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Someone asked me last week what to do about a situation where the team member might fix all the examples of some aspect of poor performance that were discussed and yet that aspect of performance will still not really improve.
Get ready to dig deeper. The disjoint probably means that the discussion is not focusing on the real cause of the problem. Uuntil the team member owns the real problem, the rest is just window dressing.
As you think about the issue, make sure you are focused on the right level. Is there a deeper trend here that just shows up as a series of surface issues?
Ask a source question: Why is this pattern occurring? Have you faced similar issues in other roles in your life? As you pose that question to the team member, don’t be the next person to speak!
You can also state a neutral observation: ‘Even though you have suggested some changes you will make, I am getting the feeling that this isn’t going to improve the underlying problem’… and see what happens.
Remember there may be underlying issues you don’t know about. This article suggests some possibilities. The poor performance will be caused either by something to do with the staff member, or something to do with the system within the work team – or both. If your goal is to create positive change, you may need to look around and look deeper.
We came across an interesting BBC article recently. Called ‘How to unlock your child’s potential’, it quotes research showing that is is far more effective to praise your child’s effort than their talent. So: ‘You have really worked hard to do that’, rather than: ‘Aren’t you a wonderful artist’
‘Practice makes perfect’ is the old adage being applied here. We now know that a huge amount of practice is what creates high achievement and the success of the hyped Tiger Mom approach is really making the same point. Knowledge about the brain now tells us that unremitting practice causes the anatomy of the brain to change, so enabling more success in the skill.
The research quoted by the BBC article makes another important wider point: If children believe that effort makes a big difference, they will keep trying, whereas if they believe it is all due to innate ability they will stop working on things once they get difficult. That looks like the value of self-efficacy again.
Presumably the value of focusing positive feedback on effort rather than talent would apply to adults as well. Often we would gain by spending more time on positive feedback with staff and a useful question to ask adults is how they got to be good at something. Almost invariably you will hear a story of lots of practice, whether from sheer love of the task or from straight determination.
Have a go at building your positive feedback on an idea of accomplishment through hard work. There’s a Fortune magazine article supporting this approach.
The infamous Tui ads have judged our mood so well, as they usually do. The one I saw recently was “Even if I got an invitation to the royal wedding I wouldn’t go “. “Yeah right!” It sums it all up.
The cynics had a go at ridiculing the mounting interest in the upcoming Royal Wedding by Women’s magazines and now as the day approaches it is surprising the number of people saying they will watch the event on TV ,or at least show an interest in the spectacle of pomp and ceremony that will occur.Have a look at www.stuff.co.nz The T-mobile royal wedding video
And why is this? Is it because it stirs something in our cultural background? Is it because it has stimulated debate about monarchy vs Republic , or is just because it will be a good news event which recently we have had a dearth of?
As leaders in your organisations you will well understand how people respond to news. It is difficult with all the natural disasters that have occurred in New Zealand and globally recently to find good news stories.
This is why it is important to motivate and stimulate your teams with stories that resonate with positive outcomes-the good news stories ,the reports of what has gone well rather than dwelling on what hasn’t.
You can have a good news session at the beginning of team meetings and ask your team to come up with their own. It’s not being a pollyana it is valuing the good things that happen.
If you look for the positive and look for the good news stories you will be surprised at the effect it has on everyone around.
There’s an interesting article in the January 2011 Training Journal: ‘What’s Wrong With Work’ by Blair Palmer. Rather than talking about leadership skills per se, he talks about organisational barriers to managers actually using their leadership skills – barriers that would ‘make even the most motivated, confident, driven manager shudder’. One such barrier is the time wasted in meetings. Palmer quotes very interesting American research on meetings* estimating that managers spend approximately 60 hours a month in meetings and 30 -50% of that time is wasted. When attendees are canvassed afterwards, they have widely varying ideas on what was decided, or even if anything was decided!
Interestingly the Training Journal article sees waste-of-time meetings as an unnecessary frustration put in the way of middle managers by senior executives. While most senior executives know meetings waste vast amounts of time in an organisation, they don’t believe it can be any different.
But meetings don’t have to be a waste of time and ensuring that you lead effective meetings can add considerably to your mana. Make sure you seek feedback about the effectiveness of your own meetings – the research showed that the meeting initiator typically regards the meeting as far more productive than the other attendees!
The key to a good meeting is preparation. The research in the white paper found that the average time spent on preparation for a meeting described as ‘productive’ was twice as long (one hour!) as the preparation time for a meeting described as ‘unproductive’.
The single most valuable preparation factor is the agenda – even having one is an innovative idea in some meetings! Keep the agenda very focused on the type of issue meetings are good for – resolving conflicts – Hence an intriguing post on the Life Hacker blog: Make meetings more productive by arguing.
Work out your goal for each agenda item and ask yourself if a meeting is necessary in order to do that. For example, don’t use a meeting for sharing information – there are loads of more efficient ways of doing that.
Use an approach for each agenda item that will enable the meeting to achieve its goal.
Order your agenda so you start with a positive item, then wade into the conflicts because they will take the most time; then finish on a positive note.
