Vannoy and Ross

We’re sending out a call to all strategic slow-pokes. In this rush-rush-rush world where it’s all about results-results-results, some of your peers have missed the point. Some of your colleagues have fallen under the illusion that going faster all the time is the answer to delivering greater results.

But, as Neil Young so sagely reminds us, “When I was faster, I was always behind.”

The equation is easy to recognize:

Rush + rush + rush (multiplied by “dog-gone-it-I’ll-never-get-it-all-done-sort-of-stress) = results – short term gain (multiplied by poor quality).

Of course, we’re not advocating for full-time slow-poke-iness. The sort of slowness we’re talking about is the sort of time it takes to build sustainable, high quality results – which ultimately means your team moves faster.

Use this guide to help your colleagues know when they should act with urgency…and when they should be a strategic slow-poke:

1. When someone else shares a concern, your colleague can say “got it” (rush-rush-rush)…or they can state, “Tell me more,” and take the time to listen so others feel listened to (slow-poke).
2. They can start a meeting focusing on the problem (rush-rush-rush), which means they’ll be experts at why knowing why they’re failures…or they can start with “What are our strengths in this area?” (slow-poke) which means they’ll gain clues on how to be a greater success.
3. And when a peer doesn’t perform to expectations, your colleague can sternly state their disapproval by insinuating, “I’m extremely disappointed in you – you’re a loser” (rush-rush-rush)…or your colleague can tap into greater motivations by asking, “I want to know why it’s important to you deliver excellence as you complete this project?” (slow-poke).

Being a strategic slow-poke isn’t for everyone. It’s an approach reserved for those who desire results and quality and sustainability so their team can ultimately move faster.

Where can you help others get strategically slow today?

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?

 

 

  

There once was a football coach who, every day he walked on the field, would clap his hands and exclaim, “It’s a great day to get better!”

How would you have felt if you had played for this coach, and instead of stating the above, he shouted, “It’s a great day to stay the same!” Or, “It’s a great day to just try and survive!”

There are not many people who would sign up to play for such a “status-quo” coach. Because at a deep level we all know: “It’s a great day to get better.”

Yet, have you ever heard someone succumbing to the pressures they face and state, “Mercy! I just hope I can make it to the end of the day!”

Or, do you know anyone who is:

• avoiding difficult conversations,
• delaying tough decisions,
• living to get to the weekend
• or believes they don’t have to improve today to win tomorrow?

These people are defenders of the status quo. A collection of too many such-minded people, and your company (or family) is at risk of sitting on a plateau – and falling into the abyss of irrelevance.

My friend, Dick Frisbie, is a leader within a company that develops status-quo slayers. “Continuous improvement” is an age-old idea that has lifted many organizations to the top. But when you’re at the top, how do you stay there? Dick’s team knows: You apply within. You apply within yourself and evolve the continuous improvement mindset to include…people.

With “continuous people improvement” every interaction of every day is a chance to get better. This means that as we interact with others we focus on three things:

1. What can I do or say that builds this person’s self-confidence and discipline?
2. What will I do to build a stronger relationship with this person?
3. How can I respond in a way to ensure the best long-term business results?

By applying our wisdom within, organizational improvement – and thus greater results – become the norm. Which means that today is…a great day to get better.

First, determine who the newest member of your team is. Let’s say it’s a man named Sam. Now ask: To what extent does Sam bring the same level of enthusiasm, passion, and commitment to excellence today in comparison to what he brought his first day on the job? Then ask: Now that Sam’s been on the team for while, is he more – or less – collaborative than he was on day one?

And here’s one more revealing question: Is the company and your team receiving Sam’s discretionary effort at the levels he originally came through the door with?

Some might think that these questions are designed to assess the capabilities of a colleague. And while it’s true that your answers may better ascertain Sam’s value to the organization, consider that such questions determine something more significant: the health of your work culture.

Just as the sun pulls the moisture out of a slice of bread left on the sidewalk, too many organizations hire top talent…and then force them to function in work environments that zap the “first day freshness” out of them. Unuttered messages bombard the new employee: “That’s not the way we do it here.” “You are not recognized for extra efforts.” “You really don’t have a voice.”

Consider that while Sam is responsible for his attitude and behaviors, he can’t be entirely blamed for no longer functioning with the “all-in” enthusiasm he did on day one; research proves the culture he functions in has a profound effect on the person. Organizations that have high-performing teams understand this.

What you can do today:

1. What actions will you take to create an environment that encourages others to function with the enthusiasm of their first day?
2. What discipline will you demonstrate that reveals you’re even more “all-in” than you were on your first day?

