DO ANTS KNOW ABOUT LEADING & MANAGING? Part 3 ‘YESSIR’

by rictownsend

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“Collective intelligence”, how about that as a concept for getting things done…

The legendary Army Ants gain their fearful reputation and devastating power because they are driven by an obsessional purpose combined with an extremely high level of determination and use what is known as their collective intelligence. The amazing thing is that this all happens with no one individual taking control. Instead they all act as individuals and control (or lead) themselves. “Collective intelligence is a shared or group intelligence that emerges from the collaboration and competition of many individuals. Collective intelligence appears in a wide variety of forms of consensus decision making in bacteria, animals, humans, and computer networks” (ref: Wikipedia). In other words Army Ants really do practice management from the bottom up where each individual is empowered to act.

If we as managers and leaders are to implement effective empowerment and invert the corporate pyramid to put the customer at the top, as current business realities demand, (as does proper thinking), we must ensure that staff develop the right attributes. If those at the customer interface don’t have (or develop) their own sense of being powerful, are unwilling to be obsessed with the customers needs and wants, (as against stroking the boss), are not effectively inspired to use their own positive levels of motivation and don’t feel free to inform enthusiastically what the customers are saying, (good or bad), no collective intelligence will occur.

We often talk about staff empowerment in modern business however ants have achieved this state naturally. If simple ants use it so effectively, why can’t the intelligent top of the food chain… us… do it so well? Because we humans are totally driven by our need for self-satisfaction or gratification… we are basically selfish! So what can we as leaders do to at least move a little further along the evolutionary path (remember ants have been around 100 million years) and thus achieve at least some of the team sophistication levels of ants? Here are a few suggestions… never discipline in public, encourage the free flow of ideas, destroy inter-staff rivalry, reward teams rather than individuals, encourage those who encourage others, revere those who act in the common good, beware of creating states of ‘group think’ and never implement a ‘staff member of the month’ program or a competitive sales incentive scheme and always.

SO WHAT ELSE CAN ANTS TELL US ABOUT LEADING & MANAGING Part 2

by rictownsend

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Recent economic woes must teach us all that the quality of our management and in many cases the weak and unethical behavior of some of our renowned business leaders means we need to get back to some basic principles.

Some basics of business and some more ant antics…

OUTPUT QUALITY. Another ant variety, ‘Rattue’, can teach us about partnering with our suppliers and customers. They team up with a caterpillar that supplies them with food in return for their protection from predatory spiders. Dangerous intruders cause the caterpillar tap when they approach. The interesting thing is that the supplier (caterpillar) speaks the ants’ language. The most successful finance salesman I ever new was an ex-roadwork’s construction contractor. His customers dealt with him because he understood their industry, the machinery they needed and the financial aspects of their business. How much do we know about our customers and their problems and how well our solutions really fit or just flog product? As an ex financier I am still amazed by the antics of each new generation of bankers who at best are inept and at worst, incompetent or dishonest.

NO ANTS TO BE FOUND. A few years back in a past crisis the Internet business and the infamous problems it had including many failures is a prime example of how businesses lose track of what their customers need. As an example, I had great trouble trying to change my web host due to poor communication practices of my ‘supplier’. One of their staff even said, ‘for that price you don’t get any service or advice just a space on our server’. After 3 months, 20 or 30 emails and a couple of expensive phone calls to the US from Asia where I was stationed at the time, I was finally able to complete the change. Many Internet companies forget that people deal with people and that they need to personally communicate with individuals. Badly worded, jargon filled, technical, anonymous, do it yourself forms are not effective communication devices, particularly when problems arise. This of course is reinforced by much of the financial documentation we still suffer today with many customers not really understanding what they are signing up for. I once had a financial adviser even admit, when I was trying to write an investor information seminar for him, that he would rather not be too explicit as they still relied on “smoke and mirrors” in his industry. This guy at the time of writing with investments under stress still avoids his “customers”… an ant that would rather not be found. Good business is about listening to your customers, then saying what you will do and then doing what you say and being around when needed.

ANTS CAN TEACH US A LOT ABOUT LEADING & MANAGING Part One

by rictownsend

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Who cares what ants do… I’m busy with crocodiles… (‘When you’re up to your backside in crocodiles its hard to focus on the fact that your original mission was to drain the swamp’)

So what can we learn from ants?

Ants have been around for about 100 million years and in their terms we are beginners when it comes to process management. ‘Yeah yeah but’ you may say… they’re just stupid little crawly things acting on their instincts… true, however, what a well honed set of instincts they have, consider this…

INPUT QUALITY. Leaf Cutter ants are so ‘quality conscious’ that they back up in case of disaster by delivering the bits they bring to ‘the office/factory’ to different areas so the entire colony doesn’t collapse if some bad stock turns up. What about the quality of our supply chain, are we exposed? A major technology company not so long ago publicly announced that one of its key divisions suffered millions in lost revenue (and I guess market share) because their single chipmaker had a factory fire. Who decided to buy from a single chipmaker, let alone one with a single production facility? How diversified is our supply chain, have we looked lately?

PRODUCTION QUALITY. Ants’ competence management is so well refined that they even have different physical attributes to handle specialist tasks. Leaf Cutters come in different sizes and shapes, to suit their role. How is our competence modeling going. Do we hire for what we need and train for the shortcomings? How long has it been since our managers looked at the competence requirement for their department and presented a proposal on how to fix the gap? Does HR test applicants against the job spec before hiring or do they still send in ‘the best of a bad bunch’?

[ Looking for a better ant hill? You'll need a resume so take a look at the free blank resume form and examples! ]

A management lesson for us all… “NATURE DOES NOTHING USELESSLY” (Aristotle) and if we want to succeed in developing our organization (and our own management and leadership skills) neither should we.

Working in a Multicultural Environment “National and Family Influences” part 5

by rictownsend

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Hofstede’s findings in full can be found on the web and I recommend them as a great way to start thinking about the differences you may encounter in a multicultural or international workplace.

