Leadership and Learning

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As leaders and HR professionals, we frequently have the amazing opportunity to work with our clients on their improving their leadership skills. Maintaining a strategic focus, treating the people well, and meeting or exceeding business results are leadership indicators that most leaders would agree are vital to their success.

I’ve had the opportunity to hear Pat Donahoe, Postmaster General for the United States Postal Service, speak on several different occasions. Whenever he opens the floor for questions, people inevitably ask him the same question. “Pat, what’s the number one thing you would suggest it takes to become a top leader?” Every time, Mr. Donahoe answers, “Listening.”

Hmmm. Listening. Do you mean that thing we’ve been doing for our entire lives? The thing that has allowed us to relate to someone else, share successes as well as challenges, and then set out upon a course of action based on what we understand? Yes. That very thing. Then why is it so hard to do? Why is it so hard to be fully present when we’re communicating with someone else? Why do we let our internal dialogue so strongly influence our interpretation of our external interchange?

I recently saw this depicted in an amazing way. I was working with an audience, and in the audience, many of the participants were either visually impaired or blind. We were going to use a video, and the point of contact mentioned that she had an “audio enhanced” version of that video. Not really understanding what that meant, I quickly agreed to use her version. She had used it successfully with similar audiences, so I thought it was the best option.

If you’ve never experienced an audio enhanced video, it takes a little getting used to. A rather robotic sounding voice interjects and describes what’s going on in the background, specifically to allow those with visual impairments to get a fuller picture of the interchange. It works very well, in most cases, to allow those with visual difficulty to understand what’s going on. For those of us who are sighted, it’s a great experience. I’m sure you’re familiar with movies with subtitles where you can see what’s being said.

Here, you hear what’s being done.

The most memorable moment in that video, for me at least, was a vignette where someone was prattling on and on about something that seemed insignificant. The robotic voice said, “Thought bubble: blah, blah blah” precisely at the same time when the actors on screen were clearly not listening to each other. I chuckled, along with many of the others.

How different would your conversations be if the people you were talking to could actually read your thoughts? Surely we’ve all thought “blah blah blah” when we’re on hold trying to speak to a customer service rep or doing something that may seem mundane, but what if, and I mean if, the person you’re speaking to has something that’s very important to say. Not something that you’ve heard before, yet something that you really need to hear? How do you suspend distractions to give them your full presence? It takes practice; it takes work, and it takes intention.

For the next week, strive to be fully present when someone comes to talk to you. Give them the gift of your attention in a way that you perhaps never had before. Don’t check your approved electronic device; turn away from your computer. Give them your full, unadulterated presence.

You’ll be surprised at what you might find out.

As an HR Development professional, I get the opportunity to meet a variety of people in a variety of settings. My work has taken me to almost every state in the US, as well as a handful of countries in Western Europe. These opportunities always present me with experiences that I learn from on many levels, not the least of which is how people view themselves, how they introduce themselves to others, and how much they share.

One of my recent favorite ice breakers (yes, I hear the collective groan out in the blogosphere), is to have participants introduce themselves by using a word or phrase that begins with each letter of their name.

For example, for “Scott,” I would say something like, “My name is Scott. ‘S’ represents that I’m from the South, Alabama specifically; ‘C’ stands for the fact that I’m a huge fan of college football, especially the Auburn Tigers; ‘O’ means that I enjoy outdoor activities; ‘T’ means that I’m love live theatre, and have performed in numerous productions over my life; and the other ‘T’ means that I value the time that we’re going to spend together for the next few days.” That pretty much sums up a lot of information about me and my interests.

While this ice breaker seems quite simple on the surface, what I find really interesting is what people choose to reveal about themselves. For many, the organization’s culture dictates the amount of personal information that people share. In a low trust environment, participants are typically very guarded. They’re answers are brief, to the point, and concise. They’re choosing to protect themselves by not revealing a lot about themselves. Again, low trust, or organizational change, leads people to be self-protective.

