The Leadership Skill of ACTION

Last week, I shared a blog that we had previously posted on the art of “Listening”. Listening is one of the key leadership skills that Dave and I discussed recently on The Leader’s Edge, where we introduced Leadership as one aspect of our Fusion Model of organizational and employee engagement.

It seemed fitting to repost the Listening blog to help reinforce the 4 secrets that will make you a good listener. This week, let’s continue the theme of leadership skills and take a closer look at the second concept we discussed during our Leadership introduction: Action.

A team is always a direct reflection of their leader. The energy of the leader turns into the energy of the team. The priorities and values of the leader should be shared by the team. In those cases where the leader and the team members don't share the same values and priorities, something must change. Either the leader will replace the team members, or the members will replace the team leader.

Show me the leader and I will know his men. Show me the men and I will know their leader. – Arthur Newcomb

Knowing how teams reflect their leader, we are always surprised to encounter a leader who states that his team does not share his values. Frankly, it’s not possible for a high functioning team to NOT share the values of the leader. When we encounter these situations, we often find that the team is, indeed, following the leader. But they are following his actions, not his words.

So many leaders have learned the right words or catch-phrases to parrot to their team. The message that “the customer is number 1” is trumpeted loudly, although slightly out of tune. Or they espouse “Our people are our top priority,” while cutting training dollars and hours, forcing unpaid overtime, and raising production quotas, giving no thought to the impact on the employees or the customers.

Actions speak louder than words and team members look past the words of the leader and take their queues from his actions. While the leader espouses the platitudes learned from the latest management conference they attended, the team members see the actions of their leader and KNOW the actions reflect where the leader’s heart really lies.

We have always found that team members are much more observant than they are given credit for. They can readily detect the incongruence between the words and the actions of the boss and they follow the lead set by those actions. It doesn’t matter if the issue is customer service, how you treat your employees, or how punctual you are for work and meetings. Where you lead, they will follow.

If your goal is for your team to treat your customers like gold, then you need to demonstrate, in both word and actions, that the customers ARE gold. If you believe your employees are the key to your success (and we certainly hope you do), then you need to treat them with the respect they deserve.

When you really begin to care about your customers, your employees, and your results, as shown by your actions as well as your words, you will see that all of your team members care about those things as well.

The above article excerpt (the original of which is published on our website) reiterates the point that, as a leader, your actions will speak louder than your words. Your employees will be watching you closely to determine whether or not you “walk your talk”….both so that they know now to act themselves AND to determine if/how much they can trust you and the organization. Therefore, as you can imagine, ensuring that your actions match your words can have great implications for the future success of your organization.


At ECI Learning Systems LLC we are dedicated to improving productivity and profitability by creating engaged organizations. Our unique combination of training and personalized coaching, combined with our expertise in assessments allow us to create a development plan tailored for your success.


Until next time….

Laurie Valaer
ECI Learning Systems, LLC
http://www.ECILearning.com

Another Dimension To Hiring Beyond Skills

Last week, we talked about hiring and the fact that, generally speaking, hiring for attributes like passion, values, expectations, and talent rather than basic skills will serve you, your team, and your entire organization better in the long run.

In writing last week’s post, I was reminded of an article that Dave and I published some time ago on the ECI Learning Systems website. I think that article, which I’ve shared below, adds another important dimension to our hiring discussion..….

We were recently working with a client and were discussing the fact that he was preparing to do some hiring. He had only hired a few people on his own in the past and frankly, wasn’t all that happy with the people that he had hired. Our client has a technical background and was good at spotting technical talent but he found that just because people had the talent to do the job, didn’t always mean that they could or would work for him successfully.

The truth is that there is much more to hiring and building a successful team than just hiring people who have the talent and skills to do the job. You don’t have to think hard to identify some talented under-achievers in just about any field. Likewise, you can probably think of many examples of over-achievers who seemingly lacked the natural talent, yet somehow always managed to rise to the top.

When you are hiring for specific skills, you need to make sure that your candidates have the right talent and skills to succeed. If you’re hiring an accountant, you want to make sure your candidates have the accounting degree or equivalent experience to do the job. The same would be true of a salesperson, programmer, or customer service representative. Step one in the hiring process is always, “Does this person have the skills and talents to do what I need them to do?”