In a particular it can explain why many around us (that come from high uncertainty avoidance societies) show anxiety about an uncertain future particularly in times of change and how change induces stress (and often aggressiveness) and why for some formal rules and structures are protected to reduce risk. New ideas on ways of doing things for some can be seen as little more than, not to be tolerated ‘deviant’ behavior. Uncertainty avoidance individuals who feel relatively threatened will strive to believe in a common set of absolute truths (“the way we did it in the past”), with time focus being the now and the past and the traditional hierarchy seen as determining their wellbeing. These individuals will constantly seek direction from a trusted leader in the hierarchy and avoid personal responsibility because mistakes are seen as ‘sins’ that will exact punishment.

Although here again I have been discussing societies in general some families I believe produce these types of individuals in all societies so when looking to influence others around us we must be conscious of these traits. Again it is best to ask (tactfully) to understand another’s motivation rather than assuming.

If we add to a work situation a “masculine society”, assertive, materialistic, quantity of life individual who is trying to lead/manage and associate with a; sensitive, relationship oriented, group-welfare valuing, ‘quality of life’ driven flock of people, you can see why difficulties occur. A great example; many hotel GM’s are Austrian, who rank as no 2 in the world in masculine orientation. Imagine an Austrian GM trying to deal with a Thai workforce that rank at no 44, i.e. have a more “feminine” or relationship approach to life.

Working in a Multicultural Environment “National Influences” part 4

by rictownsend

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Culture on a national level: Individualist and Collectivist Societies

What are the differences between individualist and collectivist societies? Well it is “I” v.’s “We”. In individualist societies the wife and kids need me to support them v.’s in collectivist, the ‘extended’ family, parents, uncles, aunts etc., who will protect me in exchange for my loyalty. Individualism is also about speaking our mind, regardless of the situation as honesty counts and leads to respect v.’s think before you speak, harmony is imperative, what I say may bring shame and loss of face to my group, I must show respect. In individualistic societies employees contract their services to achieve a common goal based on aligned visions and they are promoted primarily on competence. In collectivist societies employees build relationships with their organizations based on the moral worth of the employer along similar lines to the family concept and expect to be promoted due to their overall connections and associations. Managers in the first case manage individuals and the task rules the relationships whereas in the second case they manage (or control) groups in which the relationships are more important than the task.

In individualistic societies education is about learning how to learn and ‘academic degrees’ signify economic worth and create self-respect v.’s an the attitude that education is to learn how to do things and the value of a degree is its power to provide a way into higher status groups. Also in individualistic societies personal rights, such as the right to privacy and personal freedom prevail; whereas in collectivist societies group interests prevail to the point where groups are likely to invade our privacy as equality overrides the rights of the individual. In these collectivist societies individuals are expected to join a state of ‘groupthink’. Finally in individualistic societies self-fulfillment (almost at any cost) is the ultimate goal v.’s that of a collectivist society where harmony and consensus are the ultimate goals.

So what do you do if you’re and individual in a collectivist society… spend time, build relationships, see business as a long-term partnership, think total group… and most of all… be prepared to do it their way!

Working in a Multicultural Environment Predispositions continued part 3

by rictownsend

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As I mentioned a study by Hofstede perhaps it wise to at least look at his work on cultures. Although I think it is best to make judgments on individuals as individuals it is at least worth considering the issues that give each of us a propensity to behave in a certain manner. Again I caution on making sweeping generalizations based on assumed attitudes resulting from observations regarding race, colour, religion, age, sex, generation, socio economic background or appearance. “Ask don’t tell” is still the best strategy.

Hofstede’s research indicated four main areas of national culture; small or large power distance, individualistic or collectivist philosophy, high or low uncertainty avoidance and finally quantity of life (materialistic), versus quality of life (relationships and concern for each other). As managers/leaders Hofstede helps us understand what we may be dealing with when we are working in a multi-racial or international group. Remember, these are ‘clues’ to potential differences in doctrines, not facts and they should only be used to help us figure out what questions it might be worth asking to explore why one individual reacts to certain stimuli differently to another.

A few examples of small and large power distance are; inequalities among people should be minimized (small), v’s Inequalities among people are both expected and desired (large), parents and children are equal (small) v’s parents expect obedience and children show respect (large). In the classroom teachers are our equals (although experts) who transfer impersonal ‘truths’ and expect students to show initiative (small) v’s teachers are gurus that take all the initiative and transfer ‘personal’ wisdom (large). In organisations in small distance societies, decentralized hierarchies (which bring inequality) are established for convenience only, whereas in large power distance societies hierarchical inequality with power centralized is a reflection of ‘real’ existence and it is expected to maintain this ‘natural’ inequality. Again in small distance societies, moderately paid, resourceful democratic bosses are expected to consult with reasonably paid subordinates, versus (large) where highly paid benevolent autocrats are expected to be good ‘mums’ and ‘dads’ and tell poorly paid subordinates what to do. Importantly in small power distance societies, power is based on formal position, expertise, the ability to give rewards and its use should be legitimate and subject to the criteria of good and evil. Conversely in large distance societies power is based on association with powerful individuals, family or friends, charisma, the ability to use force, where might prevails over right, that is, whoever holds the power is right and good.

Direct page viewers can go to main blog to check out other posts by clicking on the white “orglearn.org” in the header panel above!

If you are looking for an overseas posting take a look at the free blank resume form and make sure you include some cross cultural abilities in your competencies!

Working in a Multicultural Environment: Continued part 2

by rictownsend

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NATIONAL PSYCHE EXISTS… MAYBE

Admittedly it is dangerous to comment or make judgments regarding another’s culture however sometimes I believe it is necessary.

