Preparing for Fiscal Year 2012

THEME: Some Thoughts On Current and Emerging Trends

FOCUS: Preparing for Fiscal Year 2012

Monday morning: August 30, 2010

Dear friends,

In the non-profit world, alarm bells are ringing all over the country. Executive Directors and their teams are seriously worried about the impending dangers of Fiscal Year 2012 which starts on 7/1/11. As they all know, when the recession hit the country starting in September 2008, the tax income dropped off dramatically. When this happened, state budgets were in serious trouble and not able to cover basic service delivery commitments. Therefore, the federal government generated stimulus dollars which in part offered a brief relief to these traumatized state budgets.

Nevertheless, the stimulus dollars are going to be used up soon. Then, the states will have to deal with problems that have continued to persist. According to the June 28, 2010 issue of Time magazine, David Von Drehle reports in his article called “The Other Financial Crisis” that Iowa, for example, will have a 18.6% shortfall next year as a percentage of this year’s state budget. While the best non-profits are actively working quite hard to prepare for the difficult 2-3 years ahead as the states recover from the recession and see tax revenues rise, they also know that the future will not be an easy road to travel.

On the state side of this picture, they are doing just about everything that can to shrink the budget and still operate. One state level solution begins with offering extensive early retirement packages in order to reduce the head count within government. While I recognize that this action will, over time, save the bottom line, I think we need to recognize today that those who are leaving take with them knowledge and experience that has been critical to short and long term success within their respective departments or areas of expertise. Any time there is a loss of knowledge and experience at this level, there is the potential for a decline in the quality of the service delivered and the ability to solve problems within and between different divisions in a timely manner.

Furthermore, when we create a work world where the “long time” employees have barely 5-10 years of experience, we must come to recognize that knowledge acquisition and retention are very critical to success. Remembering that our past choices often lead us to our current challenges, and those who do not remember the past often repeat the mistakes of the past, our work as senior executives will be difficult over the next 18 months.

First, given what could be coming, make sure you have the right people on the right seats on the bus, using a Jim Collin’s metaphor. You will need a strong team to handle these challenges.

Second, examine closely the implications and impact of Fiscal Year 2012 within your circle of influence and/or organization. Generate a plan so people stay focused on the right things.

Third, create a team of people who will work to make sure that as people retire the best of their knowledge and experience is not lost.

Fourth, generate clarity of purpose and focus within your organization about what must be preserved at all costs for short and long term success, and what may be discarded or laid aside until current challenges have passed.

In a time period of great worry, it is important to build a network of healthy relationships. As a bone cancer survivor told me many years ago, “make friends before you need them.” This week, prepare thoughtfully and carefully for the coming fiscal year.

Have a grand week,

Geery

P.S. Here is some interesting information I learned recently about the non-profit world. According to Guide Star, the nonprofit industry accounts for 5% of the nation's entire GDP. The nonprofit sector overall employs 12.9 million people, or nearly 10 percent of the workforce (larger than the finance, insurance, and real-estate sectors combined). There are more than 1.9 million tax-exempt organizations in the U.S., a number that has doubled in the last 30 years.

Geery Howe, M.A.Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer inLeadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational ChangeMorning Star Associates319 - 643 - 2257

The Transformation of Energy

THEME: Some Thoughts On Current and Emerging Trends

FOCUS: The Transformation of Energy

Monday morning: August 23, 2010

Dear friends,

Over the years, I have worked with a number of clients in the energy generation, transmission, and conservation business. First, let it be known that these are good men and woman who are smart, thoughtful and level headed. Every day, they face difficult challenges and handle complex questions. They meet these difficulties and solve these situations with good problem-solving skills. Putting BP’s Gulf coast challenges to the side for the moment, I am convinced that the majority of people working in this industry do know what needs to be done and do want to do things right the first time.

However, due to BP’s actions in the Gulf coast and other issues that were surfacing before this disaster took place, energy use is now clearly on the front burner of hot topics to be fixed. The difficulty is around the word “fixed.” By definition and implication, the word “fix” assumes that there is a single permanent solution which will solve a problem and restore order or normalcy. Our challenge is that there is not a single permanent solution to energy use in the United States.

