Posts Tagged ‘supervision’
5 Steps to Spring Cleaning Your Psyche
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 We can certainly engage in physical Spring cleaning activities: throwing away outdated files, rearranging some of our furniture, and scouring our office surfaces with pine-scented cleaners.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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
A Different Kind of EKG
There are scores of helpful courses, articles and books by multiple firms on how to lead during times of change. (Full disclosure: the company I work for is one of those firms.) Many of these resources focus on strategy and tactics, while others focus more on the human emotions that leaders must also pay attention to. Thankfully, that human side of leadership and change seems to be gaining more attention. This is good news for the workplace, and quite possibly, the world as we know it. Change seems to be the rule more than the exception, which means we’d all be better off if we learned to deal with change – and each other – more effectively.
Suggesting that the world can be changed through a greater focus on the human side of organizational life may sound a tad grandiose. But when leaders pay as much attention during change to the emotional engine in their organization as they do to their strategy and execution plans, they can foster a spirit of well-being that kick-starts the change initiative and transcends the workplace. That is a win for all of us even if we don’t work in the same organization. Think about it: what type of post-workday conversation would you rather participate in? Would it be the one that is full of positive energy and optimism? Probably. Unfortunately, too many of these conversations go like this: “Well, you’ll never believe what they dropped on us at work today.” As a leader, the way you implement change in your organization can have a direct impact on the dinner table dialogue and the sense of well-being for everyone on your team. Research about the impact of positive psychology by thought leaders such as Dr. Martin Seligman bears this out. Check out his recent book, Flourish, to read more about this for yourself.
So, presuming you are a well-intended but busy leader, what steps can you take to devote more attention and intention to the human side of change within your organization? You can start with something I explain to my executive coaching clients as an EKG. No, this isn’t a medical procedure for your heart, but it does involve your heart and the hearts of those around you. EKG stands for empathy, kindness, and gratitude.
E=Empathy
Think back to the last time a friend or family member approached you about some changes they were going through at work. Did they excitedly tell you about something their boss or company did during that time to show them how much they cared about him or her as a person? This is a simple yet underutilized aspect of leadership and human relations in general. Leaders promote well-being and engagement by demonstrating empathy. You might try a statement similar to this one with someone on your team who has stepped up to help during a time of change:
“I realize that the new system we’ve implemented is taking some extra time for everyone to get used to. I really appreciate the time you’re taking to learn the system and coach others on it. Your patient willingness to help has reduced the stress level for more than one of your colleagues! I know your effort reduces the time you’re able to spend on other projects you really enjoy though, and it also impacts your own personal time when you work late to catch up or help a colleague. What can I do to support you and give you some of your time back as we all continue to work through this change together?”
Of course, demonstrating empathy involves more than the right words offered at the right time. Leaders also need to listen deeply as their team members express what’s going on for them. They also need to follow through on whatever they offer by way of support. Not following through is one of the quickest ways to break trust – a vital part of the fuel in the emotional engine that chugs away in organizations every day.
When it comes to empathy, Daniel Goleman said it best in his book, Primal Leadership. He writes, “Empathetic people are superb at recognizing and meeting the needs of clients, customers, or subordinates. They seem approachable, wanting to hear what people have to say. They listen carefully, picking up on what people are truly concerned about, and respond on the mark. ”
Check back here in a few days for my next post about the next factor in an EKG: kindness. In the meantime, what opportunity will you take this week to demonstrate some empathy with those you lead? Please post a comment so we can all learn from you!
Pay Freezes Present Leadership Opportunities
If you’re a manager in the federal government, you’ve heard some big news this week: not only will your pay be frozen for the next two years, but so will the pay of those who report to you. If you’re new to supervision you may wonder whether it is best to proactively surface this issue with your team or just hope they won’t bring it up. Don’t let the water cooler conversation get ahead of your leadership. Now is a great time for government supervisors to step up, talk with their team members about what matters most in their work, and turn the issue of pay freezes into an opportunity to foster more engagement within the team.
You probably realize that annual increases are not the only reason that people stay in their jobs, but when was the last time that you talked with your team about what does keep them engaged in their jobs? How did those conversations go? Research shows that when managers take the time to talk with employees about what really gets them excited about their work, and then do all they can (beyond pay and promotions) to connect the dots between assignments and energy, engagement levels go up along with several other positive workplace indicators.
