A Quality Product

I was visiting a local organic farm this morning and was struck again at how unquestionably great food tastes when it is fresh, and untainted by preservatives and chemicals (not to mention the mental "comfort" that comes from knowing its local & socially responsible).

It comes back to the idea of doing something really really well. How often we try to do so many different things at once and are never really completely happy with the results we deliver. Have a think over the last week; how many things did you deliver that you were entirely happy with?

What one thing will you do next week without compromising on quality? Who will you surprise by reminding them what great looks like?

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

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.

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.

When is enough, enough and what does enough look like?

I had a couple of isolated discussions on different topics this week which, in reflection, I've realised are intertwined.

One was on the topic of doing everything with purpose (brought up in my yoga class) and the other was on delivering perfection (with a new member of the team).

I argued at the time that you shouldn't try and deliver perfection because it invoked the law of diminishing returns and that the Pareto 80/20 rule should be our guiding principle in order to deliver the ever increasing workload effectively. This didn't seem to go down too well with the new employee.

However what I realise now was that the real core value they were trying to express was delivering with purpose. To deliver something knowing that they had given their absolute best shot without compromise (not just ticking the box to move the task on).

The trick is:

1: Deliver everything with purpose and give your fullest attention to it so that you can walk away with integrity.  Don't just tick the box.
2: Knowing when to stop and being comfortable with your credibility from the thing you delivered.

I realise this is a fine line and a tough one to judge but don't assume one or the other is acceptable on its own, its not.

Ask yourself if you have met the intent of both of these during the next piece of work you deliver.  Practice makes perfect.

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

Even the bad weeks can be a blast

I've just had one of those weeks where every mistake that could have occurred, did.  Its tough for you and the team during these times to stay positive.

What you must do however is understand what was driving those mistakes and treat them as a opportunity to improve.  Picture what it would be like in a week, month or years time when that mistake is a thing of the past.  There will be new challenges by then but not that one again.

Its amazing how positive that belief can be for your own motivation (effectively balancing out the negative reactions to the initial problem).  And just remember how much effect your attitude has on the team around you.

So stay positive, even the bad weeks can be a blast.

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

Balance and Rest

Seems a simple thing to say (and even write) but for all of your drive and successes, you must also remember to balance this with rest and recuperation.

Ignoring this fact (and it is a fact, everyone needs rest) will ultimately lead to poor performance and likely mistakes.  But you'll need to figure out what your 'rest' looks like.

If you're an introvert, this may be calm activities, possibly in isolation and some quiet.  For an extrovert, it may be out and about amongst it all soaking up the atmosphere.

It doesn't matter what helps you to rest and recuperate, what matters is that you make the time to do whatever is right for you.  Now do it.

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

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

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.

How best to start your day

I'm on holiday this week and can more easily reflect on the activities I do in a normal working week without the pressures of actually having to do them.

I'm a GTD'er and use products such as Omnifocus and techniques such as Pomodoro.  I also work in a global company so inputs come through to me 24hours a day even though I don't work 24 hours a day.  So how does it actually work for me.

My work email inbox is my primary inbox.  I also have a physical inbox on my desk but nowadays less and less come 'in' to me through this.

So what do I actually do when I first get into the office in the morning.  If you've read Eat That Frog! by Brian Tracy, Rule 1 is to do the most difficult thing on your list first (before even reading your email).  In a similar vein, Tim Ferris states in his blog; One piece of advice for improving self-discipline: Spend the first two hours of every workday working on outstanding projects, before you check your e-mail.

I have to disagree with both.  Although I agree with the intent, I disagree with the fact that ignoring email is the right thing to do.  Based on the GTD methodology, you process all your inputs to ensure you are focussing on the right thing right now with no distraction.  With emails coming into me overnight, I can't be truly focussed until I have processed those overnight emails.

I have two rules for this method though:
1. You must only process, not jump into tasks based on those overnight emails.
2. Spend no more than 30 minutes on this activity.

This 30 minute rule is actually quite manageable if (and only if) you have processed your email at the end of the previous email to zero (See Merlin Mann's Google Talk on the subject here, essential viewing in my opinion).

I have a daily checklist that I try and adhere to as much as possible.  It goes:

8am: Turn on PC laptop and wait 15 minutes for it to load up and run all security checks, (all the time wishing I had an apple computer at work)
8:05am: Make myself a coffee.  Might as well do myself a favour to help my brain get into gear
8:10am: Process overnight email
8:40am: Write up a paper based todo today list (I use the downloadable Pomodoro one here) based on my Omnifocus lists and anything last minute or from the overnight email that is urgent
8:50am: Turn off email and do the work

I do turn the email back on periodically throughout the day (every hour or so) but having it off helps me to focus on the tasks to be done.  Having the paper based todo today list helps by avoiding the need to reference the computer unless it is required.

I don't look at Twitter or Facebook at all during the day but I do check my personal emails on my iPhone at lunchtime to give me a distraction and mental rest.

I try and stick as best as possible to the todo today list and get the activities completed.  I find that this is only achievable if I have completed the steps above at the start of the day.

Do I do this every day?, No.  Sometimes things just don't go right even at 8:01am but these are the exception rather than the rule and I reap the rewards because of it.  See if this commitment to starting the day the best way you can will help you.

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.

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.

Audits - Prepare Yourself

I’m always slightly amused by the fear that comes over everyone when they are told an audit is due.

The issue is that we are all sometimes guilty of only using the frameworks audited against every year (or however often they are audited) in the month the audit is due. You go into the cabinet and dust off the folder of materials from last time and then update; making it up as best as you can to try and score the most points.

Sound familiar?  Don't you want to get the best score?

Begin with the outcome in mind. It is worth remembering an audit’s purpose.

The definition of the word is to conduct a systematic review of and its origin is from late middle english from the Latin auditus ‘hearing’ deriving from audire ‘hear’.

It’s this point that staggers me every time, the fact that (unless your job depends on a certain ‘score’; and how often does that actually happen) the value of the audit is in your listening to the feedback.

Don’t see the one day audit as something in which you have to justify your team’s processes and performance against; see it as your own private consultant who has just spent eight hours looking for ways to help you improve what you and your team does.

Don’t fear an audit, embrace it.

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

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

Greater than the sum of its parts

I recently posted on another blog, some thoughts about ‘Diversity and Inclusion’. I had also talked recently about embracing difference in your team to get the best from your team.

The pitfall from any initiative in regards to diversity and inclusion is that diversity is often the primary (or initial) focus rather than Inclusion.

These are not interchangeable words in the same way that thunder and lightning are related and linked but are different things.

If we start with the outcome in mind, we are seeking to generate and support a higher performing team at every level (based on a varied group that challenges and innovates; and most importantly, is truly engaged). Inclusion can be seen as a definition of what this team looks and acts like from a behaviour or action point of view.

Diversity therefore is an extension of the described differences, the constituent elements or labels to define the differing pieces of the team.

A greater focus on the Inclusion piece might provide some desire to sustain this change rather than simply focussing on the diverse elements within.

When you eat a great meal, the ingredients are important but you don’t focus only on them. When you enjoy a great meal, you focus on the experience of it and the way it worked in harmony together to be greater than the sum of its parts.

Always keep the outcome in mind.

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


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