Retention – Blanchard LeaderChat

5 Things People Do To Look Really, Really Busy

Gus Jaramillo — Fri, 17 Jul 2015 08:22:21 +0000

Have the negatives taken over time and focus?

Matt Youngblood — Fri, 05 Sep 2014 13:00:15 +0000

If you think for a minute about your average workday, how would you divide that workday between focusing on positives versus focusing on negatives? Do you tend to catch people doing something wrong more often than doing something right? If you answered “yes”, you might be adding to the overall negativity, yourself.

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

This negative focus may be a byproduct of our own culture. Pull up any of the major news websites at any given time and you’ll see that a high percentage of the headlines usually have negative undertones.
While we might be quick to blame the media, our own behavior feeds the fire when it comes to this trend. For example, in a 2012 study, Outbrain, a marketing firm that specializes in internet traffic, found that negative headlines had an average click-through rate (meaning people were actually clicking on the headlines to go to the source content) 68% higher than positive headlines. There are many different reasons as to why negative headlines receive more attention, but the end-result is still the same.
Even television may be lending a hand. I admit that I enjoy my own fair share of reality television. Look at how many reality programs exist on various channels (ex: what happened to the good ‘ole days of MTV just showing music videos?). Most of those shows thrive on drama, such as verbal arguments or fights between the characters. Drama and negativity clearly sell.
However, a study published in Psychology of Popular Media Culture found that those who watched reality television or even violent crime dramas that included verbal or relational aggression between characters tended to have more aggressive responses to threats related to ego. Does this mean that if you watch reality television that you’re automatically going to get in a fist fight at work? Probably not, but you have to question how is this might be affecting behavior in the workplace.
To add to this, two sayings come to mind that I’ve heard all throughout my careers at different places of employment. There’s a good chance you’ve heard these, too:

“The squeaky wheel gets the grease.”
“No news is good news.”

Image courtesy of imagerymajestic at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Number 1 is especially important, because solving problems makes up the bulk of most jobs. Yet, this has trained us to spend our most of our time focusing on those problems, whether the problems are task-related or people-related. If you have someone reporting to you who is under-performing, it’s likely that individual will take up more of your time and focus compared to your top performer. Just because “No news is good news” when it comes to your top performer doesn’t mean that they should simply be ignored.
FineAwards.com published a press release in which it reviewed data from a series of Gallup polls on the topic of employee engagement. They put together an excellent infographic that you can find here. Some of the interesting data they found is as follows:

35% of respondents consider lack of recognition the primary hindrance to their productivity
16% of respondents left their previous job based on a lack of recognition
17% of respondents stated that they have never been recognized at their place of employment
69% of respondents stated they would work harder if they received increased recognition

In other words, if only the squeaky wheel is getting the grease, you might look down one day and find that some of your wheels have simply disappeared while your ride is sitting up on blocks.
It takes effort, but intentionally finding people doing things right can have a positive outcome on your work environment, such as lower turnover and higher productivity. If you can train yourself to also be on the lookout for the positives, you can turn it into a habit.
Leave your comments!

Pent Beneath Fancy Knot

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 17:19:37 +0000

To the one pent beneath fancy knot,

pent behind fancy knot

It is curious to look at your affair

Catching you gaze toward heaven

Each afternoon seeking fresh air

Petitioning social network for leaven

Numb cheek now fermenting

Who could rejoice with thee now?

Fatigued, slipping into some ancient chat

You lie back in whispering waves of mocha

Toes banked in lukewarm grains of sand

Swimming in ocean’s of caramel bliss

Careless of the call you just missed

Pent beneath fancy knot

Ulysses’ alarm, pale reason to depart

Returning home at sundown—eyes half shut

Visions of Marla—the happy stray mutt

Once proud royal, mourn the day left behind

Slumber to the door—the angel’s tear has descended

You slide softly and silently into your favorite spot.

Still pent beneath fancy knot

by J. Diamond Arnold
Jason Diamond Arnold is a Leadership Consultant and Learning Media Producer at The Ken Blanchard Companies. He is Coauthor of Situational Self Leadership in Action a real time, real work, leaning experience that develops effective communication and collaboration skills for individuals in the workplace. He is Co Producer and Director of Stepping Up to Leadership with Scott Blanchard, at lynda.com.

Speakeasy Leadership

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 17:30:14 +0000

Seakeasy Leadership

The spirit of the Roaring Twenties was marked by a cultural rebellion against classic traditions, inspiring social revolutions around the world. Everything seemed to be possible through the modern technology of automobiles, motion pictures, and radio, which all promoted ‘modernity’ to the world.
One of the most mysterious trends that came out of the Roaring Twenties was the establishment of Speakeasies—hidden sections of an establishment that were used to illegally sell alcoholic beverages and feature new artistic expressions of music, dance, and risqué behavior. To enter a speakeasy, one would need to say a password to the doorman, indicating that the person-seeking entrance was welcome by the owner or other members of the “business within the business.”
In many ways, today’s workplace resembles the spirit of the twenties, with a rapidly evolving workplace, cutting edge technology changing and shaping the culture norms of organizations around the world.
Unfortunately, one of the dangers of today’s workplace is Speakeasy Leadership—the hidden sections of an organization where only a few people in positions of power make decisions that affect the rest of the organization. The practice of exclusive leadership, rather than inclusive leadership practice is alive and well in today’s organizations. But the reality is that the old school leadership hierarchy is an ineffective novelty in a knowledge-based economy.

Outside Looking In

Today secret societies and “good ole’ boy networks” only work at your local grocery store or coffee shop as a special promotion tool. In a Knowledge base economy, where individuals are empowered through the Internet, smart phones, and social networking that empowers a variety of information and connections that naturally drive higher levels of collaboration and success.
One new workforce member expressed it this way, “I am used to being so connected to my colleagues and playing off each other in the office, via social media, and creating ideas together with high levels of synergy everyday…” The open organization, without the Speakeasy executive office on the second floor, is a robust place where individuals create new best friends instantly and in days create a strong network with everyone on the team, as well as the friends made at their last organization.
Speakeasy Leadership promotes the opposite atmosphere at work where a few gatekeepers of ideas, formulate a plan from the top of the organizational pyramid, then pass it down to the people on the frontline to try and implement—void of passion and intimacy.   “I feel like there is a secret group of people running the organization,” says another frustrated employee. “It’s like were sitting in a meeting, and there are two or three people sitting at the table, speaking their own language, giving each other a wink and a nod to each other when I present our teams creative solutions to our organizational challenges.”

Collaborate for Success

Speakeasy Leadership will kill today’s knowledge based company, because today’s leadership model and workplace formula for success is one based in wide-open communication, effective collaboration, social networking, and truly empowering individuals that are encouraged take ownership in the vision—not just contribute to it. Touch the untouchable by bringing energy and productivity to work, breaking down the interior walls of Speakeasy Leadership, creating a community where people work and play together, stimulating innovation, connection, and wild success.
Jason Diamond Arnold is a Leadership Consultant and New Media Producer at The Ken Blanchard Companies. He is Coauthor of Situational Self Leadership in Action, a non-linear learning program that promotes individual empowerment and collaboration.

Leadership Failure

Gus Jaramillo — Fri, 21 Jun 2013 08:00:55 +0000

Not too long ago I was put in charge of a couple sections of soldiers who were working on some military intelligence products for an upcoming mission. Since the teams were working on separate products, I assigned myself to one team and had a Lieutenant take charge of another team. The LT had been in the army for a few years, so I had no qualms about giving the team to him. I spoke with him privately and told him that he had “full autonomy” over his team and gave him full discourse over what his team did and how they finished their products. The next morning I come into work at 7:30 fully expecting everyone to be there for unit physical training. They weren’t. When I asked the LT where his team was, he said that he told them that they could do physical training on their own and that they didn’t need to show up until 9:30am. “What? Why did you do that? We always show up at 7:30.”

So, of course, they decided to sleep in and didn’t do any physical training for the day.
And of course my team was upset that they didn’t get to sleep in and come to work at 9:30. The last thing I wanted to create was resentment across the two teams. I thought that maybe a “team building” exercise was in order, but I didn’t carry it out because I felt I would probably screw that up too. I was upset about the whole situation, but mainly I was irritated at myself.
After looking back on the incident, here’s what I learned:

I never really gave him full autonomy

Here’s what I really said: You can have full autonomy unless you do something I don’t want you to do or something that I disagree with you on. What I told him he could do and what I wanted him to do were two separate things.