But what happens after that? What else do you look for when you are making the critical hiring decisions?

The list of attributes can be long, but let’s focus on four things:

Integrity – adherence to a moral or ethical code

Energy – will take action and make things happen

Coachability – can be further trained or developed

Team Oriented – willingness to put the teams’ goals ahead of their own goals

If you hire somebody without integrity, you really want them to be dumb & lazy. ~Warren Buffett

If we could choose just one attribute to be used for hiring, it would be integrity. When an employee has integrity, you know that this is an employee you can trust.

Trust to tell you when they can’t accomplish something.

Trust to tell you when they don’t think you are right.

Trust to do the right thing for your customers.

When you can trust your employees and your employees can trust you, you have then truly built the foundation for a great team.

I think this article expands our discussion of hiring attributes even further.

Beyond skills…beyond having a passion for your organization’s mission…beyond having values and expectations that are a critical fit with your organization’s culture and values…and beyond having unique talents that will make them an invaluable long-term employee…there are other, more personal, attributes that are important to your organization and should not be compromised in the hiring process.

We mentioned 4 of these personal attributes above: integrity, energy, coachability, and team-oriented attitude and behavior. Do these attributes resonate with you? Are there other attributes that we did not mention, which are critical to your organization’s values, expectations, and mission? Do you currently explore these attributes in your hiring process? If so, how do you determine if a potential employee has “the right stuff”?

We’d love to hear your thoughts on hiring and how you handle this critical process in your organization.

At ECI Learning Systems LLC we are dedicated to improving productivity and profitability by creating engaged organizations. Our unique combination of training and personalized coaching, combined with our expertise in assessments allow us to create a development plan tailored for your success.

Until next time….

Laurie Valaer

ECI Learning Systems, LLC
http://www.ECILearning.com

It’s Open To Debate

We had another engaging and informative discussion with Richard Batenburg (CEO of Batmann Analytics) on “The Leader’s Edge” last week. One of the topics that came up was the idea that, when you have a high level of trust in an organization, people will feel comfortable expressing their opinion, even when that opinion and the ensuing discussion could lead to conflict. We also talked about the fact that, while conflict can be uncomfortable for many people, “healthy” conflict breeds creativity and innovation and is important to an organization’s success.

This discussion reminded me of an article that Dave and I wrote a couple of years ago and I thought it was appropriate to share it again here:

You might want to sit down for this one. It could be a little painful.

Think back to your last staff meeting. (We warned you this could be painful.) Either the staff meeting that you sat in with your boss or the one you held with your own team.

What was the highlight of that meeting? 

1.      The donuts or other foodstuffs

2.      A recap of the NFL playoffs

3.      The big news about celebrity breakups

4.      Rumors about layoffs or cost cutting measures

5.      The rousing discussion surrounding a decision that needed to be made

 

We’ll bet it’s one of the first 4, because if your meetings are typical of most staff meetings, number 5 never happened. In fact, number 5 rarely happens at any level of an organization inside or outside of staff meetings.

For the last several years businesses across the globe have struggled with a number of factors including slowing economies, the high cost of labor, the realignment of the internet and the presence on the World Wide Web. Moving down a few levels in the organization, managers and leaders have struggled with productivity and process issues, turnover of key employees, morale problems; the list goes on.

With all of these issues to face, why do so few organizations engage in loud, long, healthy debate on issues that are critical to the success of the business? Managers and leaders sit in meetings and report the status of their projects, trying to call as little attention to themselves as possible. Or, they sit at the head of the table like the high priest and make pronouncements about the direction of the business like they have all of the answers at their fingertips.

At some point in time, businesses seemed to decide that harmony is the key to success. People were encouraged to be “team players” and to “get along” with others around them in a well-intentioned, but wrong-headed attempt to streamline the decision process.

Instead of actively debating issues that come up, we all try to find “common ground” and “compromise” in an attempt to please everyone around us.

What happens when we cut off discussion and debate to promote harmony?

