Jul 27 2010

Leadership Lessons From The Arizona Immigration Law

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There seem to be plenty of examples, both good and bad, of things leaders should do or not do. But, every now and then some particularly noteworthy examples are splashed across the headlines. The latest of these can be found in the international furor over Arizona’s new immigration law. For the next few paragraphs, I want to set aside the issue about whether the law itself is good or bad and present three lessons leaders can learn from the resulting tumult.

1. Don’t jump to conclusions until you have the facts. Yes, leaders sometimes have to make decisions when sufficient information is not available or there isn’t time to thoroughly consider all the angles. But, good leaders don’t use that excuse when it isn’t true. The Arizona bill is all of 13 pages long, including two pages of signatures. Yet many arguing against the bill, including senior government officials, admitted they were unable to find the time to read it. Leaders must absorb as much information as possible before making a decision. To blatantly disregard readily available information severely damages the leader’s credibility with bosses and subordinates.

2. Leaders must take bold action, and be willing to endure the results. Arizona was suffering from an influx of criminal activity. They analyzed the situation and determined the problem could be traced directly to failure to stop criminals from illegally crossing their southern border. With that information, they devised the bill as an action necessary to address the problem as they saw it. As a result, Arizona has suffered extreme bad press and some business loss, yet the state’s leaders, particularly the governor, have not wavered from their position. That’s not to say that a leader should never admit they were wrong and reevaluate a decision. All leaders will make mistakes and must be willing to admit and correct them, but leaders must not change their mind just because a decision is unpopular. As Abraham Lincoln is credited with saying (I don’t know if he really did) “you can’t please all the people all the time.”

3. Consistency is critical to leadership success. This is a little difficult to extract from the Arizona law but bear with me. The Arizona law merely directs state and local law enforcement to uphold federal law. Many who oppose that law do so on the grounds that it isn’t right to prevent people from coming into the country, whether they enter legally or illegally. At the same time, there are many local governments and even some states which mandate disobedience to federal law through what are generally referred to as “sanctuary” areas. Here’s the leadership lesson: a leader must be consistent! One cannot select which rules are to be followed and which are to be ignored. If leaders are allowed to selectively follow the rules, then their workers will do the same thing, but they will most likely elect to ignore something the leader thinks is important. A subset of this lesson is that leaders must be willing to listen when people tell them that a rule is not working, or needs updating.

While at first this analysis may seem like a bit of a stretch, think about your own work situation. Can you see any of these leadership lessons in yourself, or your leaders? Take these lessons to heart. As a leader you probably don’t have political spin doctors available to smooth over the inconsistencies.

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Jul 13 2010

Leadership Lessons From the Founders

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There were plenty of reasons not to be in Philadelphia in July of 1776. It was hot and muggy, and mosquitoes and horseflies filled the air. But, in spite of the discomfort, a small group gathered to discuss nothing less than separating, by force of arms, from the most powerful nation in the world. These leaders produced the Declaration of Independence, a document that would fundamentally change history. They also left a legacy of leadership that is worth examining. In producing that seminal document, these men demonstrated five basic leadership fundamentals.

1. They understood the mission. It’s essential for a leader to know why they are there. The delegates all came to Philadelphia to strongly and unequivocally address grievances against the mother country. The English parliament had been violating their own laws, the colonies were suffering as a result and they wanted that to stop. Though not everyone who came to Philadelphia arrived in favor of succeeding from Great Britain, they all understood that the actions of the mother country were no longer tolerable and some action must be taken.

2. They were well read and had great knowledge of the issues at hand. Great leaders are always striving to learn and their minds are open to new thoughts and ideas which they endeavor to apply to their responsibilities. Historians tell us that America’s founders, though many did not have the benefit of a formal education, were some of the most knowledgeable and well read persons of their, or any other, time. In that room in Philadelphia gathered a group unique in history for pure intellectual might.

3. They knew what they believed. They each had an underlying set of values and lived by them. There was agreement among the members of the delegation of what those basic values were. Even though not all members were protestant Christians they did all share a belief in a higher power. Though today, many seek to downplay or ignore this aspect of the declaration, a little honest study reveals that this common set of values was instrumental in guiding their efforts.

4. They did not rush to judgment. Though today we look at July 4th and the date of the Declaration of Independence, the meeting in Philadelphia started in June and in fact, the cauldron of discontent had been boiling for many years.  The delegation was actually the last part of what had been a very lengthy and considered discourse.

5. They were willing to take a risk. A huge risk! Benjamin Franklin’s famous and oft-quoted plea that they must “all hang together, otherwise, most assuredly we will hang separately” was not just hyperbole. The members of the delegation knew that what they were doing would be considered treason by England and treated as a capital offense if they were unsuccessful.