With that said did I once have the misfortune to listen to a young American professor while he advised a willing audience of ‘expats’ and ‘locals’ on the intricacies of dealing across cultures and how they should approach their life and work assignments in this case in Taiwan. He eagerly gave a broad brush explanation of how the Taiwanese behave and why, based on the studies of the renowned G. Hofstede. This professor (cultural consultant) was obviously selling his wares and insisting that cross-cultural training was essential for those being posted overseas. In my view cross-cultural training is often unless carefully selected and moderated represent nothing more than help you (and I) try to break the rules of good human relations. However there are some handy practices and behaviors that can at least bring a civilized approach to dealing with others of a different persuasion or those whom have a different perspective on what is a priority or on what constitutes

GOOD IDEA: NEVER TELL SOMEONE ABOUT THEIR CULTURE… ASK

So what is a reasonable starting point when thinking about or dealing with cross-cultural relations? Perhaps the following can be used as basic ground-rules for those interacting with different cultural groups? We must believe and act as if the following where true (as it is)…

No-one is an expert on any culture – not even their own
Another’s culture is not better or worse than our own – just different (well maybe see part 3)
Stereotyping or generalizing is inept, stupid and intellectually unsound
We must be flexible and able to accept a lack of clarity and a differing view
Always ask about another’s ways and never tell someone about their culture
And of course… DO NOT assume anything… ever!

If you are going to invest (or perhaps waste) your money on cross cultural training check very carefully that it will not create non-thinking individuals or worse, a bunch of inflexible experts that can clearly stereotype ‘lesser beings’ (or greater gods). Don’t let your staff become users of a bunch of unsound generalizations that will relieve them (and/or us) of the responsibility of asking what motivates those they (or we) associate with and manage.

Working in a Multicultural Environment: An Introduction

by rictownsend

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With the fluidity of borders and the rapid migration of workers from country to country there is today more than ever a pressing need in many organizations for us to work effectively with people from many cultural, ethnic and religious backgrounds. Even if we work with those from similar backgrounds professional and personal characteristics mean that cultures in organization can differ between disciplines, divisions and even departments. For example the culture that exists in the sales department will differ dramatically to that of the accounting or production departments. These cultural differences can and often do lead to misunderstandings and disputes.

To begin lets look at what a culture is and how it manifests itself in our behavior. According to a variety of dictionaries the key words are “type of civilization”, “manners & tastes”, “ideas and customs” and “beliefs, way of life and art”. Again to look at a simple example the ideas, values and customs of the accounting department will very really differ from those in the sales and marketing department.

Why you should take my observations and opinions on culture at least as reasonable.

Having lived in and/or worked in seven ‘foreign’ Asian countries, being in a cross cultural marriage, having a son in a cross cultural marriage and having friends from diverse national and religious backgrounds hopefully qualifies me to provide some accurate observations on culture. In addition at the basic level I have worked in debt collection, sales, advertising-creative, manufacturing, education and corporate training so my work with many corporate cultures has been pretty much part of my career.

At this point I would also like to state that many so called ‘cultural difficulties’ in international organisations where “expats” work with “locals” are often little more than a tactic by which ‘locals’ or ‘expats’ will try to justify a lousy attitude, unethical behaviour or worse, try to support an intellectually unsound work or business practice. The cry, “you don’t understand our culture” is often no more than a ploy to… dare I say it… avoid reality, ignore changes that may be being implemented or to and cop out of necessary activities or operational standards.

Working in a Multicultural Environment “Back to Business” final

by rictownsend

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After Hofstede first formulated his cultural dimensions, work by Michael Bond convinced him that a fifth dimension was needed. Long-Term Orientation seemed to play an important role in Asian countries that had been influenced by Confucian philosophy over many thousands of years.

Hofstede and Bond found such countries shared the following beliefs: A stable society requires unequal relations, the family is the prototype of all social organizations and consequently, older people (parents) have more authority than younger people (and men more than women). When Hofstede and Bond developed a survey specifically for Asia and reevaluated earlier data, they found that long-term orientation cancelled out some of the effects of Masculinity/Femininity and Uncertainty Avoidance. They concluded that many Asian cultures are oriented to the search for (and practice the of) virtuous behavior. Virtuous behavior means NOT treating others as one would NOT like to be treated, (giving face and avoiding nastiness) and virtuous behavior in work means trying to acquire skills and education, working hard, being frugal, having a sense of shame, having patience and persevering for long-term gains.

Western countries, by contrast, have been found more likely to promote equal relationships and emphasize individualism. Focus is on ACTIVELY treating others, as you would like to be treated (open honest dealings?) and on finding fulfillment through creativity and self-actualization, with ‘now being the only time we really have’ and an orientation to personal belief and the search for truth.

So back to business and business culture itself

“The culture of business is the environment in which it operates; this includes its philosophy, values, shared assumptions, group standards, and the behavioral patterns of its employees. These cultural beliefs are taught to new employees as the correct ways to perceive, think and act within the business.” Ref 2

In addition to the subcultures associated with particular departments within the organization there are those based on power associated with leadership and allocation of resources, achievement, rewards, results and recognition, support placing value upon the employee and role dealing with rules and responsibility assigned to tasks performed. Ref 2

To understand what is happening with cultural influences perhaps the following ‘cultural iceberg’ will shed some further light. The iceberg is made up of the above factors and is shown below

Remember as a manger or employee (or for that matter as a human being) that you can only see what is above the waterline and that your actions and influence will only at best encourage or discourage behaviours. Perhaps if you are extremely effective you may (and should) change attitudes, however it is almost impossible and would be foolhardy to attempt to change another’s Cultural Assumptions, Beliefs or Values. You just don’t have the time to invest.

Leader or Despot Which Management Style is More Like You?

by rictownsend

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Sometime back a friend asked me if I could come up with a leadership anagram. Bearing in mind that in reality our leadership or management style is probably somewhere along a continuum between despotic through democratic to laissez-faire perhaps the following anagram extremes can at least serve as reminders of the best and worst of us.

SO WHICH ONE IS MORE LIKE YOU? – (ACCORDING TO THE STAFF?)

Leadership Anagram (new thinking)

L ove of followers is demonstrated
E mpathetic with individuals at all levels
A ble to create vision & achieve the mission
D emocratic decisions & communicates
E mpowers & encourages others
R esilient, overcomes setbacks
S haring, provides for followers needs
H opeful, positive & future driven
I ntelligent, uses the head and heart
P ersistent, sticks to the task, never gives up

Despotic Anagram (old thinking)

D ictatorial & commanding
E valuates rather than values
S uspicious and cynical
P ower seeking & taking
O ppresses differences
T otal control seeker
I ntrustive & instructive
C old and calculating

“THE WORLD THAT WE HAVE MADE AS A RESULT OF THE LEVEL OF THINKING WE HAVE DONE THUS FAR CREATES PROBLEMS THAT WE CANNOT SOLVE AT THE SAME LEVEL AT WHICH WE CREATED THEM” – Albert Einstein

I assume we are all a bit of a mixture of both leadership styles at different times however it would be interesting perhaps to do a 360 degree analysis on our management approach to see how we are viewed by others we deal with… or would that be a bit too stressful?

