20 Jan
PeopleTek Coaching Leadership

Trust and Transparency

We won’t be able to rebuild trust in institutions until leaders learn how to communicate honestly — and create organizations where that’s the norm.
–James O’Toole and Warren Bennis

Did you know that trust in US corporations is at an all-time low of 38 percent, a drop from 58% in 2008?

We’ve talked before about how leaders who are viewed as trustworthy are more successful. They hold themselves and others to high standards, are consistent with the behaviors they display, and follow through with their commitments. They’re also willing to be vulnerable, admit their mistakes, and they encourage team members to do the same. It’s no wonder that desired results are more readily obtained.

Organizations must be more open and transparent before the trust factor will improve.

10 Tips For Increasing Organizational Transparency

  1. Open lines of communication
  2. Timely exchange of valid information
  3. No hoarding of information
  4. Active listening
  5. Healthy debates and disagreements
  6. Remove the fear factor from speaking up
  7. Tell the truth
  8. Admit mistakes
  9. Counter inaccurate information with facts
  10. Practice having difficult conversations

Relationship building, improved performance, increased accountability, and improved job satisfaction levels are all side benefits for organizations that score high in trust and transparency.

How would you rate your team? What tip if addressed could increase your score?

13 Jan
PeopleTek Coaching Success

Attacking Your Goals

“Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success”.
–Stephen A. Brennan

Most of you have begun to identify your annual goals; some of you may even have finalized the goals that your organization/company will work on throughout the year.  Now what?

  • The goals need to be cascaded to everyone that can support attaining them.
  • Each person that has a role in the successful achievement of a goal needs to understand how they personally can help with achieving the goal.

One way to start to action each goal is to utilize the brown paper process.  The steps in this process include:

Step 1
Identify the objective for successfully completing each goal

Step 2
Agree on the focus areas (streams) that are required for achieving the goal

Step 3
Identify what the desired end result is and the timeframe for completion (called “TO BE” in the process)

Step 4
Identify the dependencies (called Critical Success Factors (CSF’s) that are required for success.  Ex. funding, skills, completion of other goals

Step 5
Document the ‘AS IS’ for each of the goals. (Let’s say you have a goal of 99% accuracy, what’s the current accuracy rate?

Step 6
Brainstorm what must be done to achieve the goal (called “HOW TO’s”)

Step 7
Ensure accountability by assigning an owner for each goal and for each “how to”

Please let us know if you’d like an excel template for the brown paper process.  It’s ideal for taking action, obtaining results, and tracking where you are today to where you desire to be. The sooner you get started the more successful you’ll be!

06 Jan
PeopleTek Coaching Success

Kicking Off The New Year

“The reason most people never reach their goals is that they don’t define them, or ever seriously consider them as believable or achievable. Winners can tell you where they are going, what they plan to do along the way, and who will be sharing the adventure with them.
–Denis Watley

Welcome to 2011!  As we kick off the New Year and prepare for the challenges and opportunities awaiting us, the key to success is the development, clarity, and communication of your goals.  You need:

  • Goals that support the vision and mission of your organization
  • Goals that support the vision and mission of your business partners and customers (whether internal or external)
  • Goals, that even when cascaded several layers, are clearly understood and actionable
  • Goals with targeted start and completion dates
  • Goals that can be tracked and measured

Ownership of each task that supports a goal (the owner is not the only one to action the goals but rather their role is to regularly monitor the progress and communicate successes and obstacles)

Goals at both an organizational and individual level that will dictate performance levels and rewards

Goals that build on existing strengths and successes

Goals that grow the bottom line and the organization’s value

Goals that support development planning for individual and organizational growth and enrichment

Goals that support employee retention and build depth to the employee talent pool

If members of your organization were asked if they had written goals with plans to support them and target dates to complete them could they respond “yes”?