For one thing, we drive the real decision-making process underground. How many times have you sat in a meeting and listened as everyone seemed to agree on a plan of action, only to find out later that no one took the actions that they agreed to. In reality, they didn’t believe in the agreement and therefore felt no compulsion to keep their commitments. Often, a lack of debate also represents a lack of buy-in from those present. Rather than fight the issue publicly, those not in agreement express their discontent through a passive aggressive process that causes the idea to never be implemented.

An active, lively debate on a topic allows for multiple opinions to be aired and for ideas to be developed and improved upon. As a leader you should encourage your team’s input and thoughts. Concerns should be expressed; solutions bandied about; and honest debate should be required.

All of this is not to imply that we are encouraging members of the team to sit around and argue without cause. But team members should feel open to express whatever real issues, thoughts, and concerns they have. And that active debate, the role of honest conflict in the workplace, separates good teams from great teams.

Take a look at your own organization. Do you encourage open and honest debate? Do your employees trust you enough to express their opinion? Do they feel comfortable enough with each other and the organization to get into a little active debate in the name of creativity, innovation, and success?


Until next time….

Laurie Valaer
ECI Learning Systems, LLC
http://www.ECILearning.com

Collaboration Is Critical To Customer Service

Last week, on our radio show, “The Leader’s Edge”, we talked about customer service and how it can make or break your company. Richard Batenburg, CEO of Batmann Analytics, shared his vision and key tips for empowering your employees so they can, and will, provide positive experiences for your customers. You can listen to the archive of this discussion on The Leader's Edge page at MileHiRadio.com.

While empowering your employees is critical to good customer service, there is another key that often gets overlooked. As the following excerpt from “The Engaged Manager” (by best-selling author David R. Meyer) describes, it is also critical to step back and ensure that your vision, and the objectives that you set to fulfill that vision, actually meet your customers’ needs:

Good objectives start with collaboration. You will want to ensure that your customers understand and agree with any objectives you define. Thus, before you start setting the objectives, you need to spend some time understanding the needs and wants of your customers and identifying how you can best satisfy their expectations. Most of the time, this is fairly simple. Work with your customers, to find out what they need from you and when they need it. That’s the basis for setting the objectives. Certainly there will be times when their needs and the capabilities of your department to deliver may be far apart, but by collaborating with them, you can identify and reconcile those discrepancies.

Setting objectives without consulting your customers can lead to internal conflict and poor customer service. Likewise, setting objectives without the input of your team will leave them feeling isolated, unheard, and unappreciated. If your team does not understand and buy in to the objectives you’ve set for them, they will not be completely engaged and may not bring their full potential to the project. In the worst case scenario, the lack of upfront discussions could put your team in a position of failing to meet the objectives.

A few years back, I received my Performance Objectives from my Vice President. They were clear, well written, and certainly measurable. The primary objective called for the reduction of the installation interval for customer orders from 55 days from customer signature date to 30 days. The objective was challenging, but I was convinced that we could make the reduction if we focused our efforts. We needed new tools to help us with this process, so I added these tools to the objectives of my subordinates. All worked as planned, and within 60 days we had the interval to about 31 days. I was happy with our progress and knew that we would quickly achieve the new goal.

There was only one problem.

Our customers were not happy at all.

Was it an issue of quality?

No……

Were we missing orders?

No…….

The problem was that my staff was pushing hard to achieve the 30-day interval and was not providing the personal attention to our customers that our sales department was promising. Unfortunately, the 30-day goal was our goal, but not the goal of the sales team.

In fact, their goals were in contradiction to our goals and the more we put pressure on them to reduce the intervals, the less they were able to achieve their goals.

Who was right?

It really doesn’t matter. Two departments with conflicting goals ended up hurting our customers.

 

Can you relate to Dave’s personal story? Do you include your customers in the goal-setting process for your organization? If not, are you missing a key opportunity to provide a unique customer service experience? What can you do in the future to ensure that your vision and your objectives are meeting, or better yet exceeding, your customers needs and expectations?

We hope that you enjoyed this week’s blog. At ECI Learning Systems LLC we are dedicated to improving productivity and profitability by creating engaged organizations. Our unique combination of training and personalized coaching, combined with our expertise in assessments allow us to create a development plan tailored for your success.

