Category Archives: Leadership

Gossip & Politics Bringing You Down?

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What brings production to a halt in your office? Is it gossip? Facebook? Uncertainty? One of our Learning Dynamics Senior Consultants shared her viewpoint and experience this way: “When I worked with one organization, I remember how much productivity was lost. It seemed that the top three reasons for most of it were lack of employee engagement, gossip and politicking.”

There have been books written about employee engagement and our Learning Dynamics blog has several articles on the topic, so we are not going to tackle that here. But what about gossip and politicking? As you survey your work environment, are you detecting any of this? If so, here are some ideas on how to break it up. If you are not detecting it, could you look and listen a little more closely?

Listen to the Grapevine. Some managers state, “I never get involved in the grapevine. It’s a waste of time.” If this is you, reconsider. The grapevine, the rumor mill, and the quiet conversations in the lunch room can be valuable sources of information. Managers who listen to the office rumblings can do something about it. Those who are oblivious, obviously, cannot.

Sunshine. Shed some light on the subject. Lots of it! There is nothing like truth directly from the boss to dispel rumors and get everyone back to work. Use every channel at your disposal to spread the word. This includes email, newsletters, bulletin boards, internal web sites and group huddles. A simple message that starts with “You might have heard…now here’s the truth…” can work wonders.

Recognize Performers. Politics surge when people are uncertain and when they perceive that there is something to be gained. Effective leaders can quell this activity by recognizing top performers consistently and publicly. This includes small actions and big ones, including promotions and greater job responsibilities. If the low-performing politicians see that it isn’t working, and that hard work and results define success, they just might get back to work.

Accessible Leaders. An open door can encourage employees to face issues head-on. If they know that they can get straight answers from the boss, that the door is open, then why will they want to gossip and speculate?

No work place is perfect, and people are going to talk, but it can get better. As our Senior Consultant noted, these unproductive activities cost time and money. Recognize the reality and face it with real action.

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Learning Dynamics can bring customized leadership training to your team. Give you managers the tools they need to maximize results with Learning Dynamics.

Mixed Messages Hurt Motivation

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We frequently hear blunt, unvarnished truth when conducting training classes. A recent class was no exception when we discussed employee engagement and recognition. Many in the class were sharing positive examples of things their companies do to encourage engagement. One did not.

The message was something like this: “We have a terrible work environment, and management tries to whitewash it with meaningless recognition programs and short-lived efforts that don’t help.” How many of us would like to hear this from our people? How many managers will get the opportunity?

This comment, and the heads that nodded in agreement, illustrate an important point. Employee engagement does not happen by accident. It requires work. Managers have to create and foster an environment in which people are recognized for their contributions and feel that the work they do is important. Leaders must provide the tools and support to help employees be successful in their jobs.

Quick-hit programs may be nice for the short-term, but they cannot be used in place of the much more challenging job of building culture. A company-logo water bottle or “Pizza Friday” will not replace genuine, specific feedback and appreciation for a job well-done.

Hopefully your organization does not have people who feel this way, but it might. Why not find out? Start asking questions or take a survey to give your people the chance to tell you how they feel. Given the right venue, they will share, and you will have something to work with.

Trinkets and swag do not drive engagement. Meaningful work that makes a difference does. Create a culture that uses tools to reinforce and enhance strong culture, not one that encourages a conversation about mixed messages.

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Learning Dynamics can help your organization with coaching skills and ideas to develop high performance teams. Visit our programs page for more information.

LMX: Are You Engaging?

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LMX

Leader Member Exchange Drives Engagement

Great employee engagement has been shown to drive better sales, service and profitability. It makes sense, even without numbers to support the claim. It stands to reason that employees who believe in the corporate mission, have the tools they need, understand how their work is important, and intend to stick around will perform better than their disengaged peers. Jumping up a level, the engaged team or organization will stomp on its rivals, winning market share and raving fans for customers.

How do leaders play a role? There is a vast body of research that points to the importance of “Leader Member Exchange” or LMX. LMX is focused on the quality, content and frequency of interactions between leaders and team members. Those leaders who can connect with their team members in individual, meaningful ways tend to have more engaged people and better results. Knowing this is different than doing this, of course.

Some say that people are born leaders. We can make the opposite case, though, by focusing on this element of leadership. It is something that can be trained and measured. For example, we can ask a new supervisor to schedule and complete weekly 15-minute one-on-one conversations with each member of her team. This easily trained and measured tactic can help a person develop and grow as a leader. And this is just one example.

While some people are more charismatic than others, and will have an advantage in getting people to follow, charisma is neither sufficient nor predictive. Personality only gets one so far. The rest is about learning leadership skills, using them, practicing and having real impact on an organization and its results.

Leadership can be learned. Good leaders create effective, engaging LMX environments. Engaged teams win. It’s a simple chain of actions and results that define victory.

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Learning Dynamics offers comprehensive leadership training and development solutions including Investing in People. Contact us to learn how we can help you create an engaging environment that creates winning teams and outstanding results.