I shouldn’t have given him full autonomy

Giving full autonomy over everything is not really leadership at all. I thought I was doing the right thing by giving him autonomy, but what I should have done in that situation was to give him more direction as to what is expected and necessary. Autonomy has its place and limitations; using it correctly is when it’s the most impactful.

My communication was not aligned with my expectations

I was never clear on my expectations. What was standard and status quo for me was not necessarily the same for him. Talking through each other’s expectations would have been helpful for minimizing conflict and building trust.
For any further information or questions contact me at gus.jaramillo@kenblanchard.com

The End of Innovation

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 13:36:25 +0000

“Innovation is dangerous!” says Yawn Fearman, Gatekeeper of Ideas at Acme Corporation—an international consulting firm that provides executives and managers the tools and skill sets needed to maintain power and balance within organizations. “Innovation is an unruly attitude that ignites revolutions and unwillingly forces change upon the slow and steady hand of the status quo.”
Fearman asserts that there several simple mindsets to avoid disruptive an inconvenient ideas within an organization:
Isolate Innovation
When a child acts up or misbehaves at home, the best discipline is to give them a Time Out and send them to their room. You don’t have to kick them out of the organization, but isolation will make them think about the real vision and values of the company in more detail. It will encourage them to align their hopes and dreams with the hierarchy of the organization who own the vision and values.
But if you do want to innovate within your organization, keep it limited to one or two departments that are led by individuals who have a degree from a prestigious school and who are in close collaboration with you as a key leader.
Just Say No
Hey, if it worked for Nancy Reagan in the mid-80s (and look how far we’ve come since then), it can work for leaders when individual contributors come up with creative and new ways to serve clients. When ideas come up from the front line, just say, “no.” You probably don’t have the resources or money to implement the ideas anyway, so no real harm can come from this approach. It’s clean and effective and eventually, people will stop coming up with their own ideas so that you can do your job—implementing your own.
Show Them Who’s Boss
When the first two strategies don’t work, flex your Position Power. You have the degree, the experience, the complex title, and the pay grade—so use them!
If employees discover that they have other avenues of power, such as personal experience, knowledge, relationships outside the organization, or a specialized ability to perform specific tasks that the executives may or may not, this could become very disruptive to an organization. Don’t shy away from the fact that you are getting paid the big bucks to drive the organization into the future—not them. You have the title and the authority to make the first and final decision.
Enjoy the Silence
Don’t allow the loud distractions of individual or collaborative innovation to drown out the brilliance of your leadership ability. You’ve earned the corner office, and you were born to lead. The future of the world depends on you—don’t leave it to chance by putting its fate hang on someone else’s wild ideas.
** The views and opinions expressed in this fictitious article do not necessarily reflect sound advice or the views and opinions of  the author, or The Ken Blanchard Companies.
Jason Diamond Arnold is a Leadership Consultant at The Ken Blanchard Companies and Coauthor of Situational Self Leadership in Action, an asynchronous learning experience for Individual Contributors within Organizations.

Want to be productive? Stay home from work

Gus Jaramillo — Fri, 17 May 2013 08:00:42 +0000

Absenteeism (not showing up to work) is a well-documented and researched metric. However, the evil twin brother of absenteeism is presenteeism, and it’s now starting to get some more attention. Presenteeism is defined as showing up for work when one is ill, and it is literally a productivity killer. It is estimated that the costs associated with presenteeism due to poor employee health is at least 2 to 3 times greater than direct health care expenses. The total cost of presenteeism to US employers has been increasing, and estimates for current losses range from about $150 to $250 billion annually. Consequences to presenteeism can be loss of productivity, major health costs, inaccuracies on the job, and spreading of illness to name a few. We all have done it, but we should really think twice about coming into work when we are sick. However, it’s just not that simple, and there are many reasons why just can’t say no.

There are many antecedents to presenteeism but here are some major reasons:
1) Our culture/manager fosters this behavior
I’m probably not the only one has been praised for being a team player and coming in when I was extremely ill. In a recent survey by the Health Enhancement Research Organization (HERO), researchers found that employees who indicated that their employer was not supportive in helping them become emotionally healthy were 320% more likely to have high presenteeism. A 2010 study by the Work Foundation found that more than 40% of employees were under pressure from managers and colleagues to come to work when ill.
2) Fear of losing your job
In research done in 2012, nearly a third of employers have reported a rise in the phenomenon of “presenteeism” in the past year. With the economy slowly turning the corner, employees are worried about losing their job or falling behind in the rat race. Dr Jill Miller, research adviser at CIPD, said, “Continuing economic uncertainty and fears over job security appears to be taking its toll on employees. We are seeing employees struggling into work to demonstrate their commitment, suggesting presenteeism can be a sign of anxiety.”
3) Pressure to perform
For some reason we equate our perception of the seriousness of the illness in direct proportion to justifying taking time off. “It’s probably just meningococcal so I should be fine; I doubt it’s contagious anyways.” Let’s leave the diagnoses to the professionals and see if we can’t rest for a little bit. In a recent conversation with an old friend he told me, “I have worked for my company for 20 years and I have never ever taken a sick day.” Well, why not? He said he had maintained the “old school” mentality of work, work, work. This never made sense to me; if you are sick, then why don’t you just stay home? Now I’m being a little hypocritical here because I have often got to work when I really was too sick to go. But the worst part about it was that he worked in a hospital!
4) Little or no sick days
Increasingly, employers have minimized the number of sick days and most of the time; we just can’t afford to miss work. Also, with the increasing amount of households turning into a dual income family, many parents are using their sick days to care for their children when they become ill instead of taking care of themselves.
There doesn’t seem to be any extreme changes on the horizon in the way employers handle presenteeism, however we owe it to ourselves to take care of our bodies and be present when we can afford to. Sometimes urgent can just wait until tomorrow.
For any further information or questions contact me at gus.jaramillo@kenblanchard.com

Hail to the King? – Not If You Want to Manage

Matt Youngblood — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 13:00:25 +0000

Have you ever worked for someone who thought they were the center of the world? The person was so demanding that if you didn’t do what they wanted you to do, when they wanted you to do it, you would be getting an earful or worse? When you hear the term “manager”, does your past experience make you think “dictator”?
Chances are, if you’re thinking about moving up to a leadership role (or are even in a leadership role now), the “bad boss” example from above probably showed you how not to behave. However, in some cases, the way that person acted may have shaped an image for some who think that’s how a manager is supposed to act, especially for younger employees who may not have had many managers.
Consider the purpose of a manager – in the simplest terms, they provide task distribution and guidance. Being a manager does not mean you are above others. Just because you are in a position of power, it doesn’t mean you are “Lord of the Cubicles”.
I might be able to get away telling my dog “Hail to the King!”, but if I tried that with my wife, I’d be sleeping in the doghouse. If I can’t get away with it at home, you better believe I can’t get away with it at work with people who aren’t even related to me.
History shows that most dictators only last so long before their people rise up an overthrow them. While employees might not literally rise up against a toxic boss, you better believe that senior leadership will eventually take notice when a manager’s employee turnover rate exceeds the rest of the company, or that the manager-in-question seems to have their own filling cabinet of internal complaints in HR.
The bottom line is that a manager is there to support their people. The best managers look at their employees being the real bosses. They tell their leader what they need, and the leader helps them get whatever they need to be successful. If they are successful, the leader is successful, as well. Plus, it makes for better all-around working conditions for managers and employees alike.
If your mindset still falls into the realm of management equaling power, you might find yourself facing your own coup d’état in the future…
Leave your comments!