Until next time….

Laurie Valaer

ECI Learning Systems, LLC

http://www.ECILearning.com

Knowledge Is Power - Part 2

Last week I wrote about the concept that “Knowledge is power” and how most people believe that knowledge is power only when it is hoarded. The reality is that knowledge only has power when it is shared with all of those that need it. Shared knowledge creates power simply because leaders get results through people and without the knowledge they can’t create the results.

But sharing knowledge has another component that is often overlooked in the business world. You see, sharing knowledge not only allows your team to perform more capably but it also demonstrates clearly how willing your are to be open with them, sharing your knowledge, sharing the strategies, and sharing the goals of the organization. By doing this, you are building trust with those that work for you. And trust is one of the key components required for employee engagement.

It is no secret that engaged employees work harder and smarter than non-engaged employees. The mere fact that they care about their organization and their manager provides the motivation to create something bigger and better than those employees who don’t care about their organization or, worse, want to see it fail. By sharing knowledge and building trust within your organization you not only get the benefit of better, more informed decisions, but you also create a team of people that care about what they are doing and the results that they get.

How much information do you have to share?

You want to share as much information as you can without jeopardizing your fiduciary responsibilities to the company. As the leader in an organization there is certain information that is provided to you in confidence. Information that is not available to the public at large or to most of the employee base. When you are entrusted with confidential information you have a responsibility both morally and legally to keep that information private. Breaking that confidence could actually compromise trust in the organization, rather than building it. When in doubt, you must use your own judgment on what can and cannot be shared.

By sharing as much information as you can with your employees you empower them in their jobs and open the doors for improved performance and creativity within the organization. The message here is to share as much information as you can with your team. Sharing your knowledge will not only allow them to make more informed decisions but will also create a loyal and engaged team that will serve you, the organization and your customers to the fullest.


I hope that you enjoyed this article. At ECI Learning Systems LLC we are dedicated to improving productivity and profitability by creating engaged organizations. Our unique combination of training and personalized coaching, combined with our expertise in assessments allow us to create a development plan tailored for your success.


Until next time….

Dave Meyer
ECI Learning Systems, LLC
http://www.ECILearning.com

What if Employees Reviewed Their Managers?

Over the years I have written a lot of performance reviews, received a number of reviews, and read a lot of reviews written about my clients. Performance reviews can provide valuable feedback to an employee, identifying areas for development, supporting the employee’s strengths, and positioning the employee for future growth. Of course, some performance reviews are better than others. For every well written, informative employee review there is one with a poorly written, unclear message that is full of grammatical errors, misspelled words, and improper syntax all targeting the employee’s poor communication skills.

Or, the review might point out the lack of customer focus in the employee’s daily work, which might be meaningful if the author of the review was not well known for routinely mocking customer requests.

I could go on but I think the message is clear. In some cases the manager writing the review may not be the best person to comment on the employee’s skills. It might be because they are unqualified to comment, or it might be that the skills required are not actually being modeled by the manager. In either case, the result might be a review that is somewhat less than helpful to the employee.

But this scenario made me wonder what would happen if we allowed employees to routinely provide performance reviews to their manager. Obviously the employees would not be qualified to rate their managers in all categories, but they could certainly provide valuable insights into key indicators like “matching employee talents and skills to job requirements”, “creates a motivating environment”, and “managing the workload”.

By providing feedback to their managers on these key categories, employees could help their managers uncover the blind spots that are holding them back in their career. It would also provide a mechanism for feedback to management that is clearly lacking in today’s business world.

Imagine how those managers who today routinely abuse employees might behave differently if they knew that these same employees would be providing input that would be reviewed by their boss. Managers who routinely make rash, arbitrary decisions might be inclined to rethink their behavior knowing that these decisions would be readily reviewed.

A few companies today use 360° reviews to get input from their managers. This does provide a mechanism for employees to provide valuable feedback to the company. But most companies who perform these reviews do them only once every couple of years and they lack a clear mechanism for follow through.

So let’s ask the question: For all levels of the organization should the employees be allowed to provide input into their manager’s reviews? What do you see as the pros and cons of allowing such input?