For example, there is a rising tide to eliminate coal in the United States. Many say natural gas is the solution. Currently, it does not appear that we have the transmission system to handle the potential volume of natural gas that would be needed to replace coal based generation.

Next, we have the continued rise of electric cars, e.g. the Chevy Volt, and mixed use cars such as the Prius. The public does not like the expense of fossil fuels, the dangers of off-shore drilling, or the importation of petroleum from the Middle East. With cries for the demise of the combustion engine and the rise of the battery based life style, we come full circle to having to create more energy so the batteries can stay fully charged. Recognizing that some will argue over the science of global warming until the cows come home, and others will argue that alternative or green energy is the solution but not until we have a national transmission infrastructure that is comparable to Eisenhower’s interstate highway system, we nevertheless must all walk to the bathroom, look into the mirror, and ask ourselves a simple but difficult question: “Am I willing to change my energy habits?”

For example, this past weekend I borrowed the neighbor’s cordless lawn mower and cut the grass at our house. I have been wanting to try it out and see how well it works. Quiet and no fumes, the little 20 inch Toro mower moved through the wet grass cleanly and easily. When I was done, I returned it and just plugged it in. I never thought that a battery operated mower could handle the job and I was wrong. It worked like a charm. It makes me think twice about the push mower that I currently own.

While many will point fingers at the energy industrial complex as the source of all evil, few will commit to changing their own lifestyle. As senior executives, we know that organizational transformation is the sum of individual transformation. It is the same with the transformation of energy use. If we seek to generate, transmit, and use new sources of energy in new ways, then we have to be willing to understand our own personal energy choices. We are the solution and the problem all wrapped up in one.

What intrigues me on top of our personal choices is the degree to which energy management is creeping into organization’s strategic planning. While, in the past, the price of energy would have surfaced in a traditional SWOT analysis, or a more innovative PESTAL analysis, more and more organizations are starting to put energy management into their strategic plans. While this group is still small in numbers, it is slowly growing as awareness shifts to understanding. Nevertheless, we all must realize that the power industry will not change on a dime unless a large majority of people are willing to invest the capital to build a new infrastructure and the capacity to maintain this infrastructure.

In short, let’s not paint the power industry as people with limited perception or understanding. In recent conversations, they are acutely aware of what is happening in the world related to energy, and understand the short and long term implications of ours and their choices. This week we as senior leaders need to make energy management a part of all future strategic plans. As I mentioned before, our individual choices will impact our collective choices.

Have a great week,

Geery

Geery Howe, M.A.Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer inLeadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational ChangeMorning Star Associates319 - 643 - 2257

THEME: Some Thoughts On Current and Emerging Trends

FOCUS: The Intersection of the iPad, Community, and Social Intelligence

Monday morning: August 16, 2010

Dear friends,

With the introduction of the iPad this year and it’s projected 2010 sales being close to 10 million, Steve Jobs noted earlier in the summer that a new iPad is bought at a global level every 3 seconds. With such rapid acceptance, we are witnessing an amazing transformation in technology. This in combination with Goggle’s decision to not utilize Windows due to on-going security problems means the way we work is changing faster than in the past. While I do not think it completely signals the decline of the PC market as Steve Jobs suggested might happen back in June at the D Conference, it clearly signals the start of a whole new way of thinking about the speed of acquisition and the utilization of technology.

First, we need to recognize that software and hardware are skipping past the lap top platform and moving straight to slate based computer systems and smart phones. With texting as the new e-mail system and social media like Facebook topping half a billion users this summer and becoming the new foundation for creating and maintaining relationships, we enter a world were fragmentation is no longer acceptable and seamless integration is the new goal.

It is interesting to note a generational difference rising in the midst of this transformation, particularly between Baby Boomers and Gen Y’s or Millennials. For Baby Boomers, the expectation is that when a light switch goes up, the electricity will always be on. For Gen Xers and Millenials, when a computer or cell phone is on, then the expectation is that there will be 100% connectivity to the internet. The internet is their new electricity.