What’s wrong at work? You may need an Alberti

Gus Jaramillo — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 08:00:07 +0000

As a kid, I watched the movie Renaissance Man with Danny DeVito. Some of you may remember the film. Danny DeVito is this Advertising Executive with an Ivy League background who is fired from his job. He gets a temporary teaching position and is given six weeks to teach low-achieving soldiers the basics of comprehension and use of English language. He uses Shakespeare, the Renaissance, and other avenues to teach his students. Yet, only one of the historical figures covered in the film has mesmerized me ever since: His name is Leon Battista Alberti.
When I was in Spain a few years ago I had the opportunity to see some of his work at the Prado in Madrid. That’s when I knew, Leon Battista Alberti was the quintessential Renaissance Man. He was the Renaissance Man even before we knew what it was. In fact, Alberti is largely credited with actually defining the term Renaissance man as “men can do all things if they will.” He grew up pre-Renaissance in Bologna because his family was ousted out of Florence by the republican government, run by the Albizzis. His mother died as a result of the Bubonic Plague and he and his brother were raised by his father. He studied architecture and painting, he was a self-taught composer and musician, and he was a heck of an athlete, particularly known in the area for his fine horsemanship. A legend of Alberti states that he could stand flat-footed, look into a man’s eyes and leap right over his head. This legend is exactly why I still remember Leon Battista Alberti today.
“No crime is so great as daring to excel.” Winston Churchill
Often times in our work we become overrun with responding to emails, balancing projects, and stressing over the unknown that we hardly have time to develop certain skills that will set us apart from our peers. Or even leap us beyond our peers. Here are some questions to ask yourself for self-evaluation and reflection to help you find your “Alberti”:
What am I good at? Be honest here. Don’t overvalue your stock on this because others won’t see the same value and you might end up trying to sell a stock that’s overpriced.
What does this organization need/lack that I could champion? Your Alberti needs to be aligned with the organization. In order for it to be value added it must correspond with the vision of your organization.
Do I have the resources? If not, how can I get them? Look at your own career. What is the next step? A degree? A certification? If you can’t access any resources where can you go to get them? Getting stagnate on your skills is one way to have a mediocre career.
Does this matter to me? In a recent interview, former President Clinton was asked if he was selfless for committing so much time to his non-for-profit organizations. He said, “It’s because I’m selfish. I do it because it makes me feel good about myself.” If it doesn’t matter to you, your motivation to prioritize it and work on it won’t be sustained.
So, what’s your Alberti? Are you known in the office for doing something that adds value? If not, then find your Alberti and pursue it.
For any further information or questions contact me at gus.jaramillo@kenblanchard.com

Narcissism and How We Perfected It

Gus Jaramillo — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 14:00:45 +0000

I’m taking a rather ambitious stab at clearing the name of an entire generation with a single blog post. I have not been chosen by my generation to represent us, but by definition I’m entitled so I deserve a shot. Many have called Gen Yers as Generation “Me”, but I see it more as “Generation Y Not Me?” We’ve been called rude, entitled, lazy, narcissistic, and smart – ok, I snuck the last one in there, but you get the point.

Ok, so we like to watch a little TV and play video games, so what’s the big deal? We live life on the edge (of reality) and love to surf (the web) and socialize (on Facebook) all day. We are the doers. We seek not war, but peace. We love reality television and hang on every word they say (even the illiterate ones). We are not better than any of you, but we are special. Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are just extensions of our inner self. We love rap music, iPhones, and Dancing with the Stars (my wife made me put that in here). We are not all about ourselves; everyone is just all about us.
This is our motto.
Tom Brokaw accurately named the World War II generation as the Greatest Generation. After reading the book, watching the Band of Brothers series, and hearing the stories from WWII vets themselves, I can’t deny this. These men and women were some of the purist of Americans—hard-working, dedicated, and loyal to their values. I remember visiting Normandy about 10 years ago and seeing the crosses of the buried soldiers neatly displayed—such a beautiful display of sadness and pain. In my own experience as a captain in the Army and a combat veteran serving in Afghanistan, I hardly saw any sense of entitlement among the troops. There were men and women who were generally unhappy to be there (I admit even sometimes I wondered why we were there), and hated everything about the war, but they still wanted to fight. There was a sense of pride about them and they fought long and hard. While in Afghanistan, I had a West Point Captain tell me about his 18-month deployment. He said the length of the deployment really hit him hard at the first Thanksgiving dinner. They were just about to start eating when one of his soldiers said, “Hey sir, don’t worry about saying grace. I’ll do it this year and you can say grace next year.”
I don’t claim we are the Greatest Generation but I do think Gen Y has contributed significantly more than just TV and video games. We are a young generation, but like many others we adapt, overcome, and move on. I never liked the label, “entitlement generation” because frankly I don’t think we deserve it. I hope this generation can rid ourselves of this brand and demonstrate the core American qualities that have been delivered to us from previous generations.
For any further information or questions contact me at gus.jaramillo@kenblanchard.com

Molding A Culture For Millennials

Matt Youngblood — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 13:00:42 +0000

In a Deloitte survey published last month, almost 5000 Millennials across 18 different countries were asked various questions regarding their views on innovation. According to the survey, 78% of the Millennials surveyed believe innovation is essential to business growth. However:

52% believe their workplace environment helps them innovate.
26% believe their organization’s leadership encourages innovation and idea sharing regardless of organizational hierarchy.

That’s a huge gap in the number of Millennials who feel innovation is critical, yet who also feel their leadership teams aren’t fostering cultures of innovation.
Where does your company leadership stand on innovation? Do you believe that innovation comes only from the top? Should new ideas be shared and implemented based on seniority, or do employees on the frontlines have opportunities to innovate?
A lot of this deals with change. Well-established companies may be struggling with an old way of thinking that leadership is where all of the good ideas are generated. 53% of respondents perceived that newer businesses were better able to innovate compared to older businesses.
In reality, innovation should come from all levels. Innovation shouldn’t be thought of as flowing in a pyramid starting at the top. Instead, think of innovation spreading across a level playing field in an organization.
Frontline employees who work directly with customers are often the ones who see areas for change. They can spot problems with processes and even products and services. They’re the ones who hear the most feedback from customers. That makes them a great source of new ideas.
How do you know if your employees feel they can innovate? Can they come to you and/or other company leadership and bring up new ideas for products, processes, and solutions? Do you have any established process for those ideas to be shared? Are you open to listening to those ideas, or are they quickly dismissed regardless of how innovative they may be?
There are various other studies/surveys that have shown Millennials are less “loyal” in staying with a single employer. In other words, if they aren’t getting what they perceive is essential to their work environment, they are more likely to find employment elsewhere compared to the other generations.
In seeing how important Millennials feel innovation is, this could also lead to a possible conclusion that businesses who don’t foster a culture of innovation will have a hard time retaining talent from this generation.
There are some other key data points in the Millennial Innovation survey:

66% of respondents agreed that innovative organizations will be better positioned to attract talent.
Innovation was considered a top reason for the purpose of business.
Employee satisfaction and retention was ranked as the #1 non-financial measurement for business success (the interesting part about this is that this category could be further broken down by the Employee Work Passion survey published by The Ken Blanchard Companies on what factors affect employee satisfaction).

No matter where you are in your organization’s hierarchy, what are you doing to foster innovation?
Leave your comments!

Lead Your Team To Effectively Use Technology To Learn

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 12:00:48 +0000

Ensuring employees have ample opportunity to learn and develop is crucial to organizational success. Yet, leaders can be bombarded with messages to increase the use of technology if they want the most effective means for their teams to learn.

As a leader, how do you judge which learning modality will lead to the most effective, quality learning experience? How do you appeal to learners on your teams at differing levels of technological savviness without discouraging their development? Or, worse, avoid humiliating anyone who is not as technologically savvy while simultaneously avoid disengaging your digital learners? Preventing yet more training materials being set up on a shelf never to be used again is key!

Steps you can take to lead your team to effectively use technology to learn include:

1. Understanding how your team learns – Become intimately familiar with how your team learns. Do you offer a learning product on a flash drive only to find you run out before you can order more or are you scheduling face-to-face classes on their behalf with little resistance? Are your most productive employees viewing recording links from live stream workshops because they want to learn in their own time in the comfort of their office? How your employees learn will help you intuit in what form content should be delivered to increase learning. Don’t discount your own observations regarding what your employees seem to gravitate toward.
2. Determine their favored modalities – Fit how the content is offered to the learner by offering it in various forms such as audio, video, face-to-face, and asynchronous. Have a workshop that you know learners on your team will love but know it’s in a format they won’t be interested in learning from? Encourage your employees to determine if they would be interested in learning the same content in a different modality. If the content is off the shelf, inquire as to whether it is offered as mp3, asynchronous, and face-to-face format. Purchase and offer multiple forms and see which format your team seems to prefer. Learn from your purchases and take note of what your employees want more of and most often request.
3. Then…limit options – mp3 audio books, asynchronous learning groups, virtual book clubs , CDs, DVDs, hard-copy libraries, face-to-face workshops…the list goes on as to how employees learn and you could potentially intimidate and confuse learners by creating modality overload. Most important after determining how your team learns is to introduce new technology and options slowly by choosing their favored modality. Then, let them get comfortable with change by limiting the options offered to those two or three favorite modalities the team gravitates toward. Don’t get caught up with the new, shinny technology if you know your employees will most likely not be interested in learning in that particular format. Perhaps you have determined your team enjoys reading hard-copy books, listening to CDs, and asynchronous learning. Invest in these three modalities by allowing your employees to show you this is how they most feel comfortable learning. If the content is then offered as a webinar with live chat, don’t spring it on the team. Wait to allow them to lead you in their own learning.
Understanding how your employees learn will help increase the benefits derived from learning in modalities that best fit the learner and resultantly most benefit the organization.
***

Cheryl DePonte is a Human Resources Learning and Performance Specialist at The Ken Blanchard Companies and has over 15 years experience in the fields of organizational effectiveness and human resources development.

