Four Resources to Help Employees Manage Change

 

I recently had the honor and privilege to be interviewed by different publications about changing work dynamics, managing difficult employees and the future of our workforce. The new era of workforce management is here; I hope our interview discussions help you plan for the future in these times of change.

When I spoke to Bindu Nair, editor at The Smart Manager, we discussed various ways to manage unmanageable people and situations.

Supported by my years of experience as a front line coach and consultant, we outlined how to help those unmanageable employees who torment other employees. The methodology we recommend consists of five steps: Commit or quit; Communicate; Clarify goals and roles; Coach; and Create accountability. How can you use this methodology? First, the manager needs to decide to retain this unmanageable employee or not. Ultimately, it’s not only about making that employee accountable; it’s also about the manager’s commitment to the employee’s success. Next, the employee should be clear on what goals she is expected to achieve. You can read more about the steps here.

Successful organizations not only manage employees; they also create and manage successful teams. During another discussion with The Uncommon League, we mused about preparing individuals and teams for employee training. What tips did we discuss? First, explain the training context to increase the chances of employees attending that training. Second, build organizational interest in what they will learn, to attract other employees who want to learn these skills as well. You can learn more tips here.

Successful organizations are also nimble and adapt to change, which is important because the way people are choosing to work has changed. Discussing the trends that are shaping the future workforce with Brown Wallace on The Bridge Revisited, we shared our thoughts about the personality traits and key differences of each generation in the workforce. The discussion also included the impact of women starting their own businesses, the importance of workplace diversity and the increasing trend of freelancing. If leaders develop a strategy without knowing about these workforce trends, they will be shooting into the dark.

Finally, at the Women’s Foodservice Forum we exchanged views on how freelancers and contract workers can provide fresh perspectives and help organizations move toward success. To effectively leverage their talents and capabilities, leaders must integrate freelancers in the workplace culture, articulate clear expectations, touch base regularly, and recognize results.

I’d love to hear how you are managing workforce challenges. What works for you and what doesn’t? What results have you seen? Let’s share experiences.

Let’s share experiences. Leave a comment below, send me an email, or find me on Twitter.

 

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Have You Ever Wondered How People Define Success?

Success seemed really simple in elementary school. You get an A on your math test—success! You win a game of foursquare—success! You play a solo in your band concert and don’t miss a note—success!

Adult life is much more complex than acing a spelling test every Friday. As a result, each person’s definition of success is unique.

I wanted to know how others define success, so I turned to my peer groups on LinkedIn and asked them just that. I started by sharing my definition of success in order to open up the dialogue.

What was the result? I learned that many of us hold similar ideas about success. In fact, I noticed four trends in people’s definitions of success: relationships, purpose, contentment, and the importance of striving for goals. Take a look at the wonderful responses below, and you will see what I mean.

What is Your Definition of Success?

1.  Success is About Relationships

 

David Morlah
Teamwork & Leadership Guy/Baseball Scribe

Success is making a lot of money and having power and control over other people. Okay, just kidding. 
I believe success is all about relationships with people. It’s maintaining long term friendships and being at peace with all in your family. 
It’s about forgiving those who may have done you wrong, and harboring no bitterness or deep regrets. If you are loved, and if you love others, you are successful.

 

Ed Gilbert
Vice President Business Integration at Truven Health Analytics

Success is being able to look back in life and note the influence and guidance that you have provided to others. It is the long list of people that seek out my advice about career, business, or personal matters. That is when you know you are successful.

2. Success is Finding Peace and Contentment in Life

 

Allan Griff
Independent Plastics Engineer/Anthropologist

David’s kidding shouldn’t be dismissed so easily. Although its unPC among us levies to go after money and power to make more, we are surrounded and often dependent on people who have those values, and need to understand how they tick, and not just toss their values into the trashosphere. I want to free myself from such goals as “success” and prefer the idea(I) of contentment. Good health (no extremes) and good genes help. Please remember that some of us (not just us engineers) don’t thrive on personal relationships, but somehow muddle through them and find contentment in believing what we see (science) and not seeing what we believe, observing from the outside, and thinking on the inside. Yes, I want to earn enough money to free me from economic anxiety, and I want power, but over myself and not others. Anne, thank you for asking us this question. I hope lots more of us are thinking about it even if they don’t post..

