"AND A CHILD SHALL LEAD THEM"

Malala Yousufzai is a 14 year old activist in Pakistan.  She is an advocate in her country for girl's education.  She has been publicly voicing her convictions for that right.

For this action, she was shot in the head and the neck. Grown men had actually been following her moves and chose last Tuesday, when she was riding back home from school with other children, to (try to) kill her.  Today, Saturday, she is listed in critical condition and hangs on to her young life.

Let us all pray for Malala.  We pray she continues to get stronger every day. 

May the cowards who committed this heinous act be caught and justice prevail.

"it wasn't me, it was...!" (conflict resolution)

(part of the Total Quality Leadership (TQL) series)

How an organization achieves world class quality excellence depends on its leaders within the organization, at all levels of the organization.  Whether your organization has just started its quality journey with ISO certification or are ready to apply for the world renowned Deming award, the critical success factor to world class quality excellence…it’s all in the leadership!

Leadership skills that make an environment successful are the same skills that we learned when we were little.  Today's skill, conflict resolution.

When children disagree, we make sure the shouting and the yelling don't get too out of hand. Name calling indicates the disagreement has gotten to the point where there is no point.  Physical hands-on each other is a definite no-no (I know this is different for parents who use the ole "go out there and kick his butt" attitude but I think we have grown enough bullies, boys and girls, with that type of stance.  just my opinion)  Our responsibility as adults is to teach children how to argue.  There is a time to allow venting (letting each state their side), then there is a time to say "stop" and move them to resolution.  They cannot hear each other if both are speaking at the same time (or yelling and screaming).  Name-calling is not a solution, it says "the real problem [I have with you] is over 'cause I don't have any more to back up my side."  An initial solution today is to call a time out. The purpose is to give both time to think about their (poor) behavior, return, apologize, and calmly discuss the problem (hopefully) to resolution.  All is good with the world (for at least 30 minutes). 

A simple swat to the head with a large club was our cave-dwelling forefathers’ method of conflict management.  Debate, alternative solutions, creative ideas, and change are the differences in people that can also breed (positive) conflict.

Cognitive Conflicts are helpful conflicts.  The focus is on issue alternatives, advantages, disadvantages, cost-benefit analysis, and opportunity costs.  They clarify the issues and result in better decisions.  Members have a high commitment to the decisions made.  Properly managed conflict yields Constructive outcomes

·       Introduction of new approaches or solutions

·       Prevelent problems are brought out in the open

·       Thoughts and feelings are clarified

·       Interest and creativity are stimulated

·       Personal capabilities are stretched

Affective Conflicts are more personal conflicts.  They focus on members, accuse each other of selfish motives, argue for self-serving alternatives, finger-pointing, lobby each other, blame the other side, and second-guess previous decisions.  They can tear a team apart.  The result is a weak or ineffective decision with little or no commitment to implementation.  Unmanaged conflict yields Destructive outcomes.   

•         It breeds a climate of distrust and suspicion

•       There is resistance to teamwork

•       People leave the situation because of the turmoil

The selection below is one I found on the children's mini-page of our local newspaper. It is a test to evaluate conflict management skills 001.  How well will you do?







 

“all done...?” (performance appraisals)

(part of the Total Quality Leadership (TQL) series)

How an organization achieves world class quality excellence depends on its leaders within the organization, at all levels of the organization.  Whether your organization has just started its quality journey with ISO certification or are ready to apply for the world renowned Deming award, the critical success factor to world class quality excellence…it’s all in the leadership!

Leadership skills that make an environment successful are the same skills that we learned when we were little.  Today, performance appraisals.

When we ask children to do something, we tell them what to do and what the expectations are.  "I want you to sweep the kitchen floor and make sure you clean behind the table.  Thank you."  If it's the first time they've done it, we show them how.  We then turn the task over to them, we watch them for a while, and answer questions when asked.  When it appears the child understands the what, the how and the why, we leave them to finish the task. When they are done, they will come in and tell you to "come and look".  You walk into the kitchen, look at the floor and give your comments.  They may range from "good job" to "it looks good but you forgot to clean under the table".

"Good job" means the task is over and expectations have been met.  Depending on the age of the child, if he/she also mopped the floor, expectations were "exceeded".  If the first review means the task was not complete, the child will try again. When finished, the child will come in, and the review process, this time, should net the "good job" appraisal.  If not, the process of sharing with the child what was missed and having the child try again will continue until expectations are met and the "good job" appraisal is achieved.  Not all children learn at the same pace.  It may take only once for one child and several times for another.  One child may just need to understand exactly what you mean ("you didn't tell me to pick it up, you just said 'sweep' ".)  et touché!

Performance appraisals should be used as a way to increase employee achievement.  Back in the day performance evaluations were used as a "gotcha" tool.  To evaluate means to examine and judge something, not a person.  To appraise: HR – to make a formal assessment of an employee or an employee’s performance following an agreed set of criteria.

