Business Record - Iowa Biz

Train 'em & Retain 'em?

Carl, a young professional I know, recently left his company; even though I know he was doing well, was well thought of, and was on the fast track to a higher level management position.

"What happened?" I asked him. "I thought you were part of their emerging leader program."

Now catch this, because his answer is a wake-up call for all of us who are concerned about keeping our best employees in these worst of times.

"Sure, I got lots of training. It seemed like every other week I was going to a training program or doing something online. But it was all about the company. Nothing about developing who I am as a person. My supervisor wasn't big on talking about what I was best at or where I could improve. He praised a lot, but what he said, he could have said to anyone on the team. I honestly don't think they knew what I could have done for them."

So...Carl's been recruited away by a major company and is already being groomed for a leadership position there. He has an executive coach. A member of the executive team is mentoring him. He's scheduled to get some 360-degree feedback in six months.

Managers tell me they often struggle with how much time and money to budget for the training and development of employees like Carl. My response? If you have to ask whether you're doing enough, you probably aren't. It'd be hard to spend too much, especially of one-on-one time. Remember, Carl wasn't wanting more class time; he wanted attention paid to his aspirations, his struggles, his untapped potential.

Training and development are not the exclusive role of HR. As leaders, a big part of our role is to ensure that informal learning is happening every minute of every day. In team meetings. On sales calls. During project launches. This kind of spontaneous, one-on-one interaction is fast and easy and doesn't cost a time. And ironically enough, it's what Carl was looking for at his old company.

Ask yourself these questions and listen to your answers. Are you happy with them?

• How many employees have you groomed and promoted under your leadership?
• How many courses and workshops does your company offer? How many do you personally conduct?
• How often do your employees get to learn from both inside and outside experts?
• How easy it is for employees to access opportunities to learn in your organization?

As parents, we wouldn't think of ignoring our kids or firing them. We know we have to develop them, over time, day by day, in the small interactions we have with them. By applying that same wisdom to our employees, we'll have fewer of them -- like Carl-- feel ignored and leave.

Re-energize. Unplug.

In a recent article in The Des Moines Register, Dana Hunsinger referenced "the epidemic of  overwork, over-scheduling and time famine in America's workplaces." Think of how many business people you know -- including yourself, more than likely -- who routinely work 50-60 hours a week. Even when we're not at work, we're hard at work...on our cell phones, laptops and Blackberries. This is especially true during tough economic times when fear drives us to put in even more hours.

For decades, we've questioned the wisdom of being continually "plugged in." Remember Stephen Covey's analogy of "sharpening the saw," stopping periodically to renew physically, mentally, socially and spiritually? Without that renewal time, like a saw, we become dull and ineffective.

John deGraaf, Executive Director of Take Back Your Time, talks in the Register article about how essential time off is to our health. He says that men who don't take regular vacations are 32 percent more likely to suffer from heart disease than those who do, and women are 50 percent more likely.

During the recent election, for the first time, both campaigns listed work+life issues as part of their economic agendas. President-elect Obama specifically sees work+life as a mainstream economic and social policy issue.

Ultimately it comes down to individual choices though, doesn't it? Maintaining a conscious balance between work and personal life so that one doesn't dominate the other. Balance does not mean 50/50. It's not about clock time.

Balance is about how we use the time we have. It's deciding, "What's a reasonable balance for me?"

• Is it a few hours a week unencumbered by work worries? Unplugged physically from the Blackberry, emotionally from the to-do list? Plugged socially into family and friends, spiritually into the silent chambers of our souls?
• Is it taking four breaks a day to walk around the block, to sit for a few minutes beside a sunny window, to read a few pages in a favorite magazine?
• Is it some solitude every evening between dinner and bedtime?
• Is it playing more with the kids?
• Is it having a real conversation with your spouse, partner or friend each day?
• Is it making time every week in your schedule for a sports, community or religious activity that you care deeply about? 

We have to consciously schedule "time off" into our lives, just like we schedule staff meetings into our calendars. Knowing when not to work is just as important as knowing when to.

Fiddling on the Roof

When I think of business leaders in these tough economic times, I'm reminded of the fiddler on the roof. The fiddler's true passion is making beautiful music. His only real problem is to avoid falling off the roof while he fiddles. Where does he need to focus his energies -- on making beautiful music or on clinging to the eaves? If 95 percent of his energy is devoted to holding on and not falling, it's doubtful that he'll be playing much music with the remaining five percent. However, if he can learn to steady himself, have confidence in his balance, and maybe even look out and survey the beauty of the world around him, he can live his passion and continue to make beautiful music.