I’ll be interested in reading your thoughts.


I hope that you enjoyed this article. At ECI Learning Systems LLC we are dedicated to improving productivity and profitability by creating engaged organizations. Our unique combination of training and personalized coaching, combined with our expertise in assessments allow us to create a development plan tailored for your success.


Until next time.....

Dave Meyer
ECI Learning Systems, LLC
http://www.ecilearning.com

Where Does Engagement Come From?

Employee engagement can be a funny thing. Like motivation, you can’t cause someone else to get engaged in their job, but you can create an atmosphere that encourages and fosters engagement. Without buy-in from above, engagement rarely happens. But true employee engagement in a “make it or break it” form comes from the employee themselves and from their immediate managers.

Numerous studies on employee engagement reveal what the employees want and expect from both their managers and from the job itself. And, while employees have grown more and more cynical about their jobs over the last 20 years, they really don’t want to be that way. Like a person who has had their heart broken in love too many times, they’ve become cautious and tainted, reserving judgment about their feelings until they are sure they won’t be hurt again. Convince them that your desire for engagement is real and lasting and they will buy in. But first, you have to know what they want and be willing to demonstrate that you believe in it also.

What do employees want from their managers?

1. A relationship that goes beyond meeting the goals and objectives. Show the employees that you care about them.
2. Knowledge about the organization and where it’s headed. Let the employees know how their work supports the big picture.
3. Human skills. Most studies show that human and relationship skills are more important than technical skills.
4. Assistance in developing their career plans and help in meeting those objectives.

Managers who take this approach with their employees are creating an environment that is conducive to employee engagement. When employees recognize this they become more open to the idea of getting engaged in their work. But there are additional factors that employees want from their job as well.

What do employees want from their jobs?

1. The ability to utilize their own talents and skills on the job. And don’t forget, just because someone does something well does not mean they enjoy it.
2. The opportunity to be involved and give input. Nothing is as frustrating to your employees as having their ideas not heard, or heard but not truly appreciated.
3. The opportunity to learn and grow, both personally and professionally.
4. Clear expectations about what they are supposed to do and when they are supposed to do it. This goes beyond the concept of departmental goals and objectives and relates to both day to day clarity and knowing how the work fits the long term goals of the organization.

As you can see, these lists are neither long nor complicated. Creating an engaging environment is not difficult but really requires some rather basic people skills that should be part of any new manager’s repertoire. Unfortunately, since most new managers receive little or no training, these basic skills are often lacking.

Ask yourself if your employees are engaged or have they all checked out? If they’ve checked out, find out why. Which of these basic elements is missing from your organization? Creating an engaged organization does not require massive amounts of time and/or money. All you really have to do is show your employees that you care.


At ECI Learning Systems LLC, we are dedicated to helping companies get the greatest return from their most valuable asset: their employees. We work with you to align 3 key organizational factors:
• Your Company Culture
• The Leadership Styles of your key managers
• The Expectations of your Employees

When these 3 factors are aligned, you create an energy in your company that improves productivity, reduces absenteeism, increases creativity, and positively impacts your bottom line. Contact ECI Learning Systems LLC today to get your free Workplace Evaluation.


Until next time.....

Dave Meyer
ECI Learning Systems, LLC
http://www.ecilearning.com

What is two-way communication?

“Outstanding Leaders Appeal to the Hearts of their Followers, not their Minds.” ~ Source Unknown

Ask any organization about their internal communications and they will point to their intranet website, used to communicate key initiatives to their employees. They’ll talk about the quarterly CEO updates, where the top executives go “live” and stream their inspirational leadership across the company. And they’ll point to their ongoing newsletter from HR executives that brings all of the employees up to date on the latest and greatest “Human Resource” initiatives.

What is missing from these communication methods is obvious. These are one-way communication vehicles, not two-way. And, even if that quarterly CEO update includes a phone line for employees to call in on or a message function to pose questions electronically, you are still only engaging a small percentage of your employees. True two-way communication is not possible through push mediums alone.

