Ideas the Enemy of Habit?  You know we all fall victim to the comfort of habit. When was the last time you changed your morning routine, your morning commute. Habit is a good thing for the basics of life yet it can also mask the opportunities that lie just beyond the immediacy of our vision. Ultimately our ability to see old things anew allows us the opportunity to ideate then create new futures. So the opportunity and the challenge is to consider how our habits get in the way of new ideas. The last thing a leader can afford is to accept the status quo and keep doing things the way they have always been done. That’s not leadership, that is a cop out. Check out his video, it makes the point so much more eloquently than I can http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZQyj4ywT2s&feature=player_embedded Lead and vision well Ron

Here is the original article if you care to read it for yourself

 The Coffee Cup As a Management Tool 

http://management.about.com/od/communication/a/CoffeeMgtTool05.htm

As I read it I agreed with the simplicity and wisdom it offered. The idea was that managers should leverage coffee breaks to spend time with key employees getting to know them. Great concept and one I practice regularly. In fact my local Starbucks a half mile from my plant regularly sees me there at least twice a week on a “coffee break”.

I know from experience that I am not in the majority here so I asked myself. How many managers are intentional about investing in their key team members? Do they have a process for this or is it random?

In my estimation not many.

The most important thing a manager can do is to invest in their relationships with team members. Yeah sure there are many other critical aspects to the job, not arguing that. What I believe is that by investing in relationships, a manager learns of potential problems before they erupt. They head off personnel issues before they happen. They  can work with and through their team to achieve objectives. After all the old saying goes: “people don’t care how much you know till they know how much you care” To influence someone you need to be in relationship with them.

So what does the article recommend that managers do? Get away from communication devices, the office etc, and listen to the person. They also offer some detail about the fact that it need not be coffee per se and to avoid alcohol. Pretty simple stuff, great advice. Not so easy to follow consistently in our wired world.

My Advice

 Learn to Listen. 

I wrote extensively about this in previous posts and on the mailing list leadership tip series. Sign up for the mailing list if you want to learn more.

 Get to Know them 

Distance may be handy if you have to fire someone but it is useless for leading them. People don’t have to like you but it sure makes leading them smoother. So find out what their children’s names are. What their favorite past time is etc. Do this not to be manipulative but to be an authentic leader who cares about their team.

 Laugh with them, Cry with them 

Maybe I am overstating the point here, but I don’t think so. People want to follow someone who cares about them as an unique, valuable person. They want to be challenged, they want to make a difference. Know who they are, share in their story, even let them know who you are.

Lead Well

Ron

On a bright hot spring day that month in southern California my wife and I walked the isles of my universities grad fair. How would I commemorate this accomplishment? How would I remember this special time?

Class ring. That’s it, I always wanted to get one, couldn’t afford the undergrad ring, now was the time. I chose carefully selecting what only a Metallurgist would love. A ring made of silver, with palladium and a bit of platinum for good measure. A cool ring. I filled out the paper work, selected the wording, paid the bill and went on my merry way. 

A few weeks later I got the call. You cannot fit your degree name on the side panel you have one too many letters in the name. WHAT?! How could this be! This is my ring! The symbol of overcoming adversity finally kicking the “You cant finish” spectre out of my mind. It has to fit! I want that ring to be perfect. It has to be perfect!

I hung up the phone and called my wife knowing she would understand, she would console me. She knew how important this ring was to me.

What did I hear from my soul mate? “It’s not about you!”

Her words cut me to the bone. After a short pouting moment I began to consider her feedback. I had been acting like a spoiled brat. I was being irrational. It really isn’t about me, she was right. How many times have I counseled leaders about the fact that leadership is about sacrifice and responsibility. “I” doesn’t enter into the equation for a leader. In that moment it hit me. Its not about me, its not about “I”… There is no room for “I” in leadership. I had the perfect solution and from that day on I would have the coolest leadership story engraved on the very ring that commemorated my Masters of Science in Leadership and Management.

You have to check the photo to appreciate the coolness of this story.  You can see them here

Look closely at the side panel you will notice the point I made above and how after 3 years now you might notice how I have worn “lead” almost right off the ring. I wonder how that happened? ;-)

–
Ron

Fortunately this is not the case. You see leaders deal in relationships. They deal in the frailty of human beings, their habits and behaviors. I learned long ago that people have to be motivated to change. You cannot change them if they do not want to. Perhaps this is a good thing but regardless, when a repeat problem comes up inevitably you can trace its root back to a situation where someone who previously refused to learn and grow is now exhibiting behaviors that led to a repeat problem.

