leadership posts
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How to Prevent a Loss from Destroying Team Productivity
March 31st, 2010
I know what you might be thinking about your team: it takes one “bad apple to spoil the barrel.” Fact is, though, it’s the stuff “swept under rug” that’s more damaging to team productivity.
I’m talking about loss and how no one wants to talk about it.
All businesses face loss at one time or another. It could be loss of coworkers due to corporate downsizing or restructuring, or loss of a client or bid, even a death of a co-worker. In the years I’ve been working with teams, it’s always surprised me how even the most experienced leaders back away from dealing with a loss. The typical response seems to be, “It’s a private matter. Best to let it run its course.”
In other words, let’s ignore the loss and hope it goes away before anyone notices. But everyone notices—especially when it’s something as major as a restructuring or downsizing.
Not only does a loss distract people from staying focused and on track, it also makes them anxious. Anxious people are very unproductive. They can’t help but worry about what’s under that rug, why no one’s talking about it, if it’s worse than they imagine, and if they’re next.
Fortunately, applying your emotional intelligence can help turn a loss-related crisis into an opportunity to assert leadership and relationship values. It gets down to having the courage to have the tough conversations.
I worked with a team leader recently to support him in doing just that after his company went through a significant restructuring. The news shocked everyone. Worse, it was followed by yet another shock—an increased workload due to the loss of staff.
I recommended the team leader facilitate a “hot-topic check-in.” The hot topic was the actual loss through restructuring; the check-in provided an opportunity for following to happen:
- In a team meeting, the leader acknowledged what had happened and why.
- He then asked each group member to offer personal feedback (thoughts, concerns, plan for today). No dialog was expected; it was simply an opportunity to make a statement, listen, and empathize.
The check-in took 10 to 15 minutes, after which you could feel the tension meter drop to zero. Someone even cracked a joke that got everyone twittering. It was as though the team found its groove again just by opening up.
Amazing how powerful and cost-effective a little communication can be. Here’s the best part—it’s never too late. Can you think of a loss your company has experienced that you might want make a hot topic for a check-in? Give it a try and let me know what happens.
Transform Meetings with the Magic of Listening
March 18th, 2010
I once asked a very successful marketer how she could jump into an industry she knew nothing about and in a couple of months nail their new brand strategy. “I listen,” she said, adding. “It’s like magic.”
She’s certainly not alone in the high value she places on listening. Management gurus, such as Tom Peters, have been emphasizing the power of listening for years now, because as it turns out, most of us aren’t very good at it. Not even doctors find listening easy, says Peters, and that’s when it can be matter of life and death. Imagine what it’s like in the average business meeting?
Peters makes the point that an organization-wide commitment to what he calls “strategic listening” is even more important than a good strategic plan.
Fortunately, learning strategic listening isn’t difficult, though successful application takes some practice. It starts with commitment at the top. Leadership teams need to agree on its importance and then commit to teaching listening skills to other team members.
There are a number of listening models from which to chose, any of which are easy to teach and simple to apply in any day-to-day situation. To help you out, I’ve created this free ebook that outlines my proven model for strategic listening. You can download it here: Communication Loop_Ebook
Once you’ve taught team members the elements of listening, you can help enforce the skill by using conversations with peers and direct reports as “learning opportunities” to illustrate the listening technique.
Team leaders who have implemented my strategic listening model tell me it’s one of the most efficient, cost-effective ways they’ve found for improving decision-making, conflict resolution, and even interpersonal relationships. Why not see what it can do for your team? Let me know how it goes—I’m always listening!
The Secret to Aligning Teams for Fast Results
January 18th, 2010
People often say to me, Renée, you make teamwork look so easy—what’s your secret? Well, the quick answer is, it’s all in how you apply emotional intelligence. When it comes to aligning teams to get the results and productivity you want, the fastest way to do that is to start with this simple team building exercise called the “check-in.” (Not seeing a video-screencast below? Click here)
Let me tell you a story about how the check-in works. I was working with a team last month, and they had this wonderful VP of Marketing. She walked into a meeting and the first thing she did was not dive into the agenda. Instead, she took a couple of minutes to share where she was at—and in detail. She talked about the four projects she was managing and how two had just derailed. In short, she did a check-in, and invited everyone else at the meeting to do one too. In less than 10 minutes, she had re-focused and aligned everyone around results.
