Is Your Message Understood?

Last year I wrote a post about the appropriateness of feedback.  It talked about the purpose of giving feedback. Once you get this right however, how to you ensure it is effective and therefore understood.

How many times have you given feedback which has seemed to go well only to find shock and surprise the next time it comes up in discussion. It is also worth remembering that, in my experience, the seriousness of the feedback is directly proportional to the potential misunderstanding.  So you need to get it right.

Also, remember that giving feedback is hard, so others are unlikely to giving this exact same honest and constructive feedback. This will be confusing to the employee and they will be trying to reconcile the difference of views in their head. You must be clear in your message to ensure that they don't just choose to believe the contrary (easier) feedback rather than yours.

So how do you do this?

1. Clarify and Confirm
In the world of change management (in this case individual change) you need to expect to confirm the feedback 5 to 7 times in order for something it to be understood (Prosci).  Don't assume that it was taken in the first time.Repeat, revisit, clarify and continue to give examples as they occur.

2. Increase the Quality of the Feedback
I've seen something similar in the past but the ICO concisely state that good communication is:

• "Defined as two-way, appropriate to the audience, medium and message, and is in correct, clear language. 
• Honest, relevant, timely, appropriate, useful, inclusive and authoritative."

Make sure that you are giving the feedback as clear as you can.  Practice it if you have to but don't shirk from your responsibility of getting this bit right.

3. Check for Understanding
Check for active listening - Ask for them to confirm it back to you, in their own words.  This is a great way to see what they have heard.  Repeat the key message if you feel you didn't quite get the response you were hoping for.

4. Regular Reinforcement
If you don't follow it up, they won't think it was more than a passing viewpoint, even if it was thoroughly delivered at the time.  Take the time to refer back to it, either in positive changes you've seen or to reinforce continuing issues you are yet to see required improvements in.  Do this frequently to ensure the message is understood in that initial period of time.

If you find that things just don't work out then there are unlikely to be no surprises.  In many cases, if the employee has bought into the situation due to fully understanding the issue (they may not agree with it but they will understand the feedback), they may even resolve the situation themselves by finding other opportunities under their own steam.

However, on the positive side, an employee who does make the change is likely to respect and reflect positively on the experience (at least after the fact).  Don't also forget the influence that your action has on others.  They will see this action and it sets a powerful message that you and the team work towards a core value of improvement and high performance.

With all of this, you must prepare and have courage.  Nothing in life of any importance is easy.  Commit to it and reap the benefits.

Please see my website at www.managingforthefirsttime.com for more techniques, tips and advice on this topic and others.

You just can't communicate enough

One thing I learnt a while ago is that you can't communicate enough.

To that end, I wanted to let my readers know that I'll be taking a break over the next few weeks leading up to Christmas so don't worry if you don't see many posts from me.

However, I've got an absolutely burning topic I want to share with you as soon as I have it written.  Its about effective delegation using OmniFocus.  I've really started to hone this skill recently and want to share it with you as soon as I can.  Keep an eye out for this soon.

Framework 'v' Flexibility

There is too often the difficulty in deciding between the two options of defining a business framework 'v' the flexibility and freedom to do whatever seems the right thing to do.

Lets look at the pros and cons

Framework
+ Consistency
+ Predictability
+ Efficiency
- Rigid and limiting
- Bureaucracy
- Stifles creative learning and imposes barriers

Flexibility
+ Innovation
+ Growth
+ Motivational (for some)
- Too easy to stray into dangerous territory
- Requires rigour and discipline to keep in focus
- Allows solutions in the short term which may not be long term sustainable solutions

I used to think of these as a balancing act, to be used in opposing equal measure (how many times have you heard "You need to be able to balance both"?) but I'm not so sure.

I do think you need both but not as competing forces, instead as collaborative.  A win win of the best of both rather than one or the other.  You need to take the benefits of the framework to the point of diminishing returns and then build upon it with creativity and flexibility.

This cumulative benefit can give you competitive edge or take you to somewhere that might just surprise you.

Please see my website at www.managingforthefirsttime.com for more techniques, tips and advice on this topic and others.

The Purpose of an Employee Survey

The Employee Survey seems to be one of the greatest ways to create disharmony with your employees that I have seen.  This is especially the case in generically written corporate surveys where the aim is to gather contextual views and trends at a higher level.

So what is the output of an Employee Survey?
I propose that it delivers two things.
1. Measure a specific set of metrics (and potentially compare against benchmarks) - Point in Time
2. Demonstrate a trend of this data based on previous year's comparable data - Change throughout Time

Now this is all well and good and incredibly valuable but is only data.  It needs then to be turned into information.  This is where the leadership teams consider and possibly seeks feedback generically from the employees (focus groups etc.) in order to decide decide what to do about it.