For generations before the Baby Boomers, there was a gratefulness for just having electricity. For the Baby Boomers, there was an expectation that it should be on and perfect all the time. Now that the internet is the new electricity, the expectation is the same for younger generations. They have an expectation for “electricity level” connectivity and delivery of internet content, and they expect it to move as fast as an electric light switch when turned on.

There is another recent generational difference noted by British neuroscientist Susan Greenfield. We could potentially end up living in a two class society with mostly the younger generation being “the people of the screen” who quick skim and scan the web which lodges in the brian’s short-term memory and is quickly lost, and a mostly older generation who are “people of the book,” who through slow reading experiences generate long term memories. The result is a very different level of understanding and interacting with the world between the generations.

Yet in the midst of these differences and the ongoing desire for more speed and simplicity in technology plus the growth of digital life experiences, there continues to be a growing desire for more real and authentic sense of community. John Naisbitt in his books, Megatrends and Megatrends 2000, wrote that we enter a dualistic world of high tech and high touch. While I recognize that Facebook is being utilized by many if not most of the affluent people in society, the result of this choice is the development of some very unique relationships. For example, people on Facebook may have 1,000 “friends” but only know and communicate with a handful well on a face to face level. Some would argue that young people may not understand that real relationships are first built off-line before going on-line.

Furthermore, we now have entering and influencing the workforce a younger generation that knows how to connect electronically and at the same time chooses different pathways to building relationships than Baby Boomers. For example, it is recognized that most Millennials are good at working on teams and with teams, multi-tasking and utilizing technology to increase productivity. Still, we have to recognize that people who work on successful teams are born from a healthy work place community. And when a team completes it’s work, it, namely the members of the team, will return to the work place community. In short, the source of healthy teams can not be replaced by electronic apps on iPads, or digital, Facebook level only connections.

During the coming years, our work as senior executives will require us to invest in new technology and to learn to interface with the rapidly changing and accelerating global technology platform. Nevertheless as high tech speeds up, we must also come to value high touch, i.e. slower face to face connections that require a degree of social intelligence. In a world that can access more information faster than ever before, we are discovering that more and more people are connected and at the same time feeling disconnected. With so many families scattered across the nation and the globe, and so many traditional social networks like churches and civic groups struggling to maintain membership, we must come to recognize that the building of community within the work place is more important and valuable than ever.

This week understand that the pace of change will continue to accelerate, and that the need to build social intelligence will be as important as digital and technological intelligence.

Have a marvelous week,

Geery

P.S. For those of you who are looking for a good article, I suggest you read “Powerlessness Corrupts” by Rosabeth Moss Kanter in the July-August 2010 issue of the Harvard Business Review. This is a short but very thoughtful essay about how powerlessness, particularly in the middle ranks, can fuel resentment, infighting and intergroup conflicts over resources. If you are looking to find a thoughtful way to start a team meeting, this single page essay with good observations and perspective is a good place to begin.

Geery Howe, M.A.Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer inLeadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational ChangeMorning Star Associates319 - 643 - 2257

From Overcrowded Living to Personal Balance and Excellence - part #2

THEME: Spring 2010 From Vision to Action Roundtable Report

FOCUS: From Overcrowded Living to Personal Balance and Excellence - part #2

Monday morning: June 14, 2010

Dear friends,

Too many people in too many companies are living an overcrowded lifestyle and hoping it will change. As they say down south, those who only talk about going to heaven usually don’t. The same goes for those who only talk about changing their life. They usually don’t. As Stephen Covey said many years ago, you can’t talk your way out of something that you are behaving your way into.

Here are two lessons I have learned from executive coaching many people this past winter into spring. First, focus less on motivation and more on inspiration. Motivation is something that causes a person to act. Sometimes it is fear and sometimes it is clarity. Sometimes, we are not even sure why we do what we are doing. Inspiration on the other hand is something that causes a person to want to move forward rather than have to move forward. It comes from the inside rather than from the outside. Given all that has happened in the last 12 - 18 months, I believe we need more inspiration and less motivation.