More importantly, the key component of any real two-way communication is the clear indication that both parties are listening to each other. In all of the methods discussed above, the message is “communicated” out, but there is nothing to indicate that any message is welcomed back or that the “communicator” has any intention of truly listening.

The problem is obvious from both sides of the equation. From the executive side, how can you possibly listen to 500 - 50,000 employees with a variety of diverse ideas and thoughts? After all, even the best intentioned employees are likely to have some ideas that are so totally impractical it can be difficult not to laugh out loud. From the employee side, regardless of how you might be encouraged to communicate, do you really believe the CEO is going to listen to you?

The answer to this challenge is not nearly as difficult as it might at first seem because the employees don’t need to talk with the CEO one on one to be heard. Nor do the top executives need to react to every message sent their way. In fact, many companies have “solved” this problem through some type of formal survey process. They commission an Organizational Survey to get input from across the company. When the survey is complete, they review the results to understand the organizational concerns. They may even take action on some of those major concerns … maybe… But if they do, those actions are sometimes not obvious to the employees. As far as the employees are concerned they’ve been asked for their input, and they’ve been ignored.

Is it any wonder that most employees don’t take Organizational Surveys seriously?

Organizational Surveys can serve as a vehicle for two-way communication, but only if the employees KNOW that their responses are being taken seriously. In simple terms that means:

1. Publish the results of the survey. And not just the good parts; but the bad parts and the not-so-bad parts as well. In other words, management must be willing to “open their kimono” and share everything with the employees.
2. Actions resulting from the survey must be visible across the organization and tied directly back to the survey itself. In other words, don’t just announce a “reorganization”. Instead, be honest and announce that it is being done in response to the survey.
3. It can’t be a “one and done” arrangement. Provide regular progress reports on what is being done based on the survey and don’t let it slip away into history.
4. Measure again. At regular intervals, possibly every 2 years, repeat the survey to look for improvement or areas of decline. And, again, be honest as to why the survey is being done and be willing to share the results again as well.

This is just a start on what you need to do, but I think you get the idea. Actions that are visible and can be traced directly back to employee feedback is one of the key ways that employees feel heard. And feeling heard is a key requirement for employee engagement.

So, is that it? If I do the things mentioned in the last several blogs will I have an engaged organization?

Unfortunately, there’s still more to it. By doing the things listed you have opened the door for engagement, but as of yet, no one has walked through that door. A big part of employee engagement comes from lower levels of the organization and even from the employees themselves.

We’ll discuss some of those ideas next week.


At ECI Learning Systems LLC, we are dedicated to helping companies get the greatest return from their most valuable asset: their employees. We work with you to align 3 key organizational factors:
• Your Company Culture
• The Leadership Styles of your key managers
• The Expectations of your Employees

When these 3 factors are aligned, you create an energy in your company that improves productivity, reduces absenteeism, increases creativity, and positively impacts your bottom line. Contact ECI Learning Systems LLC today to get your free Workplace Evaluation.


Until next time.....

Dave Meyer
ECI Learning Systems, LLC
http://www.ecilearning.com

It’s Time to Stop Waiting for Consensus

Until last week, I had never really considered the difference between consensus and buy-in. I mean, both represent a team’s commitment to the task or project or situation at hand, right? So, perhaps they are not all that different….

Well, last week, reading Patrick Lencioni’s “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team” showed me how these two concepts are not the same. In fact, they are far from the same.

Lencioni points out that true consensus, where everyone on the team or in the situation completely agrees with the decision or direction, is rare. Instead, he states that “consensus becomes an attempt to please everyone.” Attempting to reach consensus within a group actually slows down the process and will likely lead to most everyone being displeased with some aspect or another of the situation.

Buy-in on the other hand, is a unique form of commitment. An individual may not agree completely with the decision or direction, but they have agreed to get on board and make the necessary actions happen. Getting buy-in can, obviously, be tricky. But you can go a long way toward getting buy-in simply by listening to your employees and/or the other members of your team and acknowledging their concerns. You see, before people commit to something that they think is questionable, they want to know that their concerns have been considered and responded to. If you give them a chance to air those concerns, show them that you have considered the impacts, and honestly discuss how and why it’s best to proceed, most people will be satisfied and will make a commitment to you and the team.

