Vannoy and Ross

originally posted September 14, 2009

Imagine you’re the head coach of a professional American football team. You’re playing in front of 70,000 people, and there’s millions more watching on T.V. Suddenly, your team’s in a unique situation: It’s 4th down, and you’re just a couple of yards from the end zone. Do you take the risk and go for it? The crowd is in a frenzy! They’re chanting “Run! Run! Run!” But you also know that if you do – and fail – you’ll be fried like southern catfish on the Monday morning talk shows.

So you do what most coaches do: You play it safe – and kick.

Guess what? If you had gone for it, research shows you would have measurably increased your chances of winning the game. David Romer of the University of California, Berkeley, analyzed over 700 football games between 1998 and 2000. His work revealed that those teams who go for it on 4th down increase their overall chance of success compared with those teams who don’t.*

So why don’t more coaches “go for it” when they find themselves in such a situation? Perhaps more importantly, why don’t more people in your organization “go for it” when they have an opportunity to take a risk and advance the cause of the organization?

The answer is not that people are afraid of making a mistake; the answer is that people are afraid of the consequences from others when they make a mistake.

Just as the football coach has to face the chorus of boos from the home crowd – and the blistering analysis in the media – when his team fails, so do people like you have to face the judgment of others when you step up and try something…and fail.

It’s easy to consider how we feel our colleagues will respond to the ‘mistakes’ we make. But that’s not the point. The challenge is this: How do you and others respond when someone else takes a risk? Do you boo – or cheer?

In a very real way, the crowd of 70,000 and the media talk shows represent your culture. Does your culture support others when they “go for it” on 4th down? Do your part today to make sure it does.

*(http://elsa.berkeley.edu/~dromer/papers/PAPER_NFL_JULY05_FORWEB_CORRECTED.pdf).

In every single Pathways to Leadership session we conduct, the desire to achieve “balance” is loudly stated as an objective. The lack of balance in the work place is an epidemic, one that research shows has a grave effect on results.

“Among more than 1,000 employees recently polled nationwide by Harris Interactive for Deloitte & Touche, the vast majority (91%) cited work-life balance as having a bigger impact on fostering good behavior than enforcing harsh workplace rules and penalties, the survey found.” (Quoted from Angus Loten’s web-article, Stress and Long Hours Prompt Employees to Lie, Cheat, and Steal at Inc.com.)

Sometimes I wonder who pays to have such research done, when the collective response is “Duh” – as in “who didn’t know that?” What’s equally surprising is the number of people who apparently hold their employer responsible for their work-life balance.

Innovate Your Leadership Focus.

It’s understandable that people feel significant pressure to perform at work. As the president of mechanical organization told me on the phone today, “It’s definitely a ‘do more with less’ world.” But this leader didn’t stop there. His follow-up comment was even more valuable than the first: “We can’t do things the same way. We have to innovate.”

He was talking about business leadership. He just as well could have been talking about personal leadership.

You Determine Your Work-Life Balance.

Fact: if you’re waiting for the conditions in your life to change (i.e. your boss, employer…) before you create work-life balance, throw away your watches because you’ll be waiting for a long time. Conditions may not change, but your choices can. Work-life balance is determined by one person: you.

Here’s the cool news: you don’t have to change your job to get work-life balance. True, plenty of employers abuse their workforce, and they, rightfully, have to deal with the high cost of turnover and poor ethics, among other ailments. What is equally true is that there are countless people who have taken the issue of work-life balance into their own hands by what they choose to focus on.

Graduates of the Pathways to Leadership program know that during the drive home from work they can take a Magic Moment. They use this precious time to ask themselves key questions to shift their focus.

• Instead of, “What do I really hate about my job?” they ask, “What did I learn today that will be valuable?”
• Rather than, “What didn’t I get done today?” these people ask themselves, “What did I do well today?”
• Not, “Why is my life such a mess?” – rather - “What are the greatest blessings in my life?”
• And instead of, “How come the relatives have to come over tonight?” they ask, “How can I be the best _____ (you fill in the blank – mom, dad, husband, wife…) that I can possibly be tonight?”