Second, we need to learn to manage our energy, not our time. As Marcus Buckingham wrote in his book, The One Thing You Need to Know ... About Great Managing, Great Leading, and Sustained Individual Success, Free Press, 2005, “What differentiated the best [tennis players] from the rest was not what happened during the points, but rather what happened between the points. The best had faster and more effective recovery routines.... Stress itself is not the enemy we typically think it is. Uninterrupted stress is.” There are days right now when a good number of leaders need to learn how to give themselves permission to rest, recharge, and rejuvenate. We are so addicted to living in go mode that we do not know how to actually rest.

Third, we all need to redefine our non-negotiables. For me, there came a point in the growth of my business where I could have started doing more and more weekend workshops related to stress management and then leadership. With young children moving into school related activities, a wise friend reminded me that your teenage children will need you more than when they were young. The only challenge is that they will need you to be available when they are ready, not when you are always ready. Recognizing this truth, I came to a decision that I needed to no longer do any weekend workshops. I needed to be home starting on Friday night through to Monday morning. I lost business due to this decision, but I learned from another mentor of mine that you only get to raise children once and you can raise flowers twice.

This week, reduce your level of uninterrupted stress and give yourself permission to rest and recharge.

Have a marvelous week,

Geery

P.S. Given the first day of summer begins in a week, I am going to follow my own advice and rest for a while from writing my weekly Monday Thoughts. I will be back in touch with all of you in the later half of the summer. Meanwhile you can always find past 2009 Monday Thoughts Weekly e-mails on our web site:

http://www.chartyourpath.com/Monday-Thoughts-Archive.html

or here on my blog:

http://chartyourpath.blogspot.com

Enjoy the summer!

Geery Howe, M.A.Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer inLeadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational ChangeMorning Star Associates319 - 643 - 2257

From Overcrowded Living to Personal Balance and Excellence - part #1

THEME: Spring 2010 From Vision to Action Roundtable Report

FOCUS: From Overcrowded Living to Personal Balance and Excellence - part #1

Monday afternoon: June 7, 2010

Dear friends,

Recently, I have been working with a young woman executive who is being prepared for senior leadership within her company. We visit on a regular basis and explore critical issues on a deep level. Recently, she explained to me that her life was already full. With children and a working husband, her reality was living busy, drained and overwhelmed all day and every day. She said to me “being a senior leader is just going to be more rather than different.”

I explained to her that there are two stages in life. One is called before children and the other is after children. For all the books, workshops, advice and counsel we are given, when we live in the land of before children, we can never fully comprehend the land of after children. What is theory on one level quickly changes when it becomes reality.

Nevertheless, there are lessons to be learned from others who have traveled the road before us to senior leadership. The first two lessons comes from Peter Drucker who wrote in an article called “What is Our Business?” from the June 2001 issue of Executive Excellence magazine. As he explained, “The executive’s time tends to belong to everybody else.” He notes that everybody and anybody can move in on your time and eventually does when you become a senior executive. Second, “Executives are forced to keeping “operating” unless they take positive action to change the reality in which they live.” As he reminds us, we can let the flow of events determine the priorities we hold or we can define what is important in spite of the flow.

The next lessons learned comes from Margaret J. Wheatley from her book, Finding Our Way: Leadership for an Uncertain Time, Berrett-Koehler, 2005. Here, she explains that “... humans usually default to the known when confronted with the unknown,” and “new leaders must invent the future while dealing with the past.” Both are excellent observations.

However, living busy, drained and overwhelmed is not living well and not the goal of most people. This past winter into spring the most common question I got asked by people who had moved into a senior level position is the following: How do I find a sense of balance? The real answer is difficult but important to digest. The long and short of it is that you will not be able to achieve personal balance in the sense that everything will equal out when you become a senior executive. There are days when you will have way more work than time and way more family expectations than time. It comes with the power of the chair and the territory.

