Don’t Be Afraid To Stand Out From Your Crowd

I’ve had this picture on my hard drive for a while; I don’t even remember where I got it.  Every time I see the thumbnail, I can’t help but smile, or even laugh.  Best I can tell, it’s a legit, non-photoshopped family picture, probably snapped begrudgingly in the portrait studio at a Wal*Mart somewhere in southern Indiana.  I can imagine that there is some pretty interesting drama in that family.

But you have to respect the second son.  He knows who he is, and he knows who he is not.  Despite the conformal pressure in his family unit, he’s his own man, and probably always will be.  I’m sure he will be an effective leader one day, and I respect his individuality.

Be true to yourself, regardless of who the system tells you you should be. Excel based on your achievements, not based on your appearance.  If the system tries to program you for sweater vest and clip on bow-tie but your inner Axl Rose promises organ rejection, you know which way to go . . .

Posted via email from jeffreyjdavis’s posterous

All For The Price Of A Sandwich

IN A NUTSHELL: A monthly birthday lunch ritual is an easy, enjoyable, cost effective way to connect on a more personal level with your organization.

At AGY and when I led the GE Sealants business, I implemented the practice of holding monthly birthday lunches.  I’ve found this to be a very convenient and fun way to connect and stay connected with people in your business.

As leaders, we have a tendency to be “All Business, All The Time” when we are in the office.  Consequently, it’s sometimes easy for people to think about us as managers and bosses, as opposed to just “normal people”.  Additionally, in a business of any size (ours has over 1300 associates), it is nearly impossible to know everyone or to know much about their lives or their backgrounds.  A monthly birthday lunch rhythm can give you a start at overcoming both of those potential barriers to effective leadership.

Really all you need to do is run an extract sorted by birthday from your payroll system and use it to generate a series of meeting invites:

• Explain in the invite that the meeting is just to celebrate all the birthdays in the month (no business agenda or homework required)  and that you are picking up lunch.
• I think the optimum size for these meetings is 10 – 15 people, including yourself.  Anything much more and it’s hard to orchestrate around one big conference table where you can make eye contact.  Anything much less and you may be in for some awkward silence.  You may need to adjust frequency (combining two months or having two sessions in one month) based on the number of people in your company / at each site.
• Make sure you do this at all your sites if possible, not just at HQ.
• Congratulate everyone, wish them a Happy Birthday, and shake their hand as they come into the room.
• Once everyone has arrived, explain that this is just a session to celebrate their birthdays and to get to know everyone better.  Explain that you do not have a business agenda to discuss, but that they are certainly welcome to ask you any questions which they may have.
• Once every one has grabbed their sandwich / chips etc. and has sat down at the table, it’s usually good to just go around the table with a standard series of ice breaker questions.  I like to use the following:
  • What’s your name?
  • When was/is your birthday (age optional)?
  • What department do you work in and how long have you been with the company?
  • Tell us a quick story about one of the most memorable birthday’s you’ve had.

Usually this morphs a cool room into a warm dialog among team mates and you can spin off into many different directions based on where the conversation takes you.  You’ll find that you learn a lot about the people in your company and that the folks will increasingly see you as a human being and not just as a boss.  Be prepared to address any off the cuff business related questions candidly and casually.  If you are as bad with names as I am, you may find it helpful to jot notes on the printed calendar entry invitation to help jog your memory about specific people.

I’ve found this to be a great way to connect on another level with your people, and the birthday boys and girls seem to enjoy it as well.  Please feedback in the comments  if you have similar experiences or suggestions.

(photo courtesy mhaithaca under creative commons)

Six Questions To Ensure Alignment With Your Team

IN A NUTSHELL: Using this simple quarterly process with your direct reports will ensure that their plans, actions and progress are aligned with yours and the organization’s.

If you’re like me, you may have participated in a “Goals and Objectives” process with one of your bosses at some point in the past.  I never found them very effective, for a few reasons.  I tended to spend a lot of time creating a document and forwarding it to my boss, and we never had much real dialog or interplay about it.  I was never 100% sure that my goals and the things I was working on were consistent with his direction and the overall company’s direction.  Additionally, the standard G&O framework didn’t really give me a process to give feedback or input to my manager.

I’ve been a practitioner of a process called “Six Questions” for several years with all of my direct reports.  I didn’t invent this process, I actually learned it from Kevin Wilde, the Chief Learning Officer for General Mills, from one of the original Getting Things Done GTD Connect “In Coversation With” CD’s.  Turns out Kevin didn’t invent the process either, it was really developed and honed by Marshall Goldsmith.  There was recently a pretty good post about the process on the Huffington Post, which prompted me to share my experience.   Here’s how I execute this process (which is a slight tweak on the original questions proposed by Marshall, but which works well for me.)

