Happy New Year. We have permanently moved to http://makingpeoplematter.blogspot.com/ for 2016. As you may have seen in our twitter feed or elsewhere, we have been planning this move since we released The Essential Workplace Conflict Handbook. In an effort to be more inclusive and dynamic we felt it best to finally tie all our content into one place. Thank you for your time and we hope you will come join us over at Making People Matter.
Thank You,
Cornelia and Barbara
Sunday, January 3, 2016
Tuesday, December 15, 2015
Overworking In America
In some place I’ve worked,
it is a badge of honor to share how many hours you worked in a week or a
month. People competed to see who
could log the most hours in the office while others talked about how late they
were on email the night before or how early they got to work in the morning.
This really isn’t
something to be proud of. I
remember my first job out of college where I had a boss who said, “The only
people who know you work late is the night janitor or the security guard you
see on the way out.” I also had a
boss once who used to count the cars in the parking lot at 6 pm or 6 am and
then tell me that we had a morale problem since people weren’t working late or
coming in early. My response was always, “Is the work getting done?” If the
answer is yes, then why do people have to spend more time in the
office—especially since most people are on email long after they leave the
office. Technology frees most of
us from being tied to a specific place to do our work.
Do you remember the
Seinfeld episode where George Costanza left his car at the office one night
when he was working for the New York Yankees? The next day, he heard George Steinbrenner telling someone,
“That George Costanza is a real go-getter. He was here when I left last night
and he was already here when I came in this morning.” No, George wasn’t there—his car was in the parking lot. So
George Costanza being George, decided to start sleeping in his office so Mr.
Steinbrenner would continue to think he was a great employee!
According to a recent article
in the Washington Post by Christopher Ingraham titled, When Working Longer Hours Doesn’t Add up, he says
that “half of full-time workers report working 41 or more hours per week and
nearly a fifth say that number ticks up to 60 or more.” He says this isn’t healthy—not for the
worker nor for his/her family relationships. The Centers for Disease Control reports that “overtime was
associated with poorer perceived general health, increased injury rates, more
illnesses, or increased mortality.”
Ingraham goes on to say
that most Americans say that family takes priority over work—yet many of us are willing to make personal
sacrifices for work including going to work when we’re sick; missing out on
personal experiences due to long hours or no vacation; and working different
shifts from a spouse because they couldn’t find child care.
So the next time you brag
about how many hours you worked or hear someone else doing it, think about your
health, your relationships, and your life and go home. Spend some time relaxing
with family or friends and get enough sleep that you don’t make silly
mistakes! Find ways to be as
productive as you can be in a reasonable day/night at work and as always, do
your best and if your boss still wants you at work all the time just because,
maybe it’s not the right job for you.
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
Getting Innovation Right
Throughout the year we’ve been talking about
innovation. Innovation equals success. Innovation is about adding value to your
organization and to the marketplace. As the year draws to a close, it’s a good
time to reflect how you can position your organization to leverage the
marketplace and add value.
In his book, Getting Innovation Right, Seth Kahan's
theme is the best ideas are useless if they don't add value. Kahan highlights
suggested activities for leaders in order to drive success for their
innovations in the marketplace.
1.
Pursue and leverage inflection points - those dramatic and decisive
shifts in your relationship with the market whether positive or negative.
Anticipate them and use them to your advantage. Positive ones can grow your
base, increase you offerings and customer loyalty, and improve your place in
the market.
2. Build innovation capacity. Developing new
products and services has a stress factor. Does your organization have what it
takes to channel those pressures and turn them into productive use? Strong
innovation leaders do this through strong internal leadership, exceptional
talent management, and robust idea management. They manage critical forces,
talk to the right people, build partnerships, and hire and develop people who
understand and embrace the power of innovation.
3.
Collect intelligence. The best innovation rises from a sea of products,
services, customers, competitors, and internal equities. Your intelligence
gather efforts should start with the interrelated areas of customers, market
conditions and organizational capabilities. Be sure you’ve defined the scope,
determined your goals, conducted interviews, consulted sources, and performed
your due diligence. Gathering and
applying pertinent information must be an on-going effort to enhance the
quality of your strategic decisions.
4.
Shift perspective. Challenge your own assumptions. They may be
constraining your ability to see new opportunities. Get out from your own box. Listen
to your employees, partners, customers and competitors. Seeing the world through new
alternatives and points of view helps to identify opportunities to pivot into a
positive inflection point that will drive success.
5.
Exploit disruption. Disruption is part of business life today and it can
come from anywhere. Just like conflict, if it’s ignored or mismanaged, it can
be disastrous. Successful leaders identify the opportunity embedded in adverse
conditions and exploit it – disruptions such as customer challenges, industry
change, fierce competition and new business models. Turn turmoil to your advantage.
6.