Effective Business Writing Part II : Letters, Reports, Memos and Emails – Overview and Accuracy

by rictownsend

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b) Brevity

As with speaking one of the quickest ways to lose your audience ti to circle around the topic or by indulging in the proverbial ‘beating-about-the-bush’. There is an old sales letter adage that if you don’t capture your audiences attention in the first ten words you have lost them. Get to the point quickly, use headings and bullet points, never have more than 27 words in a sentence and less is better.

According to Ann Wylie of http://comprehension.prsa.org/?p=217 ‘The longer your sentences, the less your readers will understand and according to research by the American Press Institute a study shows that:

• When the average sentence length in a piece was fewer than eight words long, readers understood 100% of the story
• Even at 14 words, they could comprehend more than 90% of the information
• However if you move up to 43-word sentences, comprehension dropped below 10%

Bottom line: To improve understanding, break sentences up or condense them.’

c) Clarity

Newspaper, magazines, blogs and many other articles have headings and so should you.

From P. Mathew www.articlealley.com/article_1568981_50.html

“Write in paragraphs that are short and convey a single thought that is briefly explained. Bulleting your sentences and maintaining lists improves readability and helps keep your ideas short and simple to read and understand.”

As I was taught it is always better to use simple words rather than long complicated ones and avoid jargon and anagrams.

Comprehension of a piece of writing can be calculated using what is known as a SMOG index and if you search for this on the web you can find a number of excellent articles that will explain how to calculate this so you check your writing effectiveness.

I still remember a boss that would send back lending submissions I had written with bright red notations “so what” at the end of sentences. To ensure clarity you need to follow the “so what” idea when reviewing your work to clarify what you are trying to transmit.

Example: The business’s gearing ratio is 2.5:1 The so what could be: This is way below the industry average of 4.2:1 and has reduced considerably over the last three years indicating a healthy financial trend.

And again from Pramila Mathew “Always keeping your goal in mind: If you lack a substantive goal, your readers can easily lose interest in your message. The rule of the thumb here is: start with an idea, and end it with the same.”

Rule 2 Read, Practice and Research like a Journalist

If you are going to an effective writer you will need to become an avid reader. You should read at least one or two books a month, preferably on topics related to your career or area of expertise or professional discipline. You can practice your writing by doing summaries of concepts you uncover in your reading, You will also I suggest need to read a serious newspaper each day and any industry magazines that relate to your work.

As you can see from this blog post I have used information written by other writers on the topic and with internet search it is easy to gain more facts or ideas about your topic. By doing research you can support your ideas with the help of other and broaden the perspectives you offer the reader.

Finally to improve your writing skills you should sit down and write at least one small ‘article’ a week – or more often if possible – on a topic related to your profession.

Effective Business Writing: Letters, Reports, Memos and Emails – Overview and Accuracy

by rictownsend

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Effective business writing skills in my experience are still one of the most difficult competencies for young employees to master. Here are a few rules that may help.

Rule 1. Write like a journalist, or as some call it the A:B:C way

Obviously good journalists are experts at getting their message across so the skills they display give a great skeleton to use as a guide to our writing. The A B C stands for:

A – Accuracy
B – Brevity
C – Clarity

In journalism’s ABC they add “coherence, emphasis, objectivity and unity” which are perhaps a topics for another day. So lets just look at the basic ABC’s of effective business writing.

What can you do to ensure your accuracy?

As a writer one of the most difficult issues to come to grips with is to judge how well your writing covers the topic, how well the ideas flow or if you have answered the questions being addressed. A key to good writing is to ensure what you have stated in your writing paints an accurate image in the readers mind.

A great exercise to develop this skill is to write some instructions on how to use a calculator plus solve a maths problem. Once done hand what you have written to a another person to see what happens and if the answer is correct. You can also use a geometric shape as a model to write a description of how to draw it and then see what others come up with as a result of your written instructions.

Proofreading your own work is difficult however if you have the time, leave your piece of work for a day and then read it again. Using this method can help you find the weaknesses in what you have produced. Of course the best method is then to hand what you have written to a colleague to see if you have made sense,

It’s desirable if not essential, even today, for you to ensure that what you have written is grammatically ‘correct’ and that you have followed the conventions that your organization requires. As another writer on this topic puts it: “This is one of the most important post-writing tasks that you need to do.” Grammar in most cases is what difference between a readable and understandable piece of work and a nonsensical one. Remember grammar can change your meaning dramatically!

This classic example will perhaps demonstrate the point:

a) A woman without her man is nothing.
b) A woman: without her, man is nothing.

Once more – you must proofread your work as another reader may not know that if your intent was to express point a) above or point b)

Accuracy is also governed by giving the appropriate amount of information, too little and mistaken image will occur in the readers mind and too much will lead to reader confusion. That leads me to part two beginning with brevity.

Before we move on, finally on accuracy: Check your facts, shouldn’t really need to say it however, don’t believe everything you read and try to confirm information – ‘facts’ – from more than one source.

We Often Hear the term “Working Smarter” so WHAT IS WORKING SMARTER?

by rictownsend

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Working smarter is about finding new ways to get the same results in less time. Working smarter is about “doing more with less” and is the basis for increased productivity.

The infamous 80/20 rule suggests that 80 percent of our results come from just 20 percent of our efforts. Conversely I have through experience found that as a manager, if you let it, 80 percent of your time can be spent managing the bottom 20 percent of performers. So the first way to improve our performance (work smarter) is to change our focus and invest more time in our top 20 percent of performers. Easy you may say, of course, however it will take great discipline to implement this basic change in behaviour.