(Besides, isn’t today the first day of the rest of your career, anyhow?)

 

What’s in Your Tool Belt…That Will Move Your Team Forward?

A leader once told us: “Before the Pathways to Leadership process, the only leadership tools I had in my belt for working with others was a hammer and a screwdriver.” This resonates with many people – and recently a man named Charlie added, “You missed the third tool a lot of leaders have in their leadership tool belt.”

What is that?

“Duct tape. With all the re-structuring, leaders need tape to keep teams together.”

We laughed – and the point was made: When it comes to ensuring teams are aligned and operating with trust, most organizations use “wish management.” A few teams get to play on ropes, and thus feel inspired for a couple of weeks; but painfully, not many teams acquire tools they can use to ensure a fusion, a strength of bond, that grows tighter each business day.

What tools are you using today to ensure your team becomes stronger as it works? Your competition may just be applying a screwdriver and “screwing” things up by focusing on all the ways the team is not performing well. Consequently, this inappropriate use of focus only ensures the team has its weaknesses reinforced and its confidence diminished.

By studying your failures you become an expert at failure – not success. Accordingly, this approach means the team will require duct tape in the days ahead.

The 3 Mind Factors (page 139 in Stomp the Elephant in the Office) is a powerful tool many readers know that, appropriately applied, can have a profound effect at ensuring teams perform at higher levels. The Mind Factors are: 1) You can only focus on one thought at a time. 2) You can’t avoid a ‘don’t.’ And 3) You go toward your focus.

Apply this tool today with your team by focusing on and acknowledging where your team is doing well, where it is performing with excellence. And, as proven by thousands of teams around the world, you will guarantee that your team improves even more in those areas.

What’s in your tool belt?

Halloween is Over, Right? Beware the Lingering Leadership Ghosts

In the U.S., Halloween has come and gone. The masks and witch brooms are back in storage. Fright-night is over, right?

 

Not so fast. There are ghosts still floating wild and haunting teams across the land. Does your business require a ghost buster?

Spend casual time with the average employee…and listen closely…and you may just hear ghost stories. These chilling tales take various forms:

• In some companies, make a mistake, and you’re a villain forever. Like demon spirit, your reputation floats far in front of you and lingers after you’ve left the room. You could have the potential to be the most effective leader in the land…but people will never know it. Your ghost lives on, and your company pays the price: How ironic: We want people to improve, but we tie them to the past.
• Additionally, too many teams routinely tell ghost stories about events of the past. They sound like this: “Do you remember how bad that leader was…” And “One of the worst decisions we ever made was…” And “We never seem to have the time to do things right the first time, but we always have the time to do things twice…” Unwittingly, by retelling (and retelling, and retelling) the same scary stories people ensure that past mistakes continue to cost them countless more dollars far into the future.

Understanding the horrific moments in our past is not a mistake, but allowing leadership ghosts to linger, is costly. Conduct a ghost-busting exercise today by asking these questions:

1. What are the most important lessons we can gain from this experience?
2. How can we further leverage this moment as a resource?
3. If we continue to re-tell this story, how would it hurt progress?
4. Why is it important that we put this experience behind us?

The haunted house is closed. It’s time to move forward.

This Weekend Tap a Radical Resource for Your Job

Vannoy and Ross

September 1, 2009

 Labor Day is approaching in the United States, a chance to “catch your breath” and let go of the stresses of your job. But consider that your most important work is about to begin.

At the end of most days, when you go home, does your marriage, or your family, or your time at home provide you with more energy? Does your time away from the office make you an even stronger employee? Does your time with loved ones propel you forward in your thinking and make you even more excited about the possibilities in your professional life?

This issue – where the home life is marginalized, or worse, becomes a distraction or drain on dreams – is a huge elephant for too many people. After giving their all at the office, such employees come home and open the door to power struggles, jealousy, apathy and worse. Of course, this directly affects your company’s bottom line, because that same person brings their shattered focus back to work.

Conversely, there are many people who understand that the most important leadership work on the planet is how they lead themselves and their family. “At first it was a radical idea,” shared a participant in a recent Pathways to Leadership session. “But the more I thought about it, I knew it was true: The stronger my marriage is, the greater the resource and support I have in my professional life.

“I used to come home and both of us would talk about all the things that didn’t go well, what we didn’t like about the day, our job – you name it. Finally, we both woke up and decided enough was enough. So we changed our focus and started talking about our responsibilities, our opportunities. In time, this has changed the energy of my home. Now, when I leave for the office I can feel my family cheering me on.