Is Workplace Bullying on the Rise?

Gus Jaramillo — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 14:00:53 +0000

Have you ever been bullied by a boss, coworker, or another employee? Chances are, you may have been. Research by the Workplace Bullying Institute has revealed that 35% of the U.S workforce has reported being bullied. That’s an estimated 53.5 million Americans! And that’s bad news for both employees and organizations. Employees who have been bullied suffer tremendously from stress, somatic disorders, anxiety, and even Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). In fact, in some cases, the effects of bullying were comparable to PTSD from war or prison camp experiences. The organizations themselves don’t escape so easily either. High turnover, low employee morale, and medical and insurance costs are just a few of the detrimental effects an organization must face. In fact, many European countries have adopted laws against workplace bullying, often called mobbing in Europe, costing organizations millions of dollars a year.
Ok, so still not sure if you have ever been bullied? Well, there are many definitions of workplace bullying (wpb) but a widely accepted one is harassing, offending, socially excluding someone or negatively affecting someone’s work tasks. In order for the label bullying (or mobbing) to be applied, it has to occur repeatedly and regularly (e.g., weekly) and over a period of time (about 6 months). Having a bad day at work and yelling at an employee, though not excusable, is not considered bullying. Bullying is a more divisive, targeted behavior that is usually aimed at one particular employee for a long stretch of time.
Bullying can come in many different forms such as intimidating, threats, physical abuse, verbal abuse, and even covert bullying—giving an unrealistic deadline to an associate for the purpose of belittling or embarrassing them.
But people can’t really be that mean can they? Gulp!!! In the years that I have studied the subject, I am more convinced it’s not just the bully who is responsible. It’s an institutional issue and really a global issue. In fact, workplace bullying has been identified as one of the major contemporary challenges for occupational health and safety around the world. In the U.S alone, it has been found to be four times more prevalent than sexual harassment in the workplace.
I used to think bullying behavior was just a leadership flaw. But it’s much worse. Research has shown the culture of an organization may breed or allow for this behavior to thrive. Many different cultures see exuberant amounts of bullying instances, including the military, para-military (police, fireman) and commercial kitchens—Hell’s Kitchen anyone? If you’re like me, you don’t want Gordon Ramsay critiquing your cooking and you definitely don’t want him as your boss. But why does bullying seem more acceptable or permissible in these environments?
Unfortunately, some of these questions are yet to be fully answered, but hopefully soon these gaps will be filled and we will have a more comprehensive picture of bullying. Both the organization and the individual have a responsibility to mitigate this behavior and should actively seek ways to provide a safe environment for employees to work. Although wpb may seem to suddenly be on the rise due to the economy, social factors, etc., it may be that we are now just revealing what has already been at work for quite some time.
For any further information or questions contact me at gus.jaramillo@kenblanchard.com

Personal engagement: it's a relationship thing!

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 15:00:07 +0000

As so many of us focus on the newness of setting goals and resolutions, I find myself looking back over various relationships with friends, coworkers, and others that were once new and have now matured to be strongly connected and bonded.
The day-to-day work I do is something routinely accomplished within hundreds of organizations. Although some of these organizations may have more resources and are perhaps more sophisticated in their processes than my own, what these organizations don’t have are my friends and those who I have come to care about.
I used to believe a job that allowed me to accomplish meaningful work, utilize my talents, and recognize my accomplishments was the real key to career happiness…to true engagement. I pictured myself accomplishing goals and completing projects much to the delight of my superiors and earning that ego-affirming bonus or raise. Truth be told, these things are important and something I strive for. Yet, when I find myself completing a task that can be, shall we say, less than fulfilling, it is my coworkers-turned-friends that make the job more meaningful and fulfilling.

It was not always this way. Like any new hire in any organization, at first I spent lunches alone, felt awkward at company events, and had to endure hearing the “who is she?” question just out of earshot. Over time, I saw how people in the organization built bonds with one another and how they eventually did the same with me.
In previous jobs, I interacted with those I worked with, attended the obligatory coworker’s family event, and said hello as necessary. Years after, there are a few people from each of those jobs who I consider to be friends…but only a few.
What I have come to realize is that engagement often seems to be a term employees believe an organization should own. For example, engagement is a word often mentioned as part of “problem” for an organization to solve.
Instead, I have learned how to create my own personal engagement by bonding with those I work with.
I created my own sense of engagement by:
1. Sharing personal stories with coworkers, like what funny things a parent said and how my dog chewed my favorite pillow. I became comfortable with laughing a little…and connecting by sharing the most mundane topics.
2. Stopping the multitasking when a coworker offered to share a personal story with me. I gave him or her my full, undivided attention, making the moment about them.
3. When coworkers or others in my organization (or industry) did not reach out to me, seemed to ignore me, or for whatever reason do not connect with me, I tried my best to keep it in perspective. I realized that some people are slow to trust, have personal issues, or are simply not ready to be vulnerable with newer organizational or industry members.
The more bonds I built, the more I found I was inexplicably, personally engaged in my work.
Try it, but don’t get discouraged if it takes time. The rewards are worth the effort!

Excellence in Action

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 15:00:56 +0000

*Part Two of a Six Part Series on The Excellent Employee

“Can you hear me when I sing?

You’re the reason why I sing …

You’re the reason the opera is inside of me!”

—Sometimes You Can’t Make It on Your Own, U2

Nike’s Find Your Greatness Campaign

Consider the summer blockbusters at the movie theater or Nike’s latest add campaign during the Summer Olympics. The movies we watch, and sometimes, even the shoes we buy, reveal this appetite for greatness. At times, we vicariously live through others who do what we wish for ourselves: superheroes fighting villains, sports champions, ordinary people overcoming impossible circumstances, and others achieving glory in extraordinary moments of greatness.
We are drawn to greatness because the desire for greatness is within us! The pursuit of excellence is as natural a human desire as love and hope and a desire for peace.
Our human nature is manifest in both our desire for a greater goodness in the world as well as the capacity to possess that goodness within ourselves—in our relationships, our work, our communities, and our own personal satisfaction in being alive.
Our greatness is not meant to be merely potential greatness, like the notched arrow in the potential energy found in the archer’s arm and the bent limbs of the bow when the string is drawn tight. Our greatness is meant to be released into motion, like the arrow that is released from the bow and swiftly, efficiently, travels toward its target with power, becoming kinetic energy that makes an impact and serves its purpose.

Release Your Greatness

In Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, he argued that the end purpose to life, what every human truly desires, is to pursue excellence or greatness that leads to happiness and joy. In fact, Aristotle went further than saying humans simply desire this greatness, they are naturally inclined to hope for it, dream of it, and ultimately pursue it. Humans can’t do otherwise.
So then, why doesn’t everyone achieve greatness or happiness? In fact, the sad reality is that many people become disillusioned about their own greatness. They suffer set backs and failures, develop insecurities, and believe in assumptions that constrain them from excelling. They stop learning when the learning becomes difficult. This happens in people’s personal and professional lives and it’s a human tragedy, because they’ve lost their voice—their sense of purpose.
Others pursue something they think will bring them happiness, without the intimacy and moral compass that excellence requires. They pursue money or status, and use relationships or projects to elevate their own needs above the needs of others. They lose a sense of self-reliance and self-worth, ignoring the desire that beckons them to be great. They forfeit their own personal greatness and become dependent on others to create greatness for them.
In one case, people give up. In the other, they pursue the wrong things. In both, they fail to achieve excellence.
In order for greatness to be actualized, it must be released in individuals and organizations for a greater good. We are meant to train, be disciplined, gain more knowledge, and learn new skills in order to use our greatness in the most excellent way possible, given the reach of our experiences and opportunities—excellence in action!
The capacity for greatness needs to be acted on if that potential is to be realized and success attained at work or in your personal life. The mergence of personal and communal greatness is created through action—the art of intentionally developing and exercising the greatness within.
Greatness is not found in a cool new product, it’s found in the process of creating a product or process or relationship that will make people’s lives better—lead them to a greater happiness—allow them to hear that opera inside of them again.
Excellence in action begins with releasing potential greatness into a targeted and focused purpose that serves and helps others become great with you. Train in certain behaviors until you build them into habits. Learn new skills until you master them. Mature through periods of disillusionment and doubt until you actually see your greatness come out moment by moment, project by project, relationship by relationship.
Jason Diamond Arnold, Co-Author of Situational Self Leadership in Action
Todd Willer, The Ken Blanchard Companies