However, this is where the failure point lies.  It can only ever deliver a gap between the individual employee's expectations and the leadership level initiatives based on the overview trends.  This is often simply due to the gap between the individual level and the hierarchy which builds up to the level at which the organisation operates the survey.

So what is the output of an Employee Survey for the Individual?
Lets go back to the question of what an Employee Survey delivers but this time from the viewpoint of the employee filling it in.  It delviers two things:
1. An opportunity to share their views (positively or negative)
2. Change, but only when the results (data) are interprested and are acted upon.

I beleive the downfall comes from the difference in approach between the top down and bottom up viewpoints.  Both are valid but neither particularly being met or supporting each other (when the data and trends are bad, the focus becomes to drive change broadly which dissapoints individuals.  When individuals are dissapointed, they perceive no change to them and effect the scores/data negativly).  A downward spiral or at best neutral despite everyone's best interests and hard work.

It seems that this top down approach of using the generic/organisation level data to drive the changes can unfortunately miss the mark.  One approach can instead be to look at the survey less as a driver for change but singularly as a measurement of it.  Looking at point 2 of the employee's view of the output, Change, or in the context of an annual cycle activity, Continuous Improvement.

What can I do as a manager?

Stop thinking of the survey as the driver for the change.  You and the team are the driver of the change on a continual basis, week after week, month after month.  How else do you think your team will believe that you take the idea of making improvements based on their feedback seriously.  Make it a part of your regular agenda, add a suggestions section it to your stand-up board, simply make it a routine topic to talk about continuous improvement.

The Employee Survey? It'll take care of itself if you do this right.  Its just the measurement piece.  It might even add some further ideas to bring into the cycle of improvement but is not the only source.

And because its continual improvement, you don't need to wait until after the next survey cycle to start.  Start today, ask the team what they would like to change or improve and ensure the process is there to follow up and make it a regular ongoing activity.

You want engaged employees?  Don't wait for surveys and someone else to tell you what to do.  Start today by making it your responsibility.

Please see my website at www.managingforthefirsttime.com for more techniques, tips and advice on this topic and others.

Results Driven? or Something Else

In CV's (or résumé) you often see the phrase results driven.  Sounds impressive doesn't it?

I have to admit that this is better than just doing a task in order to tick a box, irrespective of it's outcome.  To be actively seeking to deliver a result rather than just blindly following the process likely set in place by someone else, unquestionably and without thought.  Not bad.

However, maybe the phrase should be outcome driven or effect driven or purpose driven or even worth driven (See the book, The Gift: How the Creative Spirit Transforms the World by Lewis Hyde on the idea of worth).

Perhaps this is a better way for you to define your hard work and labours.  Perhaps this might encourage you to consider the reason for, and the value of, the results you work so hard to deliver.

Considered this way, are your results still so impressive?

Please see my website at www.managingforthefirsttime.com for more techniques, tips and advice on this topic and others.

Appropriateness of Feedback

This Sunday morning as I was sitting having breakfast and surfing the web on my iPad (I know; I should really put it down) when I started to read a comments trail which followed a researcher's open request on LinkedIn to complete their masters dissertation questionnaire.

I had responded to the request earlier in the week by completing the survey online. I feel it's right to support those that are asking for relatively free things from others (5 minutes of your time) especially if it's for student research (I was a student too looking for support).

I found that people were using the open forum comments section to criticise and denounce aspects of the survey they did not agree with. It staggered me as to how damaging this feedback was.

Feedback is supposed to be a gift

Usually I find that managers find it hard to give valuable and constructive (but often negative) feedback to support and develop their employees. I work hard to support them to have the management courage to ignore the short term uncomfortable situation in order to give this ultimately positively impacting feedback.

Here I found feedback being given but in entirely the wrong way. I could see it being taken in no other way than negatively, with no real support to help the individual improve. One of the biggest problems was that it was given in an open forum, hardly an environment where the individual would be focused on the feedback itself and learning from it, rather than worrying about what everyone else reading it would be thinking.

Would you walk up to one of your employees in the middle of the office and give them feedback in front of everyone else on what they did wrong and what you therefore thought of their work? Of course not.

That's the key message with feedback. 

It has to be given in a way that helps and directs the individual to make the improvement by promoting reflection and learning.  Anything other than that is scoring points against them. You may not mean it, but that's the impact.

Feedback is a gift but as the giver of it (the communicator), you have to responsibility to ensure you do it right.

Please see my website at www.managingforthefirsttime.com for more techniques, tips and advice on this topic and others.