I remember working on a particularly large software development project. The senior management team tried and tried to get consensus on the project schedule. When they could not, they simply gave up and forced the development schedule on the engineers. Most of the engineers did not agree with the schedule and they too simply gave up, realizing the amount of overtime they would have to work over the next several months to make it happen. One particular software developer who did not agree with the schedule became a thorn in the side of senior management because he never worked an hour of overtime during the entire project! Was he a bad developer? No….he was one of the best and brightest engineers they had. Did he slack during the hours that he did put in? No….he worked hard and produced some of the best code on the program. However, he was not willing to sacrifice his personal and family life for a project schedule that he had never bought-in to. Needless to say, given the lack of commitment from the engineers, performance lagged and this program continually struggled to meet milestones and deadlines.

Now, imagine how well this program could have performed had senior management worked to get buy-in from the engineers on the development schedule. Instead of wasting precious time trying to get consensus, they could have spent that same time listening to the team’s concerns, considering their suggestions for schedule improvements, and responding to their inputs. In doing so, senior management could have tapped into the knowledge, experience, passion, and buy-in of the engineers, rather, than leaving them demoralized, unengaged, and under-performing.

When you look around your organization, what do you see? Are your teams spinning their wheels and wasting precious time trying to achieve consensus? What happens when they fail to reach consensus? How do they proceed? Do the force-fit decisions or do they simply get stuck and give up? Are your employees under-performing because they did not buy-in to the direction that you are going?

Working to gain buy-in versus reach consensus is a huge shift in perspective and can take time to achieve, but offers a huge payback in the end.

At ECI Learning Systems LLC, we are dedicated to helping companies get the greatest return from their most valuable asset: their employees. We work with you to align 3 key organizational factors:
• Your Company Culture
• The Leadership Styles of your key managers
• The Expectations of your Employees

When these 3 factors are aligned, you create an energy in your company that improves productivity, reduces absenteeism, increases creativity, and positively impacts your bottom line. Contact ECI Learning Systems LLC today to get your free Workplace Evaluation.


Thanks for reading,

Laurie Valaer
ECI Learning Systems, LLC
http://www.ecilearning.com/

Trickle Down Customer Satisfaction

“It takes a week to two weeks for employees to start treating customers the same way the employer is treating the employees.” - Sam Walton

Reading this quote from Sam Walton, I can’t help but think about exactly how true this observation is and, yet, how many companies don’t seem to appreciate its meaning. In simple terms, if you treat your employees like a necessary evil, they will in turn treat your customers the same way. Yet, if you value your employees and treat them with kindness and respect then they will treat your customers the same way.

And this issue goes deeper than how they treat the customers because it also reflects the way they will treat each other.

During my career I had two bosses who would qualify as “screamers.” The first boss screamed because he loved the power that came with intimidating people. It gave him great personal satisfaction when people would tiptoe around him, avoid bringing him bad news, and greatly fear being summoned to his office. I worked for this boss when I was fairly young and still impressionable. I was on the job less than 30 minutes when he was screaming at me for something that had gone wrong in my department. Clearly after having been in charge for only 30 minutes whatever had gone wrong was not my fault. But that wasn’t the message. The message was that he was the boss, I was the subordinate, and he was the one in control.

Like I said, I was young and impressionable. It wasn’t very long before I was treating my co-workers exactly the same way I was treated. But that just made sense because many of them worked for the same boss I did and faced the same treatment every day. In retrospect, the whole work environment reminded me of “Lord of the Flies” where being tough was valued, being thoughtful was for wimps, and we measured our worth by how often we “won” in meetings with others.

It was not a very healthy work environment and it took me some time to adapt my ways again when I finally left.

Years later, I worked for another screamer. But this guy was different. He didn’t scream as much for the enjoyment as he did for the fact that he believed this was how people were motivated. His screaming caused people to fear for their jobs. And, since they feared for their jobs, they would work harder. That’s what he sincerely believed.