No surprise, the people that ask the subsequent questions report being “on-a-roll” when they get home – just in time to do the most important leadership work of the day.

The subtle but equally important part of this equation is that these people also report going back to work the next day equally enthusiastic. (Talk about impacting ethical behavior.)

Whose responsibility is it that you have work-life balance? What’s bigger, the circumstances in your life – or you?   You decide.

Vannoy and Ross

(originally appeared February 17, 2008)

If you’re workplace is average, this work week you will waste 17 hours.

How many hours do you spend in meetings? “My day is one long meeting,” people often share with a sigh. Given this, how productive are the meetings you attend?

An online survey of employees in all industries revealed that, on average, 17 hours each week are wasted in unproductive meetings. Ouch!

 

Many people we interview report that fewer than 30% of the participants in a meeting are fully engaged. Like a leaky bucket, organizations allow the best ideas, the conscientious efforts and salaries go splashing away in a routine of “time-wasting” meetings.

Ineffective managers blame the disengaged – never comprehending that their own “blah-blah-blah” monologue and ‘blame-fix-command’ approach shoots holes in the aspirations, and results, of all. Thus, meetings become simply awful.

Awfully Simple… 

There are select leaders who have made productive meetings the norm – by keeping them awfully simple.

Think 10:90. A friend in the auto industry shares, “The more talking I do in meetings, the more people tune out. So I use the ‘10:90 Ratio.’ By limiting my words to mostly questions and speaking 10% of the time, the team runs with the remaining 90%. And we get better results.”

What’s more important to you: being limited to only the thoughts and ideas in your head – or being unlimited by listening to the thoughts and ideas in the heads of the people around you? Unless you plan on doing all the work, it’s time to build greater engagement in others.

Productivity is a choice. Telling – forcing – our ideas on others squelches engagement and limits solutions. How will you use the ‘10:90 Ratio’ this week to make meetings (and results) more productive?

 

I asked him, “Why not?”

“Because they never work.”

Did you catch it? This man is at risk of making a crucial error in judgment – and it may cost him dearly in the year ahead. The error isn’t that he didn’t create a New Year’s resolution; his error is that he doesn’t believe he can change.

Immeasurable human potential will be lost in 2010 because too many people won’t even try to change. How will you ensure that 2010 is not a repeat of 2009 for you? Beware of these three obstacles, and when you encounter them blow through them.

1. The “Mis-Identification” Obstacle: Too many people identify themselves with the results they create. This ensures future paralysis as you eventually will deliver sub-par performance – meaning YOU are sub-par. (Really? - Not.) Dissolve this obstacle by positioning all outcomes as fodder for the hungry person you are.
2. The “I Don’t Really Care” Obstacle: This is a silly game we all play with ourselves. When you try something new and don’t succeed your defense is to fool yourself into believing you don’t care. Dissolve this obstacle by memorizing this question – and answering it frequently: Why do I care?
3. The “Query Quandary” Obstacle: It’s a fact that questions trigger the mind. Yet, when most people trip while attempting to achieve, they ask the wrong question: “What am I doing wrong?” This puts them in a quandary: by answering this question they become experts at failure. (And thus, fail more.) Dissolve this obstacle by asking forward focus questions such as, “What will I do better next time?”

 

Don’t kill the messenger: A new year is here. Change efforts – be it resolutions or otherwise – do work if the change technology you’re using is effective.

Here’s to blowing through obstacles in the months ahead.

Beware: Radical Thanksgiving Idea (It Could Change Everything)

Vannoy and Ross

Thanksgiving is almost here. This U.S. holiday provides an opportunity to pause and give thanks for the abundance in your life.

As most people know, operating in a state of gratitude is a powerful tool that moves you forward. And, focusing on what you have (such as what’s working, where you have momentum, etc.) significantly increases the chances that you’ll deliver more of the same – because you go toward your focus.

But is it possible too many people are cheating themselves? What happens if “giving thanks” for only the obvious blessings in your life…means you’re only doing the easy part – and denying yourself untapped momentum and energy?

