The Beauty of the Org Chart

The organizational chart is a wonderful visioning and management tool.  Unfortunately too few people use it.  The org chart is a visual chart/graph/spreadsheet of who reports to who in the business or organization.  If people don't know who reports to who it causes confusion and inefficiencies.  People do workarounds, or aren't held accountable.  This is problematic and I think can be cleared up with a first step of getting this chart worked out.  It is a work in progress but it is a useful snapshot of reality, and like I said can be revised over time and used as a visioning tool.

I was sitting with a manufacturing CEO yesterday and his business has been growing, and there has been some turnover and new hires recently.  He has been thinking about the org chart, so we put it up on the white board.  It was fascinating to talk through the players in the business and to see in reality who reports to who.  Of course, as you may know my work I like to have horizontal leadership instead of vertical, but vertical is useful in terms of management functions.  At any rate, by putting this up on the white board it showed two key areas needing attention.  Right now with the turnover he had he is carrying the load of roles he 'shouldn't' be doing.  So by seeing it visually it helped him to get clear about what is needed in the future as well.

I then asked him to take it one step further:  make the visual and post it somewhere where everyone in the company can see it.  You better bet that if he was unclear to some degree, others in the business are too.  There may be assumptions and judgments floating around in the environment about the turnover and shift of players.  If it isn't clear then we leave ourselves open to these potential potholes.  Now making it explicit still may produce judgments and assumptions about what should be, but reality at least is seen and can alleviate some fears or negativity.  I have seen negativity and ambiguity even in a business with four employees.  It is amazing to me that as leaders we think people are clear when in reality they aren't.  

So, take a look at the current reality of your org chart.  It may be crystal clear and in that case good for you!  If it isn't though, it may expose strategic areas to work on.  One company realized that in theory the manager was supposed to be managing 10 guys, but the CEO was doing his job for him and enabling the manager's lack of management.  When you know reality, you can then use that to envision how it should be and use it as a living, breathing document.

The State of the American Workplace

I just read (twice) a 200-page article entitled 'The State of the American Workplace' and it was fascinating.  It talks about the metrics associated with engaging workers and that it is largely the direct supervisor's responsibility to engender engagement in the organization.  A dismal 33% of employees are engaged, meaning they feel connected to the mission, feel that they are working in their strengths zone, that they are appreciated and that they are going somewhere in the organization.  This leaves 67% of workers disengaged, looking for other jobs while working and creating toxicity inside and outside the walls of the business.

Yet obviously people remain the core component of a successful or failing enterprise.  Or do they?  There are many successful companies by financial measures that are toxic in their culture.  It just feels crappy to work there.  People will stay at a job for the paycheck, but check out little by little year after year.  The question to me is, how much more successful could a company be if collaboration and culture were a top priority?  The numbers speak for themselves.  Astonishingly enough engaged employees create much more revenue and growth for a business.  The figures this article throws around is that disengagement costs an organization upwards to $600 billion nationwide.  But this aside, it is just the right thing to do to treat people with respect and care.

The article goes on to identify the 12 components that measure employee engagement, what they call Q12 or the 12 questions.  Questions that assess appreciation, development, connection to the mission, using strengths, etc.  All of these questions aim at understanding where a workforce needs to ratchet up their efforts to engage people.  I recently did two of these Q12 surveys with a manufacturer and a non-profit human services agency.  It was enlightening for the leader to see the state of the union and where some developmental points for the future would be.  Both of these organizations have a good culture already, and identifying challenge areas will make it all the better in the future with consistent and strategic effort.

Lastly, in a related article, since the manager is the linchpin in the organization to create engagement, there are 4 accountabilities associated with them.  1.  understanding worker motivations and needs, 2. giving people develop opportunities, 3. identifying workers' talents/strengths, and 4. giving clear performance objectives with ongoing feedback.  These 4 can serve as a meeting agenda, formal meeting, or informal check in.  The understanding is that to hit on all of these points over time consistently ignites people feeling valued, trusted, which in turn engenders buy-in to the team and the organization.

My Book Zero Stress Leadership Event in Keene, NH March 11 2-3pm.

