What does your trust look like ?

This is a picture of an ice-selling shop near where I live. The first time I went there to buy ice, nobody was in. I shouted a couple of times and waited a few minutes but it remained all quiet. The next time I tried the same, a little girl of about 5 years came out to help me put the ice in the bag and take the money. When our business transaction was nearly finished an adult showed up. So I told him that it was difficult to find someone around to buy ice from. He explained me the established operating procedure.

Anyone buying ice selects one of the plastic bags hanging behind the blue ice tank. There are three sizes. Filled with ice, they cost 3, 5 or 10 Thai baht. You can pick ice from the blue tank, with the big ice cubes, or the red tank, with the small tube-like ice cubes. Or you can mix both. Once you have filled your plastic bag to the rim with ice, you drop either 3 or 5 or 10 Thai baht in a rusty cup. There is no sign "put your money here" ! And that's how the ice shop works. So once I knew the ropes, I became one of their self-service customers.

"How can they trust strangers ? Don't people come and steal ice, or pay less than they should ?" I don't know the answers. But the shop has been operating for ages, and I guess they would have changed the system if it didn't work.

This is what trust looks like in this particular situation. Trust is a word with meaning, and is often used in a very general and conceptual way. We often say trust is important. So what does your trust look like ? With your team members ? Peers ? Clients ? Concretely. What do you do or say or don't do or refrain from saying, that established trust with those around you ?

You have the team you deserve !

Somebody once said that populations have the politicians they deserve. In the same vein, your team is the one you deserve.

With the exception of a team leader inheriting a new team for the first couple of months, your team is the reflection of you as a leader. I often hear team leaders vent about their team. The team members don't have the needed skills. They don't take responsibility. They don't make decisions. They stay in their comfort zone. And there are old conflicts lingering that impact performance.

Well, no team is perfect, that is for sure. But what have you done about all this ? Have you coached, mentored, given feedback, acted upon the improvements or the lack of improvements ? Are there clear targets and a clear understanding of what happens when targets are not met ? If you have done all this and it does not bring the results you want ... what are you going to do different next week ? As for those issues you are not happy about, but you don't do anything about (other than vent your frustration), your inaction sends as much a message to the team of your priorities and your values.

Stop complaining about your team ! It is a reflection of how you are doing as leader.

What will you learn next year ?

The new year is (again) just around the corner ... As usual, time to reflect on what is behind and make plans for what is ahead. You can think about what you did last year, or didn't do, and how good or not that was. And you can make lists of what to do and places to go in the next year. Or even commit to doing things you never did and you know you will not do !

What about thinking not about what you have done or not done, but instead about what you have learned last year ? What did you learn about yourself ? About the people around you. What do you do better thanks to what you learned compared to the past ? The same goes for next year. What will you learn next year ? What will you do to help others around you learn next year ? Looking at learning opens up a more positive and empowering view on your development and of those around you. There is always learning and yet learning is never completed. When you frame what you do as learning, you are never at zero and you are never fully done. When you are supporting others, see not just what they do or what they don't do. See what they are doing as learning.

We do what we do thanks to what we learned, starting all the way from childhood. We are what we are in life and in work because of what we have learned in the past. And we will be more successful in the future if we can continue to learn.

Happy learning next year !

Sticking to what you do well ...

I came across this shop in Lisbon, Portugal. They sell eels in cans. Only eels in cans. One flavor. They have two sizes, big size and small size. And they have been selling eels in cans and only eels in cans since 1942.

I found it a refreshing approach in a world where we are constantly bombarded with "new and improved". Found your favorite tooth paste ? Very likely you will no longer find it in in six months or so, replaced by dozens of "new and improved" flavors, sizes and packagings. Toilet paper for some time comes in double (2x) size and triple (3x) size. And I recently came across another "innovation": we now have 1.5 x and 2.5 x regular size. Really running out of ideas on the never-ending "new and improved" front !

If a company can survive for nearly 80 years on canned eels, let this be an inspiration to stick what you really want to do and do not allow yourself to get sidetracked, however tempting this may seem, and however many others are running around after every new trend and opportunity that comes around !

What questions were not allowed ?

Samsung's debacle with the Note 7 caused a loss in profit of more than 2 billion US$ and the company's image will be dented for a long time to come. Who will rush out to buy the Note 8 ??

The official cause for the batteries catching fire has not yet been communicated and there will undoubtedly be technical explanations about the reasons the phones overheated and started to melt. And maybe a few engineers will be shamed (publicly, undoubtedly) and for sure a good part of the blame will end up in the lap of the suppliers who built the batteries.

But very likely, someone, at some point, at Samsung or at the supplier, had raised questions about the stability or safety of the new generation batteries that were being rushed through production to meet the deadlines. Maybe it was an engineer or technician who thought that some test results were too borderline to allow for the next phase in design and production  ... And they were probably told that the impact on the timely launch would be too important. The Challenger and Titanic disasters are examples where people had raised questions and concerns but been overruled or ignored.