Here’s a radical Thanksgiving idea: This year give thanks to those people and events that are currently making your life difficult. This is not a joke. And, it’s not for the faint of heart; superior living and leading often is the result of being willing and able to do what most others can’t or won’t.

Those gifted leaders reading this know that challenges (also known as problems, issues, etc.) are temporary locks on future growth – and it’s your job to break the code so you can move forward. Consider the possibility that the most important step in breaking the code to going to a new level of living and leading is giving thanks for what’s not working in your life.

Yes, this is a radical idea. (Is it really?)

But if it is true that if you want to change things, you have to change how you do things - then such an unusual twist to your Thanksgiving could change everything moving forward - not because it will immediately change the people and events around you; rather, it will change how you feel about everything “wrong” in your life.

Here’s to feeling different this Thanksgiving – and creating greater results moving forward.

Using Work-Place-Crack has become so common, many business leaders accept the behavior as normal. Consequently, this “elephant in the office” has earned the nickname “The Silent Results Killer.”

Work-Place-Crack is the freebase form of the highly addictive substance with the street name of CTA, or Can’t-Take-Accountability. Initially, employees use the crack approach because of the intense pleasure they derive from avoiding responsibility. But like any addictive substance, increased amounts of the approach or behavior are required to achieve the high.

These are the top three signs you’ve got a crack addict on your team:

1) The person cracks when it’s time to make a decision. Every decision means change. This means risk is involved. The resulting pressure can be too much – thus the employee “cracks” and avoids making decisions.

2) They crack when events or results don’t go their way. Like a child in a candy store who isn’t allowed to put their hands on anything, some employees “crack” when they don’t get their way. Their emotional cracks ensure this person is doomed to a future of failure as their focus will not allow them to see the opportunities that lie in every situation.

3) Employees crack when they misinterpret outcomes as failures. Instead of seeing every outcome as an invitation to learn and move forward, these addicts see failure – and crack and quit.

And now the most horrific fact of all: In an effort to eradicate the use of Work-Place-Crack, most organizations actually perpetuate and increase its use!

In next week’s blog we’ll explore the three steps things bosses are doing to create Work-Place-Crack addicts – and the proven method used to eliminate this elephant in the office, this “silent results killer.”

 

I saw a man walking down the street with a bulb of garlic hanging around his neck. He smelled terrible, and looked worried. “Dude. Why are you doing this to us – and yourself?”

 

                                                    

 

“There’s no way I’m going to fall victim to the flu pandemic,” he replied. “This garlic will save me.”

 

As crazy as that seems, do you know people who still lead the way they did prior to the economy becoming afflicted with its version of the flu? As outdated as wearing garlic to save yourself from the pandemic, some leaders are still ‘thinking’ and ‘leading’ like they did before – even though we all know much more effective ways to drive change within organizations.

 

As an example, consider accountability. “You have to hold people accountable,” is uttered in leadership meetings around the globe. Yet, how do you and your peers respond when you know you’re being forced, told or demanded to do things? It smells as much as garlic – and is as ineffective at driving change, too.

 

It’s time to end the misconception, the illusion, that you can force others to be accountable. Lack of accountability in an organization is a consequence, a failure of leadership; blaming others for not being accountable is often a confession that a person isn’t able to foster and create the natural accountability that resides in most employees.

 

Accountability is a mindset – not a task.

 

What strategy is your organization about to launch? Before pressing the “go” button, ask:

• To what extent are WE driving this change – rather than the people who will be doing most of the work?
• What questions can we ask to co-create ownership of this idea?
• How can we better incorporate participants’ ideas and tap into their motivations?

 

Are you changing with the times? Of course, you don’t have to take steps to develop accountability. You can always demand it – and wear garlic around your neck.

 

Where will you lead – where will you stomp elephants – today?

 

Are there people on your team who are confused because the manner in which they conducted business in the past isn’t working anymore? And, do you know people who are frozen, unsure what to do next, because they’re puzzled about the future?

 

Welcome to the Era of Confuzzlement.

