31 Aug
[email protected] Leadership, Planning

Succession Planning

Succession planning is a process for identifying and developing internal people with the potential to fill key leadership positions within the organization.

You lead a very successful team, your abilities have been recognized, and as a result have been offered a promotion.

Is your team ready for you to move on?  Will there be an impact to the organization because of your move? Could your promotion be delayed because of not have a successor?

The big question is: What have YOU done to develop, mentor, and groom possible replacements?

Some companies have formal processes in place to fill leadership roles, others have informal processes, and some have nothing in place at all. As leaders, we want to ensure that our key roles, if vacated, will not present issues.

SUCCESSION PLANNING SUGGESTIONS:

  • Create mentorships
  • Utilize cross training
  • Delegate leadership tasks
  • Commit to leadership development
  • Create and re-visit development plans
  • Implement job shadowing
  • Conduct talent reviews
  • Identify high performers in your department
  • Request a list of high performers across the organization
  • Assess readiness levels and timeframes ex. now, in 1 year, in 2 years, etc
  • Ensure the high performers WANT a leadership position! We once knew a person that was targeted for several positions but had no desire to change roles!

Employees WANT to be developed, and organizations have the need to build bench-strength; having a plan in place sounds like a win-win situation!

QWIKTIPS – Read more Succession Planning Tips

All organizations, no matter their size, need succession planning

24 Aug
[email protected] Decision Making, Leadership

Mergers

The fundamental premise of any merger is that the merging entities will be more valuable together than they are separately.–George Bradt

Mergers seem to be happening with great frequency. It could be between teams, organizations, and even companies. As leaders, we’re required to consistently look at “doing more with less”, improving processes, and ensuring we have the right people in the right job.  Bottom line – there’s always a need to reduce costs and improve value.

Brad Gevurtz, D.A. Davidson & Co. reported that mergers and acquisitions were down in 2016 from 2015 ($3.84 trillion globally vs. $4.66 trillion in 2015), yet 2016 was considered a strong year, and the forecast is that mergers will increase this year.

What does that mean to us as leaders? Mergers are a form of change and we don’t always spend sufficient time assessing the “people/human” impact and the impact to our existing culture.

How and who will be impacted? What’s the likelihood performance and productivity will suffer during the merger? How will the merged teams/organizations function? What will it take to keep our culture strong? What are the new expectations from the CEO and senior leadership team?

We need to start by communicating the specific value of the merger, we need to identify all changing roles, and whether or not our vision and mission have changed. We need to share the behaviors and build relationships that will make the merger successful, and ideally we will obtain buy-in.

It’s also a good time to ASK your staff about their perceptions and feelings. A simple survey can provide a wealth of information, and there are many tools and assessments available that provide invaluable information about teams and individuals.

Team Dimensions is one such tool. It identifies what role each person plays on the team (creator, advancer, flexer, refiner, or executor), helps understand group priorities, makes the team aware of the contributions and value each person brings to the process, and how to most effectively work together.

Another helpful tool is DiSC Workplace. Individuals and teams learn how to build better relationships, regardless of title or role, and improves the quality of the culture. Participants understand and appreciate differing styles, and create strategies for overcoming challenges.

All in all, mergers will continue, and as always, success is more likely achieved when there is a clear vision, shared goals, with team members aligned and truly believe that value will increase when the team works together.

What are you doing to ensure your team supports your strategies that reduce costs and improve value?

QWIKTIPS  read more on LEADERSHIP TOOLS

Corporate culture is the only truly sustainable competitive advantage and the root cause of any merger’s failure or success. —George Bradt

25 Jun
[email protected] Leadership

Mentally Strong

Curiosity, rationalization, and laziness are no match against courage, self-control, and mental toughness. –John Bytheway

Do you consider yourself mentally strong? We’ve talked about how “gremlins” can impact our confidence levels and derail us from the path we’ve planned.

We’ve also previously shared our 5 P’s required for succcesful leadership and to grow the bottom line:

  • Passion
  • Planning
  • Persistence
  • Profit
  • People

To us, mental strength includes having the courage to believe in, and be guided by the 5 P’s.

If you love what you do, you’ll likely have the PASSION to market your strengths and minimize and develop your weaknesses.

You need to PLAN, which equates to be driven to achieve, and taking actions against your vision, mission, goals, and measures. All your behaviors should support their achievement.

PERSISTENCE is continuing steadily despite problems or difficulties. We all encounter challenges and not everything goes as planned, but that can’t stop us. We need to think about what could be done differently to attain the results we desire.

To grow and thrive, PROFIT must be experienced. And that does not mean only financially, but also from an emotional / value added perspective for the customer, shareholder, and employee.