What about you? Are you crouched down in a defensive mode, hoping at best to hold on, devoting 5 percent of your resources to new ideas, fresh approaches and bold initiatives? Or are you standing tall, scanning the horizon for new audiences, continually improving the quality and value of your products to keep them as memorable as ever?

Your answer says something about the role that fear plays in your psyche as a business leader. In the final analysis, fear is the only thing that can ever defeat us. We can more consistently achieve our potential -- and our organization's potential -- if we are not distracted or intimidated by the fear of falling/failing.

While others are worrying about falling/failing:

• Seize the moment. Be even more aggressive in your selling efforts. Call on people you've never had the courage to call on before. Play your music for them with passion. Given the tough times, they're looking and listening for opportunities where they might not have considered looking before. That's where you come in.
• Innovate. Package things differently. Offer new solutions. Give enticing incentives to an audience that didn't even know they liked your kind of music -- until you showed up fiddling. Let passion prevail.
• Be persistent. If you know you're making beautiful music, never stop playing. Play with energy, drive and a need to finish. Get someone to help you if you need to be better organized, disciplined and focused. Do it now -- don't procrastinate.

I've heard it said, "Life is like a grinding wheel. It will sharpen you up or wear you down, depending on what you're made of." That metaphor is especially true in tough times. Use this dip in the economy to sharpen your skills as a business person and a leader...and to prove what you're made of.

Are you a cryptic informer? Or a hoarder?

Try this quiz:

• Do you provide all the information that people need to know to do their jobs and to feel good about being a member of the team or a part of your organization?
• Do you provide individuals with the information they need to make accurate decisions?
• Are you timely with the information that you do provide?

It seems so obvious, doesn't it? How could you be in a leadership position--whether a team lead, a mid-level manager, or a C-level executive -- and answer anything other than "yes" to those three questions above?

Here's the rub. A lot of the executives I work with every day tell me they do these things. And I think they're sincere; they believe they do. But they don't. They might:

• Hoard information or not see sharing it as important
• Tell too little (or too much...which is also damaging)
• Tell too late
• Be inconsistent, informing some people better than others
• Use their favorite mode (email? oral?) all the time, appropriate or not

People want and need to understand what's going on around them. Obviously it's not possible --or necessary --for everyone to know everything. Ask yourself, "What do people need to know so they are well equipped to do their jobs well?" Do they know:

1. As much as possible about their jobs? This is a no-brainer and applies to everyone on the payroll. You can't give people too much information about their own jobs.
2. How their role fits within the team and the department and the organization?
3. The overall vision for the enterprise? What's happening within the industry? The "big picture?"

Because it seems like a simple skill, we often take it for granted that we're doing it well. If you're not sure how well you do at "informing," ask some trusted team members and peers  (...who will be honest with you) to assess your performance on the eleven basic qualities and questions listed above. Then, when you do, accept that feedback as a valuable gift, because you've just been informed about your foundational status as a leader. Good luck!

The Power of Conscious Competence

Have you ever tried to squeeze your size 14 body into a size 12 suit? Doesn't work, does it? Oh, maybe you can get the pants on without ripping them out. The moment you go to sit down though, or eat more than one cup of soup, you're going to be outside your comfort zone. And maybe at risk for exposing the gap between "reality" and "desire."

There's nothing wrong with being a size 14. Celebrate it. Leverage all that being a size 14 means. But let go of being a size 12. Life is too short to not be able to comfortably sit down.

Those of us in business often do something similar when we try to fit into a job or a career that is not "the right size" for us. We try to squeeze ourselves into an account executive position at an ad agency when our strengths are better suited to teaching the arts in an elementary school. Peter Drucker said, "Most Americans do not know what their strengths are. When you ask them, they look at you with a blank stare, or they respond in terms of subject knowledge, which is the wrong answer."

In our work lives, if we can discern what our greatest strengths are -- when we are at our best, in the zone, performing in a way that is both excellent and exhilarating -- we can be consciously competent. We can sense what's working and how it's working and why it's working. And thus, we can replicate that performance and satisfaction over and over again, every day we engage in work that is right-sized for us and for our unique set of talents.