In high trust environments, however, people are much more open. They share stories rather a descriptive word or phrase. They share experiences, and somehow find a way to integrate the letter into part of the experience. Sometimes, they just say what they want to say, and beg for forgiveness for “breaking the rules.” I totally welcome that.

I also find that the first two or three people who volunteer to introduce themselves really set the tone for the rest of the group. If the pioneers are very open, most others will follow. If the pioneers are guarded, that behavior follows as well.

The purpose of the ice breaker is to help people begin to see how connected we all really are. We may look different, have different experiences, have grown up differently, and have had different life experiences. However, we all do have something that connects us. We’re all people who are on a path…and for a few short hours, we share that path together.

So… At the end of the day, how would you answer this question? What should I know about you?

Spring has sprung early this year. From the rescheduling of the Cherry Blossom Festival in DC, to the record setting pollen counts in Atlanta, no one can argue that Mother Nature decided to exit her Winter hibernation a bit sooner than usual this time around.

And with Spring comes a few rituals that we’ve come to embrace over the years: the Easter Egg hunt on the White House grounds, the Spring practices of college and pro football teams, longer days and shorter nights, and all the other outdoor activities that we associate with warmer temperatures.

My question for you, however, relates to the indoor activities of your workplace. We can certainly engage in physical Spring cleaning activities: throwing away outdated files, rearranging some of our furniture, and scouring our office surfaces with pine-scented cleaners. But what about the internal opportunity we have to start something new and fresh? What can we commit to doing differently to become even more effective in our work? How do we break from those habits, behaviors, and activities that are not serving us well?

Here are five simple steps you can use to begin the Spring Cleaning of your psyche.

1. Take an honest look at what you’re doing. This one is simple enough. For one week, track all of your activities. If you’re the person who says, “There aren’t enough hours in a day,” or you frequently tout your multi-tasking skills, ask yourself why. Why do some people get a lot more done, while not seeming to work as hard as you? The key here, as with all of these steps, is to be honest.
2. Take an honest look at what you’re not doing. Every time you choose to do something, you’re intentionally choosing not to do something else. This one can be difficult for people to understand. If you’re a leader with an “open door” policy, you’re also choosing not to give yourself some needed down time. If you’re constantly responding to email and other distractions, you’re also choosing not to give your brain time and space to focus on the other, perhaps more important, tasks at hand. Only you know what the true cost is of what you choose to do.
3. Engage in scenario planning with yourself. After you’ve taken some time to examine where you’re spending your time and energy, play a few what ifs. What if you closed your door from 8-9, and then 4-5 every day? You’ve taken time to focus, plan your day, or plan your tomorrow. What if you responded to emails less frequently? Again, only you know if a strategy like this will work for you and in your environment.
4. Choose one thing to do differently. The great thing about scenario planning is during the planning phase, all of the results are hypothetical. You don’t know how things are going to play out. Only once you begin doing something different (or differently) can you see the actual results on your workload.
5. Practice. You may have heard that it takes 21 days of doing something differently to become habit. While that’s a convenient rule of thumb, the actual time it takes for a new behavior to become internalized may take more or less time, depending on how long you’ve been doing it in the first place.

Spring is a great time to take stock, recalibrate, and try something new. If we’re not afraid to examine what we’re doing, we may be surprised at what we can do.

Many of you probably recognize the German word for “attention.” Did I just capture yours? How long did I keep it? What’s important to you about “attention?” Why do I keep asking you rhetorical questions? How many more questions will I ask? Hmmm…

I recently attended a webinar. The topic of the webinar had intrigued me, and I had never heard one from the organization presenting it before. So I dutifully registered and looked forward to seeing (and hearing) a new perspective on the topic at hand.