These are dramatic examples. For sure your company will not end up in the headlines to this extent. But just wonder how difficult questions are dealt with in your organization ? Are they written off as disconnected with the business priorities ? As a disturbance ? Or are they looked upon as a way to challenge current practices and do better in the long run ? The impact may not be as dramatic as in Samsung's case, but the way you deal with questions will definitely impact how your organization grows ...

There's no app for that !

Human beings are social creatures. We crave interaction with others. In the workplace, we spend most of our time amidst colleagues, bosses and subordinates and most of what we do is connected to what others are doing, either through direct contact or through any form of communication. 

I am amazed at how little time managers have (or rather ... find) these days to really communicate with their team members. They are swamped by meetings, visitors, reporting, budgets, forecasts or management retreats. They solve problems, monitor action plans and send out and read tons of emails each day. 

Amidst all these priorities they struggle to carve out meaningful time and engage in real conversations with those who report to them. They often feel that sending emails is a valid substitute for exchanging views. I once had a manager asking if he could send the developmental or improvement feedback to a subordinate by email since this was so much easier  and faster ... ! The fact that the real meaning of giving developmental feedback is in the dialogue that happens between the boss and the team member was for him probably an inconvenience pushing him out of his comfort zone.

In so many organizations I get to work with, the annual performance review is the only time a manager sits down with a team member to look at and discuss past performance and future development. The once-a-year ritual becomes stressful and time-consuming for both parties.

Having regular conversations along the year about how someone is doing takes some practice and self-discipline but it is the minimum necessary when thinking of employee engagement. There is not really an alternative for one-on-one dialogue. I am afraid someone (maybe a busy manager ... ?) will one day come up with an app for giving feedback and having conversations with others !

Keeping employee engagement simple !

Employee engagement is probably one of the greatest buzz words of the last few years. Consultants make great money with measuring and evaluating employee engagement, and often show leaders how terribly low the engagement of their employees is. And after having shamed these leaders, they then feel obliged to hire the aforementioned consultant to hopefully turn those disastrous numbers into something more presentable. Often, a multi-year "engagement project" is started ... with great costs.

So it is refreshing to once in a while come back to earth and see how simple engaging employees can be ! I had the chance to work with teams at a service firm in Bangkok a few times. Each time I discovered different knowledge sharing sessions being offered to employees, designed and delivered by peers and colleagues. Not by the training department or the HR function, but by the seniors in the different departments.

It is a great step forward if an organization can instill a mindset of sharing knowledge as opposed to hoarding it. Knowledge is the only thing that multiplies when shared amongst others. Yet in reality, people are often incentivized to sit on their knowledge for their own performance measures. Through this kind of sharing sessions, the company instills pride and empowerment when it gives the opportunity for employees to develop and deliver these sharing sessions.

Just think how different this kind of sharing sessions are received by the employees compared to the traditional email from HR about the list of training programs to sign up for ?

Employee engagement is a long term effort, for sure. But it doesn't need to be complicated. When you are embarking on an engagement effort, start by looking at and asking your ... employees !

Who's your god ?

Saraswati

No, I am not going off on a new tangent in my blog ... But I was recently in India for the Global Forum of the World Institute of Action Learning. A very dynamic and enjoyable 3 days of intense learning.

Fittingly, the event was kicked off by lighting the lamp of learning, and making reference to Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge, creativity, education and eloquence. She endows human beings with the powers of speech, wisdom and learning. She has four hands, and these represent the four aspects of human personality in learning: mind, intellect, alertness and ego.

Who is your god ? I discovered in India that there are 33 million gods and mustis to chose from (although that number is challenged by some if you look for information on the topic) ! Some gods go well with others, but some don't mix. The gods in India represent more values and traits than purely religious aspects. So which ones are your gods ? What are your values in life ?

Mike Marquardt, assisted by
Sripriyaa V., lighting
the lamp of learning

Values are an often-discussed concept, yet people mostly don't spend the time to reflect on what is really important for them. I once came across a 'card game' with each card representing a value, with the target is to rank and sort and finally conclude which 3 or maximum 5 of the cards represent those values that are really critical for you. Not easy but it does trigger meaningful thinking. I really recommend you to do the exercise, or any form thereof. This is not something to be shared with anyone, but taking the effort to determine what are the important values in your life is a valuable exercise.

We often talk about company values, and how these are important when it comes to recruiting or engaging people. But company values are only meaningful if they can be compared to your personal values. There is no such thing as good or bad values. There is only those that are meaningful or less so, for each one of us.

So take the time to determine - if only for yourself - which of the 33 million gods are important to you !

Skipping maintenance anyone ?

You can skip the maintenance of your car. Nothing major will probably happen. And you can do the annual program just the next year. Or maybe you could even skip next year as well !

Leadership programs seem to be the first to get cut when cuts need to be made. It is way easier than to do something about the inefficiencies, or to address the structural issues that have grown over the years. So it's the leadership program that is sacrificed to "help" the company.

An organization's leadership development program is very much like a car. If you skip the program for a year, nothing major will happen. People will not start to leave in droves. And you will most likely not be faced with an acute shortage of leaders. All seems well ... If you intend to come back to the original program the year after, doubt will have started to creep in ... Is this program really necessary ? Nobody seems to be able to identify any damage from skipping it last year ... And it did help us to save XYZ US$ ! The argument for restarting becomes even more harder. All of the sudden the investment in people becomes a new burden, since we managed without last year.