A Leader’s Challenge On Virtual Employment

Matt Youngblood — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 13:00:32 +0000

The internet is a wonderful thing. It’s one of the greatest communication tools to ever be created. Information on most subjects imaginable is readily available to anyone connected to the web. The added bonus is that it’s also given rise to the “virtual employee”.   With more and more businesses embracing the idea of employees working from home, leaders are now facing some problems that didn’t exist when all employees came into the office to work.
For virtual employees, there are many benefits to working from home:
-There’s no need to commute.
-You have your own quiet workplace.
-You get to work in your pajamas (unless you need to use a webcam).
However, there can also be a disconnect between these virtual employees and those who lead them. The interactions that might normally take place if they were in the office might no longer happen as consistently as they should (or even may not take place at all). I’m talking about connectedness with their leader, discussions around their own work and their career development, and even their own connectedness with the other team members. All of these things can have an impact on employee performance, morale, and even retention. It can also create tension within the team, itself.
“Out of sight, out of mind” sounds like a fitting statement for this predicament.
To address some of these challenges, use the following tips:
1)      Stop the multitasking! – We’ve all been guilty of this at one point or another. It’s hard enough to gauge someone’s reaction to what you’re saying through a phone line or an email. If you don’t focus on what you or the other individual is saying, things can become misinterpreted and create complications.
2)      Create a virtual seating chart for team meetings – It can become difficult to involve everyone in a team discussion when not everyone is in the same location and has to share a conference line to speak. Create a seating chart of all of your team members and check off each individual to ensure each one has had a chance to share their opinions
3)      Learn each team member’s communication preferences – Do you prefer phone calls or emails? Do you like spontaneous meetings or should someone book a meeting with you? What’s your preferred learning style when it comes to learning something new? Everyone has their own preferences, including your team members. Learning their preferences will create better interaction between you and them.
4)      Be mindful of time zone differences – I get to interact with a variety of leaders from various industries in my current role, and a lot of them have direct reports in different states and even countries. It’s an increasing trend, so as leaders, we need to be mindful of people’s schedules based on their time zones. If you need to schedule a meeting, try to accommodate all time zones involved, if possible.
I should add that these tips can also apply to onsite leaders and team members (minus the time zone differences). If you fall into that category and you’ve ever sent an email, sent an instant message, or made a phone call to someone in the same building as you, you were also working “virtually” with those employees. Those same potential pitfalls that exist with employees in another time zone also exist with those in the same office.
Leave your comments!

Exploring the Hidden Secrets of Employee Engagement (pt.1)

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 13:00:46 +0000

As I walked out the door of our air conditioned building to go to lunch, I stepped though a stifling wall of heat that took my breath away. It was high noon and the temperature was 95 degrees farenheit…a stunning 20-25 degree difference from the comforts of my office. At that moment, I felt my energy level plummet and a number of thoughts began to run through my mind, including but not limited to, “I can’t wait to get home and put some shorts on,” and “I’d rather be at the beach or in the pool right now,” and “an ice cold beer would really hit the spot,” and “will I be able to recover and have a productive afternoon?”
In an instant, my level of engagement had been shifted by, yes, the weather. Is this example extreme? Perhaps, but is it really that far-fetched to think of a time when the weather outside affected your mood? In contrast to the previous example, a very cold day may have you daydreaming about snuggling up with your favorite blanket and sitting in front of the fireplace with your favorite book. When your mind wanders off to these places during your working hours or, in some cases, leads you to turn your daydream into reality, is that a reflection of your level of engagement and work passion?
My colleagues at The Ken Blanchard Companies have done some amazing research on the subject of employee engagement and work passion. To date, Blanchard has published four white papers on the subject which you can access by clicking here. In the latest installment, Blanchard identified 12 employee work passion factors within three different categories:

Job Factors – Autonomy, Meaninful Work, Feedback, Workload Balance, and Task Variety
Organizational Factors – Collaboration, Performance Expectations, Growth, Procedural Justice (process fairness), and Distributive Justice (rewards, pay, and benefits)
Relationship Factors – Connectedness with Colleagues and Connectedness with Leader

Without question, all of these factors are vital toward achieving an engaged and passionate workforce. What jumps out at me, and with most other’s research on the subject, is that the focus areas all tend to be very, for lack of a better word, work-centric. Whether you subscribe to the notion of work-life balance or work-life integration, my belief is that, in addition to these crucial work-centric factors, any number of outside personal factors may significantly influence an individual’s level of engagement and passion at any given time. And yes, this may even include an individual’s reaction to the weather outside.
It’s important to remember that regardless of your industry, you’re in the people business. Your colleagues and customers are human beings who are affected by other life experiences, both good and bad, besides those that occur while they’re working. We are individuals with unique needs, wants, situations, and emotions. In future posts in this series, we’ll further discuss situations and possible solutions to achieve a deeper understanding of what drives the engagement and passion of the unique individuals who make up your workforce.
Follow me on Twitter: @adammorris21 | Add me on Google+: gplus.to/AdamMorris21

The Excellent Employee

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 17:59:39 +0000

*Part One of a Six Part Series on The Excellent Employee
Excellence comes about as a result of habit. We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts. —Aristotle
Nobody willingly pays a person to be average or mediocre. Or at least, they shouldn’t! And individuals shouldn’t be content being paid to be average or mediocre either!

Imagine going into a job interview or pitching a new project with the premise of retaining an individual’s services through the commitment to a steady dose of procrastination and indifference toward key tasks and reasonabilities. It’s an absurd notion. That organization would be foolish to hire for such a promise. It would be foolish for a person to settle for being average as an employee.
So then, why do organizations hire for excellence and settle for mediocrity? Why do teams within organizations get away with doing just enough to “get the job done?” Why do so many individuals settle for coming to work and being average, at best?
While modern thinkers like Jim Collins, in Good to Great, have evolved the meaning of the word “good” to mean something less than great, ancient writers, teachers, philosophers like Aristotle defined “good” as something extraordinary – exceedingly great. The classic notion of good is manifest excellence—actively pursuing behavior that excels beyond the normal, everyday basics of our mere existence—encouraging us to thrive, rather than simply survive. The pursuit of excellence has led individuals to a greater happiness in living and working throughout history.
The Nicomachean Ethics is one of the most important books in the whole history of philosophy and certainly the most influential works of Aristotle. It is a collection of his most profound thoughts and was based on an exhortation to his son to live the best possible life.
Though taught thousands of years ago, Aristotle’s thoughts on excellence—becoming exceedingly good, still serves as a call to action for those who desire and are willing to lead themselves at a higher level. Although there are many narratives that can be culled out from Aristotle’s epic work, there are a several broad narratives that have practical application in our modern workplace.
A Greater Good
For an individual to perform exceedingly “good,” they must believe that “good” is something beyond just their own need, but also the good of the community, organization, or society they live in. According to Aristotle, excellence is a mindset rather than just a set of activities. Most activities are a means to a higher end, or at least they should be, and our work is no exception.
When individuals start showing up to work just to pull a pay check or organizations get too focused on the profit margins, they loose site of why they exist—to serve a greater good. Excellent employees focus on using their skills and knowledge to serve a purpose greater than themselves and in the process meet their basic needs while achieving excellence.
Virtue, Vision, and Values
Excellence depends on living in accordance with appropriate virtues, vision, and values. A virtuous individual is naturally inspired to behave in the right ways and for the right reasons, finding happiness in behaving according to a set of higher standards of excellence—personal standards as well as the standards expected of them by their community.
The Excellent Employee performs all of their duties with clear expectations of their role and responsibilities, in alignment with the core values of the company. Aristotle is not referring to some imaginary notion of perfection, and neither should organizations expect that of employees. But striving for higher levels of behavioral excellence, creating a greater value in products and projects, should be the goal of every employee.
Know Thyself
The phrase, Know Thyself was inscribed above the entrance to the Lyceum that Aristotle attended as a young man in Athens. Most historians attribute the phrase as an admonition to those entering the sacred temple to remember or know their place before entering into the learning process. Modern philosophies and leadership theories have expanded the notion of self awareness as a means to become more in tune with one’s own personal strengths and weaknesses, beliefs and behaviors.
Excellent employees are committed to knowing themselves through a daily process of understanding the vision and values of the organization, and then aligning them with their own Key Areas of Responsibility. They are also keenly aware of their own assumptions about the organization or a project that may be holding them back. They are aware of where they are at in their own learning process, and what they need from others to successfully complete their daily tasks. Most individuals struggle to move beyond periods of disillusionment and conflict, settling for something less than exceedingly good. The Excellent Employee is equipped to understand their own needs and move through those periods of doubt and disillusionment efficiently and effectively.
Relationships
Aristotle believed that the bonds that tie citizens together are so important that it would be unthinkable to suggest that true happiness can be found in a life isolated from others. This understanding applies to the modern workplace as well. But excellent employees aren’t just good at building effective social and professional networks on Facebook and Linked In, they are dedicated to building intimate and meaningful relationships through personal one on one communication. They’re also aware of the fact that there are more ways to getting a job done by gaining the support of people in positions of power, but rather influencing peers and colleagues through other types of personal power in order to meet the needs of the greater good and do an exceedingly good work.
Action
Aristotle did not think that virtue could be taught in a classroom down at the local Lyceum or simply by means of a “good” argument, but rather by applying virtue and values to your daily actions. His claim that virtue can be learned only through constant practice implies that there are no set rules we can learn from in just a workbook or a presentation alone; rather we must find a means of transferring that knowledge into action. The Excellent Employee is committed to training in the skills sets that will help them excel beyond average. They are consumed with creating solutions and meaningful results, rather than wallowing in the challenges, setbacks, and conflicts that arise in the workplace.
Become Excellent
The Excellent Employee has a strategy to consistently align their vision and values to the organization’s vision and values, through a clear understanding of themselves and their needs. They also utilize key relationships and apply their knowledge and skills to their everyday workflow, aligning it with the greater good of their company and their clients.
Life is short. Be activly committed to living and working at a higher level, for yourself and the greater good. Aristotle would challenge today’s modern employee to become excellent by doing excellent acts.
Jason Diamond Arnold
Co-Author of Situational Self Leadership in Action