“The beatings will continue until morale improves.” – unknown

Being older and more experienced, this was a trap that I did not fall into. I had long since figured out that they way I treated my people would directly reflect on the way they treated their peers, subordinates, and our customers. It was very difficult to be treated poorly by my boss and not carry that same treatment through to my subordinates and peers. Needless to say, many of my peers who lacked the emotional intelligence to deal with a screamer did fall into the trap and created organizations where customers, whether internal or external were treated as the enemy.

The simple formula is: happy employees create happy customers. Happy customers buy your products and create happy shareholders. Knowing that the way you treat your employees will indeed trickle down to your customers, what should you be doing in your company to create happy employees?

That’s a question that every company and every leader needs to be asking.

At ECI Learning Systems LLC, we are dedicated to helping companies get the greatest return from their most valuable asset: their employees. We work with you to align 3 key organizational factors:
• Your Company Culture

• The Leadership Styles of your key managers
• The Expectations of your Employees

When these 3 factors are aligned, you create an energy in your company that improves productivity, reduces absenteeism, increases creativity, and positively impacts your bottom line. Contact ECI Learning Systems LLC today to get your free Workplace Evaluation.


Until next time....

Dave Meyer

ECI Learning Systems, LLC

http://www.ecilearning.com/

Getting Smarter - Part 3

For the last 2 weeks, I’ve been writing about how making mistakes and changing our minds about something has taken on such a negative connotation that people are afraid to admit that they might ever have been wrong about something.

There is no doubt that the standards, as well as the stakes, are raised when you become a leader. The mistakes made by an up and coming young employee will likely bring much less damage to the company than the mistakes made by a member of the executive team. After all, when leaders make mistakes those mistakes can have long-term ramifications and can impact a far greater number of people than the average mistake. So, it makes sense at some level to hold our leaders more accountable for mistakes than we do for other employees.

But, whether you are a brand new employee, an employee with multiple years of experience, or a seasoned executive, mistakes will get made. You can bank on it. At some point in time, we all make mistakes. And let’s not forget that not all mistakes are made because someone didn’t think things through. Sometimes mistakes are caused by unforeseen circumstances or things outside of our control. In any event, the issue should never be “was a mistake made” but, rather, “how was the mistake handled? What happened when the mistake was discovered? What was learned from the mistake?”

“I reserve the right to be smarter today than I was yesterday.” - Abraham Lincoln

If we acknowledge that everyone makes mistakes, then should it not then follow that everyone issues apologies for their mistakes?

I’ll bet that last statement made you stop and pause. After all, how often do apologies follow mistakes, especially in the business world? Not often.

Too many business leaders, at all levels of an organization, are so afraid to admit a mistake that they will do everything in their power to ensure that no one knows of it. They fear that admitting a mistake will be perceived as a weakness or will somehow cause doubts about their ability lead.

But I believe that the opposite is really true. I would much rather work for someone who acknowledges that they made a mistake, apologizes for it, and moves on than I would for someone who hides their mistakes.

I once had a co-worker who told me that he was a “lousy liar.” I assumed from that statement that I should not trust anything he said. Later, I discovered that his definition of being a “lousy liar” was that he was not good at it. “Lying is too much work” he told me. “I discovered long ago that I couldn’t keep my lies straight, so I just stopped lying. I was lousy at it.”

I wish more executives had his attitude toward lying. The truth is that most of them are lousy at it. And, while their employees may not publicly acknowledge their lies, those same employees are acutely aware of the lies. And, as a result, they don’t trust their leadership team.

It’s simple, isn’t it? When I lie, people find out about it. And, while they might not call me on it, they won’t trust me. And, if they don’t trust me they won’t work hard for me.

Maybe all executives should take a pledge to be “lousy liars.” It would build greater trust and create a whole new company culture.


At ECI Learning Systems LLC, we are dedicated to helping companies get the greatest return from their most valuable asset: their employees. We work with you to align 3 key organizational factors:
• Your Company Culture
• The Leadership Styles of your key managers
• The Expectations of your Employees

When these 3 factors are aligned, you create an energy in your company that improves productivity, reduces absenteeism, increases creativity, and positively impacts your bottom line. Contact ECI Learning Systems LLC today to get your free Workplace Evaluation.


Until next time.....

Dave Meyer
ECI Learning Systems, LLC
http://www.ecilearning.com/