Start anywhere with these tips and they can make a perceptible difference. The quality of your meetings could have a big impact on employee engagement. Despite our negativity about meetings,the research showed that 92% of meeting attendees value meetings as an opportunity to contribute.
* The research was conducted by Info Com which specialises in market research in the telecommunications arena.
Two contrasting events happened in Communicate this week that put the power of stories firmly in mind: I was working with a group of auditors and discussing options for presenting technical auditing issues in an engaging way. Back in the office I picked up an email asking for presentation help for a guy described as a bright guy, very theatrical in his style who enjoys theory and concepts but is too abstract and jumps around ideas too much for people to follow. Obviously he needs to build some stronger audience engagement.
In both cases story telling is the answer. All humans enjoy stories and a good story can turn knowledge into something that really connects with us and can stimulate us to understand and to act. Even something as technical as auditing has human story behind it – stories as to why that rule was developed, what happened when the rule was broken and so on.
Often when I ask people about the best presenter at a recent conference, the answer relates to story telling – the presenter told a story that the listener could relate to and use as the basis for future action.
An example? A new team leader hearing a presenter talk about the issue of sometimes having to make an unpopular decision as a leader. The presenter told about her son falling over that very morning and getting a bad gravel graze. The mother had to inflict pain on the boy to clean out the graze so it could heal well. Who knows how true that small story was, but it lingered with the listener and gave her the confidence to act on some difficult issues she was facing.
Don’t get stuck on the idea that your life is too mundane for stories. You don’t have to have chopped off your arm with a multi-tool to escape from being trapped under a rock! Often the most powerful and long-lasting stories are built from very simple accessible material – as in the grazed knee example. With this type of story, an audience can think: ‘Ah ha! Yes, I get that. This is familiar’, then they have the basis for understanding or action.
A while ago I worked with a group young army recruitment personnel. Some of them had coped with some very dramatic situations during their overseas service, but the most compelling story came from a woman who talked about how joining the army had enabled her to find a route out of a very negative and limited background. The audience could relate to the story and use it as a message for action. So, just look at your ordinary daily life for compelling content. If you want an example, take a look at Carmen Agra Deedy telling the story of taking her mother to the shopping mall. Okay, she’s a brilliant story teller and has really worked on this one, but the source of the content is very simple:
So look around your life for some real stories, then when you have some ideas or concepts that are difficult to get across, ask yourself: ‘What else in my life is similar to this concept or has the same kinds of elements? Who knows how your life might be compelling for someone else.
Some other useful resources:
One of our favourite books: ‘Made to Stick’ by Chip and Dan Heath covers story telling for presenters very well and…
A client was recently talking about the surprising impact of a complete change in leadership style at the top of her organisation. The previous CEO was very charismatic and extroverted with a strong vision of where the organisation was heading. The problem was that the style created chaos in the senior leadership team, with everyone vying for the attention, respect and favour of the CEO.
Now they have a new CEO who is much quieter and more measured. The members of the senior leadership team get listened to very carefully and ideas are weighed up on quality not presence. As a result the leadership group is working together much more as a team and presenting a united vision to other staff. Apparently, you wouldn’t believe they were the same people.
There’s an interesting Harvard Business Review article on this subject: The hidden advantages of quiet bosses . The authors assert that whilst extroverted leaders are the conventional idea of a good leader, their research showed that in dynamic and unpredictable environments, introverted leader will often do better. An extrovert needs to be centre stage and will easily feel threatened by staff who are pro-active and want to think for themselves. Quiet leaders often listen carefully and are more receptive to people’s suggestions.
The idea of the value of quiet leaders isn’t new. We have poetry on a similar theme written in 500 BC by Lao Tsu., but dynamic unpredictable environments are certainly a major feature of today’s world. Quiet leaders can really make the most of that uncertainty. Bring on the quiet leaders!
Whether you are extroverted or introverted, maybe the real challenge is to know your strengths and play to them, but also you must understand and counteract your weaknesses. Don’t stand back and think that you are too quiet to lead a group. Introverted is not the same as shy.
This presentation uses a very funky approach to slides whilst giving you some great pointers on preparing your presentation. Take a look and let me know what you think!
How many people feel they are not managing to get past their first interview and make the short list of candidates for the role?
I was talking recently to a senior person who had been interviewing a young woman for a new position. Let’s call the candidate Liz. She said that Liz’s CV looked excellent and she had made the cut from more than 40 applicants to 6 being interviewed.
“I was really looking forward to interviewing her” she said
However the interview did not go as well as hoped.
“What went wrong?” I asked
“Well” she said “Liz came in and first impressions were good. But she continued to text during the whole interview. I just couldn’t put her forward for the role. Did I do the right thing?”
I asked if the candidate was going to have any customer contact and she replied “Yes, a lot of contact”
My reply was easy “If Liz didn’t have the wit to pay attention in an interview her EQ skills were poor and she would be a liability not an asset with customers”
It does seem obvious to most of us that being prepared for an interview is important but don’t forget being totally in the zone during the interview is equally important if not more important as well.
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