Tom Rath's best-selling book, StrengthsFinder 2.0, is a wonderful tool for getting started on that road to conscious competence. Inside each copy is a unique identification number that allows access to a StrengthsFinder Profile on the Internet, a revolutionary program to help readers identify their talents, build them into strengths and enjoy consistent, near-perfect performance.

It's well worth the time and study to identify what you're really good at, what makes your heart sing, what hardly seems like work at all. Listening to that inner voice guides you to take the next step that is in keeping with who we really are -- where your strengths reside -- rather than into a role or a position where the world...and employment managers...might be trying to squeeze you.

Conrad Hilton, the founder of Hilton Hotels, used to tell this story. A very poor Greek once applied for a job as a janitor in a bank in Athens. "Can you write?" demanded the discriminating head of employment. "Only my name," said the fellow. He didn't get the job -- so he borrowed the required money to travel steerage to the United States, the "land of opportunity."

Many years later an important Greek businessman held a press conference in his beautiful Wall Street office. At the conclusion, an enterprising reporter said, "You should write your memoirs." The gentleman smiled. "Impossible," he said, "I cannot write." The reporter was astounded. "Just think," he remarked, "how much farther you would have gone if you could write." The Greek should his head and said, "If I could write, I'd be a janitor."

Obama, McCain and Behavioral Interviewing

Ask any HR professional who's been in the job longer than six months to finish the sentence, "Past behavior..." and they'll pipe up with, ..."predicts future behavior." If you're not in HR, it doesn't matter. As a leader, you still get this concept. You've built teams and thought about succession. Behavior in one situation usually predicts behavior in a similar situation at a later time. Business people know this to hold true.

Historically, we've used past behavior to predict future behavior in all walks of life.

• Banks lend money more readily to people who've proven over time that they pay back their loans.
• Baseball pitchers feel much less confident facing a batter with a .333 batting average than one with a .220 average.
• The fastest and most productive factory workers are the ones chosen for special projects requiring speed and accuracy.

As interviewers in the workplace, we can expect past behavior to be repeated, especially if there's a high overlap between a candidate's past performance situation and our open position. For instance, if an open position requires handing customer complaints, we'd ask the candidate for examples of their past experience in handling customer complaints or similar conflict situations with friends or co-workers. We'd say something like,

• "Tell me about a time when you had to handle an angry customer's complaint. Describe the situation for me in detail."
• "What specific actions did you take -or not take- in that situation? What exactly was your role?"
• "What were the results or changes which occurred as a result of your actions?"

What if we're hiring for a sales position but, let's say, the applicant has never held a sales job. Any hope of assessing that person's sales ability? Sure. We'd just have to ask the applicant to tell us about situations in which they had to persuade others, sell their ideas to co-workers, or influence a group to do something. What was the scenario? What exactly did you do? What was the outcome?

It's ironic, isn't it, that we're about to "hire" a candidate for a soon-to-be-vacant position -- the most powerful position in the executive branch of our federal government, the leader of the free world -- and we don't use the same rigor in that interview process, when we know it's proven to produce better results over time.

Instead of asking presidential candidates to spontaneously answer the same type of behavioral questions we use for hiring commercial loan officers and graphic designers, we settle for the sound bites that their campaign committees carefully craft late at night in hotel rooms when the latest poll results roll in. 

What if we could ask presidential candidates these behavioral questions and they had to reply on the spot, the way our job applicants have to, every day:

• "Tell me about a time when you demonstrated creativity in solving a problem. What was the situation? Your role? The result?"
• "How do you relate with people who aren't like you and don't see the world the way you do? Give me a specific instance when that was true. What did you do? And the result?"
• "The role of Commander-in-Chief requires sound judgment in times of crisis. Tell me about the biggest crisis you ever faced, when your back was against the wall and you had to act. What did you do? What was the outcome?"

Whether we're adding one more telemarketer to our call center team or replacing the President of the United States, having a dual focus in the interview process is what seems to consistently reap the greatest success...looking to the past to predict the future.

Perfect Practice Makes Perfect

How do those at the top of their game get there? Someone like Olympian gymnast Shawn Johnson. Or up-and-comer COO David Stark at Iowa Health-Des Moines. They practice. Perfectly.