Generate value. Value is
what causes people to separate from their hard-earned cash, drive investors to
invest, and shoppers to shop. It’s a perceived benefit – such as the value of
brand (Coke vs. Pepsi). Skillful innovators understand what drives value, what
it looks like to customers and all their stakeholders, and how to generate by
delivering something more, better or new.
7.
Drive Innovation uptake – customer acceptance of a new product or
service. When you align your innovations with what your customers value, they
become your ambassadors. Every stage of the innovation process holds
opportunity to introduce new ideas into the market and engage your customers.
Working together you move from a mere transaction toward a generative
relationship.
To help his readers get innovation right, Kahan
provides tools and techniques, templates and guidelines, and step-by-step
instructions. If you’re thinking of what you want to accomplish in 2016, this
may be a great place to start!
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
Vision, mission, strategic plan – no matter the size of your organization, you have (or should have) these in place. Large organizations go through great lengths to establish them. Entrepreneurs often do, but they often fly by the seat of their pants. (In the writing world, this is called pantsing!)
This was the topic of a recent leadership breakfast – what an individual leader does to develop a leadership vision for herself and for her organization. See how you do. Start by asking yourself the following questions:
1 1. What is my vision for my team?
2. What is my individual leadership vision?
3. Do I have energy around that vision?
4. Does that energy and vision permeate the team and the workplace?
5. Is it manifested in my actions, values and goals?
6. Is there character and spirit around it?
2. What is my individual leadership vision?
3. Do I have energy around that vision?
4. Does that energy and vision permeate the team and the workplace?
5. Is it manifested in my actions, values and goals?
6. Is there character and spirit around it?
Some of the leadership qualities reported by Forbes, and this list is not inclusive, are listed below. Can you think of a leader who’s exhibited some or all of them? What have you done to embrace these qualities?
- Honesty
- Ability to Delegate
- Communication Skills
- Sense of Humor
- Confidence
- Commitment
- Positive Attitude
- Creativity
- Intuition
- Ability to Inspire
However, leader’s don’t do it all on their own. What does it take to manifest your leadership vision? Consider the following:
- An inspired team
- A shared vision
- Expert help and support
- Courage to face the unknown
- Strategic planning
- Hard work and determination
- Having an advocate or coach
- Pausing to celebrate the journey
Use the following questions as a roadmap to develop a leadership vision, whether it’s for yourself or for your organization:
- Why? Why are you in business (or the role you’re in)? What motivates you to continue
- What? What is the corporate/organization/team mission? List a few goals. What will it take to get there?
- Who? Who is your business impacting? Who can help your business?
- Where? Where are your strategies and goals taking your business? What is your growth plan?
- When? When do you forecast reaching your business goals?
- How much? How much time, energy, and money will your company need to invest to reach these goals?
- How? How will your company get there? What methods, means and actions are required?
- What makes your vision unique? What makes your vision inspiring memorable and important?
Thanks to Mali Phonpadith CEO, SOAR Community Network, for an inspiring and thought-provoking session.
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Thanksgiving – A Time to Reflect
Children
in classrooms around the country have been making crafts from construction
paper this month – Pilgrim hats, “Indian headdresses, leaves, pine cones –
symbols of fall and Thanksgiving culture. Stories will be told in school about
how the Indigenous people of North America (Native Americans) shared their
harvest feast with the starving English settlers -- turkey, waterfowl, venison, fish, lobster, clams, berries, fruit, pumpkin, and squash. Not exactly the
turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, yams and pumpkin pie on this week’s
Thanksgiving table.
For
the Wampanog tribe, the purpose of the harvest feast was to give thanks for the
bounty of food that the growing season had produced -- for the rain and the
sunshine which caused the plants that bore the food to grow. Giving thanks is integral to the Native
American culture. The harvest
celebrations allow a time to reflect on being thankful, to be with family, and
to count blessings.
The
Wampanoags were caring people who lent a hand to the settlers who were, at the
time, less fortunate. They were
heroes who shared their celebration with the Pilgrims. Yet somehow this has become lost.
Did
you know that the day after Thanksgiving is designated as our country's
official day to pay homage to Native American heritage and culture? Somehow, this too has become lost. Black Friday (and now Gray Thursday)
morphed into the official kickoff of the "holiday" shopping season
where we pay homage to retail.
As
the year draws to a close, it’s time to reflect and pay homage to the people
and things that are important. This
year we’ve got a great deal to be thankful for and would like to take a moment
to reflect on the people who helped us with our success. We couldn’t have made
The Essential Workplace Conflict Handbook a reality without them. Shout outs to
Susan Devereaux, our virtual assistant, for editing and formatting the
manuscript and keeping us on track; Marilyn Allen, our literary agent, for her
help and; the staff at Career Press for continuing to believe in us; Sharon
Armstrong, our biggest cheerleader; and our many friends and family members who
labored through the writing process and gave us encouragement.