“The stronger my family is, the stronger I am in my job. It’s a powerful way to live and lead –  and show up for work.”

“The stronger my family is, the stronger I am in my job. It’s a powerful way to live and lead – and show up for work.”

This Labor Day, how will you take advantage of the time to build this radical resource – your family?

End the Fireworks: How to Develop Truth-Tellers Around You (Part 2)

 

Would you like a bullet-proof, sure-fire, guaranteed way to ensure people lie to you? Do this:

• Whenever someone tells you something, judge the information as good or bad;
• Or shake your head and tell them they’re wrong;
• Or laugh at them and let them know how stupid they are.

And if you want to ensure your children lie to you, after they tell you something, ask interrogation questions, such as “Why did you do that?” and “What were you thinking?”

Those leaders who develop truth tellers around them welcome all information. And they know that how they respond to the information determines what type of information they’ll receive in the future. Treating the information as neutral (it is only information, and your judgment is the only thing that makes it good or bad) allows people and teams to move an issue forward faster…because no one has to navigate your issues.

Try this experiment: Withhold value judgments on the information you receive. In response to what you are told, simply acknowledge you heard it – “thank you” – and then ask a question that launches the process of moving the situation forward. As you do this, observe what happens to the depth and detail of conversations as people realize that they’re not playing with fire when they approach you.

Be prepared: If you attempt this experiment be prepared for this: higher quality decision making is on the horizon as full information will increase.

In our next blog we’ll cover strategies to assist those who want to tell the truth to others – and live to tell about it!

 

Vannoy and Ross
May 10, 2009

This is what’s taking place on the average team: Sally is a strong contributor, but she doesn’t give her ‘A’ game because Ted drives her crazy. Ted is average, and he refuses to give his ‘great’ effort until John quits taking all the credit. John’s pretty good at what he does, but he refuses to “raise the bar” until…you guessed, Sally brings her ‘A’ game.

This affair of “conditional effort” is a HUGE “elephant in the office” (and frankly marriages, as well).

Are you ‘all in’ – or not? It’s safe to say that most people live and lead with “conditional effort.” These are people who withhold their best ideas and the discretionary effort. They focus on what they are not getting from their colleagues and the company for which they work. And they often have a “people never change” mentality.

“Conditional effort” people have, well, conditioned themselves to a ho-hum life. And isn’t it ironic: They commit to giving the conditional effort to protect themselves from being hurt, but in the end, it’s their commitment to mediocrity that limits them.

Unconditional leaders know that it’s their decision to experience the exhilarating feeling of living and leading full-on. “The reward for giving the unconditional effort is as rewarding as my paycheck, if not more so,” shares a friend, Tim. “It’s also the only way I can ensure that every day is a great day – because I determine my effort.”

It’s trite, but true. One person can make a tremendous change. On the team above, the moment Sally or Ted or John change their conditioned approach – is the moment the team delivers a breakthrough.

Who do you work with that has affected your effort? Change that now.

“Conditional effort” thinkers believe life is like a game of chess. But it’s not: Because in leadership, it’s always our move.

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

What are the top three things your company covets right now? You may have answered: money, money and money. But, of course, these are outcomes; they’re not something you can manifest yourself. So we’ll rephrase the question: What are the top three behaviors or qualities your company covets that will drive better results (which will deliver more money)?

 

In desperate times companies crave 1) forward momentum, 2) employee confidence, and 3) team members with the ability to see, create and seize new opportunities. Yet, despite knowing this wish list, does it surprise you to know that many companies sabotage the elements they need to survive?

 

It’s a huge and smelly elephant sitting in the office: Many managers slip to the “boss mentality” and create an environment of pressure, fear, and anxiety. “Our margins are shrinking – so we’re cutting everything.” “Where are we bleeding the most?” “Who’s made these stupid mistakes?” “This will get worse before it gets better.”

 

How do these messages make you feel? I doubt anyone is jumping up and down with excitement and suddenly feeling super creative and confident.

 

Effective leaders know better. These masters aren’t ignoring the numbers; they’re not using a strategy of hope or being unrealistic about economic conditions. They simply know that emotions determine how people act.

 

Do you want to lead those around you? Ask these and other questions to create a focus that helps your team create what they want most:

 

1)    Forward momentum: What strategies are delivering for us right now?

2)    Employee confidence: What experiences do we have that prove we will succeed?

3)    Create opportunities: How can we deliver even more value today?

 

Success is a result of focus. What questions will you ask your team to ensure they create what they need the most?

 

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