Don't Lead With a Lead Foot

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 13:00:14 +0000

Stop for a second and picture yourself cruising down the highway behind the wheel of your dream car. The window, or perhaps the top, is down and the wind is blowing through your hair. The engine is purring like a kitten. At the moment, everything is running smoothly, as it should. You then decide you want to see what this high precision automobile can do.
So you give it a little more gas. You can feel the power as you accelerate. Sure, you can hear the engine working a little harder but it’s nothing to be too concerned about. You give it even more gas. Now you’re flying. The faster you go, the more exhilarating the ride. The engine is revving hard to perform the way you want it to, but there still doesn’t seem to be any immediate concerns. Now, the ultimate test…you push the pedal to the floor.
At first you’re impressed at how well the engine is performing and how much ground you’re able to cover. However, the longer you keep your foot to the floor, the more “normal” it seems. You think to yourself, “the engine is working hard but it can handle it so I’m going to drive like this all the time!”
You continue along with the pedal to the metal. The car makes you look and feel like a rock star. But you begin to notice some warning signs. You glance at your tachometer and see your engine is redlining. Then you look at your gas gauge and realize you’re depleting your engine’s fuel reserves much faster than normal. That once proud roar of your engine is beginning to sound more like a lion with bronchitis. In the beginning, the smell of burnout was caused by tire rubber, now the smell of burnout is a result of failing engine components. The engine hasn’t completely failed you yet so, despite the warning signs, you keep your foot to the floor.
The incredibly high and unsustainable demands you’ve placed on your engine finally catch up to you. The engine completely gives out and stops functioning. Even though you had all the warning signs, you still seem surprised. Your initial response is to go on a tirade placing blame on individual engine components when in reality you should be acknowledging the role your driving style played in the engine’s breakdown. The cost to replace the engine is tremendous and it will completely destroy your budget. All of this could have easily been avoided had you placed reasonable expectations on your engine and paid attention to the warning signs when your rising expectations started to become unreasonable.
Every manager dreams of leading a team that runs like a well-oiled machine. But even the most finely tuned, high-performance engines have limitations. Leaders, are you leading with a lead foot?
Follow me on Twitter: @adammorris21 | Add me on Google+: gplus.to/AdamMorris21

All Grunt Work and No Glory

Matt Youngblood — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 13:00:09 +0000

Have you ever asked yourself what it is your people actually work on throughout the day (or night)? I’m sure a lot of you know in general terms the type of work being done, but do you know the finer details? More importantly, do you know how much of that work translates into something meaningful in the eyes of your people?   If you don’t, you might be contributing to a higher turnover rate at your company.
When I look at a job, I like to break it down into two parts:
1. The grunt work
2. The glory
Think of the grunt work as repetitive, tedious tasks, that while necessary, are not the first things your people look forward to when they come in for work. On the other side, you have the glory which is the new work that allows us to grow our knowledge/skill along with the recognition that comes from a job-well-done. Almost all jobs contain some percentage of both. The question is how much balance is there between the two of them.
Personally, a part of my own job deals with grunt work. Every month a complete a time sheet to primarily track a lot of the billable work I do throughout that month. I understand the reason for them and I know they are necessary, but that doesn’t mean I don’t cringe each time I have to work on them.
However, I also have a healthy portion of glory, as well. A lot of the work I do impacts multiple people for the better, and there are always opportunities for me to take on new challenges.   I am also consistently recognized for doing well. These are reasons why I haven’t been looking for employment, elsewhere.
In The Ken Blanchard Companies latest Employee Work Passion Survey, over 800 respondents were asked to rank 5 job factors in order of importance such as Autonomy, Meaningful Work, Feedback, Workload Balance, and Task Variety.   In looking at the data, Meaningful Work had the greatest percentage of responses in terms of being ranked the most important. More surprisingly, the majority of respondents ranked their immediate leader as being more responsible even over senior leadership when it came to influencing/improving these job factors.
If you haven’t seen the results of the Employee Work Passion Survey, it is definitely worth a read. You can see it here.
This meaningful work is one of the biggest factors when it comes to your workforce. If your people feel this is lacking from the work that they do, they are likely going to look (or are already looking) for a different job. Even if they aren’t looking right now, they likely aren’t using their full potential when it comes to their performance.
Think about what you can do for your people when it comes to recognition, introducing growth through new skills, and showing them how their works impacts others. In doing so, you may also find glory for yourself.
Leave your comments!

Putting the “D’oh” in “Don’t think that you have control.”

Matt Youngblood — Fri, 25 May 2012 14:00:39 +0000

Here were are; roughly 5 months away from the US Presidential elections. It’s almost like having a season of the year, except that instead of seeing tree leaves changing colors or feeling the temperature changes, we’re instead exposed to political ads, campaign commercials, and auto-dialers calling at 8:00 AM in the morning asking for campaign contributions. Some of my friends look forward to the election like it’s the fight of the decade (will we ever get to see Manny Pacquiao versus Floyd Mayweather, Jr.?), but I personally tend to get annoyed.
Why? It’s because politics remind me of bad leadership practices. Every day we’re exposed to the presidential nominees making promises about their plans following the elections in November. It’s not the necessarily the plans that are bad (depending on your perspective), but rather the language that these nominees use. It’s as if they are providing a 100% guarantee that they can deliver on their promises.
Even the President of the United States reports to someone in order to get anything accomplished. Lots of new laws or presidential decrees require funding which is under the control of Congress. If the President upsets the wrong people in Congress, it becomes much harder for him to follow through on his promised agenda. If he cannot pass his agenda, his campaign promises are null and void.
That’s the problem with leadership, and I’m not just referring to politics. I’m specifically referring to the old thinking that being in a leadership role means that you’re in control no matter if your background is in politics, business, etc… Whether you’re in a position of power or not, the only person you can truly control is yourself. You cannot say with certainty that just because you want or demand something to happen, it does not mean you can make it happen.
Let me give you another example: Let’s say I manage an individual working on a large project. I just found out from my own manager that the deadline on that project needs to be moved to tomorrow. I need this individual to stay late to finish up the project to meet the new deadline. That individual tells me that they cannot stay late because they’re attending their daughter’s school play and they cannot miss it.
What are my options at that point? That individual has made it clear that their daughter’s school play is their priority. If I’m somewhat unreasonable, I could reprimand them or possibly even fire them, but what then? The deadline still gets missed, and I’m now the one in hot water with my own manager. The other option could be for me to compromise. Let the individual see their daughter’s play, but ask for them to come in early the next day. If they refuse, we may still have a problem, but at least I’ve done something that a lot of leaders don’t do, which is compromise.
I’ve worked under leaders in the past that ruled with iron fists. If you didn’t do things exactly the way the wanted, even if there were better ways of doing things, you would be reprimanded. I’m sure almost all of us have worked for at least one individual like that in the past. All it winds up doing is causing the rest of us to start looking for new jobs.
Leadership is really about influencing those underneath and around you. It’s about making compromises with the people you lead in order to get the job done. You can “push” people in one direction or the other through influence, but you cannot move them from point A to point B on your own.
Leave your comments!

