How rigorous are the change management practices in your organization?
Our reader poll today asks: How rigorous are the change management practices in your organization? Somewhat. We manage change for big changes but less for everyday stuff. 37.1% Not very. We don’t actively think about how to manage change. 23.3% Not at all. Change just happens and we react. 21.8% Very. We actively and effectively manage change. 17.8% Change just happens. 45% of you say you don’t manage change actively or are purely in reactive mode. People dislike change and times of change are times of risk for your business. People get distracted. Morale drops. Productivity flags. These events need to be managed actively. While huge change projects usually get the resources for change management, it’s the cumulative effect of all the small changes that saps the will of your organization. Your change management efforts don’t need to be huge. It’s mostly about communicating clearly and directly. Invest some extra time in your change efforts for the next few months and see what the impact is. Hopefully it’ll be a more focused organization that moves through change more quickly so they can get back to business sooner. Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below! – Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!
Being a Leader Through Conflict Management
Jon Wortmann, thoughtLEADERS Principal, sat down with Jim and Jan of The Leadership Podcast to discuss Conflict Management. In continuation of our new collaboration with The Leadership Podcast, Jon delves into conflict management in this short form “chalk talk.” These chalk talk series are bitesize sessions on a common (but challenging) leadership issue. Jon explains some of the keys to conflict management, the most important being the awareness of it, and also the importance of strong verbal communication skills in order to navigate through and best understand any conflict. In further discussion, Jon points out that, though navigating conflict itself and being able to hear individuals and various sides of an issue is important, conflict management is only successful when you can come to an actual resolution. Solving the problem, even if it involves compromise, is ultimately the most important piece of conflict management. Stay tuned for more of these brief Chalk Talks featuring Jon, as well as many more members of the thoughtLEADERS team.
New Roles Aren’t Cause For Losing Old Skills
When leaders take on more responsibility it’s important not to lose all the skills and qualities that got them there. Today’s post is by Graeme Findlay, author of Evolve (CLICK HERE to get your copy). Ahmed, the Vice President for Manufacturing in a large pharmaceutical company could hardly sit still as frustration boiled over. He sat opposite me, stabbing his finger at the circular diagram on the desk between us and exclaimed “I don’t understand it, twelve months of concerted effort and I’ve gone backwards … BACKWARDS!” Ahmed had just received his latest 360-degree feedback report. I had recently started working with Ahmed as his executive coach and this was our first full coaching session. I thought it might be our last as Ahmed raged against the futility of trying to improve his leadership over the last twelve months. He had been slapped in the face with evidence that his determined efforts had come to nought. There was no way forward with Ahmed in his agitated state so I suggested that we go for a walk. I hardly said a word for the first twenty minutes as Ahmed talked out his frustration. Then we got to the heart of the matter. Ahmed had been promoted to the position of Vice President eighteen months earlier from the position of Site Manager for one of the company’s premier manufacturing sites. His promotion was based on a spectacularly successful performance turnaround at the site. Under Ahmed’s leadership, production at the plant had increased almost 40%, with improved safety and quality outcomes. With this success recognized throughout the company, Ahmed approached his new job with vigor – he was now responsible for the company’s entire portfolio of manufacturing sites.
How challenging do you find it to lead across generations?
Our reader poll today asks: How challenging do you find it to lead across generations? Somewhat challenging. It takes effort to cut across generations. 45.4% Not hard at all. People are people. 41.5% Very. There are so many different issues and dynamics to deal with. 10.4% I don’t lead across different generations. 1.8% Extremely. I don’t know where to begin. 1.0% People are people. Is this whole “leading across generations” challenge as big as the market would have us believe? According to your responses, it’s not as big of an issue as it’s made out to be. Only 10% of you say it’s a big challenge. The rest of you feel like it takes some effort but it’s not excessive. What’s important here is maintaining your focus on treating people as individuals. As long as you focus on the wants and needs of each individual and lead them accordingly, the generational issues should take care of themselves. Beyond that, it can be a big mistake to lead a stereotypical group because you might miss important individual elements that aren’t accounted for by the group personality. Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below! – Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!