Reflect
on accomplishments and celebrate successes in your organization. Give thanks to the people who
made those successes happen.
Reflect on your own organizations culture -- it traditions and
celebrations. Review the past,
look to the future and take some time to just be!
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
Workplace Bullying—It’s a Bottom Line Issue!
The following is an excerpt from our article that was published by HR.BLR.com on October 12, 2015.. The full article can be found at: http://hr.blr.com/HR-news/Health-Safety/Violence-in-Workplace/Workplace-bullying-bottom-line-issue#
What is Workplace Bullying?
Workplace bullying is defined as the repeated infliction of international, malicious, and abusive behavior that interferes with a person’s ability to do his/her work and is substantial enough to cause physical and/or psychological harm that a reasonable person would find hostile or offensive.
Workplace bullying can take many forms including:
· Shouting or screaming at a co-worker
· Singling out a co-worker for unjustified criticism or blame
· Excluding a co-worker from work activities or social events
· Ignoring work contributions
· Using language that embarrasses or humiliates a co-worker
· Making jokes that repeatedly target the same person
The bad news is that bullies can be anyone in the organization—including managers and leaders. So, organizations must realize that, if anyone can be a bully and anyone can be bullied, having a policy against bullying is their first defense. Policies can be helpful but to really have an impact, the policy has to be enforced and the subject of bullying discussed so that everyone knows the organization has zero tolerance for bullies.
Elements of a Workplace Bullying Policy
A workplace bullying policy should include:
· Purpose or objective of the policy
· Who it covers (all employees, managers, executives,)
· Definition of workplace bullying*
· Examples of behaviors that will not be tolerated
· How to report workplace bullying
· Investigation process
· Consequences of workplace bullying
Communication Process
Once you have your policy developed, this is a great time for a communication blitz on the topic of workplace bullying. Train managers on how to spot bullying and how to report it and on how your policy works. Hold meetings with all employees to discuss the policy and the consequences of workplace bullying.
Let everyone know that each person has a responsibility to keep bullying out of your organization. This is another place where “if you see it, say it” applies.
Bottom Line
Most of us want to work for organizations where we feel productive and where our contributions to be valued. Workplace bullying can impact our organization’s productivity and therefore, our bottom line. Organizations today can’t afford to be silent on this issue—it’s too important to be overlooked.
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
What the World’s Most Innovative Organizations are Doing Right
Fast Company magazine does a yearly review of
innovative companies. In the most
recent study published in March of 2015, they list the Top 50 Most Innovative
Companies of 2014. Not
surprisingly, Google tops the list but there are others on the list that are
lesser known but still innovative and interesting organizations. Their study was conducted over 6 months
time and they reviewed thousands of organizations.
As they reviewed the data they used, some trends
emerged and we’ve summarized five of them for you to consider as you,
hopefully, work to encourage innovation in your organization.
·
“Exceptional is expected”—Google is number one
on the list because its people execute at a high level often. Word like exceptional aren’t often used
in business but should be! We all
should be striving to do great work as frequently as possible and to take
whatever our role is to new heights—not just once in a while. I would love to work for an
organization that expected me to be exceptional—how about you?
·
“Innovation is episodic”—interesting that only a
few of the companies that made last year’s list are on this year’s list and the
authors think that is not because those people “lost their edge,” it’s because
innovation isn’t a constant in most places—it comes and goes! This should remind us to grab on to an
innovative idea when we find one and not let it go as it may never come again!
·
“Making money matters”—it’s nice to have a
workplace where ideas are flowing but if those ideas can’t be translated into new
business opportunities or improvements, they really don’t matter. The really innovative organizations
generate new ideas that result in moving the business forward and are
self-sustaining.
·
“Happy customers make you happy”—their example
of this is Yelp which works hard to reward its customers by adding features
that make it easier to use their product. This is in contrast to organizations
that were on previous lists that appear to be doing the reverse—making it more
difficult to be their customer. Do
you listen to your customers and use that feedback to move your organization
forward?
·
“Unlocking global talent unlocks
possibilities”—they cite a company in Kenya, IHUB that is unleashing Silicon
Valley potential by signing up 10,000 members, launching 152 companies, and
expanding into Tanzania and Uganda.
Are you thinking globally for ideas and markets?
Our
world has become so focused on short-term results that we often neglect the
ideas that have long-term impact.
What are you doing to ensure that your employees and dare I say you, are
encouraging innovation? If you’re
not coming up with new ideas, what’s to become of you? Robert Sefan writes in the Fast Company
article, “Breakthrough progress often requires wide-eyed hope.” Not something we think about in
business today but maybe we should!
It is encouraging that Fast Company says, “Risk of
failure and collapse are always with us. But the culture of innovation across
the globe is more robust than ever!”
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