About five minutes into the webinar, the presenter posed a “yes/no” question to the audience; however, the answer(s) offered were in a multiple choice format. I sat and scratched my head, thinking that I must have missed something. I opted not to answer the question, thinking that the other 175 or so people on the webinar who had answered quickly had clearly heard (or saw) something that I had not.

Since they had (what I perceived) to be more or different information than me, I would defer to their thinking. I mean, after all, I was sitting in a virtual room with 175 of my newest colleagues, so I decided to go with the majority.

I then decided to pay a little more attention than I had been. As I listened and watched the webinar unfold, it became apparent (at least to me), that the information was a bit spotty. I perceived the presenter was navigating between key points in a way that was totally logical to her, but clearly was not logical to me. I wondered about the others on the webinar. Was I the only one witnessing this? Did it matter? Was I still missing something?

I had a choice to make. Do I continue on the webinar? Or do I bail?

At that precise moment, I recognized that I was doing something that I frequently coach my clients (who are leaders) not to do.

I was judging the webinar.

Because of my inability to connect the dots, I had begun to judge the entire experience. Surely I couldn’t be part of the problem. I had, in a nanosecond, begun to formulate beliefs about the presenter, the company she worked for, and the organization she was representing. My beliefs may or may not be accurate, but that wasn’t the point. The point, for me, was how I had begun to pay attention. And that was troubling.

I had begun to look and listen for reasons not to pay attention. I looked and listened only for the things to reinforce my ever-increasing intense belief that the presenter wasn’t prepared (she was), or that her information wasn’t relevant (it was).

I chuckled. Out loud. At myself.

No matter how much I learn, read, investigate, analyze, or “know,” the more I realize that the type of attention we pay to others is critical in informing our world view. When we observe the world from a place of curiosity, not judgment, the world becomes a different place.

I intentionally changed my frame of mind. I made my brain ask questions like, “I wonder what she’s going to cover next” rather than “I’m sure the next point isn’t going to follow.” I curiously anticipated what was coming next, rather than sitting and waiting to judge the next statement. The rest of the webinar was very informative, and the information was presented in a way that was not how I would do it, but was equally (if not more) effective.

As leaders, we get to make a choice. Moment by moment. What captures our attention may not be what keeps our attention. But in a world of competing demands for our attention, shouldn’t we be curious rather than judgmental? I’m curious to hear what you think…

Anaïs Nin: ‘We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.’

The little boy fidgeted in his bed. Surrounded by his stuffed animals and his achievement trophies, he eagerly anticipated the brightest spot in his day. In fact, it was the brightest spot in almost all of his days, though he probably didn’t realize it at the time. It was the moment when his grown up majestically entered his room, book in hand, and sat beside him, snuggled in among his stuffed animal friends, and began the adventure.

The adventure took them on different places every night. From tales of princes and princesses in faraway lands, to epic battles of good versus evil.  From action packed scenes of battle, to serene campfires in the Rocky Mountains.

And if he were able to hold his eye lids open, as they grew heavier and heavier, some how, some way, things almost always ended in a good place. The prince and princess were reunited at last; good, yet again, was able to conquer evil. The inevitable battle gave way to peace, and the fish were always biting at the mountain lakes.

For many of us, storytelling has been an integral part of our lives. Stories have given us hope when we had little; stories gave us strength when we were weak; and stories were able to send us off to dream with a sense that everything, eventually, would be all right.

Sometimes, our bedtime stories taught us life lessons (though we didn’t realize it). In many cases for me as a young child, I would keep fighting sleep because I couldn’t wait to get to the end. I had to know what was going to happen. I had to know things were going to be all right; of if things weren’t right, I needed to believe that life was fair-at least sometimes.

If you shared similar experiences, you probably didn’t realize that your grownups were really helping to train your brain. Our brains love to relate to others, and storytelling is one of the best ways for that to happen. But how do we tell good stories in the workplace? Stories that teach, motivate, empathize, or admonish?