Though leaders of today often live in a high stress world, few must face consequences like those who attended that delegation in 1776. The document they produced stands alone in the world’s history and is a testament to what great leadership can accomplish.

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Jun 22 2010

Good Leadership Helps Retain Good Workers Which Saves Money – Big Money!

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Multiple studies claim that a majority of employees quit their jobs because they aren’t happy with their boss. Do people quit their jobs voluntarily in today’s economic environment? Recently, I was challenged on my assertion that an employer is doing pretty well to hang on to a good employee for more than 5 years. Now that’s entirely my number and is a compilation of many different reports and research I’ve studied. I arrive at 5 years because it’s a median figure that takes into account younger workers who are proving to be more mobile, and older workers who traditionally stay a little longer.

The question is, with the economic and employment situations in turmoil, and many experts predicting limited job opportunities in the near future, while some even predict catastrophe still waiting in the wings, do people really quite their jobs if they don’t have to. My experience and anecdotal evidence indicates they do, but I wanted something a little more concrete. So, I turned to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The numbers paint an interesting picture. First, they show less than 2% of employees quit their jobs in the months of the study; from April 2009 to April 2010. That seems pretty low; maybe I shouldn’t be concerned after all. But a look at the numbers behind the percentages tells an interesting story.

BLS figures project that in April of 2010, 1.9 million people quit their jobs. These are not people who were laid off or fired; those are covered in a different set of numbers. These are just employees that quit. (These numbers fluctuate over the period of the report, and the April projections are the highest since April of 2009. The highest difference is about 243,000 between January 2010 and April 2010.) It’s very difficult to say how many quit because they didn’t like their boss, but research indicates it’s fair to say that at least 50% fall in that category: and that’s probably a pretty conservative estimate. If that’s so, (and again, I think it’s very conservative) almost 1 million people just in April of 2010 quit their jobs because they didn’t like their boss. Though there are too many variables to assign an accurate dollar cost figure, I think it’s useful to look at the potential. Various studies tell us that replacing an employee can cost anywhere from 50% to 200% of their annual salary. Figure a very low-end salary of $24,000 per year. Half that is $12,000 which means that a conservative estimate of the cost of replacing 1 million of the employees who quite in April of 2010 is more than $12 billion dollars!

While perhaps these numbers are a little difficult to grasp, they demonstrate that while employee turnover because of people who quit doesn’t seem all that high in the aggregate, it is costing a lot of money, and no matter how many employees you have, you’re paying that money when one quits because they aren’t happy with their boss.

My own experience tells me that bosses are ineffective (and therefore disliked) by employees for two reasons. First they don’t receive sufficient, or sometimes any, training in managing the human resource. Second, they often don’t know what the company’s mission really is, so they find it difficult to motivate their employees to help accomplish that mission. Together, those two failings seem to be costing companies over $12 billion a month!

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Jun 10 2010

Upcoming Seminars

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If you live anywhere near Roswell, or Albuquerque, New Mexico, you have an opportunity to attend a seminar on strategic planning.

Do you know where your business or organization is going?

Do your leaders and managers know where you want your business or organization to go?

Do your employees know what their part is in the business or organization’s success?

If you can’t answer yes to all three questions, you need to plan for the future!

Strategic Planning has earned a bad name. That’s becasue it has become complicated and very time consuming. Most plans just sit on the shelf after they’re completed (if they’re eve completed) and the people who are supposed to implement them never see them.

This seminar will present my strategic planning model. Developed over the last 20 years, this model produces a complete strategic plan that is understandable and actionable at all levels of the organization. The model has been used successfully in many different types of organizations.

The Roswell, NM seminar will be at the Roswell Chamber of Commerce from 9 – 1145, Jun 17th. The Albuquerque, NM seminar will be at the Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce from 9 – 11 AM on July 12th. The seminar is free for members of the respective chambers and you can register with them.

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Jun 08 2010

Five Mistakes Leaders Make

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No one’s perfect and when the average imperfect individual finds him or herself in a leadership position, there are suddenly many more opportunities to mess up. Trouble is, mistakes made by leaders are much more likely to negatively affect others or even the organization at large. Here are some of the common mistakes leaders should avoid.

Failing to respect subordinates.

This is amazingly common! For some reason, when a person assumes a leadership role, they seem to completely forget what it was like to be on the other side. All those things the new leader complained about before becoming a leader mysteriously disappear and he or she becomes what they despised. Many studies show that one of the most important things people want at work is a little respect from the boss.

Failing to communicate.

This goes two ways. First leaders often fail to keep their subordinates informed, assuming they don’t need to know. Maybe they don’t need to know, but informed workers perform better. The second part is a failure to keep the boss informed. Leaders who keep their own bosses apprised of what they’re doing and how things are going are going to be more successful because the boss generally feels more comfortable with them.