If you have a solid performer on your team that you think is at risk of leaving, here are some engagement tools that you can use to turn things around. In addition to using these tools with your employees, now is also a good time for you to ask yourself these questions. Take time to re-engage your own energy and focus too, so you can continue to be the best leader you can be for your team.
- The High Cost of Low Engagement: What Supervisors Can Do About It by Casey Wilson
This short white paper is designed to help supervisors build trust and engagement with their team members through intentional conversations about their work and what energizes them. Applying the principles in this article (as well as the book it connects to, The Cornerstones of Engaging Leadership) will help you to navigate through some of the most important conversations you will ever have as a leader. You can access the white paper and the book through the following links. (Full disclosure: My boss wrote this white paper, the book, and the course we offer on this topic. I’m recommending them because they work, not for any extra engagement “points”.)
White Paper: http://www.managementconcepts.com/portal/server.pt?open=512&objID=372&PageID=1698&cached=true&mode=2&userID=238
- Love ‘em Or Lose ‘em: Getting Good People to Stay by Beverly Kaye and Sharon Jordan-Evans
This book contains multiple “stay factors” for supervisors to leverage with their staff, such as opportunities for growth, meaningful work and great co-workers. The authors include questions that supervisors can use to conduct “stay interviews,” or conversations that surface what matters most and what it will take to keep them on board. You can read about the book here: http://www.keepem.com/
- 12: The Elements of Great Managing by Rodd Wagner and James K. Harter
This book is full of stories, examples, and data that show the power of engaging employees in service to a common mission. The research for this book came from interviews with more than 10 million employees. You can read more about the book here: http://gmj.gallup.com/content/25402/book-center.aspx
The upcoming year is promising to be one that includes an increasing focus on budgets and performance. This is the perfect time to use employee engagement as the tool to maintain focus and achieve performance goals. What tools do you use as a leader to carry out the important work of talent management? I’d love to hear from you.
Back to the Basics
My colleagues and I are sometimes excited by the latest, leading-edge research or new theories on leadership. Whether it’s the huge waves the burgeoning field of neuroscience is making, or the growing recognition that many of our work practices are not sustainable, there is something intriguing and engaging about the latest insights.
And then we are yanked back to “reality.”
This happens when we get our noses out of a fascinating white paper and just listen to what many employees say about their workplaces, and in particular, their bosses. It is almost always a sobering and sad reality check. We are reminded that for all the advances that have been made in creating productive, functional and high-performance workplaces, the reality is that far too many are still scraping by, fraught with dysfunction, toxic relationships, anger, frustration and even bitterness.
We hear things like the following:
“My boss throws me under the boss when he makes a mistake.”
“My manager refuses to tell us anything. We last had a meeting a year ago.”
“My supervisor only listens to people who agree with him.”
“My team lead said we all had to work late on a project, and then went home early.”
“My child was very sick and I needed to be with her, but my boss said he needed me at a meeting, which was a complete waste of time.”
“My manager only cares about one thing – her career.”
This list goes on and on and on, like the Energizer Bunny of dysfunction.
In sports, when an athlete’s performance goes wrong, the coach usually says it’s a matter of getting back to the basics. A fundamental error was made, and needs to be fixed.
This metaphorically applies to leadership, and to the broader place of what happens when work needs to be done and human beings show up to do it.
So what are the basics? In the spirit of a blog, rather than textbook, let me just list a few.
The basics include:
Realizing your job is to support the performance of others, not just make yourself look good.
Taking the time to listen to others. (Don’t say you don’t have it. How does it work for you if your boss says he or she doesn’t have time to listen to you?)
Being respectful. Do I need to say anything here?
Cultivating empathy – the ability to see different points of view without automatically judging them.
Sharing information – as much that is relevant you can.
Making the connection between the work and what you and others individually care about. If it’s just a paycheck for you, how do you expect others to be excited?
Showing up. Literally. Do you make face time? Do you ask people how they are doing?
Having enough self-management skills to avoid blowing up. When you feel the stress and pressure – which, by the way, we all do; it’s not just you – do you have the maturity, self-discipline and self-control to respond in a way that helps the other person to solve the problem?
There are many more, and this is just a quick list.
How are you doing?