(Photo by striatic via flickr used under a creative Commons Licence)

Give a Due Date for everything

This is one of the simplest techniques I think I have every learned in management.  When assigning a task or discussing it, make sure you assign a due date to it right then and there.

Now it might need reviewing or modifying later but that will be a conscious decision.  Not setting one on the other hand leaves things open to interpretation and inevitably to slipages and missed expectations.

It also has two additional benefits:

1. It reinforces that it is important.  By giving a due date you are implying that it is important enough for you to set a follow up date up front.  Don't underestimate these unspoken messages.

2. It simply makes it very easy for you to plan your follow up and takes it off your mind.  You don't need to put any more thought into how and when to revisit the topic.  Just put a reminder in your diary, and forget about it.  Not doing this will mean that it is always on your mind worrying about when the right time is to follow up.  That's not time well spent in my opinion.

These are such simple (almost insultingly obvious) things yet we fail to do them and make our lives harder time and time again.

Do yourself a favour and try and remember this one thing this week.  I guarantee you'll see some results immediately.

Please see my website at www.managingforthefirsttime.com for more techniques, tips and advice on this topic and others.

(Photo by Claude via flickr used under a creative Commons Licence)

Reactions to Guidelines and Frameworks for Personal Development

There has been a lot of talk over the past week or two in the UK about the government's new five a day parenting guidelines.

A positive article from the BBC can be found here whilst a more scathing one from The Telegraph can be found here.

This has sparked a great debate about whether people should be told or even helped in the 'right' way to raise their child. On one side, the argument is that parents who don't know should be helped through guidelines and education. On the other, parents should be left to do the right thing for their child rather than a one size fits all approach.

Intervention

A lot of the debate is around the word 'intervention' (which I particularly dislike, but seems to have become the word of choice in training and development circles).

The 5 a day proponents say that this is not intervention anyway, merely proportional help and that without it further intervention may be inevitable later in life (schooling/social/criminal etc problems) if the parent fails in the role. The opponents clearly don't agree with intervention at an early stage.

So I guess the question is what does the parent need and how best to identify and then satisfy that development need. This same situation appears in the workplace all the time.

How do you help people to understand something that they might not currently even have awareness of?  Intervention is only intervention (assuming the negative connotation) when it be forced upon a person who already has awareness and have chosen to either develop in a certain and different way, or not at all, but with a rationale behind their choice.

Just a reference point?

I honestly can't see why guidance and a framework aren't a great place to start. Those with awareness can find their place in that framework and develop from there. Those with no awareness might just have their eyes opened to the possibility and pathway to develop. Surely that's a win-win and doesn't sound like a 'one size fits all' at all.

Those ready to fight it seem to want to fight whether it's right or not, whether it's needed or not.  They don't seem open to the idea that everyone can improve and be ready to ask themselves "where am I in this framework and do I need to do something to develop". Perhaps it's a fear thing, to analyse yourself.  Blame the framework, rather than focus on themselves and how best to use the information to their advantage.

I'm sure that you see this type of behaviour in the workplace all the time. People who think their way is the right way without referencing outside influences or new ideas. You must constantly challenge this with new ideas and external reference points. Challenge your team to be unafraid to constantly reassess.  The answer might be that they are in the right place already, but it's good to check.

There is nothing to fear and everything to gain. Try and help them understand that.

Please see my website at www.managingforthefirsttime.com for more techniques, tips and advice on this topic and others.

Checklists (People still aren't realising their value)

I wrote a post a little while ago in a blog entitled Managing the Standard Work about the power of checklists and I recommended reading of a book called The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande.

Whilst scanning the news online this week, I saw an interesting question on this very subject by the BBC writer, Michael Blastland entitled Go Figure: Tick box v check-list.

You can read the whole article but to summarise it, you've got to get past the idea of a checklist being a way to have to stop thinking.  You're probably sick of me saying this but Begin with the Outcome in Mind.  Answer this first, what is the purpose of using a checklist; what is its value?

The purpose of a checklist is to compliment and aid the thinking process, not replace it.

Until this is understood and bought into a don't think people will ever get past the idea of 'tick box'.  Tick box suggests doing following the list simply in order to satisfy its own purpose.  A checklist however has a measure of value in it.  It is a check.  That check is the value add.

Be really honest with yourself and ask how many simple mistakes you or for team made this week.  How many? 1, 2, 10?

I used a checklist today and stopped 4 mistakes becoming issues which would have come back to bite in about 2 weeks time.  15 minutes to save about a days potential non value added work to fix the issues (let alone the grief and loss of reputation)?

Do yourself a favour and think seriously about how (with the right focus) checklists can help you and avoid becoming another tick box activity in your life.