 

Rhyz Buac
Vice President – Finance and Operations at Alenter Resort Hotels Corporation

When you are happy and satisfied/contented of what you have then you are already successful

 

Kathy Barany, PHR
Principal, Strategic Management Solutions

Love David’s definition…all except that first line that had us going! To me, success is personal and professional. personally, it is being healthy and happy; healthy being physical and emotional, and the happy part is all that David said. Professionally, it is being happy with what we do and having a healthy attitude towards mistakes along the way; we learn from them.

3. Success Starts With Identifying Your Purpose

 

Ruth M.Schimel
at Career & Life Management Consultant

I don’t believe there’s one definition of success because each of us has unique interests, goals, and needs. Once there is a sense of purpose, defining success becomes more accessible, varying with time and experience.

Ruth Schimel, Ph.D.
Author of “Step Into the Success You Want: Sparking Your Powers”

 

Arthur Cilley
Independent Business Advisor

I like your definition. My definition also includes some creative/artistic expression and some spiritual involvement.

For 10 years or so I did not do much with music, which had always been probably my favorite way to find peace but also energy. I sang in an a cappella group in college and in church choirs and community choruses after that. When I moved to Texas in the late 90’s I stopped singing for various reasons. In the last two years I have begun to sing again with a barbershop chorus and a quartet or two as well as an excellent choral group associated with, but not part of, the church where I used to belong. I find that I missed that chance to perform more than I realized. It need not be singing, of course. Painting, crafts, dancing, acting, public speaking or playing an instrument are all equally rewarding depending on your talents.

Spiritual satisfaction is perhaps harder to come by. I believe, however, that “success” includes some philosophical reflection on why we are here. Without getting too preachy, we could all benefit from some soul searching about our place and purpose in the world. Many find that in a church or other religious organization but meditation or a walk in the woods or volunteering at a youth or senior center also provide insight.

Best wishes to your readers for success however they define it.

4. Success is a Process, Not a Specific Goal

 

Larry Smith
Business Development, The Belt’s Corporation

Success describes the fulfillment and peace of mind people acquire from nurturing and developing their minds(perpetually learning), bodies(physical/emotional wellness), and spirit(discovering maximal perspectives that yield lifelong and immediate purposes). It requires developing, implementing, and refining three strategies at once. Then the Magic happens…

 

Mark C. Miller
International (Latin American) Financial Risk Management

I would say that success is the process of identifying, and striving to reach, our own aspirations…perhaps we can repeatedly halve the distance to meeting those aspirations; in any case, the real success seems to come from striving for or toward something that we find meaningful, not from a final result of actually having arrived there.

Good luck to all.

Emilly Filloramo
Success & Happiness Catalyst | Confidence Coach | Author | Speaker | Nutritionist

Success is giving all that you’ve got, knowing that you did go outside of your comfort zone, pushed through the obstacles, picked yourself up after failing and doing it over and over again. All in the name of leaving this world a better place than you have found it.

Karen Fox
Environmental Research/GIS Analysis

Knowing that I have the power to turn a potential disappointment into an opportunity for gratitude.

Acknowledging that, what I might have done better today, is something I can always strive for again tomorrow. (No room for regrets)

Being there for my friends and family, and allowing them to do the same for me.

(…and having my mortgage paid off!!!)

Let’s continue the dialogue.

As I mentioned in my interview with Cornell University, success to me is working with fully engaged clients, giving back to my community in the form of teaching and mentorship, and living my purpose. But what about you? How do you define success?

 

Let’s share experiences. Leave a comment below, send me an email, or find me on Twitter.

 

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Five Tips for Effective Coaching Questions

 

People always ask me, “What exactly is coaching and how is it different from any other conversation?”