Your Change Message Isn’t Getting Through

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change bullhorn“The company is making strategic moves, but we don’t know why.” This is a common complaint when we get people talking. Maybe “never” is an exaggeration, but we see lots of agreement with the point during training sessions. Senior executives make decisions, the company is moving in a different direction, and employers further down the ladder don’t understand the rationale.

Followers are more likely to support change when they understand the reasons. As a matter of fact, one of the most common things that people do when they learn of change is to seek more information. Why are we doing this? What market forces or strategic calculations are part of the decision? How does this affect me? What can I do to help make this initiative successful?

Your best people will want to know how they can write themselves into the story. How can they make a difference and contribute to success?

Without information, rumor and speculation fill the void. Is the company failing? Am I going to lose my job? Should I be updating my résumé? Lack of detail and communication from the top can lead to distraction and lost productivity as gossiping floods the organization.

Here are a few ideas to enhance communication during change.

Over-Communicate: People don’t always get the message the first time. Repeat it, use different channels, and do it over a period of time. One email or memo is not enough for bigger changes.

Check for Understanding: If changes are significant, conduct listening sessions with the team. Do they have questions? Do they need clarification? Do they have concerns? Use your leadership team to open the door and executive ears to address all concerns.

Make Your Case: This is probably the most important. Develop a clear and compelling answer for the question, “Why are we doing this?”

One of the most important responsibilities of a leader is communication. If she or he cannot articulate the reason for change, there is work to do. The effort will be worth it with a shorter change cycle and a faster return to normal – and hopefully better – productivity. Plan your change strategy to include exceptional surround-sound communication.

Maximize Training ROI: 4 Follow Up Steps

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train follow up celebrateWhat is your plan to drive continuous change and improvement after training? Arguably, what happens after a training event, program or major initiative is as important as the content of the training itself.

We have seen organizations of every kind, some with a firm commitment to organizational change, and others (unfortunately) that have been less driven. Invariably, the companies in which senior leaders envision cultural changes to create brighter futures realize much great impact and return on their training dollars. Here are four tactics to make training stick with your people so it creates lasting change.

1. LEADERSHIP INVOLVEMENT: Leaders from first-level supervisors up to those who occupy the C-suite can make training more effective by understanding the content and emphasis of the coursework and talking about it whenever possible. As managers walk around, they should be asking questions about the training, reinforcing the messages, and most importantly, catching people doing something right. Positive reinforcement from a supervisor that is earned for implementing new behaviors will have a lasting effect.

2. REPETITION: It has been said that repetition is the mother of learning. Mother or father, repetition works. This can be accomplished with ongoing reinforcement training, check-ins with employees to review the action items from training and the execution of the new skills, and written materials like newsletters, job aids and online refreshers.

3. COACHING: If managers make a habit of asking newly trained employees about how they are integrating their new skills into their routines, it will send the message that the training effort is important and change is expected. Try questions like this: How can you use your new skills to improve your results in this area? What are the things you learned in the training that you could use to do your job better? Allow trainees to think and integrate new skills into their work.

4. WATCH THE SCOREBOARD: What change are you trying to create? How will you know that you have been successful? If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it, so create a tool to track effectiveness in the targeted and trained areas. For example, if you are training to improve customer service, measure customer satisfaction. If you train employees to suggest additional products and services, survey customers to see if they are doing it or use mystery shoppers. With some creativity, every training initiative can be evaluated for its effectiveness. Finally, celebrate success. When the numbers move, make a big deal of it! Everyone must know that the training has produced results.

Consistent execution of these steps will send the message to everyone that training is important and behavioral changes are expected. Monitor what happens, reinforce positive behaviors, and celebrate victories. Training with solid follow-up will be far more productive and profitable for any organization.

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Learning Dynamics can consult with your company to assess performance gaps and training needs and offer after-training services to maximize success. Talk with one of our Consultants today for information on how we can help you with a custom solution to accelerate change and improve results at your company.

 

 

The Triangle of Behavior

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Leaders will be copied. They set the tone and serve as the example for others. These ideas, and the understanding of the impact of positive and negative role models, should give everyone in a position of authority reason to consider effective communication techniques. The triangle of behavior is one handy way to remember how a person’s behavior affects others.

Triangle of Behvior

Intent: What is the message that a person means to send to an individual or group? The words, tone and non-verbal cues all are influenced by intent.

Behavior: Actions taken, what a person does, define behavior. Even if no words are spoken, behavior speaks volumes about what is acceptable and expected. Inconsistency between word and action is one of the fastest ways to destroy leadership effectiveness.

Impact: How the receiver of a message understands and handles it is the final piece. This can be influenced by the receiver’s mood and willingness to listen and understand, so sender should consider impact when evaluating message effectiveness.

In a leadership setting, intent is often the point that makes the biggest difference and carries the greatest consequences. Consider all three points of the triangle when sending your message.

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Also see Four Ways to Influence for more about communicating at work.

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Learning Dynamics offers several customizable training programs to enhance communication effectiveness. Personally Speaking ™ offers tools and training to improve business speaking skills.