Still, there are solutions. First, now is the time to move from a focus on success to significance. Rather than striving for the next rung on the ladder and more external definitions of success, realize that the best place to start living a more healthy lifestyle as a senior executive is to rediscover what gives your life meaning and to schedule time for this on your calendar. As Stephen Covey reminded us many years ago, when we put first things first, then we have time for the people and events we want to focus on.

This week, rediscover what gives your life meaning and make time for it on a regular basis.

Much joy to you and yours,

Geery

P.S. For those who enjoyed the following book: Loehr, Jim & Tony Schwartz, The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal, Simon & Schuster, 2003, the author, Tony Schwartz, has a new article out, a summary of his new book, The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working: The Four Forgotten Nees That Energize Great Performance, The Free Press, 2010, in the June 2010 issue of the Harvard Business Review called “The Productivity Paradox: How Sony Pictures Gets More Out of People by Demanding Less”. As he explains, “Human beings don’t work like computers; they can’t operate at high speeds continuously, running multiple programs at once.” Instead, he explains that “people perform at their peak when they alternate between periods of intense focus and intermittent renewal.” The key to success according to Schwartz is the following: “Employees can increase their effectiveness by practicing simple rituals that refuel their energy, such as taking a daily walk to get an emotional breather or turning off e-mail at prescribed times so they can concentrate.” Furthermore, he notes that “if companies allow and encourage employees to create and stick to such rituals, they will be rewarded with a more engaged, productive, and focused workforce.” When you have the time, check out the article and if it speaks to your condition, then check out the new book, too.

Geery Howe, M.A.Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer inLeadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational ChangeMorning Star Associates319 - 643 - 2257

Improving Organizational Communication

THEME: Spring 2010 From Vision to Action Roundtable Report

FOCUS: Improving Organizational Communication

Tuesday morning: June 1, 2010

Dear friends,

With many organizations moving faster and faster at the tactical and strategic levels, communications is suffering. When this happens, we need to remember the first three disciplines from Patrick Lencioni’s book, The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive, Jossey-Bass, 2000, as we solve this problem. They are as follows:

- Discipline One: Build and Maintain A Cohesive Leadership Team

- Discipline Two: Create Organizational Clarity

- Discipline Three: Over-communicate Organizational Clarity

If we seek a realistic solution to improved communication, then we need to create organizational clarity and over-communicate it. The first step is to remember Marcus Buckingham’s comments about fear in his book, The One Thing You Need to Know ... About Great Managing, Great Leading, and Sustained Individual Success, Free Press, 2005. Here, he outlined the “Five Fears” we all share. The first is our fear of death, our own and our family’s. Leaders work with this fear by recognizing our need for security. The second is our fear of the outsider which can be resolved by the development of community. The third is our fear of the future which can be eased by an organization having a clear sense of direction. The fourth fear is the fear of chaos which recognizes our desire as people for sound leadership, and the need for someone to make the right decisions. The final fear is the fear of insignificance. We solve this one by recognizing our desire to want to know that our work is making a difference. As Buckingham constantly points out, when you want to manage, begin with the person; when you want to lead, begin with the picture of where you are headed.

Not too long ago, I was invited to lunch with two exceptional women executives. We met at a restaurant and they encouraged me to order first. Being born wet and hungry, I ordered up a plate full of slow burning protein and complex carbs plus a house salad. They each ordered a glass of water with lemon and half a salad. Once my embarrassment about ordering so much had passed, they shared with me that they were struggling with communications at the senior team level. They could not figure out what the problem was but thought that a communications workshop would be helpful. As we talked about what was happening, I discovered that the main problem mostly resolved around a senior leader sending mixed signals and those listening not being able to generate a clear picture of the future.

In particular, when we communicate, it is essential that we are clear about what we are communicating and what we are expecting. For example, many issues are brought up at the senior team level but the individual who surfaces these issues is not clear about whether or not they are sharing information for input, seeking consultation before a decision, wanting help to coordinate different parts of the strategy, or communicating a decision that has already been made. We, at times, forget that what is evident to a leader may or may not be evident to a follower or colleague. Therefore, it is time to clarify and/or explain the obvious.