Now if you think about it that rarely happens. Usually, meetings go something like this.
You call a meeting. As the team leader, you’re focused on the agenda—there’s a lot to get through. But in truth, your mind is all over the place. You’re thinking about the numbers, some client problem, a personnel issues, a business opportunity. You’re barely at the meeting—your mind is back at your computer or on the phone.
What if you took a moment to do a check-in, just like the VP of Marketing did in our example?
What if, starting with you, the team leader, you went around the table and gave everyone a chance to dump all the data and details in their heads? Each person would get a couple of minutes to talk about what’s going on for them right now. Everyone else would just listen.
That’s the check in. It’s simple and fast and it works. Give people a chance to get the swirl out of their heads and amazing things start to happen. People shift from being preoccupied by their internal agendas to connecting with each another. They develop empathy as they hear what other people are going through. They get aligned and get results.
The check-in is a great example of applied Emotional Intelligence. What it’s really doing is raising everyone’s self-awareness, and in doing that, creating connection and alignment.
Give it a try and let me know how it goes. The next time you call a meeting, start with the check-in. Before you jump into the agenda, give yourself and your team a chance to dump out all the distracting stuff first. You’ll be amazed at how easy and quickly you get full engagement, and how that kind of focus can make productivity soar.
Interested in more on developing emotional intelligence within your team?
Emotional Intelligence and Teamwork
January 14th, 2010
Teamwork. You either love or you hate it. And for good reason. Effective teamwork requires a lot of emotional intelligence.
I’m thinking the folks over at Scotiabank have emotional intelligence in spades. They’ve launched a new initiative called “one team, one goal.” Here’s the amazing part: they have 69,000 team members, spread across 50 countries.
How are they going to find the glue that unifies all these different employees to get results? By putting emotional intelligence to work. Here’s what that means. An important principle in emotional intelligence is starting with what matters.
Scotiabank focused on finding a solution to connect people so that they would generate results they needed. They sat down as a leadership team and thought, Hey! We’ve got a lot of members, in a lot of different places, a lot of data, and we need to get one core result. What’s the glue? What’s going to hold the team together? What’s going to align all of the data and the people?
Applying the power of Emotional Intelligence, they got to the idea of developing a mentoring program in which top-tier level executives would nurture and teach second-tier executives. That became their glue and goal: Develop new leaders.
Then it gets really exciting.
They started to think about this glue as a conversation about Scotiabank’s values, Scotiabank’s skills, and Scotiabank’s culture. They started teaching all that to this group of people, and it led to some robust conversations about problem solving.
Next thing you know this magical thing starts happening: the human element kicks in. People get electrified by ideas. They engage and connect. They solve problems and get results.
That’s emotional intelligence in action. You find the glue that will align people and data. For Scotiabank it was developing leadership through mentoring. For your team, it could be something different.
It’s interesting to note that Scotiabank is the only Canadian company to make the list of The Global Top Companies for Leaders. I’m guessing emotional intelligence has something to do with that. What do you think? How can you use emotional intelligence in your team and organization? What’s your glue?
CEO leaves executive team adrift
October 06th, 2009
I’d like to share a story that doesn’t have a happy ending. It’s a story about what happens when a high-functioning executive team with well-defined roles, strengths, and dynamics suddenly loses a member and fails to adjust. If you’re a CEO or senior executive, don’t let this happen in your organization.
I recently worked with a company that had offices across Canada and an executive management team that had been together for over 10 years. They communicated well, were willing to give direct and corrective feedback, shared an understanding of the strategic and tactical goals of the company, and reviewed their metrics with regular monthly strategic meetings.
The company was lead by a female CEO, whose father had passed the company to her 10 years prior. She had stepped into the role with no previous experience and decided to bring in outside resources to establish norms of effective teaming, help the team articulate the strategic plan and understand how to review it on a regular basis. (This is where I came in – facilitating the annual strategic planning process and monthly management meetings.)
She had a consensus building leadership style; she put issues on the table for discussion with her trusted team and then, if necessary made the final decision after weighing all of the viewpoints. A key role at the table and, definitely her primary strength.
