Your Smart Phone Could Get You Fired

There’s lots of media coverage this week of smart phones – iPhone for the continuing saga of the iPhone 4, and Blackberry for the UAE’s refusal to use them based on security concerns.

In the interest of full disclosure, I should come-clean now on the fact that I came late to the smart phone party.  I had a perfectly good cell phone, and no one was able to convince me that a smart phone would make my life any easier.  In fact – quite the opposite:

“You need a smart phone so you can get your email anywhere, and always be connected.  The only thing I don’t like is that my phone reception is not very good.”

Sorry – that’s at least two strikes against the smart phone

1)   I don’t want to always be connected.  In fact I look to actively be disconnected

2)   Why would I buy a phone with the limiting function being the telephone itself?  It might make a mean frappuccino, but I would prefer it to make phone calls.

I finally relented and bought an iPhone because it effectively condensed four devices I regularly carried on business trips into one (phone, iPod, Palm Pilot & GPS).  The bonus feature was that as a middle-aged white guy, I instantly felt cooler with a gadget from Apple.

So once I had the new smart phone was I perpetually connected, as I feared?  No.

Not because the technology limited me in any way from staying connected, but because I often either ignored it or turned it off.  I am able to do so because I’m not part of a big corporate food-chain where I would be lead to believe that my very existence on the planet is contingent upon me being absolutely indispensible to my employer.

As a contractor of services, I am generally exempt from things like anxiety about job security (because I don’t have any).  But it got me thinking about why people feel they need to be connected all the time.  It is nothing more than illusions of grandeur if you think that no one else can do what you do.  If you are one of the few that has made yourself indispensible then your business is not sustainable, and we should probably fire you anyway.

Either way, if you’re one of those managers that is constantly connected to your workplace, you should work to wean yourself off this addiction.  Work, like all other recreational drugs, should be used only in moderation.

Giving Quality Feedback

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Why should you give feedback?

  • To confirm a course of action, performance or behavior
  • To correct specific behavior or performance
  • To have a behavior or performance carry on
  • Use as a performance management tool to enhance performance

There are 5 steps for giving quality feedback:

Step 1: Context Tell them what you’re going to tell them

  • Tell them what’s coming – don’t leave them guessing
  • Don’t just start talking, and leave them to figure it out on their own
  • “I’d like to offer some feedback on…”

Step 2: Clarify Describe in specific, measurable and observable terms and tell them why it’s important

  • Generalities don’t work
  • Have your facts straight
  • Describe observable behaviors
  • Use measures wherever possible
  • Tell them why this is important
  • What is the impact on you and on others?
  • How does it relate to high level goals and objectives

Step 3: Create Ask for feedback on the feedback and brainstorm actions to improve or do better

  • Ask lots of questions
  • Guide them through the feedback
  • Give an opportunity to respond
  • Brainstorm actions to improve or do better

Step 4: Confirm Agree on action steps forward, and determine exactly what will happen next

  • Make sure you agree on what will happen next, even if it is to maintain the status quo
  • Reinforce continued good performance
  • Describe what future outcomes you’d like to see

Step 5: Close Express confidence and support

  • Everyone should leave the meeting with a clear idea of what they need to do next
  • Reinforce your confidence in the recipients ability to be successful
  • Describe how you will support them in their efforts to improve

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Handling Emotional Behavior

Learn the 5 critical steps you need to follow when confronted with emotional behavior at work.

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'Handling Emotional Behavior' Podcast Slides

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Selecting Managers

Some kids grow up wanting to be a fire-fighter, a police officer, teacher or doctor.  I wanted to be Mr. Rogers.  No eight-year-old will tell you she wants to be a manager when she grows up (and if she does, get her into therapy top speed).  Yet there are more managers than there are fire-fighters, police officers, teachers and doctors combined by a factor of ten or more.

So how does this happen?

If management were a profession like others, someone would go to school to study the vocation of management, apprentice for some period of time, and then be deemed fully capable of executing as a manager.  MBA schools have failed to do this effectively, and the vast majority of companies develop their managers in a haphazard fashion.

Most people end up as managers by going into to some line of work for which they show some aptitude, and then are promoted to oversee others doing similar work.  Somewhere along the line, they might take a course or two, and some companies may even send their high potential new managers to business school.

Most organizations make the critical mistake of assuming that because someone is a proficient practitioner of a certain trade that she will be a good manager.  Organizations need to change their focus away from the technical aspects of a particular function (or group of functions), and instead focus on what skills a manager will need to be successful in that environment.

If more than half that list of competencies is focused on technical aspects of the industry or job, then it has been done wrong.

Don’t get me wrong:  I’m not a big fan of pulling people with no industry experience, and placing them in key management positions.  I don’t think this approach has worked very often.  If organizations are serious about having great management, then they need to select people for management positions with the core competencies required to manage in that environment, and then continually develop them.

Either that, or select tall guys with brown hair, who wear blue shirts.  That works too.

Summer and Pretending to Work

One of my favourite work assignments was a project based in Philadelphia that was a joint venture between an American Company and a British one.  One would think the similarities between these two countries would keep cross-cultural issues to a minimum, but as anyone who has worked in both countries will tell you, the differences are more than merely adjusting to funny accents.

One of the first wrinkles that needed to ironed out was the fact that Americans take about 3 weeks vacation a year in increments of no longer than 5 days, and their British counterparts have two or three times that holiday entitlement.

While the Brits would jet off to Southern Europe for 3 weeks at a time during the summer, the Americans would be at the office working the same excessive hours as always.  Interestingly, the productivity of the two groups was about the same.

This got me to thinking about how we work in North America, and how much of the time we are pretending to work.  Lots of people will take offence to the notion that they are not really working, but in reality the bulk of the work at many organizations takes place in just a few weeks per year.