I cannot help you if you don’t want to grow. I cannot help you if you don’t recognize the need for your personal growth. I can only help those who humbly realize that growth is a necessary condition for life. Just consider a human muscle that is never exercised. What happens? Over time it atrophies. Same thing happens to people.

Back to the original challenge: The repetitive (read boring) nature of work. What to do?

One approach is to soldier on slogging your way through hoping this time there might be a better outcome. (sounds like the definition of insanity to me)

Another approach is to be indifferent and not react. This is a recipe for disaster. Don’t do this.

Yet another is to empower your team to take the challenge on themselves. Sounds like fun and is a worthwhile strategy to a point.

Or perhaps we could search for another right answer. Ask yourself what is the underlying cause. Assume that the problem is merely a symptom of a much larger challenge. Continue to search for the true root cause. When you think you have found it you will have a leadership challenge worth tackling. Are you up for it?

Lead well

–
Ron

Well as I looked at my twitter page I began to consider that Twitter just might be a great test of leadership. After all you search for those who you know already, find others who have common interests, communicate into the void meaningful points (hopefully) and see what happens. Somewhere along the way people decide to follow you. So as of writing this I have 87 people following my tweets. Yes a pretty small number on the scale of things but a decent number all the same.

The comparison stops here unfortunately because leadership is a contact sport and cannot be faked in a virtual space.

So then I consider the twitter sport of following and some interesting questions and thoughts come forth

* Whats up with the reciprocity?! I will follow you if you follow me. Seems a little juvenile

* How the heck does a guy like Glenn Beck get to 160,000 followers?

* How is it that people actively gain followers?

* When a friend gets too irritating I have taken to telling him that if he were on twitter I would unfollow him ;-)

Lead well
–
Ron

Lets face it we live in the real world where there are people in our organization and not all of them are “A” players despite our best efforts. We inherit people from a previous manager with different performance measurement criteria, some people’s life goals change and work is not their priority and on it goes.

It is critical that in rating an employee we consider that the rating in their current role is different than in a management role. While some attributes overlap many do not. When considering who might be an “A” manager be certain that you evaluate the right criteria. A partial list should include; motivation, initiative, integrity, communication ability, leadership skill and management skill. Many of these factors may not be considered at the individual contributor level thereby making the judgment more difficult.

If you want to be certain do what leaders do. Give potential “A” players opportunities to shine long before the selection process takes place. Ask them to lead projects outside their normal duties, encourage them to find a mentor, suggest they take on a volunteer leadership role etc.

As you invest in your team and begin to see who has the drive and ability to lead in areas outside their normal framework you will soon discover who your next “A” manager should be. 

Lead well
–
Ron

I was writing to a group I lead the other day and summarized a leadership / facilitation technique I want to share with you. It’s called “Silence“

As leaders we must be sensitive to how various people engage in discussion. Resist the temptation to dominate the discussion when no one answers immediately. Sit in the silence once in a while and wait. It is completely reasonable to answer the question first every so often but we should avoid the temptation to do this frequently. Introverts will not speak up if you do this, the group will start to expect you to carry the discussion and will participate less often. Clearly this is not the outcome we want. We have to give the group room to work and contribute.

Try it sometime you will be surprised by this powerfully effective technique.

Lead / facilitate well

Maybe I am getting a bit tired of this series but this rule seems so obvious as to be silly. Yet is it?

The other day I was considering the management model of theory X versus theory Y. As a manager myself the first time I took the test I was so far Y as to think the test was a hoax. Then other students in my graduate class began to rationalize their X viewpoint. I was floored how could anyone be that brain dead. After all this is an age of enlightenment. America has learned its lesson, people want to be empowered engaged, trusted. People have altruistic reasons, meaning generating reasons to work… Right?!

Wrong! Some do yes and others show up for a paycheck and are content to do exactly what they are told and no more each day.

So leaders do give many a cause and others don’t pay attention. They just keep doing their job and no more staying out of the realm of meaning generation. This is not to say that a leader should just give up, no they should work all the harder at their influence skills and try to get everyone on board. There are times though that they must be realistic and lead the majority rather than the entirety.

ChallengeGo online and take the basic theory X versus Theory Y test. Here is one I found online here (THEORY X Y Test) for no cost. It is not perfect but will make the point.Take the test focusing on how you manage and what kind of style you have. If you are way on the X side you just may have discovered why it is such a frstration and chore to motivate employees to follow your vision.

Oh ya the standard clause. Neither theory is right or wrong it is simply a representation of how people respond to situations.