As HR professionals, being able to tell good stories will frequently teach the people in the agency we support lessons, or provide them a way of processing information, that a “just the facts” approach will not.

We all have stories; it’s just how we choose to tell them, and the spirit in which we offer them, that will gauge their effectiveness. When telling a workplace story, here are three tips to keep in mind.

1. Make sure your story reinforces the message you’re trying to convey. If a situation is confusing or doesn’t align with the situation, you’ll do nothing more than muddy the waters for your colleagues.
2. Choose your words carefully. In the beginning of this blog, you were probably able to quickly generate a mental image as the story unfolded about our little boy waiting for a bedtime story. Making sure you choose words that are as exact and precise as possible will serve you well when telling your story. And, in telling a workplace story with a message, make sure you use your words, your language, and your style. One of the greatest things we can celebrate about ourselves is our differences.
3. Practice. If you know you’ve got a difficult message to convey, it’s important to practice conveying that message. If you’re telling a story, keep it simple yet descriptive; keep it concise yet meaningful; and keep it tailored to your audience.

Understanding the power of storytelling in the workplace is yet another tool to use in your ability to communicate. And although we may not always end up with a “happily ever after,” we certainly can walk away feeling that we shared, we connected, and we, perhaps, realized that we’re all a bit more alike than we are different.

The End.

Many HR departments in the Federal Space find themselves, just as with many private sector companies, in a desire to become true business partners with the clients they serve. They want to have a voice in planning and co-crafting the future of the agency. From workforce planning (ensuring the best talent is available to continue the mission of the agency) to succession planning (ensuring the agency has groomed a pool of talent to fill key roles and positions for the future), HR professionals are often able to provide invaluable expertise to their business partners.

But frequently, we as HR professionals find ourselves in a more reactionary mode. Because of a lack of planning (maybe on our part; maybe on the part of our clients; maybe for unforeseen circumstances), we may find ourselves scrambling just to fill a position within a timeframe, rather than filling a position with the best qualified and most ideal candidate. How can we help to prevent that a reactionary situation by becoming more proactive?

Here are three tips I’ve found helpful that many of our clients don’t expect. And by doing the unexpected, you’re poised to do the extraordinary.

1.  As soon as possible, establish positive, healthy relationships with our clients. Chances are, we’ve heard that one before. However, its simplicity, and importance, cannot be overstated. Your client groups need to feel like they can seek your expertise in the good times, as well as the more challenging ones. Reach out to your clients and stake holders to see how it’s going. Help your clients find creative solutions for their issues. Volunteer on projects to provide a voice for new initiatives. Our challenge is to help our clients see us as an advocate to move the organization forward, not as an obstacle to prevent new ideas from being implemented.
2. Do unexpected things to keep the relationship alive. By doing simple things-like going to lunch with your clients, sending a random email to let them know you’re thinking about them, placing a quick phone call to see how things are going-you absolutely show your clients that you’re genuinely interested in them, in their well-being, and with the well-being of the agency.
3. Capitalize on teachable moments when they occur. During the times we spend with our clients, find moments to ask great, thought provoking questions of your clients. “I know that’s how the position description currently reads, but what skills would the ideal candidates possess?” “I know this situation must be frustrating, and we’ll get through it. What do you think we can do differently next time to make sure we have a different outcome?” “I hear the morale in your department is improving. What are some of the most creative ways you’ve come up with to help affect that improvement?” “What can I do differently to help support you more effectively?”

When you genuinely, authentically, and honestly practice these three simple tips, the results can do wonders to build and foster positive relationships. Do the unexpected. Expect the extraordinary. 

As HR professionals in the government sector, we often times have many competing commitments. We have to keep abreast of what seems like never-ending changes to rules and regulations that govern our industry. We have to balance the work we must do, with the work we want to do. We want to provide assistance and service to our clients, and we want to further the mission of the agency.

