fall is to make sure our teams are getting healthier. As Lencioni notes, “If an organization is led by a team that is not behaviorally unified, there is no chance that it will become healthy…. Becoming a real team requires an intentional decision on the part of its members…. teamwork is not a virtue. It is a choice - and a strategic one.”


When we look at the important strategic choices we need to make this late summer into fall so we can survive the rest of 2020 and be well positioned to thrive in 2021 and 2022, we all need teams that have a solid foundation of trust, the capacity to engage in unfiltered conflict around ideas, and the ability to commit to decisions and plans of action.


With the ongoing complex and complicated problems that we need to solve during the next six to eight weeks, we also must have members on our team who can advocate well for their ideas and ask respectful questions to seek clarity about another person’s statement of advocacy. It is the combination of advocacy and inquiry that will generate effective and resilient solutions.


If you have the time and energy, I encourage you to read or re-read the aforementioned book. It will help you to build a healthy and ultimately a smart organization.


Geery Howe, M.A. Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer in Leadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational Change Morning Star Associates 319 - 643 - 2257

Monday, August 17, 2020

Feelings Are As Powerful As Facts

When leaders look over the horizon and see the end of the third quarter fast approaching, they are worried. Privately, they acknowledge that it is highly unlikely that they will hit their growth or profitability targets. They struggle to figure out what is the best path forward. 


Furthermore, the data they have collected presents mixed signals about what to do strategically and operationally. Some interpret the numbers and believe they need to completely abandon their core business model for an all digital engagement platform. Others parse the numbers and still believe that adapting the current model is a sustainable choice given the global and national pandemic projections before them. Finally, some are just overwhelmed by too many options and choices. They are stuck in analysis paralysis, hoping for a definitive answer to all their questions.


Often, this is when they call me, their executive coach. They want to think out loud and to explore their options in a safe and productive manner. Through our time together, insights and choices become clear.


During such visits, I often ask the following question which makes many leaders pause and think deeply: “What does your gut tell you to do in this situation?” I know we will explore facts and figures, data points and trend lines. We may touch on a SWOT analysis, a PEST analysis, or even internal engagement scores, but most leaders get so busy that they forget to check their gut. They don’t draw on their own intuition.


When they do pause and reflect deeply, many have shared with me that they do not believe the data is valid or paints a holistic picture. Sometimes, they share with me that they think people are only telling them what they think they want to hear and not the whole truth of what is going on.


At times like this, I remind good leaders that measuring something does not always need to be numerical in nature. I recognize that the party line in many companies revolves around the following two phrases, namely, “We inspect what we expect” and “If we can not measure it, it can not be improved.” Both of which are true to a point.


However, I have witnessed companies make profound and successful strategic choices on more than data and facts. As I remind good leaders, if people remember something over time, then it has made a difference. A qualitative measure, i.e. the memory and the feelings around a choice or event, can be as important as the quantitative measures, e.g. KPIs. For example, I have learned over time that the telling of stories related to key strategic choices and events is important. These stories and choices bond people together, and they make them feel like they are making a difference. They inspire people to take risks and to do the right thing, some times in spite of the data.


Danny Meyer in his book, Setting The Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business (HarperCollins, 2006) writes: “Service is the technical delivery of a product. Hospitality is how that delivery of that product makes the recipient feel. Service is a monologue - we decide how we want to do things and set our own standards for service. Hospitality, on the other hand, is a dialogue.” As he continues, it is “most meaningful to create positive, uplifting outcomes for human experiences and human relationships. Business, like life, is all about how you make people feel.” 


When I help leaders check their gut, we are engaging in “a dialogue between what already exists and what could be”, referencing Meyer in the above book. And during this internal dialogue, we are referencing past experiences, insights, feelings and lessons learned. This history often yields a more holistic and comprehensive understanding of what to do next in the short and the long term.


This week, work with the data in a thoughtful and productive manner. And remember that feelings are as powerful as facts. It is the combination of the two that will yield productive choices and outcomes. If visiting with an executive coach would be helpful, do not hesitate to contact me. I would be glad to support you as you engage in that in-depth period of reflection and internal dialogue.


Geery Howe, M.A. Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer in Leadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational Change Morning Star Associates 319 - 643 - 2257

Monday, August 10, 2020

Watch Out For Pandemic Fatigue

Since the middle of March, we have been riding an unprecedented wave of changes and adaptations related to COVID-19. Each week, there have been big and little issues surface, all of which are disrupting systems and work plans. Internal communications has become mission critical. And now, as we move into late summer, people are just physically, emotional and mentally exhausted by it all. We all would love some normalcy, order, and predictability.