In our team based environment, both employee and team leader (or manager and director; director and vice president...) sit down and discuss achievements and needed (continuous) improvements of the year past.  This should not be a surprise to either involved.  In a team based environment, we share performance every day.  When a correction needs to be made, we share immediately.  The goal is to continuously coach our team for their success and ours.  The introduction of SMART goals in the '90s was the tool to assist in the professional development of all employees regardless of level.  SMART goals articulate the expectations and eliminate the nebulousness of evaluations (what does "you're a good leader" mean?). 

• Specific  (what is the task or objective?  Attach details if appropriate)
• Measures  (standards and parameters)
• Achievable  (is it?)                         
• Realistic  (is it?)
• Time-bound  (start / finish dates)

When questions are asked, they need to be answered to the satisfaction of the one who asked.  The old "that's why I hired you" comment does nothing to inspire or teach or answer a question.  Today that comment translates to "I don't know but I don't want to tell you I don't know".  It's ok if you don't know, just say that rather than putting the onus on the questioner.

Remember the "one size does not fit all" mantra.  Employees (all humans) learn at a different pace.  Specificity removes ambiguousness in expectations - the "you didn't say x, all you said was....".  The time taken up-front to insure goals are understood, and agreed to, by both the team leader and the associate saves time in behavior and task performance.  It allows for an easy "yes" or "no" when responding to the "all done?" questions in the performance appraisal process.  The goal for both you and the employee is to achieve the "good job" grade.

Are you employing SMART in your business? 

 



“wanna play wif us?” (Team Building)

(part of the Total Quality Leadership (TQL) series)

How an organization achieves world class quality excellence depends on its leaders within the organization, at all levels of the organization.  Whether your organization has just started its quality journey with ISO certification or is ready to apply for the world renowned Deming award, the critical success factor to world class quality excellence…it’s all in the leadership!

I believe the leadership skills that make an environment successful are the same skills learned on the playground.  Today's skill, team building.

Children love everyone!  The eagerly want to join others and play.  They pick their friends  and others they believe will help them win the game for their side. They help each other out and they enjoy interacting with each other. They learn the rules of the game(s) and follow them.  They learn what happens if they do not follow the rules of the game(s). Their parents or other adults are there to oversee they play agreeably.  

Let's identify true team-based environments using one example of what should be a very simple process. Do your associates schedule their vacations and days off with the approval of their team mates (the people they work with 8 hours a day and who are the ones directly impacted by their absence?)  or

is there still a signature process that involves a litany of people up the "management chain" - supervisors, managers, HR?   if yes, why?  Ninety percent of the responses suggest the "team" is unable to "make those kind of decisions". 

If, as a supervisor or above, you are still spending your time signing off on vacation or time off requests (except for your direct staff) you are unnecssarily adding to the cost of a simple process and negatively impacting the growth of your staff to becoming a self-directed work team. (see blog, ABCM 7/14 and 7/19)

In a true team based environment,

1.) the associate team (those that work together 8 hours a day) would deliberate the "request for absences" at the morning associate team meeting. “Absences or request for time off” would be listed as an agenda item (daily, weekly, monthly— depending on the size of the business).

(the team leader would share the work or tasks for the week in a daily “data-exchange” agenda item)

2.) Together, the associate team would evaluate the team leader's input and make their "yes, no" decision.  The team leader would assist in the process only if needed.

The prelude for the above team process is:

1. We have educated the associates on the process of  “decision-making" in a team building class.

· We have implemented job / skill sharing (some still use the vernacular "cross training") with each member on the team.

2. We have educated the associates on the company policy specifics for “time off”. (identify the rules)

· My policy:  we will not hire temporary worker(s) for the job;  the work will not fall behind  (read:  job / skill sharing [cross training] has taken place).

3. My policy:  All desk procedures are written and up-to-date. (identify the rules and what happens if they are not followed)

· "Your vacation will be interrupted if something happens and no one knows what to do.  This will also negatively impact your request the next time you ask for time off. It will also be noted in your performance review."

Just as we do with children, if we share the rules of the game (read:  set policy) with our team, they should be able to carry them out (read:  implement the procedure) and be held accountable for their decisions. Decision-making is an invaluable skill for the team to learn. It is the basis for any problem solving technique.  Vacations and time off is one that impacts them directly.  Teaching them how to approve or disapprove this request is a good start to their skill set addition.

This is but one example of how true team-based environments should operate.  Does yours? If not, why not?

Celebrate Us!

I spoke, via Skype, this morning to a group of over 100 young girls ages 13 - 18.  They hail from over 25 countries  -  Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Ghana, Honduras, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Korea, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Tunisia, Turkey, the UK, the US - just like you.  They attend public, private, and parochial schools.

My topic:  Success is not a “one size fits all” definition.

One of the recurring comments by the audience was there were so few resources for them.  Yes, they know Secretary Clinton, UN Ambassador Rice, IMF President Lagarde but what about the women I spoke about in my presentation. Couldn't I ask them to write their stories?  This prompted my CTA (call to action) to you.

When I hung up, I started thinking about all of you - family, friends, my social media, professional organization and academia colleagues. All of you are successful role models.  Each of you, regardless of race, age, religion, geographic, socioeconomic, demographic, or occupation (and I include the unpaid occupation of homemaker in this group) has a story to tell and lessons learned during your journey to “right now”.  Each of you has a message to contribute.

