July 28, 2010

The performance review. One of the most insidious, most damaging, . . .

“The performance review.  It is one of the most insidious, most damaging, and yet most ubiquitous of corporate activities.  We all hate it.  And yet nobody does anything about it.

Don’t get me wrong: Reviewing performance is good; it should happen every day. But employees need evaluations they can believe, not the fraudulent ones they receive. They need evaluations that are dictated by need, not a date on the calendar. They need evaluations that make them strive to improve, not pretend they are perfect.” – Sam Culbert

I have the privilege of being an adjunct professor in the MBA program at Bethel College.  For the last month I have been teaching a Human Resources Management class every Tuesday for four hours.

Last night we discussed performance appraisals (reviews).  The members of the class range in age from the early 20’s to the late 50’s and there are 25 students.  I asked the class how many have had a positive experience with the performance appraisal system.  Out of 25 people, only two had ever had a positive experience and for those two, it had only been at one organization.

Not very impressive.  So for most of these professionals, performance reviews were a negative experience that generated fear and provided them no benefit.  Something is broken.

That is the premise of the book Get Rid of the Performance Review by Sam Culbert.  He does not say we don’t need to talk about performance, just that the way it is done now has become a bureaucratic exercise filled with fear and of no real value to the organization or the employee.

He is recommending a performance preview.  It is more of an ongoing dialogue between leader and employee that is constantly seeking how their performance might be enhanced. In this scenario, the boss and the employee are seen as a unit and the performance preview is an ongoing assessment of that relationship and how it might be improved to become more effective.

He goes on to say, “Getting rid of the performance review is a big step forward in allowing a boss and the boss’s direct reports to communicate candidly about what’s needed for better results on the job. If you’re a boss, and your subordinate isn’t succeeding, something is broken here. Doing more of the same isn’t going to cut it. It’s now time for you to ask, “What do you need from me to deliver what we are both on the firing line to produce?” And just as important, it’s time for you to listen to the answer.

Asking and listening. Imagine that. It’s called a conversation, and it’s a rarity in workplaces today. Only by hearing what the other person thinks, and putting that person’s actions in the appropriate context, can you actually see what the person is saying and doing—and how together you can get where the company needs you to go.”

My 30 years of work life tend to prove out what Mr. Culbert shares in his book.

Check out the website & the book is well worth adding to your toolbox in my opinion.

Blessings on your day!

BG

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July 23, 2010

“Wherever You Are…Be Fully There” – Smart Phones and Meetings

You are in a meeting making your presentation – a presentation that you have spent many hours on and have fretted over.  You have poured yourself into this project.  The others in the meeting have asked for your presentation as they know your passion for the subject and have said that they really want to hear you.

Everyone walks in to the meeting and promptly takes out their smart phones and lay them face up on the table in front of them.

You start into your presentation with passion – then you hear that familiar sound of a smart phone vibrating on a hard surface.  Immediately everyone looks at their phone.  You stop, but the offender says to go on, he will keep up.  As you “keep on” the person is now furiously “thumbing” away on his phone and occasionally grunting or saying uh-huh to try to make you think he is really paying attention to your presentation.  Then you hear the vibration of another phone and someone else is now “thumbing” away.

How does that make you feel?  For me – not too well.

Tim Stevens on his blog, Leading Smart, has a great post on this subject and five suggestions on how to deal with this bad habit.  Take a few minutes and check out his post on this very annoying subject as he deals with the core issue of valuing others.

Have a great weekend!

BG

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July 22, 2010

A Thought on Success

Good morning,

Following is a quote in Daniel Harkavy’s book, Becoming a Coaching Leader.

“Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines practiced every day; while failure is simply a few errors in judgment, repeated every day.  It is the accumulative weight of our disciplines and our judgments that lead us either to fortune or failure.” – Jim Rohn

As we are reminded in so many of the Proverbs, be diligent in what you do seeking the counsel of the Lord and wise friends.

So – what are your daily practices that shape you?

Have a blessed day!

BG

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July 20, 2010

Better Ideas Faster. How to Brainstorm More Effectively.

Hope it is a great day for you!

A friend of mine, Aaron Paulus, has a great post on his site on how to brainstorm more effectively.  Brainstorming is one of those concepts that is embraced by many, but understood by few.

Aaron gives some simple steps to brainstorming more effectively that he learned at the HOW Design Conference.  Following are a few highlights.

Three Steps to Effective Brainstorming:

1. Identify Your Goal or the Problem You Need to Solve

2. Determine Your Brainstorming Foundation

3. Brainstorming Methods:

a. Word Listing

b. Photo Inspiration

c. The “Creative Drawer”

d. Future Casting

Click here to read Aaron’s post.  If you are wanting to become better at brainstorming it is worth the time to read.