Dan Cohen in his book, The Heart of Change Field Guide: Tools and Tactics for Leading Change in Your Organization (Harvard Business School Press, 2005), writes that there are five reasons why change Initiatives slow down. They are as follows: exhaustion on the part of the leaders, failure to see progress, turnover of key change agents, flagging team morale, and things taking too long. When you add a global pandemic to the mix, you can understand why folks are so exhausted and fed up with it all. 


So, what are leaders to do when everyone is running on empty?


My answer to this question is for all of us to remember two small but significant concepts.


First, “Be a lighthouse not a weathervane”, writes Robert Cooper in his book, The Other 90%: How to Unlock Your Vast Untapped Potential For Leadership & Life (Crown Business, 2001). We, as leaders, can choose to be beacons of integrity, clarity and discipline, or we can be weathervanes pivoting this way and that way at every shift in the weather. Given all that has taken place during the last five months, I believe that being a beacon is an important choice that sends a message that we can and we will weather the pounding seas and battering storms around us.


Second, we need to remember that “People won't put their hearts into something they don't believe in” which is another important point from the above book. We have focused so much on maintaining effective daily operations during the last couple of months that we have sometimes forgotten to talk about the importance of the mission, i.e. the why behind the work. When we are worn to the quick, we need to hear from our leaders, managers and supervisors that our job matters and that it makes a difference. 


Some people may think that role modeling and communicating about mission are minor actions in a time period when systems and strategy need to be carefully redesigned. But after decades of helping people and organizations through the world of large and small changes, I have learned that small actions can have huge impact. As Patrick Lencioni in his book, The Truth About Employee Engagement: A Fable About Addressing the Three Root Causes of Job Misery, formerly called The Three Signs of a Miserable Job: A Fable for Managers (and their employees) (Jossey-Bass 2007), wrote: “... if a manager has any responsibility in the world, it’s to help people understand why their work matters.”


And right now, as pandemic fatigue sets in, we want to know that our efforts have made a difference. When someone notices how hard we have been working and appreciates all the time and energy we have put in to adapting to the relentless onslaught of big and little changes, then we do not feel alone in the midst of it all. We feel like we are part of a team. Our confidence and capacity to move forward is renewed. 


This week, I encourage you to be a lighthouse rather than a weathervane and to tell people the following message: I see you; I value you; I appreciate you. Your work matters and it is making a difference in the lives of so many people.


Geery Howe, M.A. Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer in Leadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational Change Morning Star Associates 319 - 643 - 2257

Monday, August 3, 2020

Prepare For The Future

As we enter into the new month of August, companies all across this country are focused on cash management. They grasp the notion of “no money, no mission” and want to make sure they have enough resources in the bank to deal with whatever might come next. 


Others are rethinking their growth targets and focused on maintaining their core business. They want their well established brand identity to not be damaged during these turbulent times. They want to survive this global pandemic but also have the company well positioned to thrive in the aftermath.


But a few hardy souls in the world of leadership are now willing to flex their intellectual muscles and engage in some in-depth scenario based planning. They want to grapple with a few possible scenarios and explore how the company will move through them. By doing this work in advance, they are better prepared if this possible reality happenings.


Here is one scenario more and more senior leadership teams are exploring right now.


First, starting in the middle to late September through to December, health officials all across the country advise people to get their annual flu shots. They remind the general public that the annual flu is a serious, and at times life-threatening illness. By getting vaccinated they are preventing the transmission of the flu to others and reducing the impact in their own lives.


Simultaneously, many infectious disease experts point out that there is a very high probability that a second round of COVID-19 will occur through out the globe this coming winter. They encourage us to be better prepared and to not ignore this second round.


If this coming flu season is especially virulent and COVID-19 returns or continues with a vengeance before there are adequate testing options and a vaccine, how should your company prepare and respond to this situation?


A tabletop exercise like the above tests the organization’s ability to be resilient in the face of a crisis. It also will determine if the lessons learned from this past spring and summer have been captured and effectively integrated into the systems, culture and strategy of the company. Finally, it is an opportunity to determine if there is a failure in one part of the company, whether or not it will metastasize and threaten the whole of the company. By proactively addressing realistic probabilities, we create the capacity for better preparedness, response and recovery activities.


Given what we know this month, now is the time to be prepared. Let’s not be surprised anymore by unforeseen possibilities.


Geery Howe, M.A. Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer in Leadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational Change Morning Star Associates 319 - 643 - 2257