And of all these, PEOPLE is most important “P”.  With caring, skilled, and committed people, you’re more likely to build and maintain the trust required for creating strong relationships along with the collaboration needed to foster success.

What behaviors and actions can you change to become more mentally strong? Are there others you can help?

QWIKTIPS – 

Read more on being ADAPTIVE AND AGILE

LIFE IS HARD, BUT MENTAL STRENGTH CAN MAKE YOU UNSTOPPABLE.–Amy Morin

01 Jun
[email protected] Leadership

Mentor Power

A mentor empowers a person to see a possible future, and believe it can be obtained. — Shawn Hitchcock

How do you define the role of mentor? We define it as “someone who imparts wisdom and shares knowledge with a less experienced person”.

Mentors share their experiences (both negative and positive/what went well and what did not, and WHY), and they help pave the way for their mentee to attain desired goals and career aspirations.

Part of the mentor’s role is to provide:

Meaningful, consistent, and timely feedback

Explore strengths and developmental needs (technical and interpersonal)

Networks that help grow business relationships (and opportunities)

Trust and integrity must exist for all interactions

Ongoing communication

Realistic expectations

Mentoring may be formal or informal, but the expectations and roles should be defined and agreed to at the inception of the relationship.

What’s the purpose of the mentorship?
What type of expertise/guidance is the mentee seeking?
In general, mentors/mentees do not have a reporting relationship allowing for candid discussions.

As a leader, are you open to assisting others with achieving their career aspirations? Are you willing to share your wisdom and experiences with others to help them grow?  If yes, you have MENTOR POWER!

QWIKTIPS –

Click to read how to: DEVELOP OTHERS

25 May
[email protected] Leadership

Do You Delegate?

The first rule of management is delegation. Don’t try and do everything yourself because you can’t.–Anthea Turner

Is delegating work part of your role as a leader?  We hope so. Effective leaders are effective delegators. Why?

**Delegation frees time and provides an opportunity to  develop others**

As leaders, we frequently spend too much time doing tasks; we are working in the business instead of on the business.   As leaders we need to step back from the tactical work and spend more time on strategic thinking and innovation, and more time coaching and developing others.

There are numerous reasons for not effectively delegating.

The most common are not trusting that the job will get done to our satisfaction, discomfort with assigning a boring task, or feeling guilty that the workload will be too great.

Here are some tips to help:

Plan your delegations – Assess the strengths of your delegate, match the assignment accordingly.

Provide clear, documented instructions and due dates.This prevents misunderstandings and if the task is new to your delegate, they can refer back to your instructions.

The best delegators provide the “what and when”, and leave the “how” to the individual which is more empowering and motivating.

Assess how long the task would take you and build in extra time for your delegate; obtain buy-in that the deliverable date is realistic.

Ensure your delegate has the appropriate resources they need to be successful. Inform staff, co-workers, business partners, etc of your delegated role.

Follow-up and monitor the progress; you may be needed to add clarity to the task or be nothing more than a sounding board.

Acknowledge the contributions of your delegate and provide constructive feedback for areas of growth.

Effective delegation increases morale, builds your talent pool, and strengthens trust within your organization.

Are you an effective delegator?

QWIKTIPS –

Click to read about CONFIDENCE AND COMPETENCE

If you delegate authority, you will build leaders.–Craig Groeschel

18 May
[email protected] Success

Average Is Over

What sets successful people apart from everyone else?

PeopleTek’s strategic partner, E-Coach Associates, has produced a series of videos that provide strategies for making us perform at our best.

The first video begins with “Average Is Over”.  Indeed it is. Competition in the workplace is stronger than ever so it’s up to us to understand how we can contribute more and become more successful.

It’s no surprise that it starts with us. We need to be continual learners and we need to consistently build our awareness levels (of ourselves and of others).

Other key points include:

  • Be easy to work with (being competent is a given)
  • Understand the other persons point of view
  • Learn the biases of others (ex. Frustrations, disappointments, etc)
  • Ask others to share THEIR experiences
  • Watch and listen for behavioral preferences (adapt accordingly)
  • Have clear expectations (what do you expect of others/what do they expect of you?)

Don’t be afraid to ask what the #1 expectation is from others (especially your boss!). Don’t assume as you may be surprised!

Have you and your boss ever been “out of alignment” regarding expectations? Let us know how you got back on track.

QWIKTIPS – 

Click to read about LEADERSHIP TOOLS

DISCOVER SUCCESS

11 May
[email protected] Change

5 Types Of Change

There is no getting around change. It happens every day in every type of organization.—Britt Andreatta, Ph.D, author

Change in the workplace. It’s inevitable, so as leaders, what are we doing to reduce the failure rate? Studies show that 50 – 75% of change results in failure, either initially (it is never successfully launched), or that it does not sustain itself due to lack of buy-in across the organization.

