by Judy Rathwell | Oct 12, 2020 | Communication, Leadership Aha!, Newsletter
Although
communication is vital, it often interrupts work flow. Valuing the time and attention of others when communicating is
crucial. While keeping others in the
loop is important, sharing everything is a distraction. That’s why it’s
important to have effective methods for efficient communication.
- Utilize Chat Tools. A single centralized chat tool (Such as Slack or Teams) keeps everything together and is a central source for the entire company. Email is an important external tool but doesn’t always need to be used internally. Zoom and Skype are good tools and in-person meetings should be used more sparingly.
- “What did you work on today?” Automatically ask yourself and your team members “What did you work on today?”. Share the responses with the company. This creates loose accountability and strong reflection. Writing up what you accomplished every day is a great way to reflect on how you spent your time.
- “What will you be working on this week?” A good way to start the week is to create an automatic ask, “What will you be working on this week?” This is a chance for everyone to talk about and see the big picture. It sets your mind, and the mind of your team, up for the work ahead and allows everyone to see what’s happening.
- “Social questions”. Every few weeks, ask your team “What books are you reading?” Or “Try anything new lately?” Or “Anything inspire you lately?” Keep these questions optional and use them sparingly. These help to create dialogue about things people love and want to share with others. This is especially beneficial for remote teams.
- Reflect every 6 weeks. Every ~6 weeks, summarize the big picture accomplishments and detail the importance of your work. Highlight any challenges or difficulties. This can be a good reminder that, yes, sometimes things do go wrong. Reflect on the job well done and the progress made for the entire team or group.
- Project every 6 weeks. Rather than reflect, projections state what the team will accomplish in the coming weeks. The detail specific work for a specific group but can be useful for the entire company. These should be broad and don’t include too many details.
- Announcements. Occasionally, announcements need to be made. Whether it’s about a change in policy or reiterating an old one, these can be very beneficial. Sending out a written form of an announcement means everyone sees and hears the same information.
- Day to day communication requires context. Saying the right thing, in the wrong place and omitting important details, doubles the work and number of messages. Separate communication places should be set for each project, so nothing gets missed. Everything communicated relating to that project is in the same location. Communications should be attached to what they are referring to.
What has been working well with your team? We would love to hear! Email us at aha@ahaleadership.com
Excerpt from Basecamp
by Judy Rathwell | Sep 29, 2020 | Continuous Learning, Leadership Aha!, Newsletter
September offers a clean slate, a new start, and represents a new beginning. Although this September is unlike others before, it is still a change in season with different challenges and opportunities. Due to the disruption of the pandemic, more than ever we have resolutions and habits we want to start. While January is the start of a new year, September/Fall often feels like a good time to make some much-needed changes.
Gretchen Rubin, author of Better Than
Before, shares strategies of how to make and break habits. One helpful
strategy is the “Strategy of the Clean Slate”. The pandemic has afforded us
more time to evaluate our habits and behaviors and determine which ones are
working for us and which ones may be holding us back. During times of big
transition, old habits may be wiped away and we may be able to form new habits
more easily. A change in personal relationships, surroundings such as moving to
a new city, a life change like a new job or even minor changes like working in
a new room can all offer a “clean slate” to develop new effective habits.
A previous research study has shown that 36%
of people who were successful in making significant life changes in their
career, education, or health behaviors, associated this success with a move to
a new location. We want to take advantage of the start of a new season and
take actionable steps toward change.
Take some time to consider: What new habits do I want to adopt this season? What old habits or behaviors could be holding me back from reaching my goals?
What
one small, actionable step can I take this week to change or adopt a new habit?
Now is the time to make the changes we need
the most.
Sourced from Gretchenrubin.com
by Judy Rathwell | Sep 15, 2020 | Leadership Aha!, Leadership Development, Newsletter, Performance Development
For
every hundred men hacking away at the branches of a diseased tree, only one
will stop to inspect the roots -Chinese Proverb
Are individual members of your team
performing less well than you’d hoped for? How do you get them to improve their
performance?
First, understand that performance is a function of both ability and motivation. It takes both to do a job well. So, before you address poor performance, you have to diagnose if it’s a lack of ability or low motivation.
Tips
for addressing ability
- Resupply. Does your team member have
what they need to get the job done? Ask them about additional resources. Listen
for points causing frustration. Give the individual space to take
responsibility and share their perspective.
- Retrain. Provide additional training to
individuals lacking specific skills. It’s important to keep employees’ skills
current to cure poor performance.
- Refit. If the first two steps aren’t
curing the problem, consider refitting the job to the person. Are there
components of the job that could be reassigned and new tasks for them to take
on?
- Reassign. Consider reassigning the poor
performer to another role. Is there another job within the company that would
suit them better? Remember, this is not a punishment tactic, but a shift in
skills and tasks.