But at the end of the day, what is it that makes us want to do the best job possible? What is IT that has caused us to choose a career in the field of human capital? What do we do, on a daily basis, that truly makes a difference for the people we work with, in the agency we work, and in the bureaucracy that we’re sometimes forced to navigate?

I believe the answer to all of these questions is service. We have selected a career in the human capital arena to serve others. We’re serving other people who have dedicated their careers to the public interest. We’re serving veterans, from conflicts we studied in the history books, to conflicts we watch on our evening news. We’re serving mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, spouses and significant others, children and grandchildren, as well as a host of others who are related to-connected to-those primary customers of ours.

We’re serving ourselves (as professionals, and as taxpayers). We’re serving our families, by the work we do, by what our profession provides us, and by the benefits it affords us.

So what does service, as a government HR professional, mean to you? Do you view yourself, your work, your day-to-day activities, as being in service to someone or something? On those bad days when things aren’t going your way, what if you were able to reframe your thinking, just a bit, to “How did I serve someone today?” Or better yet, “How can I better serve others tomorrow?” Would that notion of “my job is one of service” instead of “my job is a job” cause you to think, act, behave, or perform differently?

I’m curious to hear your thoughts.

There’s an ancient proverb that says: “May you live in interesting times.” Given the turbulence of the economy, the changing demographics of the workforce and the overwhelming amount of talent that HR professionals now have to pick and choose from to fill their government jobs, our times are proving interesting, indeed.

One of the newer wrinkles emerging during our “interesting times” is the movement of many private sector employees into government positions. For many, government jobs may represent a sense of stability and job security that applicants feel they no longer can find in the private sector. They also potentially are positioned at a point in their careers where they’re able to pursue a career that’s more aligned with what they really want to do: to enable change, to make a tangible difference within their community, or to more directly serve their country. Regardless of the reasons (and there are a myriad more than I’ve listed here), many employees who have enjoyed successful careers in the private sector are now looking at a career in the government as a viable option.

What are the implications for the government HR professional? How do you provide someone coming in from the private sector with enough information to accurately set expectations (both theirs and your agency’s) of a government position? Here are a few tips:
Ensure your potential employees understand that direction coming from senior leadership is largely set by Presidential/Congressional agendas. In the private sector world of CEOs, Presidents, Vice Presidents, and Boards of Directors, direction for the company is set to align with shareholder dividends, Wall Street expectations, and increasing the bottom line. Not so in the public sector. The agendas of elected and/or appointed officials are the overriding principles that govern the activities of the agency. Of course everyone wants to ensure that, as tax payers, our voices are heard when federal and state budgets are formulated. However, the ultimate direction comes from a set of governing bodies (GAO, GSA, OPM, OMB) that interrelate, interact, and sometimes, have different goals.

Top leaders in agencies are typically appointed by the President (or elected), and based on the duration of the administration, top leaders may change several times. Many large private sector companies have had the same person at the helm for several years. Steve Jobs at Apple, Bill Gates at Microsoft, and countless others have founded the company, instilled their personal values into the culture of the company, and led the companies for decades. This phenomenon isn’t necessarily so in the public sector. Agency chiefs, deputy chiefs, and other senior leaders may migrate from agency to agency, much more rapidly than what you’d find in the private sector. For anyone coming into a government position, this seemingly rapid change in senior leadership may prove confusing or frustrating. A full understanding of how your agency is governed, the rate at which senior leadership changes, and a tolerance for ambiguity are differences in public and private sector employment that you should explain.

Finally, you should also discuss how the public sector typically handles compensation and promotions. If you’re vetting a former private sector employee who’s accustomed to getting promoted every year or two and getting substantial increases in salary, you’ll need to offer an explanation of how that occurs in the federal space. Explanation of the GS schedule, the SES or FWS process, and how the advantages and disadvantages of being promoted from within occur in your agency may help ensure alignment with your potential employees expectations and the reality they’d face once hired into the Federal Government.