Please see my website at www.managingforthefirsttime.com for more techniques, tips and advice on this topic and others.

(Photo by AlanCleaver via flickr used under a creative Commons Licence)

What and How in order to Why - 2 Stage Development Planning

I've spent much of the last month working with various managers at all levels in a business to focus on development planning of their employees.

Much of the time, it is seen as a simple box ticking exercise in order to 'fill out the paperwork'.  The reason for development seems to have been forgotten by all but those who are actively focussed on progression and promotion.  Of course, everyone can develop and improve.

Stage 1

Drivers for your Development

Begin with the outcome in mind. The goal is the activity in which you are trying to deliver a result.

What you need in order to deliver that goal is both the technical skills required for that activity and more importantly the behavioural competencies to help you be more effective in delivering that great result.

Your development should focus on satisfying a need for one or the other of these things, either the technical skill or the competency to help you make a success of it.

This is the first stage; identifying why you are doing it.

Stage 2

Stage two is to figure out the mechanism in which you are going to 'develop'.  This is the second stumbling block to people creating a good development plan.  A simple thought process to this however is to follow the model What and How in order to Why.

What?

What is the actual need, the specific thing that is required?  Is it a strength that you want to develop to greater effect (yes, development doesn't need to be focussed on a weakness) or perhaps plug a gap?

Is it a skill required or a competence?

Some examples might be develop presentation skills or learn how to type.


These are not the activities themselves (the How) and they are not the rationalle for doing it (the Why) but they are an essential part.

How?

How really starts to get into the interesting part which requires you to truly get into the specifics of how this can be achieved.  This will likely be more than one action step.

For those followers of GTD, this taps into the idea of a 'Next Action'; what actually needs to happen to turn the 'what' into reality.

Continuing the examples above, it could be read Garr Reynold's book Presentation Zen or complete tutorial from online touch typing class.

Why?

Lastly, the Why.  This actually brings us all the way back to the starting point in Stage 1 of beginning with the outcome in mind.  What goal are you ultimately trying to reach some kind of output on?

When you couple these three things with the transition phrase 'in order to' then you get:



Develop presentation skills by reading Garr Reynold's book Presentation Zen in order to have a more effective communication style when pitching ideas to senior management.
or
Learn how to type by completing the tutorial from the online touch typing class in order to become more efficient in creating monthly technical reports.

Now these are relative simple development plans (if only skills and competencies could be gained so easily) but I hope they give you the idea.

Development planning does not need to be complicated but you do need to step back and get back to basics.  Why don't you try this two stage model with something you want to achieve this month.  Good Luck.

Please see my website at www.managingforthefirsttime.com for more techniques, tips and advice on this topic and others.

('What' photo by judepics, 'How' photo by ivanwalsh, 'Why' photo by theeerin via flickr used under a creative Commons Licence)

Confident and Humble

If you are going to succeed as a manager then you clearly need be seen to be confident and sure in your thoughts and actions (even if you do not feel super confident inside).

Your strength in tough times gives a crutch to your team when they need to know they are on the right path.

However, take caution in ensuring that your confidence does not become overbearing and turn into perceived arrogance.

One way to do this is by ensuring that you constantly challenge yourself to be humble.  Taking the word's definition from the Oxford Dictionary, "offered with or affected by a modest estimate of one's importance"

What a great way to lead.  The strength that the team looks for will simply come from your character rather than how you try and 'show' yourself to be.

I believe that confidence is demonstrating that you respect yourself and coupling this with a humble nature in which you respect others as equals is a powerful leadership combination.

Those that think they are important and act as such, seldom are.

Those that don't seem to be the more content, relaxed, self assured, interested and ultimately more genuine managers and leaders.

How do you want to portray yourself?

Please see my website at www.managingforthefirsttime.com for more techniques, tips and advice on this topic and others.

(Photo by Wonderlane via flickr used under a creative Commons Licence)

Inheriting a Team

You'll always be told to recruit well; matching the skills of the person to the job.  But what about the real world where you 'inherit a team' and the people within it. 

Matching the required skills to the people might not cover all the bases required. The backgrounds of the team members might be varied and in some cases a little "out there". You need to embrace the fact that that diversity is in fact healthy rather than something to fix or change. Don't necessarily try and mould the team, why not try and mould the team's output (as much as possible) to match their skills.

Get to know your staff so that when you need to make that hard call to get them doing something they might find hard or uncomfortable, they trust that you have understood them and have taken that into account the best you can.

You've got to earn trust so you need to start now to build it for when you really need it.

What do you really know about your employees?  Why don't you try and find out something new about each one of them today.


Please see my website at www.managingforthefirsttime.com for more techniques, tips and advice on this topic and others.