Here are a few more working smarter ideas to consider:

Becoming sound human relations practitioners and acting with respect for the needs of others: If you communicate well, form sound relationships and become more aware of an other’s needs you are far more likely to be able to enlist their help in achieving your desired results. Central to achieving this of course is being willing to develop & show sincere interest our colleagues’ well-being.

Constantly seeking what is effective rather than efficient: I’ve seen the most efficient people shuffle paper, religiously answer emails and maintain perfect filing systems however these are not the activities that will produce improved outcomes or greater productivity. Efficiently managing inputs is a given for any competent manager however finding ways to improve the level of outputs is the core of effectiveness and to being a smarter worker.

Working towards being agents of change rather than knockers of the new: Change is constant and developing a need to seek new and better ways to do things is a must. Question everything and don’t assume that the way it’s always been done is necessarily the best way to get it done.

Increasing our value adders and ridding ourselves of energy suckers: if you can’t measure a positive outcome from an activity that you often engage in you really need to stop the activity or make a case to those that are imposing the activity on you on why it should be abandoned. Often other will have you doing something which is done out habit that may in truth, no longer really be necessary.

Understanding our five points of power and using them all – see: five points of power
Approaching every activity with a customer in mind – see: excellent customer service

Stever Robbins in an article for Harvard Business School says: “Another way to work smarter is by distinguishing busy from productive. Oh, we’re busy, and we feel productive, but we’re only productive if we’re producing the results that are most important to moving the company forward”. Ref: hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/5190.html

Managing our limited time wisely – a few tweets I have done in the past: twitter.com/rictownsend

• #Time #Management: Don’t clutter your desk, file it, delegate it, or trash it. Action 1 item at a time! Clutter slows work!
• #Time #Management: Stop ‘multitasking’ it is not time effective, trying to do 2 or more things at once just does not work.
• #Time #Management: Plan your work & work your plan. Remember the 6 p’s ‘Proper Planning Prevents Pitifully Poor Performance’
• #Time #Management: Give instructions once, ensure receiver focused & is listening by asking astute questions to confirm understanding!
• #Time #Management: Prioritize tasks in order of importance A B C piles, split B into A or C, file C until someone follows you up, do “A” now!

Finally sometimes subordinating our own desires as the manager for the sake of the group can be a wise decision as it can help to build trust and loyalty and improve levels of cooperation. Obviously you don’t want to become a puppet of the team you are leading, however dogmatically sticking to a course of action or point of view because of your delegated “legitimate power” can reduce your effectiveness as a leader and your ability to work smarter.

Management Success and the Value of Failure

by rictownsend

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I still remember making a mistake as a young supervisor that cost the company I worked for $3,500.00. Of course my immediate thoughts were that I would at best be chastised and at worst be sacked. My punishment was a little loss of face as what I had done became a training bulletin to discourage others in similar positions from making the same mistake. The pleasant and valuable experience that resulted however was that I was asked by my bosses “what have you learned from your mistake” to which I responded “never do it again”, The final word from management was “then its money well spent, carry on”.

Prof Robert Sutton in the Harvard Business Review blog (ref*) states:

“Failure is inevitable, so the key to success is to be good at learning from it. The ability to capitalize on hard-won experience is a hallmark of the greatest organizations — [those are] the ones that are most adept at turning knowledge into action, that are best at developing and implementing creative ideas, that engage in evidence-based (rather than faith- or fear-based) management and that are populated with the best bosses.”

He goes on: “Failure sucks but instructs. In fact, there is no learning without failure… Discovery of the moves that work well is always accompanied by discovery of moves that don’t. This is why failure is so endemic to innovation.”

Brenden Boyle IDEO (Global Design Consutancy) is quoted in the same article as saying: “You can’t get any good new ideas without having a lot of dumb, lousy, and crazy ones.”

This is an excellent article and can I suggest you read it in its entirety at: ref* http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2010/08/forgive_and_remember_how_a_goo.html

Alternatively if you are working in an organization that that doesn’t see honest mistakes as a form of learning perhaps it time to spruce up your resume. There is a free blank resume form at orglearn.org!

Quotes on failure:

“The greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure.” Sven Eriksson

“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” Colin Powell

“Failure is the tuition you pay for success.” Walter Brunell

Finally back to the HBR article: All of this positive “failure” experience of course only comes about if we (and our bosses) buy into the idea, again as Prof Sutton puts it, that “failure is a by-product of risk-taking and that honest mistakes will [and should] be forgiven [by the management]“.

Staff Empowerment: What it is, What it isn’t, How it works and Why Empowerment Often Fails

by rictownsend

Jobs Vacancy, Job vacancies, Employment Jobs

Empowering workers, means truly giving them more authority to make decisions and then act upon them and that’s where many empowerment programs break down. Many (I suggest most) mangers are happy to delegate responsibility however they are reluctant to hand over any real authority. Lack of authority for competent staff can leave them frustrated and stifled, particularly if they are not being permitted to have any input into their work. In my experience the expert in the job is most often the person doing it, rather than the manger controlling the overall workflow and therefore constant staff input into work methods and problem solving is essential for empowerment to work.

One article (“smartmanager.com”) I read suggested that “Empowering people is closely aligned with facilitative leadership.” Essentially facilitative leadership is all about helping your staff reach their potential and therefore improve operations. The article continued “If you look at leadership skills along a continuum from persuasion, through collaboration to facilitation, most managers would be required to engage a variety of approaches at different times”. If you take the “Situational Leadership” (Hershey Blanchard) approach of course you would only pass on authority to an individual in the task area in which they are fully competent.

An essential ingredient for any empowerment is an effective training process which tests for competence. As well as the technical skill training you will need to ensure staff have access to the information they require to make confident decisions plus a clear understanding of their boundaries. In addition you must develop a culture of accepting mistakes or errors of judgement as being a legitimate part of the learning process. Obviously one of the boundaries needs to be that the same mistake twice is not acceptable.