App Yourself—Welcome to The Age of AppLightenment

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:00:29 +0000

“Now!”, thus spoke a good App to me,
“Click on my icon and you shall see,
treasures of knowlendge and wisdom so fine,
to help you make the most of the daily grind,
Excellence, you may claim, if but you will,
open me up and take your fill!”
App Yourself, by J. Diamond Arnold (A Paradoy of A Book, by Edgar Guest)
I am haunted by memories of long nights at the kitchen table, hot tears streaming down my face, trying to learn the rules of operations and relations within mathematical philosophies—frustrated at my inability to easily embrace the new concepts, but even more frustrated in trying to comprehend how I would ever apply those concepts to my life.

Maddness of Math

After all, that is the purpose of our education—our learning experiences—applying those learnings to our lives. Isn’t it?
To this day, those tears still burn at the thought of nights past, bleeding into present, evoked at the site of my own teenage daughter, sitting at the same table, laboring through the same equations and wrestling with the same questions about the purpose of learning Algebra, wondering if she will ever actually use this skill in her lifetime.

What is the Meaning

Those memories did not fade, but have been rekindled through similar angst during my days in the halls of academia, on the campus of the university, and recently in the corporate classrooms of my professional career. The thirst for learning and knowledge has often been but a mirage in deserts of secrets, seminars, and semesters—promising a path to enlightenment and understanding—only to leave me mysteriously cold and hungry, crawling on my hands and knees in search of a means to turn my potential knowledge into kinetic understanding and action.
The art of applying our learning to our daily tasks, projects, quests, and routines has always been a Valley of the Shadow between knowing and doing, excellence and mediocrity, success and status quo. The challenge has been, and will always be judged by our ability to use those learnings in our daily lives on a consistent and effective basis, not to shelve them on the dusty mantles of our lives, virtually untouched and largely unexplored.
The good news is that our generation now has the key to continual and effective learning—literally, right at our fingertips. Welcome to The Revolution of Digital Apps! Welcome to the Age of AppLightenment!

Mobile ApplicationsWhile Merriam-Webster Dictionary does not yet have an official entry on the word, “App,” their little brother (or Big Brother depending on how you want to put it into context), Wikipedia, defines it as a, “common reference to Application Software, made for computers and mobile devices such as Smart Phones and Digital Tablets.”

What is relevant to understanding the power that Apps have on the learning process is the Merriam-Webster’s (App version, of course) is the definition of the traditional word, Application—an act of putting to use .
Off course Apps are not new, they have been on your personal computer, running word processing and database software, or digital communication tools, for many years as Applications. What is new, is the explosion of practical and creative Apps designed to make your life more effective, more fun, more engaging, and yes, many will make you even more enlightened.
It’s estimated that one in three adults in the U.S. alone, own a smart phone that makes use of Apps. This past December, Apple announced that there are now more than half a million Applications available in the mobile applications-specific App Store, and that more than 100 million Apps have been downloaded from the desktop software marketplace Mac App Store within a year of its debut. Apple says that customers are ‘continuing’ to download more than 1 billion Apps per month.

Mac App Store

Regardless of whether you are downloading your Apps from Apple, Google, Amazon, or other App Stores, Apps are becoming a way of life. From banking, to budgeting, to hitting a baseball, making dinner, enhancing your workouts, your business, or your personal relationships, Apps are intuitively driving us to transfer our knowing into doing—helping us effectively engage and complete our daily professional and personal tasks.
The reality is we are in the midst of The Age of AppLightenment—A Digital Enlightenment era sparked by philosophical entrepreneurs named Jobs and Gates, and Zuckerberg and Wales—inciting a cultural movement toward digital mobilized learning and learning applications. Not since the mid-1400s, around the time the printing press was invented, has the world experienced such rapid and mass access to information— information that now can be rapidly processed into knowledge, and knowledge into doing, through the use of Apps.
This is our moment in world history to embrace, taking knowledge and taking action through simple and effective application to our lives. It’s time get up from the table and wipe away the tears. It’s time to App Yourself!
Jason Diamond Arnold
Co-Author of Situational Self Leadership in Action

The Not-So-Simple Art of Making Introductions

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 19:44:24 +0000

Patrick has been a high performing member of his organization for nearly 10 years. Recently, a member of his company’s Human Resources department, Elizabeth, was giving a tour to a couple of new hires and was introducing them to existing employees.
When they stopped at Patrick’s department, Elizabeth introduced the new hires to Bruce, whose office was next door to Patrick’s. With a smile on his face and eager to welcome the new hires, Patrick rose from his desk and went to his doorway to wait his turn.
As Elizabeth finished introducing Bruce to the new hires, she turned towards Patrick and said, “And this is, uh, wow, I don’t know who you are!”
Patrick was slightly stunned since he had had a few conversations with Elizabeth over the year or two that she had been with the organization…and of course, because his name was prominently displayed on his name plaque on the wall outside of his office.
Elizabeth then proceeded to explain, in front of the new hires and Bruce, that while she didn’t know Patrick’s name, she routinely observed him from her window indulging his nasty smoking habit on his breaks. This included her sarcastically mimicking the act, thoroughly explaining how her office window’s vantage point was positioned perfectly for spying on employees, how she regularly publicly chastised other employees who also share the habit, and even pointed how Patrick was going to die. What should have been a simple introduction had become incredibly uncomfortable for everyone except the blatantly oblivious Elizabeth from Human Resources. With each word she spoke, the eyes of the new hires grew wider, while Bruce could only look away in disbelief.
Despite all of this, Patrick kept his outward smile and simply nodded and faked a laugh while hoping that Elizabeth would simply stop talking. He wasn’t proud of his bad habit but felt strongly that it shouldn’t be the focus of his introduction to his new co-workers. As soon as he was given an opening, Patrick quickly chimed in and addressed the new employees with, “Hi, I’m Patrick.”
As he shook their hands, Elizabeth spoke up once again and said, “um, geez, I have no idea what you do!”
It wasn’t audible but you could sense a collective groan as Elizabeth successfully sucked the energy out of the room once again. Patrick continued to smile, nodded, faked a laugh and briefly explained his role and how it had evolved over his lengthy tenure with the organization.
As Elizabeth and the new hires walked away, Patrick turned to Bruce and asked, “what was THAT?”
Bruce replied, “THAT was completely uncalled for and incredibly unprofessional.”
To make successful, positive introductions, here are some things Elizabeth should consider doing in the future:

Ask employees to introduce themselves. If you don’t know someone’s name, don’t embarrass yourself, the person you’re introducing, or the person you’re introducing them to. After introducing the new hires, Elizabeth could have given the ‘your turn’ glance to Patrick and allowed him to chime in on his own. Or, she could have turned to Patrick and said something like, “why don’t you introduce yourself and tell them a little bit about who you are?”
(Or, of course, she also could have glanced at the name plaque on the wall outside his office for assistance.)
Ask employees to describe their role in their own words. If you don’t know what someone does, simply have them describe it in their own words. By saying, “I have no idea what you do,” it implies that Patrick’s contributions aren’t noticeable, and by extension, not appreciated. Or, as a Human Resources representative, it implies that you’re not in tune with the actual work being done by the employees in the trenches.
If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. All these years later, Mom’s advice still rings true. Never introduce someone by pointing out their flaws, faults, or negative traits. By focusing on Patrick’s bad habit, Elizabeth effectively eroded any trust she had with Patrick and demonstrated to the new employees that perhaps they should be cautious around Elizabeth.

What other advice would you have for Elizabeth? Do you have any stories of introductions gone wrong?
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Adjust Yourself!

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 17:02:43 +0000

“”There has always been a saying in baseball that you can’t make a hitter, but I think you can improve a hitter.”
—Ted Williams
Baseball players adjust themselves. You may notice this if you take in a game this opening day weekend at the ballpark. Observe the players closely and watch as they step into the batter’s box. They constantly adjust themselves.