By the way – how do you go about brainstorming?  What methods work best for you?

BG

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July 19, 2010

The Silent Lie

One of the senior executives is making an impassioned presentation in the leadership meeting.  I can tell he wants the team’s support – including mine.  What he is pitching is somewhat out of my field of expertise, but I’m trying to keep up.  However, I begin to get uneasy as some things just don’t seem to add up.

Do I speak up about my misgivings?  Well, after all I really don’t know much about this area, the senior executive is excited about his project and besides, I will probably just sound foolish if say the wrong thing and probably upset the senior executive.  Everybody else is nodding and smiling so he must be right.  So I smile and nod too.  The senior executive beams, thanks everyone for their support and closes the meeting.

After the meeting over coffee Buddy, a co-worker, expresses the same misgivings I had during the meeting.  Astonished, I asked why he didn’t say anything.  Well, he responds, I thought everybody else agreed so I wasn’t going out on a limb by myself!

Has this ever happened to you?  It has to me – too many times.  This is called the Silent Lie.  It is when you seem to be agreeing to something by your words or demeanor while all the time inside you are yelling STOP! or NO!, but fail to say anything or ask a question. Too many bad decisions have been made by leaders when their colleagues did not speak up.   This is basically lying.  You are communicating agreement when you don’t really agree.

Why do we do that?  Here, we call it the Fear of Man, which is usually rooted in pride.  We don’t want to embarrass ourselves if we say something that might be foolish.  We want to be a part of the group, so we don’t want to say anything that may jeopardize our standing in the group.  And we especially don’t want to do anything to incur the displeasure of the boss!  This is Fear of Man.  As leaders, we have to understand that our identity is in Christ and that we are to seek to follow Him and please Him – not a man.  In doing so, we are then freed up to speak up.

As a leader, you are responsible to be a truth teller.  Do not let the Fear of Man cause you to “tell” a Silent Lie.

Question – how do you handle situations when it seems you are the only one with misgivings?

Have a great week!

BG

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July 15, 2010

Do you live a life of “continuous distraction”?

Do you live a life of “continuous distraction”?

Maggie Jackson, in her book Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age, writes the following:

“As we cultivate lives of distraction, we are losing our capacity to create and preserve wisdom . . . and slipping towards a line of ignorance that is paradoxically born of an abundance of information and connectivity.”

So – are you making space for times of reflection in your life?

If so, I would like to hear how you do so.

BG

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July 13, 2010

A Poverty of Attention

“Be still and know that I am God.” – Psalm 46:10

When was the last time you were really still and focused?  On the Lord, your spouse, your family, your work?  Or are your busy multi-tasking – even in your quiet time and time with family?  Do you interrupt your prayer, train of thought, or conversation whenever your cell phone beeps or vibrates with a text, e-mail or call?  How many windows do you have open at a time on your computer (right now I have 5, one is my Internet browser and it has 14 tabs open – not a good example)

When was the last time you spent a full hour focused on any one thing with NO interruptions?

In his book, The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working, Tony Schwartz makes the statement that “our attention is under siege.”  He goes on to say:

“The consequence is that our lives have been divided into smaller and smaller increments of focus.  We do more things than ever, but we’ve lost control of our attention.  More than 50 percent of American workers say they’re interrupted so often that they find it difficult to get their work done.  We’re too busy trying to keep up even to focus on the fact that the way we’re working isn’t working.”

He quotes Maggie Jackson, who wrote Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age, as follows, “We are allowing ourselves to be ever-more entranced by the unsifted trivia of life.  To value a split-focused life . . . is above all to squeeze out potential time and space for reflection, which is the real sword in the stone needed to thrive in a complex, ever-shifting new world.  In the name of efficiency, we are diluting some of the essential qualities that make us human.”

Tony Schwartz goes on to explain how studies have confirmed that multi-tasking is really not efficient at all and much less effective than focusing on single tasks in a sequential manner.

So, try an experiment today.  For one hour, shut down your e-mail, put your cell on silent, put your office phone on “Do Not Disturb” and then focus on one key priority task with your full attention.  If you can’t squeeze out an hour, try 30 minutes. You might be amazed at the results.  We are inherently creative beings, but our creativity is one aspect that multi-tasking kills.

What are some of your methods for dealing with this poverty of attention?

Have a blessed day!

BG

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July 10, 2010

How to Pitch Your Ideas to Your Boss so They Get Implemented

It is one thing to have a great idea – it is quite another to see your idea actually implemented.  How often have you had a “brainstorm”, gotten excited, rushed in to share it with your boss, co-workers, family, etc. only to see their eyes glaze over as you talk?  Instead of being excited, they are either overwhelmed or quickly lose interest.

So, what do you do?