A coaching conversation is different from other conversations due to the amount of questions asked, and the type of questions asked.

In general, a coach should be doing 80% listening and 20% talking. If a coach is doing more talking than listening, then the coach is training or lecturing. There’s nothing wrong with training or lecturing, in certain situations. However, it’s not coaching. But if a coach is asking some powerful questions and then listening most of the time, you have a situation where the coachee is finding the solutions herself, instead of being told what to do. This frees up the coach to work on other projects and empowers the coachee to move forward on her own.

So what makes a good coaching question? Here are five tips to keep in mind:

1.    Keep them Open

2.    Keep them Short and Stupid

3.    Keep them Advice-Free

4.    Keep them Forward-Focused

5.    Keep them Thought Provoking

1. Keep them Open

A coach wants her coachee to determine the problem and solutions by himself. Asking open questions that start with what, who and how allows this to happen; using questions that start with did, will, have and why actually shut down a conversation. Here is an example:

Coachee:
I missed my deadline again.

Typical manager reply:
Yea, I know. Why did you do that?

Better coaching question:
What got in your way?

The typical manager reply puts the coachee on the defensive, making him defend himself. The coaching question opens up the situation, without judgment or blame. It allows the coachee to focus on what got in the way, and then eventually what he wants to be different in the future and then eventually what steps he’ll take to get there.

In my next blog, I’ll go through the other four tips for good coaching questions. In the meantime, give it a try…. when you’re next talking to an employee, student, child or colleague, practice asking questions that begin with what, who or how and see what happens. You’ll be surprised to see how the conversation opens up!

 

Let’s share experiences. Leave a comment below, send me an email, or find me on Twitter.

 

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Prove You Care About Employees With Feedback

 

Do you truly care about your employees? Do you really want them to improve? If yes, prove it by giving them feedback.

Yet feedback is not just for managers to give employees. Employees also give mangers feedback, and feedback can happen between peers.

Today I am focusing on the manager to employee feedback. And here’s why: Feedback is extremely important in an employee/manager relationship. Just take a look at these statistics*:

1.    Companies that intentionally give feedback have 14.9% lower turnover rates

2.    40% of workers are disengaged when they get little or no feedback

3.    Positive or negative, 82% of employees appreciate receiving feedback

4.    Of highly engaged employees, 43% receive feedback at least once a week

5.    65% of employees say they want more feedback

6.    27% of workers say the feedback they get improves their performance

7.    42% of Millennials want feedback every week, yet 83% of Millennials say their manager’s feedback isn’t meaningful

8.    92% of people think negative feedback is effective at improving performance

As you can see, feedback improves performance, lowers turnover, and perhaps most surprising employees want it! Yet giving feedback can make managers uncomfortable. What do you say? How do you say it?

I’ve got you covered with this step-by-step guide to giving effective feedback, developed by Shari Harley.

Let’s take a look at Harley’s guide and then run through an example scenario.

Eight Easy Steps For Giving Feedback

 

1.    Introduce the conversation so feedback recipients know what to expect.

2.    Empathize so both the feedback provider and the recipient feel as comfortable as possible.

3.    Describe the observed behavior so the recipient can picture a specific recent example of what you’re referring to. The more specific you are, the less defensive he will be, and the more likely he’ll be able to hear you and take corrective action.

4.    Sharing the impact or result describes the consequences of the behavior. It’s what happened as a result of the person’s actions.

5.    Having some dialogue gives both people a chance to speak and ensures that the conversation is not one-sided. Many feedback conversations are not conversations at all; they’re monologues. One person talks and the other person pretends to listen, while thinking what an idiot you are. Good feedback conversations are dialogues during which the recipient can ask questions, share his point of view, and explore next steps.

6.    Make a suggestion or request so the recipient has another way to approach the situation or task in the future. Most feedback conversations tell the person what he did wrong and the impact of the behavior; only rarely do they offer an alternative. Give people the benefit of the doubt. If people knew a better way to do something, they would do it another way.