 

Confusion and puzzlement reign, leaving too many teams arguing about their past (a complete waste of time) and ridiculously slow to respond to the future. So slow in some cases, that the future becomes the past before they can do anything about it. Which means, of course, these teams then have new (old) material to argue about. And the cycle continues, in some cases leaving entire organizations confuzzled.

 

Lead by Stepping Out and Up.

 

“This is a crisis economy,” shares a friend named Rich. “You can’t follow the same rules. You can’t think like you used to. You have to step out and up. You have to lead different.”

 

Rich should know. He’s part of a team that is guiding an organization through difficult – and successful – changes. Below are some of the reasons why they’re winning. Use these steps with your team to step out and up:

 

1)    Create a culture where everyone is responsible for leading – everyone is expected to step out and up.

2)    Ask forward focus questions – and lots of them. Rich’s organization knows that the moment they get comfortable with “answers” that in time, people will become confuzzled. Leadership is in the questions – not the answers.

3)    Build a thinking system that responds to new ideas with “how do we make that work?” instead of the confuzzled approach of “here’s why that won’t work.”

 

If you are approaching business like you did three years ago, your customers will most certainly become confuzzled, too, and take their scarce dollars elsewhere.

 

You can lead today by clearing up the confuzzlement that grips so many. Today, step out and up.

 

Where will you lead – where will you stomp elephants – today?

Recently I had a conversation with Sergio, the President of a company in Peru. When asked about what he had to accomplish in 2009 he answered, “We have to do business as usual in a very different way.”

Sergio is a gifted leader who understands something many leaders miss: If you’re going to succeed in 2009, the word “usual” must be synonymous with “different.” The leaders who can effectively develop this wisdom in their teams will win.

Standing in the way of this critical mindset shift is a big, hairy elephant. Most people prefer routines. When elements and variables are constant, it creates the illusion of security. But more than ever, “status quo” means “no go.” Therefore, how does “change” become “business as usual”?

One of the primary reasons your company can have a competitive advantage is because most other organizations will sabotage their best efforts: They’ll push their leaders “to communicate more.” They’ll use the “blah-blah-blah” telling method of preaching why people must shift their paradigms and change how they approach their job.

The only change this creates is an increase in resentment the masses have for their supervisors.

The mindset shift happens when the people doing the work get to experience the need for achieving the shift. You can accomplish this new understanding by:

1. …regularly building confidence in others by celebrating achievements – and asking them why what they’re doing is working.
2. …pushing change out to where it needs to happen: the front line. This is done by asking for people’s ideas on the spot, the moment change is needed.
3. …by tapping into and leveraging motivations. People have strong reasons for wanting to succeed. Give them a chance to satisfy those reasons, and…

…you guarantee that “business as usual” will always different.

There are a lot of people dreaming right now. January marks the point for setting a course in the New Year. What is it you want to achieve? What do you want to do? Become?

Here’s some important advice: Don’t follow your dreams. 

Last year a big, hairy elephant stood in the way of millions of dreams. And he’s ready to trample your dreams for 2009 if you’re not careful. There is a better way.

Don’t follow your dreams – because following anything doesn’t guarantee you’ll get there. How many people set lofty aspirations – only to become sidetracked or disillusioned? “It wasn’t what I really wanted to do anyway,” they rationalized. Or, “That dream was ridiculous. Did you hear what would have been expected of me?”

So they go back to living the life they lived before. And there’s nothing wrong with that…unless you want to improve the life you lived before.

If you’re serious about achieving anything in 2009 don’t follow your dreams – drive your dreams. Bring a level of determination and control and commitment and passion and excitement that leaves little doubt change is what you’re about. 

Drive. Don’t follow.

Following dreams relegates people to never-ending analysis and the search for the perfect plan or method to achieving dreams. And because they follow dreams, they’re susceptible to following the next good idea that comes along. And the next. And the next…which gets them nowhere.

This year, ensure success by: 

1. Setting the vision/dream;
2. Choosing the strategy;
3. Then driving the strategy – consistently.

There is no secret strategy, no hidden code that creates success for some – while others languish in dream purgatory. The difference lies in the execution, in choosing to follow a dream – or drive it.