That's why a leadership program is like a car. You can skip for a year, but whatever you do further down the road, you can never recover what was lost in that year. The minor damage that occurred to your engine from using bad oil or a blocked filter can never be erased. In an organization, that damage can be at different levels. People who had been told they would be part of a specific program will start to doubt if the company is really serious about their development. In general, employees will feel that leadership development, for all the nice vision statements, is dispensable. And managers will feel they do not have the tools to fully develop their teams for the challenges of the future.

And then we sometimes wonder why our surveys show that employees are not engaged !

Who inspires you ?

Are you inspired by the stream of "inspirational quotes" that seems to inundate Linkedin or Facebook every minute of the day ? Do you "like" these sources of inspiration ? From the sheer volume of inspiration that is around, one would believe we live in a very inspiring and inspired world. But the concept of inspiration seems to have lost part of its meaning. The definition of inspiration is ...

something that makes someone want to do something or that gives someone an idea about what to do or create

So what do you actually DO when you "like" an inspirational quote ? Or when you read the leadership quotes from Abraham Lincoln ? Or see the movie of Ghandi's life ? What do you DO with this apparent inspiration ? Most of the ACTIONS around inspiration seem limited to "likes" and "shares" on social media. Widely spreading the inspiration around ... ! But what about actually doing something from that inspiration ?

I am not inspired by Ghandi, Mandela, Richard Branson or Steve Jobs. All cool guys, without a doubt, but I never met them and never will. And reading books or quotes does not turn me into one of them. I am not inspired because although I do read about them, that does not translate into me taking any particular action.

I am inspired by people I know, and meet or work with regularly. I am inspired by the server in the hotel last week who remembered what my favorite dessert is. She inspired me to look out in more detail for the individual needs of the participants in my workshop. I am inspired by the colleague who gave a presentation and handled a tough question really well. He inspired me to prepare better my next presentation and try to imagine what the audience would think or ask. Or the motorcycle taxi driver who seemed like the happiest guy despite spending his day in heat and pollution. He inspired me to try and smile a bit more often !

Inspirational quote of the day: look for inspiration around you, it might just be easier to act on !

A Window on Your Self

The Johari window has been around since the middle of the last century. It is a tool to help people think about themselves, and how others see them. The term comes from the first names of the psychologists who developed it, Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham.

The first quadrant is the "open" space, with the things others know about us, and we also know about ourselves. The "hidden" space is that which we keep private: we are aware of these elements but chose to keep them secret with certain people.

In the "blind" space are those aspects that others know about me, but I don't see myself. These are my blind spots. I may think of myself as a strong decision-maker, but others might agree I do not genuinely listen to inputs. You cannot become aware about your blind spots by yourself. Discovering blind spots is difficult because our first reaction to discovering something unknown about ourselves, from someone else, will be denial. Or justification ... "Well, I might be like that but that's because ...".

For the "hidden" space, the choice is with us whether to disclose information about ourselves to the people we work with. For the "blind" space, it is up to others to decide whether they want to help us discover our blind space. It happens all too often that "everyone" in the office agrees that the boss does this or that, and lots of stories go around between the team members. Yet when you ask if anyone has ever given the feedback about this particular behavior, the reply is often that people assume the boss probably knows but does not care to change.

The word Jahori is made up from the names Joseph and Harrington. But apparently it is also a name in Swahili and means "something of value". Self-awareness is a key value in developing yourself. Self-awareness also includes discovering your blind space. Whether you manage to become aware of your blind space depends on the relations you have created with your team members, and how you make them feel about giving you feedback.

Whose values are these anyway ?

A manufacturing company has a strict rule about no alcohol on the premises. Makes complete sense if only from a safety point of view. The company handbook clearly states that infringement leads to immediate dismissal, without compensation. Yet the foreign technical expert visiting regularly is known to keep a few bottles of alcohol in his office, for after-hours unwinding (at the factory). This is widely known by everyone but (silently) accepted because "he has always done this and cannot change"
.

Fuji Xerox values

Less critical but in the same vein, a large "no motorcycle parking" in front of the office aims to ensure there is no clutter of bikes parked in an obstructive way. But this is also where the boss' motorcycle is parked every day.

Do you really think your teams need visions, missions or value statements ? They see (literally in the above examples) what the values or priorities are every single day, in what is being done, and more importantly, in what is being tolerated in the organization. Values are concept that is demonstrated by the company's top team, in interactions with people of all levels, including those external to the company. Values are tested in times of stress, conflict or upheaval.

Vision, mission and value statements can be powerful when they synthesize what already exists. It is a confirmation of what the company is and wants to continue to be. If these statements describe what should be, or worse still, are created because it seems they are the "in" thing, they do more harm than good, and it would be better to just do away with them all together. Don't expect people to be inspired by a poster on the wall while issues and conflicts remain unaddressed.

Writing your values statement is not a priority. The priority is to demonstrate your values by the way you lead your organization. Your people will get it.