Dr. Britt Andreatti, writes about how our brains must be harnessed to help us drive and thrive through change, and has identified 5 types of change in the workplace.

5 Types Of Change – excerpts from WIRED TO RESIST by Britt Andreatta 

  1. Strategic – how the organization will fulfill its mission
  2. Structural – the organization’s internal set-up
  3. Process – how the organization maximizes productivity and workflow
  4. Talent – maximizing employee skill and performance
  5. Cultural – shifting attitudes, values, and behaviors

It’s probably no surprise that the ability to change the mind-set of our people is the most difficult. If we don’t get them on-board, and if they do not support the new vision and core values (or perhaps don’t understand or know HOW to support it), success is unlikely.

Dr. Andreatta feels there are 4 key factors that influence success rates: Disruption, Acclimation, Choice, Desire  

As leaders we need to assess the amount of disruption and the time required for acclimation. We can label them as:

ORANGE – A lot of effort but over quickly

GREEN – Little effort and over quickly

YELLOW – Little effort over a long period

RED – A lot of effort over a long period

Take time to review the level of disruption for each change as that will help with realistic time expectations for acceptance. Equally important is assessing if the change was a choice or a mandate, and whether it was viewed as desirable.

Dr. Andreatta states that humans are “biologically wired to resist change”, and as leaders we MUST acknowledge and manage the emotions of the change curve (shock, denial, anger and fear) before we can expect acceptance and commitment.

As leaders, our challenge it to erase the equation that CHANGE=DANGER.  Are you prepared?

QWIKTIPS –

Click to read about GROWTH, CHANGE, STRESS

Leadership is unlocking people’s potential to become better. Bill Bradley

27 Apr
photo of clocks; time mastery
[email protected] Leadership

7 Moments

The difference between average and excellent is, literally a matter of moments.—Lee J. Colan

Not only are we advocates of continual learning, we actively live (and pursue it)! One aspect of this includes reading and listening to the ideas of others.

Lee J. Colan wrote 7 Moments …That Define Excellent Leaders; we’d like to share some of his ideas that are both simple yet powerful.

The 7 MOMENTS ARE:

#1 A Moment To Commit – Think Excellence, Create A Compelling Cause, Secure Your Foundation

#2 A Moment To Plan – Set A Vision, Know and Optimize Your Sweet Spot

#3 A Moment To Act – Check Your Focus, Treasure Your Resources, Make Real-Time Decisions

#4 A Moment To Connect – Look Beyond Your Staff, Cultivate Your Network, Ritualize Your Team

#5 A Moment To Invest – Inspire Future Leaders, Live Your Legacy, Exercise Your Brain

#6 A Moment To Change – Delight In Discomfort, Know Fear, Multiply Your Power Of One

#7  A Moment To Conquer – Move Through Adversity, Take Your Stand, Secure Your Foundation

Excellent leaders don’t limit defining key moments for themselves, they also provide opportunities for their team to create their own defining moments. AND, they provide feedback and guidance that adds to levels of excellence.

How are you helping others define their “key moments”?
QWIKTIPS –

Click to read A LEADER WITH A VISION 

We Are Never The Same After Experiencing A Defining Moment-Lee. J. Colan

 

20 Apr
[email protected] Blog, Leadership

Continual Learners

It’s hard to find a work environment that provides the space, dialogue and discipline to grow.–Ursala Liff

What do you think of when you hear the term “continual learner”? Do you think it applies to only you, or does it include a commitment for helping others increase their skill-set?

Assuming your answer is that both are required, the next question is “what are you doing to help yourself, others, and your organization evolve, thrive and continually learn?”

Ms. Liff feels that what is lacking in the work environment is the commitment “that I will help you grow if you will help me grow”.

She provides 4 ideas for supporting continual learning:

  • Get clear on your vision and stop the blame game

Ms. Liff feels too many senior leaders complain about their people, yet are not clear about the direction and strategy for the organization, or the roles people play.

  • Human beings can’t change that fast

She also shares that it’s not uncommon to find teams who are supporting 20+ strategic initiatives at one time and suffer from fatigue/burn out.

She feels organizations function best when they focus on 2-3 initiatives that have clearly defined and measurable goals.

  • Slack (or the productivity tool du jour) doesn’t solve the mindshare problem

It’s been stated that 40-70% of our work time is spent on unimportant activities. We need to clearly understand our priorities, allocate resources accordingly, and focus on individual and organizational growth.