Well, a colleague of mine, Aaron Paulus, has an idea of what to do.  Aaron is the director of the creative team at our organization, so he constantly has to pitch ideas to internal clients and leadership.  Some of us have a hard time grasping just what he is trying to accomplish.  So Aaron has learned how to “sell us” in a very effective manner.  Following is an excerpt from his blog that explains his method for pitching an idea.

As an in-house creative director, I live to create, to problem solve, to listen to my clients and propose a solution that will accomplish their objective. While creative solutions can be tough to come by, convincing your client or boss of your idea can be even more difficult. In fact, it’s useless to have great ideas and be a creator if you can’t sell what you create. Let’s take a look at a few helpful things to help you sell your ideas to your boss and clients.

Before You Sell, First Listen To Your Client

Timing is Key When You Sell Your Idea

Five Ways to Improve Idea Presenting:

1. A strong start

2. Keep your presentation simple and concise

3. Help clients visualize your ideas as reality!

4. Slip in a little drama where appropriate

5. Present the right amount of options – usually about three.

I can attest to the fact that Aaron knows how to present and sell an idea.  Read his entire post by clicking here.

Also check out a great book on presenting ideas visually – The Back of the Napkin.  This one is well worth adding to your “toolbox” if you regularly have to present ideas to others.  Plus, it’s a fun read!

Have a great weekend!

BG

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July 9, 2010

Through Which Lens Do You View Your Situation?

“. . . and take every thought captive to obey Christ . . .” 2 Corinthians 10:5

How do you view your situation and the facts of your life?  What are the “stories” you tell yourself about what you observe in your life?  Have you ever been in a situation where you felt your boss or a colleague was upset with you due to how you interpreted their words and actions to only find out later that you were totally wrong?  I have – too many times.

How you interpret the facts – the situation you’re in, greatly impacts your reactions, your judgment, your emotions, and so on.  When you interpret them through the wrong lenses – when you’re not taking every thought captive – you are usually reaching the wrong conclusion.  Do you also notice that when we so this, that we almost always go to a negative conclusion?  How many hours have you wasted on fretting over an incorrect interpretation of a situation?  Hopefully not as many as I have wasted.

As a follower of Christ, we need to be viewing things with the mind of Christ, using His Word as a filter for what we observe happening to us.  We need to pray and seek Him before reacting or making bad assumptions.

Tony Schwartz, in his book The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working, talks about three lenses or ways to think about your situation before you react.

The first is the Reflective Lens and that entails asking two simple questions of yourself:

“What are the facts here?” and “What is the story I am telling myself about those facts?”

The Reflective Lens helps us to think about the story we’re telling ourselves, to remain curious and to give others the benefit of the doubt.

The second lens is the Reverse Lens.  That simply means trying to look at the situation through the eyes of the other person.  A good question to ask here is “What are they feeling and how does that make sense?”

The third lens is the Long Lens.  This is the time when you realize that you have interpreted the situation correctly and it is a tough situation.  This allows you to look out into the future, regardless of what is going on in the present.  A couple of questions to as in this situation are, “Regardless of how I feel about what’s happening right now, how can I learn and grow from this experience?” and “Okay, how are we going to move forward?”  The Long Lens may allow you to see the potential for learning, growth, and a better future despite the current hardship.

Some good thoughts from Tony Schwartz and some handles on how you might evaluate how you are responding to a situation, more importantly however, is that you are looking at the situation with the mind of Christ and responding as He teaches – not as we naturally do.

Look at Nahum 1:7 – you will be blessed.

Have a great weekend!

BG

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July 7, 2010

Four Leadership Behaviors That Build or Destroy Trust

The Blanchard Leader Chat site has an interesting article on developing trust between a leader and their followers.  The post has some good insights.  Some sound very similar to the principles in the book, The Way of the Shepherd.

“When people don’t trust their leaders, they don’t come toward something; they pull back and withdraw instead. They doubt rather than cooperate.

According to Dr. Pat Zigarmi, Founding Associate of The Ken Blanchard Companies, and Randy Conley, the Trust Practice Leader at Blanchard, a self-centered, “What’s in it for me” attitude robs an organization of the best that employees have to offer. When employees perceive that an organization—or its leaders—are less than forthcoming, employees become unwilling to contribute any discretionary energy or make any commitments to their organization’s well-being beyond the absolute minimum.

For leaders looking to turn things around in their organization, Zigarmi and Conley recommend that leaders take a hard look in the mirror and examine their own behaviors. Here are four key areas that leaders have to be aware of when they are looking at building or restoring trust with the people they lead:

Able is about demonstrating competence.

Believable means acting with integrity.

Connected is about demonstrating care and concern for other people.

Dependable is about reliably following through on what the leaders say that they are going to do.”

Question – what do you look for in a leader?  Are those things true in your own life?  Are you the kind of person you would want to follow?

Blessings today,

BG

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