January through May are good production months, except for a few days around Easter and Spring Break.  June through August, many people are not at work at all, and those that are working show up, but really have one eye to the outdoors and their next BBQ.  September and October are usually about budgeting and planning, and while some will argue they are critical to the business, it distracts from the actual running of the business, and often adds far less value than it costs in time and effort.  Finally November and December work gets done, but with the distractions of Christmas and (for the Americans) Thanksgiving.

So as a manager, how do you reconcile that the few people that do show up in July and August are probably just pretending to work?  You don’t.  It’s part of the deal, and most organizations don’t fall apart as a result.  The real question to ask is whether the work being done the rest of the year, when the entire staff complement is in place and working at capacity has any value.

Anyway, I better take a quick lap around the office floor (holding a piece of paper, and walking quickly) so as to maintain the appearance of work, before someone figures out I’m part of the masses pretending to work during the summer months.

Why the FIFA World Cup Doesn’t Matter

In most corners of the world, South Africa is currently the center of the universe, and bars and restaurants on six continents (and perhaps a research station on the seventh), are packed with crazed fans cheering for the team or nation of their choice.  Even in North America, where Football (not Gridiron) rarely attracts any attention, people are paying attention to the World Cup.

Some time in July, there will be a new world Football champion, and the sport will then fade into relative obscurity for the next four years.  This is because Soccer doesn’t matter… at least to people in the United States.  The Canadians have a marginally more international view of the world, but they are largely stuck with the baggage their big-brother to the South leaves them with.

Business in North America is largely conducted the same way.  It stands to reason that when the world’s largest single economy by a wide margin is located on the North American continent that people would not be compelled to look beyond their own neighborhood.

However, the times are changing.  Much like the disintegration of the Roman Empire, the economic dispersion precedes the rest of the empire, and businesses in North America would be well advised to look abroad – not only for market opportunities, but for management help as well.

This may seem like heresy to many Americans and Canadians, but there are European, Asian, and South American organizations that are exceptionally well run – they may even do some things better than their North American peers.

Health care industries are an excellent example.  Both the United States and Canada have incredibly dysfunctional health care systems.  If you don’t believe me, look at any global ranking, and see where these two countries place.  In most northern European countries all their citizens have access to care (unlike the United States), and they have a mixture of public and private care that ensures the rationing of care is kept to a minimum (unlike Canada).

If Governments and businesses in North America could see past their own myopia to other parts of the world, a great number of business and social problems could be addressed.

Tell me I’m wrong….

Tools to Lead Change

Learn how to lead change, including how to communicate to different personality types, and how to deal with resistance to change.

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Tools to Lead Change Podcast Slides

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Airport Security Screening and Employee Performance

Something happens in an airport or on an airplane every few months that makes us collectively lose our minds.  In the past year, restrictions have been put on air travelers that are only slightly less obtrusive than being bound in straight-jacket while in transit.

At any given time there are literally hundreds of thousands of people in the air.  Of all of those people, some tiny fraction of one percent want to do harm.  Regardless of how small that deviant population is, all air travelers are subject to slow, invasive, and somewhat ineffective security measures.

Many workplaces manage their employees the same way.  They put restrictive policies in place to thwart the occasional employee that may abuse a corporate directive.  One example was a client of ours who had a proposal to put people on a per diem expense when they were travelling, and thus eliminating the need for the collection and auditing of hundreds of $10 lunch receipts.

Ultimately the proposal was turned down because there was some history of one or two employees abusing their expense accounts.  Rather than properly discipline the offending employees, it was decided to stack policy on top of policy to eliminate any chance anyone could abuse their expense account.

In the process, they created an abundance of unnecessary work for countless employees, cost the shareholders more in compliance-related costs, damaged any atmosphere of trust in the organization, and ultimately didn’t stop dishonest employees from taking advantage of the situation.  Not a very smart decision.

In the airports, we don’t have much choice; in the workplace we do.  Managers need to be accountable for managing.  If an employee behaves poorly, then address the behavior – don’t write a policy.  In the example above, the offending employees should have been fired.  They then could have instituted an expense allowance that is easier to administer and saves everyone time and money.

I can already hear the HR and Finance people objecting, but at some point pragmatic common sense must prevail.

Delegation

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As a manager, you should delegate because:

  • It helps develop other people’s skills and abilities
  • It frees you up to do the work that only you can/should do
  • It makes good business sense

Why do many managers not delegate?

  • Delegating takes some up-front work so it seems easier to just do it yourself
  • Some managers are control freaks
  • Some managers see it as asking for help which they perceive as weak
  • Some managers feel badly about passing on their work to others

What managers should delegate:

  • Tasks that someone else could do
  • Tasks that would contribute to building your team
  • Tasks that are organizationally appropriate to delegate

Use the Wily Manager Delegation Worksheet to list and plan potential tasks and duties that you could delegate.

How to delegate:

Consider the Context

  • What is the work you are delegating?
  • Why are you delegating this work?
  • How is this work important to the bigger picture?

Clarify

  • Clarify the desired outcomes and expectations
  • Clarify constraints, boundaries, and resources

Create

  • Where possible, empower the individual to contribute their ideas as to how the work will get done
  • Create the plan together

Commit

  • Get commitment and alignment to specific timelines, due dates, reviews, follow up meetings, measures of success etc.

Close

  • Wrap it up and express support and confidence in the individual

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Delegation

As a manager, you SHOULD delegate!  In this podcast you will learn:

  • Why managers don’t delegate
  • Why you should delegate
  • What you should delegate
  • How to delegate

Listen to the ‘Delegation’ Podcast:

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Delegation Podcast Slides

Take a look at the ‘Delegation’ Cheat Sheet

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