I would like to ask each of you to write your story, maximum 1000 words and end with 3-5 lessons learned.  Use word.doc format, your name and country on top of page, your title is optional, and a picture would be great.  If you are hesitant to write a story, please include your 3-5 lessons learned.  All pieces will be compiled and published as a motivational resource for young girls globally.

I would like to meet a December 1 deadline.  Return your article via e-mail, the comments section on this blog site, my Entre Nous blog, facebook, or our website. 

Thank you for your help.  I look forward to reading YOUR story and I know the girls will too.

Leading From Behind - Team Based Management !

“Leading from behind" is a management style born from the genesis of team-based, learning organizations. The ship’s captain is the last one off the ship when problems abound, the shepherd is behind the flock guiding them, and the generals are not the ones on the front lines.  In former South African President Nelson Mandela’s autobiography, he references the shepherd and his flock. In his story he relates, “a shepherd walks behind his flock, making sure they all stay together and keeps them moving in the right direction”.

The pyramid as we baby boomers knew it – management on top and associates on the bottom - flipped in the mid-1990s. As the philosophy of “team based environment” grew, so did the understanding that the original bottom of the pyramid, the workers, were actually the ones who generated the dollars. The logic is simple and is in response to this business analogy – “If management did not come into work today, would the organization still run?” respond.  “If the associates did not come into work today, would the place still run?  respond.

The new pyramid reflects the value of the associates in the organization (they are, after all, our greatest assets). Our responsibility is to ensure we provide our management and associate staffs the tools they need to perform their job responsibilities.  Building excellence into every aspect of the company by focusing on creating a workplace that encourages EVERYONE to contribute is the primary component of World Class Environments.  Coaching and team building are the fundamentals of the lead-from-behind philosophy. 

Coaching High Performance Work Teams

Coaching is defined as education, lessons, instruction, training, or schooling.  Coaches instill fundamentals. Coaches build teamwork (“we are only as strong as our weakest link”). Coaches evaluate and adjust (H we are not all alike). Coaches reinforce and motivate. Coaches help every team member see how each of them is important to the team’s success. Coaches help find out which specific skills the organization values, and why (micro-education eliminates micro-managing). Coaches encourage staffs to take risks by building a supportive environment that lets them learn from failures (“experience is the fruit from the tree of errors”). Managers who see themselves as coaches tend to see their employees as individuals of innate talent and worth.

 

Today’s success in any organization large or small is its people. Empowering employees to make their own decisions based on sound educational judgment is imperative for survival (“give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man HOW to fish and you feed him for life”). Top-level managers recognize a team-based environment is a benefit (the key) to their organization and their bottom line cost savings.  Once you’ve coached your team and taught them the skills to achieve, get out of the way and lead from behind.

"do you want this one or this one?" (Decision-making)

(part of the Total Quality Leadership Skills series)

How an organization achieves world class quality excellence depends on its leaders within the organization, at all levels of the organization.  Whether your organization has just started its quality journey with ISO certification or are ready to apply for the world renowned Deming award, the critical success factor to world class quality excellence…it’s all in the leadership!

It is my (proven) belief that the leadership skills that make an environment successful are the same skills that we learned when we were little and playing in the sandbox.  The sandbox skill I want to talk about today is decision making.

                      

                    

“Which of the two sets do you want?” The choice might be based on a favorite color. The choice might be to pick the orange shovel from one set but the red pail from the other.  As a child, decisions are limited. “Which clothes do want to wear?” “Which toys do you want to take?” “Which sandwich do you feel like eating?” Parents are there to make sure children make the right decisions.  They may have a firm “no” in response or they may try and cajole the child into picking something else. Parent’s responsibility is to tell them the end result of their decisions. Unless the choice is detrimental to the child, letting them make up their own minds is fun for them. It makes them feel grown-up and teaches them life-long learning skills. They face few consequences because parents are their safeguards.

The greatest power that a person possesses is the power to choose.

As adults, decision-making carries the weight of making the RIGHT choice. Following are the decision-making steps needed to make the right choice:

(1.) Start the decision-making by identifying your wants and needs;

(2.) Rank each;

(3) Gather all the information necessary to make a decision. Explore alternatives, consequences, advantages, and disadvantages. Be objective, not emotional:

(4) Establish how much of a risk you are willing to take. Then, consider these strategies

 (a) choose the safest alternative - the one that can’t fail,

 (b) select the one with the best odds for success,

 (c) pick the option with the most desirable outcome - despite the risk

(5) Eliminate any option that might present a loss you won’t be able to live with – despite high odds for its success; and finally,

(6) Picture how you would deal with negative consequences.

The following is an example of a decision-making process to answer the question:  when to get gas:

The act of choice is the high point of the decision-making process. The more we investigate up front, the better our choice The choice itself is the conclusion of the process.  Once made, decisions will trigger: (a) action, (b) movement, or (c) change. It’s wise to remember, adults do face the consequences of  their decisions and, most of the times, there are no safeguards.  (OMG, I ran out of gas!)