  • Do less, think and feel more

Leaders complain they don’t have enough people who can think strategically. We don’t want to only “execute”, we want to encourage differences! Healthy conflicts and discussions will create new ideas and energize people.

Being successful and valued requires more than just being productive – we must make a commitment to continually hone our skills and enable others to do the same!

Are you committed?

Leaders Are Continual Learners

Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.–John Fitzgerald Kennedy

13 Apr
[email protected] Blog, Interpersonal Skills, Leadership

Conflict – Is It Productive?

Your response to conflict situations is entirely in your own control.

We talk a lot about conflict in the workplace.  Why? It’s reality. The next question: Is it productive? You bet! Problems arise when the conflict is not handled in a healthy, honoring way.

We’ve previously shared Kenneth Thomas and Ralph Kilmann’s 5 modes of conflict: COMPETING, ACCOMMODATING, AVOIDING, COLLABORATING and COMPROMISING.

All modes serve a purpose; what’s important is using the most effective mode to address the conflict at hand.

Conflict can be complex. Besides utilizing the most effective style, we need to understand our emotions and triggers as well as understand the behaviors of those we’re interacting with. It’s also a priority that we curb our destructive behaviors.

Enter Wiley. Many of you are familiar with the DiSC styles (Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness). Wiley is currently developing a tool to improve self-awareness around conflict behaviors.

The awareness will include our natural preference to engage versus restrain from conflict, examples of how each DiSC style is likely to influence conflict, and our tendencies to engage in both productive and destructive behaviors (with solutions for maximizing the “productive” and minimizing the “destructive”).

We are currently participating in the beta testing, look forward to learning even more, and can’t wait to be able to share it with you!

QWIKTIPS – click below

Conflict: Address, Avoid, or Leverage?

For good ideas and true innovation, you need human interaction, conflict, argument, debate.  Margaret Heffernan

06 Apr
[email protected] Leadership

People Pleasers

When pleasing people becomes a goal, we seldom lead people into what is best and are led more by opinions of others than by vision.—Ron Edmondson

If you hear someone being called a “people pleaser” how do you interpret that? Do you consider it to be a compliment, or do you view it as a negative?

We guess it boils down to “why”. Many articles say people pleasers simply want to be liked and they have an over-whelming need to be accepted.

Others say people do it because they lack the courage to put themselves first, they want to avoid uncomfortable situations, and they are unable to deliver tough messages.

7 Casualties Of People Pleasers by Ron Edmondson

  1. No one is really ever satisfied – It’s not possible to please everyone all of the time
  2. Tension mounts among the team – People pleasing pits people against one another
  3. Disloyalty is rampant – People-pleasers say what people want to hear more than what needs to be said
  4. Burnout is common – Trying to please everyone is tiring!
  5. Frustration abounds – People-pleasing leads to fractured teams and fragmented visions
  6. Mediocrity reigns – In an effort to please everyone, the team compromises and no one is happy
  7. Visions stall – Visions are intended to take us places and this requires change. Change is often met with resistance, and it’s hard for the people pleasers to keep everyone happy

As leaders, how hard is it for you to make tough decisions that won’t please everyone? Remembering that all behaviors and actions must support our vision helps.

QWIKTIPS –

FEAR – A Barrier To Success – Click for more 

I CAN’T TELL YOU THE KEY TO SUCCESS, BUT THE KEY TO FAILURE IS TRYING TO PLEASE EVERYONE.—Ed Sheeran

31 Mar
photo of clocks; time mastery
[email protected] Leadership

Punctual (or not)?

Punctuality is the stern virtue of men of business, and the graceful courtesy of princes.–Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton

DO YOU AGREE?

How do you feel about co-workers that are consistently late to meetings? Do you find yourself showing up (or calling in) after the meeting has begun?

We ask this because a newly formed team we were working with encountered this situation regularly, and the perceptions and impacts varied greatly.

(And some were very unhappy!)

PUNCTUAL (OR NOT)?

This was a group of 25 participants with shared goals; they also had individual goals as well as different clients and deliverables.  It should also be noted that the reason they were meeting with us was to become a more collaborative team, and stronger leaders.

Given the size of the group, was it fair to anticipate that there would be late arrivals and early departures?

We heard “grumblings” by some attendees and asked the entire team their perception about punctuality. We were fairly surprised that the split was almost even.  Half felt lateness was “part of business”, with the other half viewing it as a sign of dis-respect which impacted levels of trust. (And Lencioni has taught us that trust is the foundation for successful teams).

How do you feel when you’re punctual and others are not?  Please share your thoughts with is!

QWIKTIPS –

VALUING YOUR STAFF – click to read how

People count the faults of those who keep them waiting.~Proverb

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