As profits soared and the executive management team dynamic flowed effortlessly, she decided to have her first child. I was excited to see how this team would now step up and take on strategic and tactical decisions in her absence. What a possibility for the team to grow to new heights, to function with a deeper level of commitment. It’s interesting how her decision to have a child, could also birth the next level of possibility within her executive team.
Before she left, this CEO needed to pass her authority to another member of the team, but, unfortunately, she didn’t let go of her role. She chose not to do so. Instead she simply left to have her child. She assumed the team would continue to function in her absence.
Instead the team floundered because a primary leadership strength – building consensus and making the final decision was no longer at the table. Not one of the executives had the ability to make final decisions when needed. Their once dynamic meetings became meetings of discussion after discussion without decision making and actions of how to move forward.
I sometimes wonder whether this CEO recognized her primary strength and role on this team. Why didn’t she assign responsibility for decision making while she was gone? Was she paralyzed with fear that the executive team would function in a different way in her absence. making it difficult for her to find her place on the team when she returned? Watching the team flounder was extremely difficult – I was saddened by the lost opportunity for the CEO to birth both a child and a more highly functioning team.
Challenge your Teams to Exercise Clout
September 17th, 2009
The most effective teams are full of people who have the courage to exercise professional clout in meetings. They’re prepared and passionate about the meeting contents, willing to be influenced and to influence others. They are willing to take ownership of their individual excellence; their wisdom, knowledge and judgement. All of this equals clout!
You may ask – why clout?
The word clout resonates for me. It represents the courage to be excellent, to put forth my viewpoint and to influence my team. If I’m successful, hopefully I will have the courage to try again next time.
Clout is different than power; my interpretation of power is too closely linked to control.
Brigitte Lacombe wrote a great article in the September 2009 issue of Oprah Magazine titled “31 Ways of Looking at Power” (http://www.oprah.com/slideshow/omagazine/200909-omag-power-list/9) in which she highlights Shirley Ann Jackson, Ph.D.’s formula for power:
- Follow your passion with persistence, magnified by intense preparation (preparation and passion)
- Use compassion and courage to weave a strong web of connections (influence)
- Use focused excellence to drive achievement and gain wisdom (ownership and courage).
She states, “It is through combination of all these things that your power will reveal itself. The magnitude and reach of your power is up to you”. She continues, “Connectivity is key; it is what creates and strengthens your web of opportunity. The more connected you are, and the stronger your connections, the more effective you will be in obtaining and using power to achieve your goals.”
Now that resonates for me! That woman has clout! Your thoughts?
Emotional Intelligence Series #7: Leadership Assertiveness and the Importance of the Vision!
June 28th, 2009
Sorry about the volume of this video – some of it was shot in studio and some outside; audio levels vary.
In April, I participated in Habitat for Humanity’s Toronto Women’s Build. I was in a group of 60 business leaders gathering to give back, to have a fun day and to somehow swing a hammer to build one of sixteen new homes for families in need.
As eager business women with type A personalities, we were all juiced and ready to jump in!
Habitat for Humanity gave us the overall vision of the day. Our project manager then started us with some tactical direction – it excited all of us for a short period of time. Then we all became very ineffective. Our participation slowed and motivation waned.
A fellow entrepreneur, Joan, saved the day with her high level of Emotional Intelligence:
- Self Awareness in her ineffectiveness,
- Self Management in her ability to manage her frustration and,
- Her courage to act with Leadership Assertiveness; simply requesting that the project manager share the tasks vision.
Watch this video – a great case study for team effectiveness. Consider the following:
- Describe the project/task vision. All of us need to understand where we are going so that we can get there.
- Provide direction then support. Provide detailed direction to the newbies on your team (like us — highly motivated but lacking in task specific competence in how to build a house). Provide support when you recognize effectiveness is declining.
- Encourage your team members to uplead. Joan exercised her leadership assertiveness in asking our project manager to explain the vision of the task – this is ‘upleading’,
- As a leader, respond to the upleading immediately. If a member of your team behaves with a positive uplead – grab it and act immediately. Our project manager did just that! She led us to the sample home and showed us the needed end result.