Empowerment can be a gradual process. As an example as a lease manager when I worked for a finance company some years ago empowerment for my staff could mean that staff member “A” was able do lease quotes and a second staff member “B” would then check them. The real empowerment came when member A was granted the right to check the quotes and give the quote to the customer. As a checker you had both responsibility for the accuracy and the authority to act. Similarly, when granting loans was the issue, the first step was to give the staff member the right to decline loans to see what the lending competence was. Lending approval limits where then given (real authority) after reviewing the loans that the staff member had declined.

Empowerment of course is not for everyone. Some years ago I had the opportunity to watch as a large international/US hotel company tried to introduce an empowerment program worldwide. I was living on an island in Malaysia at the time and the staff to be empowered where “locals”, mostly from the island itself. These people were bought up in a culture of “do what you’re told” with a strong religious tradition that reinforced compliance to strict rules that to my mind limited the development of their emotional intelligence. The program was a complete disaster for this particular hotel. The empowerment of staff will only occur and be effective if the staff are willing to take authority. Don’t get me wrong they all craved status (manager on their business card) however they definitely did not want either authority or responsibility for outcomes. Emotional intelligence as well as technical skill should be assessed before any though of empowerment can be undertaken.

Finally many see delegation as empowerment and it is not. Sure delegating is part of the overall process however there is much more to real empowerment.

For the employer: (as “about dot com”) puts it, “Empowerment is the process of enabling or [and] authorizing an individual to think, behave, take action, and control work and decisionmaking in autonomous ways”. For the employee: “It is the state of feeling self-empowered to take control of one’s own destiny”.

Here are a few issues you will need to address if you a setting up an empowerment program:

Assign tasks that will allow your subordinates to grow.

Explain why task being assigned to them and highlight “what’s in it for them.”?

Give very clear and detailed directions (the what, where, why, how and when of the tasks) and allow and encourage questions.?

Introduce the empowerment process in stages and allow reasonable time for the process.

Demonstrate that you trust those you are empowering or those process will be nothing more than a waste of time and energy.

Solicit suggestions from your employees as to better ways of completing the project.

Follow up on progress, act as coach however don’t constantly look over their shoulder and always be accessible when those being empowered need help.

Pay a great deal of attention to ensuring employees feel (and are) rewarded and recognized for empowered behavior.

Feeling less than empowered and that its time to move on? Use the resume template and perhaps empower yourself.

Employee Empowerment Needs an Organizational Culture That Seeks Empowerment

by rictownsend


Jobs Vacancy, Job vacancies, Employment Jobs

As culture is developed based on traditions, beliefs, rituals, information and language (communication) to develop an organizational culture of empowerment you need to understand how all these factors come about. The primary issues are the development of a shared vision, full understanding by all involved of the mission, setting of clear goals and as I said in my last post, the setting of clearly understood boundaries for decision making, The outcome to be sought is of course an improved level of staff competency and the competency development of course needs to be focussed on satisfying both internal and external customers. Any competency development program adopted needs to include strong levels of support in the form of mentoring for development of operational skills, organizational cultural support and the encouragement of risk-taking.

Quote: ‘To empower employees, managers need to create a nurturing environment in which staff can learn, grow, improve, and function effectively.’ “Staff empowerment gives employees a sense of trust, importance and capability, thus creating a positive work environment.” (Ref “xnet.kp.org/permanentejournal/fall03/staff.html”)

Quote: “To feel empowered, employees must have a sense of self-determination, competence, meaning and influence. Employees’ sense of self-determination is the perception that they are free to make choices and that their actions are not [over] controlled by policies, systems or managerial dictates. Granting autonomy to employees helps them feel a sense of self-determination. The higher employees’ competence, the more they appreciate and thrive when given autonomy. As long as employees perceive that doing their job satisfies important needs of internal or external customers, they’ll see the meaningfulness of their work.” (Ref: www.wright.edu/~scott.williams/LeaderLetter/empowerment.htm)

The article in wright.edu also points out the basic requirements of being systematic and consistent and that any empowerment program needs to develop their competence and confidence.

Managers who want to empower their staff must either be be trainers themselves or at least provide some competence development input and know how to acquire the training required by their staff. Now you would think this would be a “no brainer” however in my experience mangers often neglect this duty and if we are looking at soft skill development, will actively reject it on the excuse that their staff/department is too busy to attend. Often then if new skills and knowledge are gained, when the employee gets back to work managers will still neglect to implement the ‘new ways’ of doing things. This is often because implementation of the operational changes desired/required will can be time consuming and and can be seen as risky to make . This is why the development of an organizational culture of empowerment that all managers buy into is so important. Managers must also become proficient in, as wright.edu puts it, ” telling them what they will be learning and why, providing information and demonstrations, allowing opportunities for practice” and finally “providing feedback on performance”. Confidence obviously comes from successful performances (either their own or as observed in others) and from encouragement by those who are respected and and seen as mentors.

One final definition of empowerment:

Empowerment is the process of enabling, through the development of competence combined with the authorizing of an individual to think, behave, take action, and control work and decision making in autonomous ways. The payoff for the organization, a more effective and presumably customer oriented operation and for the employee a feeling of being self-empowered and being able to influence the outcome of their own future.

Empowerment is not something someone (a manger) bestows on the people who report to him,’ it is a personal development process undertaken in an atmosphere of mutual, trust, understanding, learning and shared responsibility. The organization’s management has the responsibility to create a work environment which helps foster the ability and desire of employees to act in empowered ways through the removal barriers that limit that ability.

Why Managers Particularly Young Mangers Should Join Rotary

by rictownsend

Jobs Vacancy, Job vacancies, Employment Jobs

Sometimes doing what you’re told works out well in the long run. I only joined Rotary because the chief executive of our company insisted on it.

I still remember the excitement of being appointed to my first branch management position way back in the early ’80′s. One of the things that came as a bit of a shock at the time of being given the position was the request/insistence by my company that, ‘as the company’s representative in my area and as we were good corporate citizens, I would be required to become a member of the local Rotary Club’. My less than politically correct (cheeky) retort to our chief executive was, “you must be kidding Mr Fletcher, that’s just for old guys”. His quick response was; “do you want the job or not”. Sure enough the club in my area was very large and mainly full of ‘old guys’. There was however a few members that were about my age (at the time, early thirties) that seemed to do much of the work in the club.