This week clarify inside your own head first what you are trying to say and why before you open your mouth.

Have a delightful week,

Geery

Geery Howe, M.A.Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer inLeadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational ChangeMorning Star Associates319 - 643 - 2257

Improving Mid-level Management - part #2

THEME: Spring 2010 From Vision to Action Roundtable Report

FOCUS: Improving Mid-level Management - part #2

Monday morning: May 24, 2010

Dear friends,

Every week, someone in mid-level management wants to improve day-to-day operations, maximize efficiency, and get a lot things done in an orderly manner. When they struggle doing this, their organization often hires a consultant. This individual will arrive on-site, interview a variety of people to find out what is the problem, and, nine times out of ten, they will deliver the following solution: “In order to be more successful, the organization needs to empower more people, listen to more people, include more people, and support more people.” If the consultant is someone who reads the latest management best sellers, then they also state that “senior executives need to show that they care, and work hard to create a "no-spin" zone characterized by candid, frequent communication about strategic issues.” While I have tremendous respect for consultants and I know they can make a big difference, at times, I am frustrated by the quality of their answers.

When we seek to improve mid-level management, we have to realize that we often hire smart people and insert them into really dumb situations driven by even dumber systems. The solution is not to change the person, but to examine the systems that cause them immense frustration and poor performance. The first step is to review and more likely upgrade the current performance management systems.

Mid-level managers live in a world of goals, metrics and expectations. Some are realistic and some are so far out in left field and unrealistic that they are comical. Some goals are just not clear and never communicated well. Therefore, in the beginning, analyze how goals, expectations and metrics are developed, communicated, measured and utilized. Routinely, this is the source of many problems.

Second, mid-level managers need and deserve effective coaching. When I encounter problems in the performance of mid-level management and the goals, expectations and metrics have been clearly communicated, then recently I have discovered that many mid-level managers are receiving situational coaching instead of proactive coaching. As a mid-level manager passes a senior executive in the hallway, they ask a question or share a problem. Standing side by side, the issue is resolved. However, the learning and performance of those involved may not have been improved. In proactive coaching, time and space is reserved so a senior executive and a mid-level manager can focus on improving both skill set and strategic mindset rather than simply revolving the majority of their working relationship on emergency problem solving.

Third, we need to reframe execution by all managers. Earlier this spring (see Monday Thoughts Weekly E-mail for 4/5/10 at my blog link: http://chartyourpath.blogspot.com/), I advocated for a more holistic training and development model where we recognized that once an employee is hired, national statistics indicate there is a 33% chance of turnover in the first six months. Therefore, rather than thinking of on-boarding as filling out of paperwork and attending mandatory HR/Risk Management training, it is time to comprehend that this on-boarding process is where people learn about how to work effectively.

However, “... flawless execution cannot guarantee enduring success in a knowledge economy,” notes Amy C. Edmondson in her article “The Competitive Imperative of Learning”, July-August 2008, Harvard Business Review. As she explains, “great execution is difficult to sustain, not because people get tired of working hard but because the managerial mind-set that enables efficient execution inhibits employee’s ability to learn and innovate.”

There are two choices when it comes execution, namely to focus on execution-as-efficiency or to focus on execution-as-learning. In the former, execution-as-efficiency focuses on discipline, respect for systems, and an attention to detail. To make this happen, managers need to motivate employees using “carrots”, i.e. pay more for work completed, or “sticks”, i.e. reprimand or threaten job loss. The result of these choices is simple, controllable production and controllable employees. The major problem is an undercurrent of fear. To remove the fear, we need to not penalize any one who asks for help or admits a mistake. Otherwise, employees will go out of their way to pick easy tasks to show competence and avoid all challenges. Next, we need to acknowledge the lack of answers to the tough problems that employees face. Instead, we need to help mid-level managers learn to ask better questions which generate clarity and perspective.

This week, do not put smart people to work within dumb systems, improve your proactive coaching, and rethink execution.

Have a great week,

Geery

Geery Howe, M.A.Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer inLeadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational ChangeMorning Star Associates319 - 643 - 2257