- Release. As a final option, you may need
to let the employee go. Sometimes there are not opportunities for refitting and
reassignment within the organization. In these cases, the best decision may be
for the individual to find other work.
Tips
for improving motivation
- Set performance goals. Goal setting is an important aspect of performance improvement. Employees need to understand what’s expected of them and agree on the actions they must take to improve.
- Performance assistance. Once you’ve set performance goals, support your team member by reassessing their progress, providing necessary training, or additional resources. Encourage cooperation and assistance from other team members.
- Performance feedback. It’s important for the individual to understand where they stand in their performance and long-term expectations. Consider providing timely feedback, being open and honest, and encourage individuals with a reward system.
It’s
important that you and the team member discuss and agree on the plan for improvement.
Set specific goals with timelines and dates by which goals should be achieved.
Monitor progress according to the tips above for improving ability and
motivation. Goal setting, feedback and a supportive environment are necessary
for improving poor performance.
Source:
MindTools
by Judy Rathwell | Aug 28, 2020 | Leadership Aha!, Newsletter, Respectful Workplace
To gain respect, we must first give it. Respectful leadership takes us back to the basics. It is carrying ourselves with decency and treating others how they want to be treated. So, how do we lead with respect? Gregg Ward, author of The Respectful Leader: Seven Ways To Influence Without Intimidation, shares the dos and don’ts of respectful leadership:
DO…
1. Be the first to respect. Respect is contagious. If leaders go out of
their way to treat others with respect first, the people on the receiving end
feel good because they were treated well. Those who receive this, then go on to
treat others with respect. It is very powerful and infectious. This generates a
culture of respect within the team and those who do not act respectfully will
stand out and either modify their behavior or be pushed out. Holding people
accountable for respectful behaviors generates productivity and partnerships. This
does not mean that everyone walks on eggshells, it means that everyone follows
the agreed-upon respectful norms. This behavior welcomes diversity and
collaboration.
2. Address disrespect immediately. Nipping disrespect in the bud early on is not always easy or comfortable. Molehills can become mountains quickly if disrespectful behaviors, even minor ones, are not addressed early on. As a leader, disrespectful behaviors can be addressed with what Gregg calls the SBI technique, which stands for situation, behavior, impact. For example, if an employee is consistently interrupting other team members during a meeting, after the meeting the leader should address this behavior noting the context, the behavior noticed, and the perceived impact of this behavior. Next, a request should be made for future behavior and how the team member can be held accountable. Defensiveness is normal in this stage, so empathy is vital from the leader. Additionally, these conversations should be private unless the entire group is involved in disrespectful behavior.
3. Use a full-apology approach. If members on a team perceive the actions of the
leader to be disrespectful, the same SBI approach can be used. The leader
should fully apologize for the behavior by acknowledging the situation, the
disrespect behavior, and the negative impact it had on the team or team member.
Try not to rationalize, excuse the behavior, or use the word “but”. A genuine
apology does not make excuses.
DON’T…
1. Tolerate disrespect. The number one cause of disrespectful behavior
in the workplace is stress. This is reflective of our actions and behavior.
Respect helps people during stressful situations. Leaders should not tolerate
disrespectful behaviors, especially during stressful periods. Maintaining
respect while experiencing high-levels of stress, generates self-confidence,
and reinforces the importance of respect within the team. This is not easy but
is very powerful.
2. Don’t be distracted. The biggest distraction when it comes to respectful
leadership is our cellphones. Leaders can easily be distracted by others trying
to communicate with them instead of the meeting in front of them. If leaders
can’t focus on the meeting, it sends a message of disrespect to the team.
Leaders cannot pay attention to others and external communication at the same
time.
Sustainable, respectful practices are really good for business
and team productivity. The best leaders create an environment of respect, not
only at work but also in life.
Article source – leadercast.com
by Judy Rathwell | Aug 18, 2020 | Trust
Michael Bungay Stanier, the author of The Advice Trap, writes why it’s important for leaders to silence their “Advice Monsters”, start listening and get curious. Michael states that the “Advice Trap” is the pattern of behavior where we give out answers more than we listen. He says advice doesn’t really work anymore for 3 reasons:
1. What
you think is the problem isn’t the real problem. People talk about the
problems that are on the forefront of their minds. It’s their ‘best guess’ at
what the real problem is. Challenges arise when we try to give advice for the
symptom, rather than the real problem.
2. Our
advice isn’t as good as we think it is. And is usually based on our experience. We have a cognitive bias. Advice is our best guess;
however, we think we are better at giving advice then we actually are.
3. Giving
advice is not the best form of leadership. Think through your intent for
giving advice. Is it more important for
you to be right and have the best idea?
Or to provide someone else with the opportunity to come up with their
own idea and take ownership of it?
Michael challenges leaders to resist giving
the answer as long as possible until it is the right moment. There is a right
moment to give advice – it is best to
take pause and determine when that is…and why you are giving it.
Repurposed from marshallgoldsmith.com