Now there are obvious advantages that come with being a Rotarian and they are not just the clichéd old… “its just a place for business networking”. Sure that is an obvious outcome however I have seen plenty of inept members almost destroy the positive side of the opportunity by their behaviour in their Rotary club. If you (or your managers) join a club with the view of just selling your products and services to other members you (or they) may well be very disappointed. I have however over the years sold a large proportion of my services both as a financier and corporate trainer through my Rotary connections. What I have said is not contradictory… its more a matter of how you go about things. People like to deal with individuals they can trust and in Rotary you gain trust and respect from the efforts you put in on behalf of your club and of course the projects they are involved in.

I am now a member of my eighth Rotary Club and have been a Rotary member for most of the past 25 or more years. I have also been a member of clubs in five countries. So what has Rotary taught me and what might it help develop in your managers.

Firstly through involvement in the club projects you are exposed to how “real” or “true” and teams work and what an effective team looks like. Because all members are volunteers there are no individuals with legitimate authority they can rely on which usually leads to effective teams being created around a shared vision. The lack of reliance on legitimate authority also teaches you sound human relations skills as you need to work well with others who are likely to be fairly self sufficient and competent in their own right. As part of this process you will also learn how to sell more effectively as you will need to sell you ideas on how to do things. You will also, on a more basic level, need to sell your particular point of view on what should be accepted as a legitimate use of your time and what is not.

A Rotary club is run somewhat along similar lines to any company or organization and if you accept positions in your club you will gain experience in financial control, secretarial duties, directorships and of course as president, a CEO. Even the position of Club sergeant teaches you crowd control and most of all… public speaking. If you think about it all activities involved in Rotary have parallels in your career however Rotarians will usually be a little kinder about helping you overcome your shortcomings than your company or boss will. If you are always late for meetings as an example you may cop a small fine from your club sergeant, however if you constantly do that at work and you may well get fired. Which way would you rather learn timeliness?

In Rotary you will be exposed to all kinds of leaders from autocrats to democrats. Learning how to deal with a range of individuals in a work type scenario will always be valuable.

Wherever people gather there will be politics so you should (or will) develop a greater level of political savvy and a better understanding of group dynamics. Groups of course operate on a different set of rules than do teams. All clubs have disputes over issues as simple as where to meet, to as complicated as which types of charity or projects they should support or not. There are always more in need than there are resources available to help. Here you will also learn how to make hard decisions that really can impact on the lives of others.

I asked a few Rotarians for their perspectives on learning through Rotary and these are a couple of the responses I received:

A lesson in setting personal priorities:

“Study the [your] priorities, get them right and then and only then if the circumstances are right, make the service/community commitment and [make sure you] carry it through. Part of “the lesson is that there does not have to be a personal financial reward for actions, the moral obligation and the outcome is [should be] enough.

Chris Brooker – Rotarian

I summed up his overall comments and attitude with the following statement that he agreed with:

“An individual (manager) who joins a Rotary club will learn very quickly that they need to deliver on what they promise. They will also learn to deliver because of a moral obligation (sticking to their word), rather than for any fleeting chance of financial reward, as there is no direct financial reward involved. This is a lesson in caring for others (a leadership quality needed to succeed) and in the value of sometimes placing your own priorities at the bottom of the list.”

Lessons in accepting diversity and the value of networking:

“The diversity of people with experiences, interests and occupations that can be called upon or learned about in an informal atmosphere, from either fellow members or guest speakers” is a major aspect of Rotary. Also as a Rotary member you can draw on the resources of both a “national and international network”.

David Edmonds – Rotarian

For me the lesson from David’s second point is that to co-operate locally can be quite easy however to deal with an international organization with its rules and procedures can be quite daunting. To learn to co-operate and deal with others, to gain access to funds and resources, mainly through expressing your needs through written submissions, is a great skill to learn.

Lessons in Power:

“[Inspiring] a volunteer/s, without being able to rely on authority provided from a position of legitimate power, is a rewarding way of enabling oneself and others to give of their best.”

Rotarian – Name Withheld

This Rotarian’s comment made me think more about the power issue. The management of Rotary projects teaches you how to use your four other points of power; personal attractiveness or charisma, referent or relationship power, knowledge or expertise, task abilities skills or competence developed from your field of expertise. Power is an emotional topic however if you don’t have it in all its forms as a manager and a leader you will find it difficult to succeed in your career

From my experience Rotary is a valuable way to add to the training and development of managers and of course the information they gather on their local community is a great asset to both the individual and the organization, not to mention the community goodwill that can be created.

Hopefully when you are next sitting thinking about your management development programs you will consider Rotary a legitimate option to assist in their broader education.

RECRUITMENT QUESTIONS LIST FOR LINE MANAGERS – BETTER INTERVIEWS

by rictownsend

Jobs Vacancy, Job vacancies, Employment Jobs

Most managers are lousy at interviewing new staff candidates… astounded…? I am willing to bet that if you ask your line mangers what questions they ask during interviews they will stare at you blankly, shuffle their feet and act as if you just crawled out from under a piece of old cheese.

There is a lot to being a good recruitment interviewer, this first list of basic “positive” questions will give your managers a start in the right direction!

Tell me about you at work!

Why do you want to work for us?

Tell me what you know about our company!

What are your strong technical competencies at work?

What about past experiences make you qualified for this job?

Tell me about a problem you solved in your previous position!

Explain how your story demonstrates your problem solving skills!

How many and what level of people did you supervise in your last job?

What role do you take in a group situation… and give me examples?

What have you done in previous positions that shows initiative?

In the context of work, what motivates you the most/least?

Do you see yourself as a leader and if so why?

What is your greatest strength at work?

What are your future goals?

In the second group present some tougher “attitude” discovery questions that will uncover more about the applicant’s motivations, ethics and ability to cope with others and is based on a list found on the website: “hiringthebestpeople.com”

“Tell your best winning story.

What are you looking forward to?

What aspect of your work life do you feel passionate about?

What aspects of your career have not lived up to your expectations?