7.    Building an agreement on next steps ensures there is a plan for what the person will do going forward. Too many feedback conversations do not result in behavior change. Agreeing on next steps creates accountability.

8.    Say “Thank you” to create closure and to express appreciation for the recipient’s willingness to have a difficult conversation.

Seems straightforward enough, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, reading a handy guide and actually talking to a person have different levels of complexity. Each employee/manager relationship is unique, and the characteristics of that relationship will paint every conversation. However, following the guide will help the conversation stay focused, organized and neutral. Let’s take a look at an example.

Play-By-Play Example of Giving Feedback

Pierre is a remote worker who lives in a different time zone than the corporate office. While he delivers excellent work on his projects, he often won’t update his team on his progress, leaving them with an entire workday without knowing where they stand on the project timeline.

Despite being asked by the project manager multiple times to send a quick status email at the end of his workday, Pierre doesn’t remember. Sometimes he has to be emailed three times before his status is communicated. This causes stress for the team and holds back progress while the project manager waits for his update in order to inform the team on next steps.

It’s time for Pierre’s manager to intervene and try to improve the situation. In other words, it’s time for feedback. Let’s take a look at how to provide Pierre feedback based on the eight steps detailed above.

1. INTRODUCE THE CONVERSATION

First, Pierre’s manager should arrange a time to have a conversation. This conversation request can be made via email, phone call, or chat, depending on the usual mode of communication in this employee dynamic. His manager should let him know that she wants to discuss making the team function better, and how he can aid that effort.

2. EMPATHIZE

Pierre’s manager should communicate empathetically about his situation. In this case, she would say something like, “I’m sure it’s difficult to work in a time zone that isn’t aligned with the majority of the team, and that the inevitable early mornings and late nights must be tiring. Plus, I understand that not having your team around you in person can make quick and efficient communication challenging.”

3. DESCRIBE THE OBSERVED BEHAVIOR

Now it’s time for Pierre’s manager to be specific. She may say, “Last week DeAndré requested an update before you ended your workday so that the team would know if you were able to fix the reported bugs in the new website functionality. He needed to know because he had a call with the client early the next morning and had to provide a project update and discuss allocating resources for the next work cycle. However, the update wasn’t provided.”

4. SHARE IMPACT OR RESULT

Pierre’s manager would now go on to explain specifically the impact this particular behavior has on the project and the team at large. For example, “Because DeAndré didn’t receive your update, he had to cancel the client meeting with very little notice. Now the client is losing trust in the team, and we may not get future work from them. If we don’t get future work from this client, which is quite large, we won’t be able to meet our goals, and will have to scale back the team.”

5. HAVE SOME DIALOGUE

Now is Pierre’s chance to talk. Yet he might not feel that he can, if he feels he is in trouble and is retreating. That means his manager needs to create an open environment for Pierre to share his perspective. She can do this by asking open-ended questions and truly listening. For example, “What gets in your way of giving a status update at the end of your day?” or “How can I support you as you keep the team informed?” or “How do you feel about the project, in general?”

6. MAKE A SUGGESTION OR REQUEST

A skilled manager will be able to provide their employee with an actionable plan. Perhaps Pierre’s manager can suggest he set a reminder alarm for the end of his workday alerting him to the fact that he needs to send an update. Depending on the situation, the manager and employee can be creative when developing a solution.

7. BUILD AN AGREEMENT ON NEXT STEPS

After making some suggestions, Pierre’s they should settle on one plan of action that they both agree to. They should also set a meeting in a few weeks or a month to follow up on his progress for status updates.

8. SAY THANK YOU!

No matter how well the conversation goes, it’s important to acknowledge your employee’s willingness to have the conversation. For example, “I know your day is already full, so I really appreciate you taking the time to talk to me today.”

These eight steps should set you up for a positive and productive relationship with your team members. And don’t forget, feedback isn’t always negative. Make a point to give positive feedback—and when you do, be specific!

Do you have any tips for giving feedback? I’d love to hear. Let’s share experiences.

Let’s share experiences. Leave a comment below, send us an email, or find us on Twitter.

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