No, I am not referring to the kind of adjustments that disturb your sister. I’m talking about a host of mechanical adjustments, in their basic skill sets, whether they are on the field or at the plate.
A baseball hitter has over a hundred different tasks he can work on during any given pre game routine. From pitch selection, to bat grip, to placement of the feet, the twist of the hips, and the extension of the bat, there are a host of tasks that need constant attention when attempting to hit a tiny white ball, that’s moving quickly toward you, with a stick. And often, those skills necessary to accomplish one of the hardest tasks in sports, is often in need of adjustments. Hitting is a series of natural athletic talents, combined with hours and hours of preparation, training, and constant fine-tuning.
When coaching my youth baseball players, with various skill sets, our coaching staff will constantly ask players to “feel” what they are doing in either their, throwing, catching, hitting, or running mechanics. And rather than constantly overwhelm them with feedback on what they could be doing better, which can be overwhelming to any ball player, especially young ones, we often ask them to assess themselves.
“What did you feel with that swing?”
“I felt my shoulder dip on that swing,” they respond.
“What adjustment can you make?”
“I need to keep my back shoulder up, and drive through the ball,” they respond with a solution. They are now taking ownership in.
They’ve just made an adjustment!
Eventually, the really good players, start to feel what they are doing wrong as a result of committing the proper mechanics to muscle memory. On their own, they begin to understand what they could be doing better mechanically, and begin to make adjustments. They begin to coach themselves and often separate themselves from the players who are not making adjustments on their own.
At work, we can be given a project that has a task made up of a hundred different skills that we could improve on in any given day—operating a software, writing a proposal, making a sales pitch, or assessing a budget. The fact is, like baseball, the workplace is full of personal learning opportunities for us as individuals.
The more we are aware of our strengths and weaknesses on a given task or skill, the more we are able to diagnosis what adjustments we need to make on our own in order to accomplish a task at a higher level of excellence. In essence, we are learning to coach ourselves if we have the knowledge, and a clear picture of what a good job looks like on that given task. When we get to this level as individual contributors within an organization, we are ready to perform at an All Star level.
So go ahead, look at the tasks you are working on today, and ask yourself, what can I do better? Then go ahead and do it—adjust yourself! You’ll feel better, and you’re sister won’t think you’re weird.
Jason Diamond Arnold
Co-Author of Situational Self Leadership in Action
The Ken Blanchard Companies

LeBron Lends Lesson on Loyalty

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 12:00:29 +0000

It’s official. LeBron James is leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers to join the Miami Heat. In other breaking news, President Obama is expected to declare a state of emergency in Ohio.
The reaction within the Cleveland Cavaliers organization was one of heartbreak and betrayal. LeBron was the local kid playing for the hometown team. The prevailing sentiment was that he would remain loyal to the organization, and his community, by agreeing to return. The organization’s ace in the hole was that they were able to offer LeBron $30 million more than any other organization could offer. But despite the local ties and significantly more money to be made, he bolted for South Beach.
So why did he leave? The politically correct reason we were given was that he felt he had a better opportunity to win a championship by joining forces with his friends, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh, down in Miami. In other words, “it’s not you, it’s me,” which of course is the nice way of saying, “it’s mostly you.”
The reality is that there were probably many other factors that contributed to his decision that we don’t know about and might never know about. Why do any of us ever leave one organization to join a different organization? Sometimes, we need a change of scenery. Sometimes, we want more pay. Sometimes, we have a fundamental difference in philosophy. Sometimes, we don’t get along with the boss. Sometimes, we feel taken for granted and unappreciated. Sometimes, we need a new challenge. Sometimes, a once in a lifetime opportunity just falls in our laps. Sometimes, well you get the point.
The fact of the matter is that sometimes, it’s just time. As an organization, you might do everything right but inevitably you will still lose a star employee. Sometimes, it’s out of your control. What you can control is how you handle these situations. There is nothing to be gained by burning a bridge that doesn’t need to be burnt. Who knows, perhaps you and that star employee might want to reunite one day.
That was a lesson that Dan Gilbert, owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, apparently was never taught. Within an hour of LeBron’s announcement, Gilbert posted this scathing Open Letter to Fans on the Cavaliers website. This provides great insight into the type of leadership at the top of the Cavaliers organization and demonstrates why they were unable to earn LeBron’s loyalty. After all, loyalty is a two-way street and it’s similar to respect in that it must be earned, not demanded or assumed.

Managing Peak Performers

Blanchard Associate — Wed, 19 May 2010 22:47:56 +0000

As both a baseball fan and a not-ready-for-prime-time “expert” on leadership, I’ve been following the Hanley Ramirez story as it has unfolded over the last couple of days. Ramirez is the talented superstar shortstop of the Florida Marlins who was removed from a game earlier this week for not hustling. Ramirez was not at all happy about the decision made by his manager, Fredi Gonzalez. As a result, a very public feud is now playing out in the media. (Click here for more.)
Translation. There was an isolated incident where the manager questioned the effort of his peak performer. The manager’s response to the incident ultimately resulted in a much larger problem affecting not only his relationship with his peak performer, but also affecting their relationships with the other players on the team, their relationships with the rest of the organization, and their relationships with the organization’s clients (or fans). Furthermore, it has opened the door for the competition to inquire about the availability of the organization’s peak performer. While Ramirez’s response to the manager’s decision cannot be condoned, one can reasonably question if this ugly mess of a situation could have been avoided had the manager taken a different approach.
There was a poll today on ESPN where readers were asked to choose between two responses to the following question.
“What do you think of Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez benching Hanley Ramirez during a game for not hustling after a ball?”
As I write this, there had been just over 30,000 total respondents. 88% of those people said this was a “necessary move to send a message” while a mere 12% said Gonzalez was “picking an unnecessary fight with his star.” Given the choice between the two, I’m in alignment with the minority but let’s take a look at the choices and I’ll tell you why.
Necessary move to send a message.
If a message needs to be sent, it is important to first define WHAT that message is and also HOW that message needs to be sent. Since we have no way of knowing if any of the other possible messages, or their various methods of delivery, would have been more effective we cannot definitively say this was THE necessary move. For instance, it has been well documented by the player, the manager, and the media, that Ramirez sustained a leg injury earlier in that same game. Instead of choosing the public embarrassment route, is it at least possible that things might have gone better or different had Gonzalez pulled Ramirez aside in the dugout after the play and said:
“Hanley, you looked really slow to that ball. I know you told me the leg was fine but it doesn’t look fine. Be honest with me. Are you sure you’re OK to continue? If not, let me know now so we can start treating it and get you ready for tomorrow. But if you stay in, I’ll be watching. And if it looks to me like you’re hurting, I’m going to pull you out of the game.”
Picking an unnecessary fight with his star.
If you’re a manager, your goal is to bring out the best in your people and to unite them in pursuit of a common goal. Your team will have members who possess a varying level of commitment and competence at any given time. When you notice someone’s commitment or competence dip, it’s your responsibility to help get it back up to its optimum levels. Public embarrassment is usually not an effective way to accomplish this. This is especially true when it concerns your peak performer who possesses a track record of superior performance and production. Again, the goal is to help lift them back up, not isolate them and knock them down even further.

The Secret to Employee Retention

Blanchard Associate — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 14:11:04 +0000

“SHOW! ME! THE! MONEY!” In the last 14 years, you’d be hard pressed to find a more memorable movie quote than this classic delivered by Cuba Gooding Jr. in Jerry Maguire. In fact, if you can think of one that has had more widespread appeal and longevity, feel free to drop it in the comments section and we’ll open it up for debate.
Those four simple words summed up the collective mindset of multiple generations of workers across all industries. Simply put, if you really value my contribution, prove it. After seeing that movie for the first time, we all went into our next performance review with the “show me the money” attitude. The sobbing you heard in the theater wasn’t your girlfriend’s reaction to Tom Cruise telling Renee Zellweger, “you complete me.” No, that sobbing you heard was CEOs and Managers recognizing that Gooding Jr. had just given their employees a new-found sense of confidence and empowerment. Instead of dreading performance reviews, we now were looking forward to them.
After all, there’s a big difference between just being key talent and knowing you’re key talent. When you have the confidence in yourself to know you’re key talent that makes it more difficult for your organization to hold on to you. Let’s face it, these days it’s not finding talent that’s challenging for employers, it’s retaining it. The good organizations are actively searching for ways to improve employee retention.
So what’s the secret? As Gooding Jr. later states in the movie, the secret is…the kwan. The kwan?
“Yeah, man, it means love, respect, community…and the dollars too. The package. The kwan.”
That right there is the quote from this movie that those same CEOs and Managers should have memorized. There should be a “Kwan” motivational poster (patent pending) on the wall of every HR department. The kwan is the secret to employee retention. It’s not just the money. It’s not just love. It’s not just respect. And it’s not just community. It’s the package. When an employee says “show me the money,” the response should be, “I’ll do better than that, I’ll show you the kwan.” As expected, the employee’s natural response would then be, “you had me at hello.”
Love your employees, respect your employees, provide your employees with a healthy work environment, and compensate your employees well. If you’re lacking in ANY of these areas you just might lose your best talent to the competition.
Fun Fact: Did you know the human head weighs 8 pounds?