For most of us --most of the time--we reach our highest level of proficiency after about 50 hours of practicing something new, such as driving, golf, tennis, or keyboarding. Because it's working for us, we stop trying to get better and our development stalls out. Once you learned how to do a decent PowerPoint presentation on your laptop, did you tease out all the hundreds of options available, or did "good enough" become good enough? Usually it's the latter. And that's OK. The added effort it would take to become a presentation expert often isn't worth it.

But what about your level of proficiency as a manager? Or the technical aspects of your profession or career? As a manager, did your coaching, interviewing and delegating skills reach an acceptable level and then plateau? Studies show that many professionals --software engineers, teachers, brain surgeons, etc. --peak somewhere around five years after entering the profession. From then on, there's often little correlation between time in the profession and performance levels. That's not good.

Want to be the best of the best in your field? Then practice what Dr. Anders Ericsson calls "deliberate" practice. Here's what it looks like to practice perfectly:

1.) Concentrate hard on what you're doing: what's working, what isn't and why. Turn off the autopilot. Really focus.

2.) Get clear, frequent and rapid feedback about how you're doing. Stop thinking negatively about tests...how else will you know you're making progress?

3.) Set "mini" goals that are behavior-based, not outcome-based. Mastery will come when behaviors have been mastered.

4.) Prepare for setbacks. See them as "guides," not barriers.

Supposedly, Pablo Picasso was walking down the street in Paris one day when a woman recognized and approached him. After introducing herself and praising his work, she asked him if he would consider drawing her portrait and offered to pay him for the piece.

Picasso agreed and sat the woman down right there on the side of the street, brought out a sketchbook and pencil, and began to draw the woman. A small crowd of spectators gathered very quickly, but in only a handful of minutes Picasso had finished the drawing, and as he handed it to the woman said, "That will be five thousand francs." Surprised at the price, the woman objected saying, "But Mr. Picasso, it took you only a few minutes." Picasso smiled and replied, "No, my dear woman, you are mistaken; it took me a whole lifetime."

Picasso became the famed Picasso not because he practiced his whole life, but because he practiced perfectly.

Turn Around & Lead

It's been said, "No one leads the orchestra without turning his back on the crowd."

Leading is many times standing alone. And standing alone is a whole lot riskier than following along in the midst of a crowd. It's easy to see why so few of us make the grade. It's lonely and scary out there on a limb, all by ourselves. You know the wisecrack: "Yeah, but that's why you get the big bucks!"

Sure. The big bucks -- even the consistent paycheck -- makes the buffeting that can come from staking out a tough position a little less traumatic. But we're talking bravery here. You'll know the degree to which you are authentically a leader at your very core, regardless of your leadership style, by:

• how comfortable you are with the inherent conflict that comes with taking a stand.
• how willing you are to speak against an idea when everyone else on the team is for it.
• how confident you are with yourself, i.e. the strength of your self concept

Think about Obama and McCain. Any political figure really...mayor, governor, school board member. We may not agree with their stand many times, but you have to give them one thing. They are willing to take the heat for taking that stand. They're OK with being out front, in the spotlight, an easy target for the critics.

And there are always critics. You could be the most competent and beloved leader in your business unit or organization and trust me, some people will still find fault. Not everyone's going to like you. Or agree with you. Ever. So you may as well be true to yourself, to what you believe is right. Step up, state it, and accept the consequences. If it turns out you're wrong, admit it, and move on. (And like most politicians, run again!)

What's it take to be brave like that?

• Be OK with being wrong. Successful managers often get promoted because they have the guts to stand alone, not because they are always right. (Studies show they're only right about 65% of the time.)
• Know what it is you really want when difficult situations arise. I mean long term. Not this instant. Then keep that long-term goal in front of you as you work through the situation. Do this and you'll be amazed at the positive impact it has on your emotions, especially fear.
• The more passionate you are about something, the easier it is to bravely take a stand, to be a champion for an idea. Pick your battles wisely.

Remember, life is not a popularity contest. Neither is being a leader. So turn around, face the orchestra and lead.

Leadership=Relationship

It's tough to be a great elementary school teacher if you're not interested in establishing a relationship with kids. Can you imagine being married for fifty years and having a miserable relationship with your spouse? Yikes!

The same holds true if you want to be a respected leader. You have to want to -- and be willing to take the time and make the effort -- to build a relationship with those you're leading.