I set up a series of quarterly one-on-one meetings with each of my direct reports.  I usually try to do these in the first few weeks of the quarter, and definitely within the first month of the quarter.  I like to do them offiste, and typically schedule them over a long (2 – 2.5 hour) lunch.  They choose where, I pay. After the meal is done, we engage in a discussion around the Six Questions:

1. What is on my plate right now? I go through the top four to six key initiatives and imperatives that I am working on for the current quarter and try to tie them to the overall business success.  Almost inevitably, these are simply re-iterations for my people, but they serve as a grounding point and foundation for the next few questions.
2. Looking back at the quarter which just completed, What are the things you feel good about? For each of these areas discussed , often 5 to 10, I try to encourage my people to think about the Critical Success Factors that enabled that initiative to be successful.  Wherever possible, this discussion is a good chance to encourage my report and their team and to give them accolades for a good job.
3. Looking back at the quarter which just completed, What could have gone better?  What disappointed you? Again for each these areas, the focus of the discussion is trying to elicit the root cause as to why we weren’t successful in that area and to try to pull out some learnings for future reference.  Based on the rapport you have with your report, you may have to reinforce that this is a non-threatening discussion to get them to open up and really talk about their disappointments.  I usually bring my notes from Question 4 from the prior quarter’s discussion to double check versus prior commitments and have a discussion about any misses.
4. Thinking about the current/upcoming quarter, What are the things which you want to accomplish? For each of these areas, wherever possible try to cement accountability through agreement on SMART Goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely).  Even if it is a multiple quarter initiative which will not be complete by the end of the quarter, try to mutually agree on a measurable milestone to ensure that you are on track.
5. What help do you need from me to achieve your goals for this quarter? Usually this discussion revolves around potential barriers or roadblocks which may require some assistance from above to overcome.  Occasionally there may be organizational issues or cross-functional  influencing where my help can be advantageous.
6. How can I be a better boss for you? This is typically an open ended discussion about leadership styles, communication rhythms, mentoring, feedback, etc.  Once they know that you will give them this quarterly opportunity to give you candid feedback, eventually you may get some real nuggets during this section.

The discussion itself typically takes about 2 hours.  Personally, I just hand-write notes in a journal and then summarize them into a Word Template document later.  I use a two column format for the notes in my template, which you are free to use.  I find it really critical to try to summarize and distribute the notes within a few days of the original discussion if at all possible.

I encourage you to give this process a try if it sounds interesting.  It ensures that your team members stay aligned with your direction and it makes the annual performance review process much easier, as there will be no surprises.  If you do adopt it, please let me know how it works for you!!

Delivering Bad News To Your Team

Image courtesy of WisDoc

We all know that the global economy is going through one of the worst downturns in history, with dramatic impact on almost every business.  Many companies, including my own, have been significantly affected by this environment and have taken difficult actions to survive.   Frequently, these actions have a human toll, which as leaders, makes them even more challenging to administer and communicate.   While they won’t make it any easier to deliver bad news, the following six tips may help to take some of the emotion out of the communication.

1. Reiterate your business goals and metrics. You note I said “Reiterate”, not “Communicate” your goals.  Hopefully, you have created a rapport with your associates where everyone is already clear what the objectives of your business are, i.e. increasing revenues or EBITDA, growing market share, etc.  Assuming the decisions you have made and the actions you are taking are consistent with these goals, reiterating your goals sets a foundation for the decision.
2. Explain and quantify the environmental factors which led up to the decisions. Usually, most people in the business are aware when conditions are deteriorating from visible indications (fewer trucks going out the door, capacity reductions, inventory building in the warehouse, etc.) but often they might not realize just how bad it has gotten.  Quantify with some simple data and graphics which highlight the compelling magnitude of the situation.
3. Describe the various alternatives you could have selected. In most situations, you have more than one potential course of action, including the “do nothing” alternative.  Lay these out for your people and explain the potential impact each would have had on your business condition.  Make it clear that you have thoughtfully considered multiple alternatives prior to selecting the course of action you have chosen.
   
4. Explain why you selected the route you have chosen. This may entail a comparison of pros and cons of various alternatives and many times, there is no perfect answer.  Avoid the common trap of telling your people: “Due to X and Y, we have been forced to do Z . . .”  No one has forced you to do anything, you are a leader and you have made a conscious decision to take action based on developments in your environment.  Help the people understand your decision process.
5. Translate your decision into the impact on the individuals in the room. Although people are committed to the business goals, inevitably the biggest question in their minds is “What does this mean for me personally?” Frequently, employment levels may be reduced, having a dramatic impact both on those who have left the business and those who remain.  Treat all of your people fairly and with respect, be genuinely empathetic.
6. Demonstrate your commitment and that you are “all in” with making the business successful. This may take the form of taking a significant pay cut, as our entire senior leadership team has done, or giving up some other benefit which has a cost to the business.  The people need to know that you are not observing this situation from an ivory tower but that you are personally committed to helping steer the business through the storm. After the communication, back up your words with committed action.

I recommend delivering these type of communications in an open forum, all-employee meeting.  Make eye-contact, leave plenty of  breathing space in your delivery and give people a chance to ask questions.  It won’t be any easier, and they still are unlikely to like the answer to any greater degree, but hopefully you will emerge from the meeting with their confidence and respect for being a thoughtful and action oriented leader.  You are the one that can steer this boat through the storm.