We’ve just tapped a few of the differences between employment in the private sector and the public sector. As HR professionals, we always want to ensure that we paint an accurate picture of what the job descriptions say and what the work will be; moreover, it’s also important to educate your potential employees on how your agency is governed, how your leadership may evolve a little more rapidly than they’re accustomed to, and how compensation and promotions typically occur in your agency. Making sure you point out some of these differences will better educate your potential employees, and increase your effectiveness as a Federal HR professional.

Being a leader is tough business. You have to set direction for your team; ensure every team member is on board; decide how to allocate resources; reward positive behavior when you see it; reshape negative behavior when it becomes apparent, and create and maintain a healthy workplace. A leader also must help the team support each other; ensure that the business at hand is getting completed, and intentionally include everyone so that they all feel a part of the team, and that they want to contribute.

I’ve been very privileged in my career to have lead many different teams, with a wide variety in scope, scale, and, even, success. I’ve read the books; I’ve attended (and actually led) webinars about how to become a better leader, and I constantly strive to maintain a high degree of self-awareness of how my behavior, as well as the choices I make, affect those around me-in classes I facilitate, other groups I work with, and within the circle of my family and friends.

Overall, I would say I was doing relatively well until last Saturday, August 6, 2011 when my effectiveness, the very essence of my leadership, would begin a long journey of being constantly tested. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I adopted a 4 month old puppy, Bacchus.

Bacchus is a Golden Retriever/German Shepherd mix. He has already survived being abandoned in a shelter, a bout with parvo, and is honestly very lucky to be here. I’m lucky to have him. And our relationship is off to a great start.

As I began to reflect on the week, I realized how many parallels there were between being the “leader” of something-be it a team, organization, function, or even pack-and being the grownup for a puppy.  You can’t fix everything at once, so our focus this week largely on housebreaking and crate training.

Like any good leader, I had read the literature about “how” to do it. Positive reinforcement, praise and reward for a job well done; negative words immediately when the undesired behavior happens so as not to lose context-all those things look great in a tri-fold glossy brochure from the adoption agency. But the consistency of actions, both his and mine, are what’s key for our long term success. Bacchus quickly reminded me that life was more complex than a tri-fold.

I’ve had to adjust some of my expectations (as I’m sure he has as well), but what I’m finding is success comes from “being” in the moment. It comes from understanding that we’re both just learning how each other operates, just as we do on our teams. It comes from understanding that when Bacchus (or one of our employees) has an “accident,” that it’s just that-an accident. There’s no harm intended, no malice implied. And although we as leaders can get angry, we often also realize that we have a part in their “accidents,” as well as in their successes.

Why do you lead others? Chances are, you find some type of gratification in it. For Bacchus and me, it’s because we both want to forge a friendship that will last a lifetime. When you’re leading others, remember to keep your eyes on the mutual goal, but enjoy the “moments” that exist in the interim. That’s what Bacchus is currently teaching me. The soft bellies and puppy breath are just some of the perks.

As leaders, it’s very easy to get caught up in our hectic day-to-day activities. Whether it’s a pressing budget deadline, a project that’s behind schedule, or a new initiative you’re implementing for your group, it sometimes seems like the work keeps coming even when we feel we’re completely tapped out. If you’ve ever felt this frustration, raise your hand. Now, everyone put your hands down. Truth is, we’ve all felt it.

How do we sustain our relationships with our people while getting the work done? Well, it’s the simple things. Really.

What are simple things you may ask? A quick check-in water cooler conversation. An email for a job well done. An occasional drink after work with the gang. A pat on the back. Listening when your people bring you their personal problems. Taking care of details that may not matter to you, but matter to your people. Taking the team to lunch regularly.

Simple things are those little actions and activities that remind us we’re all humans, and all humans like to be appreciated. They don’t take long; they don’t cost any money; and they help us maintain healthy relationships with others.

Today, do something simple.