Hi everyone.  I will be promoting my new book Zero Stress Leadership at the Toadstool Bookstore in Keene, NH on March 11, 2017 from 2-3pm.  I will present some of the content of the book for 30 or so minutes and then take questions and do some on the spot coaching!  I'm truly excited to get my book out there and have people put its principles to work for them in their relationships at work and at home.  My book will be for sale and I will personally sign each copy.  If you can't attend, the book is for sale at the Toadstool as well as on my website www.zerostressleadership.com  Here's the link to the event:  http://www.toadbooks.com/event/keene-jeff-saari-presents-zero-stress-leadership

The Five Signs of Emotional Intelligence

I was reading an article lately entitled "The Five Signs of Emotional Intelligence", and it was really good.  Of course EI is a vast topic and there are many more signs of EI, but this primer was a good read.  The five signs according to this article are: being able to handle feedback well (without excuses, denial, stress, etc.), being open-minded, being a good listener, being able to give feedback well, and apologizing when you make a mistake.  

I love all of these points and teach and coach these topics in my work with leaders and teams so that over time they are showing the signs.  I also seek to live this way myself.  All of these points are very difficult though.  I tell people that emotional growth is very hard to do because we are who we are for many reasons:  our culture, our religious views, our upbringing, our values, etc.  The trick in my work is to have people with diverse perspectives come together and collaborate for the sake of the whole and business (or non-profit).  Very tricky indeed because people tend to be set in their ways.  But over time, we can change, and the more we practice the above points, we become more emotionally intelligent.  

I have workshops around most of the five points.  I do workshops on conflict, emotional triggers, listening, feedback, and meeting facilitation.  I just did a listening workshop in a business last week, and it went amazingly.  People want to be better listeners, but most people never really learned how to do it.  It's not rocket science, but it is a skill.  Especially if you are in a field that deals with customers, great listening has great import.  

I guess if I had to pick the one that is the hardest for most folks that I meet, it is the telling the truth one.  The article said that good leaders don't sugarcoat the truth.  Easier said than done.  Giving feedback is especially challenging because we don't want to upset others, we feel emotionally unstable because we don't know the outcome, or we feel apathy in that maybe we have tried before and it didn't go so well.  Whatever the motivation is, we lose the ability to practice this precious skill, much to the detriment to our relationships and businesses.  Are you holding onto a truth that you haven't spoken?  If so why?  What are you afraid of?  Or have you tried and failed before?  As you inspect your own motivation for NOT doing it, maybe you can find something.  I think though we all can agree that feedback is valuable.  

Take these five signs to heart, reflect on them and see if you can practice them.  They are so subtle sometimes so we need to be highly self-aware of their presence and practice when the opportunity arises.  Practicing an open-mind may sound funny for instance, but you can actually do it.  You can think strategically about it and coach yourself to have an open mind when for instance someone comes to you with an idea that you would normally discard.  I would love to hear your successes and challenges with these.  Please do share.  

Connection to Your Work

When you get up on Monday morning, what do you tell yourself about going to work (provided work is the normal M-F)?  Do you know the regular thought patterns that show up?  Are some of them negative?  With the most heart attacks happening Monday morning, there seems to be a stress about going to work.  This is a problem for many reasons.  Lack of interest, not feeling connected to your work, not feeling valued by a supervisor, feeling irritated at work, etc. are ways that lead us to be disengaged.  And disengaged employees constitute a huge drain on the positive morale of an organization as well as some bottom-line facets such as absenteeism and turnover.  

How do you turn this boat around?  First, I think that you have to assess if the work you do is actually meaningful to you.  If you feel that the actual work is not a match for your skills, talents, and desires then you need to look at that and maybe find work that gives you energy.  But if the work is actually a good fit, then maybe it is your manager that is causing leaks in the boat.  This is challenging because to manage upwards causes anxiety.  People don't normally leave jobs, they leave their supervisor.  This is a well documented fact.  Managers need to give people clear roles, opportunities for development, praise and rewards and listen well.  These things aren't rocket science, but they do require focus and attention.  Unfortunately people move up the management ranks without this awareness and without much training.