When have you felt the greatest pressure to compromise your personal integrity?”

(You must listen carefully to the answers for insights into whether the interviewee has a positive or negative personal outlook, is enthusiastic and driven and can be assumed to be honest and ethical.)

• “What have you done in the last year with your own time and money that would make you more valuable to our company?”

(The answer to this question will give some insight into if they are prepared to invest in their own future.)

• “Describe for me a situation where self-centered behavior produced bad teamwork that was expensive for the company. How did you deal with it? If you’d been the boss and wanted to solve the problem, how would you have done it? How would you have described the problem to the individual?”

(What you’re looking for here is conflict resolution skills. The more specific and objective a person can be in describing a behavior they’ve experienced as a problem with others, the greater their chances of resolving conflict.)

• “When have people you were working with not been as honest or sincere as you would have liked? What did you do?”

(With this question you are looking for both integrity and the interviewee’s attitude towards ‘honesty’, ability to discipline/counsel others and again uncover their behavioural problem solving skills)

• “Tell me about a time you’ve had to pull a team together that was faltering and how you went about building morale?”

(You may, if you listen carefully to the answer given here, gain some insights into the interviewees potential to inspire/lead others. This question is not just for those you are appointing as formal leaders, teams often have informal leaders for different tasks so this question should be asked I believe of all candidates.)

DON’T JUST ASK QUESTIONS, LISTEN TO THE ANSWERS!

Lets be honest often recruitment interviews end up with your staffing expert, (the manager who controls the critical task you are recruiting for) doing nothing more than giving a twenty-minute verbal advertisement regarding your company, his department and its challenges… and of course his/her importance to the company. Instead they should be asking probing questions to find out if the individual they are interviewing is the most competent prospect for the job. I have found often less competent of confident interviewers, if they do ask questions often they will be closed questions such as: have you done any accounting before, yes, do you like sales, yes, are you a good salesperson yes, have you had much training in this area, yes… give me strength.

Here is another list of more stress inducing questions that can expose the real traits of a potential candidate! These are open questions to get the interviewee to talk.

Tell me about the last business book you read? (Most haven’t)

What is it about your current/last position, you like the most?

Tell me something regarding your most difficult work experience?

What do you see as the most difficult task in being a manager?

What is it about your current/last position, you particularly dislike?

Tell me about a time you were criticised for your work or an idea!

How did you feel about your last boss and what was his/her weakness?

What was the most difficult decision you ever had to make?

OPEN ENDED QUESTIONS CAN START WITH AMONGST OTER THINGS, “TELL ME ABOUT” OR EXPLAIN FOR ME…”

Of course the list I guess should contain the following four standard questions… not that, with the exception of the last one, they need to be asked of course.

How much money do you want to make in this job?

If you are hired, how long will you stay with us?

Where do you see yourself five years time?

Do you have any questions regarding us?

How much effort are you putting into your managers to help them select the most appropriate candidates or is it some junior HR operative’s prerogative? Successful business is now and always has been about hiring the best people.

Meet Livestrong CEO Doug Ulman, the Most Savvy Health Care Leader in Social Media

BY Chuck Salter

Jobs Vacancy, Job vacancies, Employment Jobs

This afternoon, the Blogworld crowd in Vegas hears from the master of social media in health care, Doug Ulman, the CEO of Livestrong. While reporting on the cancer foundation for the November issue of Fast Company (on newsstands Oct. 26), I saw firsthand how important the medium is to the organization and how adept Ulman and his staff are at using it. Does your office have a large screen that displays the latest staff tweets and mentions of your organization? That's the future. Livestrong is already there.

The foundation has built the largest Twitter audience of any health-care organization. The American Cancer Society dwarfs it in fundraising, but CEO John Seffrin told me that Livestrong is leading the way in social media. It's no surprise that Lance Armstrong ranks in Twitter's top 30 with more than 2.6 million followers. But Ulman? He has almost a million followers, which puts him in the top 270 and makes him one of the highest ranking CEOs.

On Twitter, Ulman offers a daily account of what he and Livestrong are doing and what's happening in cancer, maintaining a running conversation with supporters: "On a call discussing a documentary project on global tobacco control - huge opportunity."

He gives glimpses into his own experience as a cancer survivor: "Nothing better than reading biopsy results that say 'benign.'"

He offers ways to interact: "We r grateful that you gave time, money & energy to the cause. Now you decide where the funding goes! Vote now. http://bit.ly/votels"

And: "How did @Livestrong start a movement? Ask a question for @LivestrongCEO & I'll pick 3 to ask on stage at Blogworld #BWE10"

"Social media has changed the not-for-profit world forever," Ulman told me. "It used to be how big your [mailing and email] database is. Now it doesn't matter. I'd rather have 10,000 people who are passionate than 3 million who aren't engaged."

Twitter allows Livestrong to stay connected to its community, which is important given that the foundation is unusually hands-off with supporters. It doesn't have local chapters. It lets survivors and supporters organize local events and decide what Livestrong does in their city or town. When a Hollywood exec told Ulman he wanted to host a Livestrong fundraiser, Ulman mentioned it on Twitter. Within a day, a few dozen supporters in L.A. had volunteered to help out.

"Unlike people who say they want to try new stuff but never actually do anything, Doug will do it that day," says Chris Sacca, a former Google executive and angel investor in Twitter. He and Ulman cooked up a virtual Livestrong wristband for Twitter profiles and launched it almost immediately, expanding Livestrong's visibility throughout Twitter.

When Ulman met to discuss Livestrong's global advocacy work with Kevin Sheekey, the former deputy mayor of New York City and now the philanthropic advisor to Michael Bloomberg, Sheekey asked, almost casually, "How many followers do you have?"

Ulman told him. Sheekey thought he was kidding. Then Sheekey looked it up. "He isn't Lance Armstrong. He isn't a celebrity. Nearly a million people follow what he says because he runs Livestrong," says Sheekey.

After Livestrong ran a story on the mayor in its quarterly magazine, Sheekey asked Ulman to retweet the story. Turns out, Bloomberg has less than 31,000 Twitter followers.