Building Your Resilience as a Leader
Jon Wortmann, thoughtLEADERS’ Principal, sat down with Jim and Jan of The Leadership Podcast to discuss Leadership Resilience. In continuation of our new collaboration with The Leadership Podcast, Jon explains leadership resilience in this short form “chalk talk.” These chalk talk series are bitesize sessions on a common (but challenging) leadership issue. Jim, Jan, and Jon define exactly what it means to be resilient, where Jon compares the idea to being a human slinky, and how to continually bounce back against the regular and extraneous stresses of life. The team at the leadership podcast ask Jon to breakdown recognizing when someone on our team may be struggling and how we, as a leader, can support and provide a strong environment for others to be able to develop their own resilience and to “bounce back” from their own particular stressors. Stay tuned for more of these brief Chalk Talks featuring Jon, as well as many more members of the thoughtLEADERS team.
Hiring Experience Makes All the Difference
The quality of a candidate’s hiring experience significantly impacts an organization’s ability to attract top talent. Today’s post is by Lisette Howlett, author of The Right Hire (CLICK HERE to get your copy). I have had a number of bizarre hiring experiences which, supported by research and leadership experience, have led me to reach a number of conclusions about hiring, namely that it is an often undervalued and overlooked area which can have a profound impact on an organization. Along with many of my generation, my entry to the corporate world was through the fairly traditional graduate selection process. As graduation approached, I bought a suit (mid grey) with my mother’s help, and participated in a number of 1-2 day selection centers held by my target companies. At one, I was asked which area of business I would like to work in and politely said that I did not want to work in marketing. The offer I received was to join the marketing department. To this day I am convinced the selector wrote down the words marketing when I said not marketing and either forgot the X or overlooked it during the placement discussion. This experience taught me the importance of listening, and more importantly, hearing, during an interview. If you do not later take into account, or at least refer to if you decide to ignore it, something important that is raised by a candidate during an interview you damage your credibility as an employer. For top candidates who have a very real choice about where they work, this can make the difference between them accepting your offer or one from your competitor.
If the last boss you worked for recruited you again, would you go work for him/her?
Our reader poll today asks: If the last boss you worked for recruited you again, would you go work for him/her? No! There’s a reason I stopped working for them!: 42.1% Absolutely! They were great. 29.1% Maybe … if the role and money were right. 28% Boomerang boss. Clearly, a huge portion of you would never go work for a nightmare boss again. There’s truth to the comment that people leave bosses, not jobs. I encourage leaders to look at this question from the opposite side of the equation: Which of these three categories would your former employees put you in? Would they avoid working for you again at all costs? Would they jump at the opportunity? Or would you have to dangle a big wad of cash in front of them to lure them back? If you’re not positive you’re in the “Absolutely!” category, ask yourself what you can be doing today to build that kind of relationship with your team. If you do, you might find they never leave in the first place. Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below! – Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!
Breaking Down Leading Yourself
Sabrina Smith, thoughtLEADERS’ Principal, sat down with Jim and Jan of The Leadership Podcast to discuss leading ME. In continuation of our new collaboration with The Leadership Podcast, Sabrina discusses what it means to lead ME, yourself, in this short form “chalk talk.” These chalk talk series are bitesize sessions on a common (but challenging) leadership issue. Jim, Jan, and Sabrina break what exactly Sabrina means when she says leading ME, and how to show up and work on yourself for the betterment of others every single day. The group dives into what happens when you believe you’re above needing to be led, when you aren’t thinking about yourself as a part of the team, and how to break out of that dangerous mentality. Stay tuned for more of these brief Chalk Talks featuring Sabrina, as well as many more members of the thoughtLEADERS team.