If you're a leader today, there are countless ways to learn about connecting with others in the workplace:

• many CEOs hire executive coaches
• bookstores are full of self-help books that detail how to build and manage relationships on the way to the top
• some find a mentor with the emotional intelligence to engage and inspire people

But, there isn't a lot of hard scientific evidence in those books and personal resources to show what makes or breaks work relationships. A lot of it seems to revolve around personal chemistry, which is almost magic-like. There is, however, a growing body of research to show what it takes to have successful relationships at home.

That's good news, especially if you believe -- as most psychologists do -- that the way someone manages their work relationships is a lot like the way they manage their personal ones. If you're distant with your loved ones, chances are you're distant at work. If you're engaged with your family, your employees will probably find you engage them as well. Abusive at home? That will show up somehow at work.

Here's someone leaders can learn from: relationship guru John M. Gottman, executive director of the Relationship Research Institute in Seattle (...known as the "Love Lab").

He's been studying marriage and divorce for 35 years. He's screened, interviewed and tracked thousands of couples over time. With the help of heart monitors, biofeedback and video cameras, he measures what goes on when couples experience moments of conflict and closeness. By mathematically analyzing the data, Gottman has generated hard scientific data about what makes good relationships.

The way the couples treat each other during the videotaped conversations predicts who will stay married 94 percent of the time. Ninety-four percent!

Who do you know who can accurately predict 94 percent of any human behavior? And what's even more mind-boggling is that the researchers have to watch the couples for only 15 minutes to predict marital success.

What's the element that determines their long-term relational success?

Here's the nugget! Couples who demonstrated the ability to work through differences by stating their views honestly and respectfully stayed together.

Consider the workplace, where the same skill-set applies: if leaders can work through differences with others --direct reports, peers, and boss -- by stating their views honestly and respectfully, they'll stand apart as someone worthy of trust and respect...and thus, someone worthy of following. Sounds like a skill-set worth learning, huh?

• Learn more about Gottman and his research in the December '07 Harvard Business Review.
• Ask yourself, "Am I as eager to listen to others as I am to talk to them?" Then honestly listen to your answer. Ask other trusted individuals as well, those who will honestly and respectfully tell you the truth. (Recognize that characteristic?).
• Envision a saltshaker full of yeses (as in, "Yes, that's a perspective I hadn't considered.") that you sprinkle throughout your interactions with others. That's the metaphor that Gottman says describes what a relationship is: looking for ways to accentuate the positive in others and in your relationship with them.

The result? The formula for success. Leadership=Relationship=Success.

Nudge Your Way to Success

Inertia is a killer! Just ask that diabetes patient on her deathbed who was going to get serious about eating right and taking her medicine -- next Monday. For the past five years.

Inertia is deadly for those of us in the work-world as well. If only we could get up the momentum to:

• read one critical industry publication every week
• give positive feedback to our star performers
• keep our Outlook folders organized

But inertia works against us. In physics, inertia is an object's resistance to a change in its state. Remember Newton's words: "an object in motion tends to stay in motion, and an object at rest tends to stay at rest." And oh, how we love to rest.

Two University of Chicago professors, Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein, in their new book, Nudge, ask this provocative question: "If you design a choice the right way, could a small nudge help people make better decisions?" According to their research, the answer seems to be "Yes!" Get inertia -- or should we call it laziness -- working for ya! Here are some examples:

• In Germany, like the U.S., you have to opt in to become an organ donor. 12% of Germans opt in. In Austria, people are organ donors by default. They have the right to opt out at any time but guess what...they don't. 99% of Austrians are available as organ donors. The momentum of staying "in the program" is stronger than the initiative it takes to opt out. That's Austria's way of putting the "default option" to work.
• Think of that book club or coffee club that keeps sending you books and coffee that you don't need ... and don't even want!... but having to DO something to get them stopped takes more effort than the inertia of accepting them. Can you see the default option at work here?
• Was that 75 cents you paid for the USA Today outside your last hotel room door really what you'd have chosen to spend your money on? Probably not. But sticking the paper into your briefcase was easier than calling the front desk and going through the hassle of trying to get your 75 cents back, wasn't it? Do nothing, accept the paper and the default option is at work once again.

Here's your assignment:

Q.: What could you gently nudge yourself (or your employees) to do, that would get you going in the right direction and then, the momentum would keep you going?

Q.: What's a choice that you know you need to make? Now how could you design that choice so that doing nothing makes it happen? Over and over again.

Photo on flickr by hoobygroovy