So what we need is a match of sound management practices and actually liking the work, where it's not just focused on getting a paycheck.  Life is too short to settle, I know this firsthand.  I was in a job in my 30's that ran aground.  I let it go on too long because I was afraid to leave.  Fear definitely drives the train to have our desires go unmet.  Fear of negative outcomes of all kind (what people think of us, financial security, etc.) have us play small and not figure out what we are destined to do with this short life.  I envy folks who have figured it out:  feel connected to their work and have excellent supervisors (or own their own company).  I know it's not easy.  Some of us struggle with meaning and purpose.  Some of us settle over time into a rut and that becomes our dysfunctional reality.  In my coaching work it is my mission to challenge the status quo and make people uncomfortable.  Change requires this and creates this.  Now I don't advocate doing things that are a knee jerk reaction, like quitting your job, but maybe in some cases that shoe fits.  

People who are on their deathbed say that they wished they had better relationships, better health, more purpose in life.  It's easy with hindsight, not so easy in the here and now because fear keeps us stuck.  But if fear originates in our minds, then challenging fear can supplant it.  History is replete with successful stories of people moving through fear to accomplish great things.  Don't let your life slip away. Find ways to challenge your fear.  It doesn't mean you have to quit (unless you really don't like the work you are doing).  You can figure it out.  It takes time though to strategize, think ahead, figure it out.  If you start now though, in a month or year you will be further to finding it.  I have created it by going through the fear.  Monday mornings I spring from bed and am excited for the week.  You can create your life.  If not you then who is going to do it?

The Value of Conflict

Most times when we hear the word conflict we associate negative words to it:  war, battle, fight, strife, antagonism, quarrel, struggle, clash, opposition, squabble, tension, dissension, divergence, friction, and disharmony to name a few.  I do an activity sometimes with groups and leaders where I put the word conflict on the white board and have people say whatever word or words that come to mind.  I would say 90% of them have a negative connotation.  This isn't surprising.  Most of us don't grow up knowing how to handle conflict and not take it personally.  So we become conflict avoidant or a conflict perpetrator.  

Conflict left unchecked can lead to stress, and we all know where stress leads us.  Our physical, mental and emotional health suffer.  Our relationships and passion for work suffer.  And there is so much suffering out there.  Tiredness, grumpiness, sickness, disease, unease, apathy, etc. take hold of us and this is not ideal to say the least.  

There are so many sources of conflict in our lives: someone not doing what we want them to do, resource restrictions, personality differences, differing beliefs and values, generational differences, differing processing styles, being hard on ourselves, not being able to change a behavior we struggle with, etc.  And unfortunately the ways we try to mitigate the conflict in our lives can be negative themselves.  We feel justified in perpetrating a negative behavior to others because they did something not to our liking for instance.  Sarcasm, yelling, stonewalling, avoiding, cold shoulder, are various ways from passive to passive aggressive to aggressive that seek to handle our conflict.  But...it doesn't work.  And worst of all we create more conflict, the very thing we actually don't want!

So what to do?  Here are a few action steps you can take: 1.  Identify the stressors/conflict in your life as objectively as possible.  What is happening?  Is someone consistently late to a meeting?  Don't put judgment on it, write it down as if you were observing something scientifically.  2.  Look for you part to play in the conflict. How do you react to the situations that cause you conflict?  It often takes two to tango.  3.  Look at what you actually want. If you could change things up to have less conflict what would be ideal for you?  To have the person call you if they will be late?  To manage their time better?  4.  Calm down and put your desires into respectful words, what I call feedback.  In short, try to change things up by being calm and clear while addressing it to the person. There is a possibility that you need to be able to let go of some control and realize that sometimes people are different than you and that is acceptable.  Some people process information slower, are more deliberative.  And some people want quick action for instance.  Both can co-exist.  5.  Look at what you appreciate about the person or persons you are in conflict with.  100% of the time I have managed conflict in the workplace we were able to find genuine gratitude in each other.  

Conflict is has value and is truly a message in the bottle.  Yes, some conflicts may not resolve; some conflicts between countries are thousands of years in the making.  But yours don't have to be.  Show up and do something different.  Let your guard down.  Speak up for what you want.  Don't let your triggers keep the embers of conflict burning.