Not knowing the plan.

There are way too many leaders out there who just don’t know what they’re really supposed to be doing. Sure, they know they’re jobs, but do they know where their organization is going and how they can help them get there? When a leader knows the organization’s mission and goals, and more importantly, understands how they and their area of responsibility contribute to success, they will be much more effective. If you’re a leader, and you don’t know these things, make a concerted effort to find out!

Love of power.

There’s a saying that power tends to corrupt. If you need an example of this, just look at most politicians. But, you don’t have to be a politician, CEO, or high ranking member of a corporation for this to be a problem. Even a little bit of power can cause an addiction that will be disastrous for leadership success. Leaders will quickly adapt to the perks of their position, no matter how small they might be, and want more. Whatever small amount of power they may have will soon become insufficient. That’s when trouble starts. The quest for more power, or at least the perks that come with more power, can quickly lead the unwary leader down a road that often leads to dismissal or even prison. It’s best not to think of leadership as power. Rather know it for what it really is; responsibility.

Failure to laugh at yourself.

A good sense of humor is essential to maintaining sanity as a leader. Many leaders take themselves too seriously and refuse to see the humor in a situation. The ability to laugh at your own mistakes goes a long way toward making life more bearable. That doesn’t mean constant hilarity is the order of the day, or that a leader shouldn’t take the responsibilities of the position seriously, just that a lighter approach works better and will help you live longer.

So if you avoid these mistakes, everything will be rosy, right? No, but your leadership role will be a little easier and you’ll be more likely to keep that position and maybe even earn another one.

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May 27 2010

Three Questions About Your Employee Evaluation System

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If you want to get a room full of management and leadership experts excited, ask them to discuss the merits of employee evaluation systems. Some love evaluations and find them to be very important, while others hate them, thinking they’re a waste of time. Very few have are without an opinion.

Employee evaluation systems are time consuming and tend to eat up resources. Before starting, or continuing, an evaluation system, a leader should ask some important questions. The answers to these questions will make a decision about whether to continue with the system rather obvious.

1. Why do we need an evaluation system? What do we do with the reports and information the system generates? Does the system really provide useful information on employees and does the company act on that information? Many evaluations go in a file and stay there. Some systems provide a lot of information, but are only used to decide if the employee gets a raise that year. A good use of an evaluation system would be to allow evaluation of employees for significant promotions. If that’s the case, does the evaluation address potential, or just current performance?

2. How does the system work? Is it time consuming or does it allow for accurate assessment without adding significantly to a managers workload? This may seem a little odd, but it makes sense. If the evaluation requires managers to sit down once a year and produce a lengthy document, based only on their memory of the employee’s performance that year, it’s probably not as accurate as a system that allows a manager to quickly document important events as they happen.

3. Just what is it you’re evaluating? Often employees are evaluated based on a manager’s idea of what that person should be doing. The employee may have no idea how the evaluation is done or what they should be doing to earn better ratings. If the system doesn’t require the manager to spell out goals and provide regular feedback, then it is not as effective as it could be. A couple of pitfalls in the area are the rating scale and the 360 degree feedback.

3a. Scales (1 -5, 1-10, etc) is quite common, but what do they tell a manager. Use of scales is highly subjective and tends to result in quotas. Also, there is sometimes an inclination to say something like, “If I give this person the highest rating, then what will they have to work for?” That’s bad enough, but think of what happens when one manager takes that attitude but another one doesn’t.

3b. A few years ago the idea of a 360 degree feedback gained some popularity. I’m over simplifying here but essentially the idea is that everyone evaluates everyone. The idea of everyone evaluating everyone might seem nice, but what’s the benefit to the company? Is it really worth the effort required? It’s important to weigh the cost against the likelihood that such a system will produce valid, or valuable, results. Unless the company is very open and everyone feels complete safe, the chances of the 360 degree feedback system working are pretty remote.

After carefully evaluating these three questions, take a look at your current evaluation system, or the one you are considering implementing. Is the expected return really there and is it worth the cost?

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May 25 2010

Cost of Employee Turnover and How to Prevent It

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Did you know that, according to several surveys, young employees stay with an employer for about 2 – 5 years while older employees may last from 5 to 9 years? Our society has become very mobile and the fear of changing jobs is not nearly as prevalent as it was in the past.

While you’re digesting those statistics, here’s another one. It costs anywhere from 50% to 200% of an employee’s annual salary to replace them! That’s right. The person who just walked out the door cost you a bunch of money.

Let’s look at these two statistics separately. First, what is the cost of losing an employee? That depends, of course, on the type of organization and the level of the employee, but there are several expenses to consider. First, finding a replacement. Some companies have a file full of resumes; others have to search for a replacement. When the replacement is hired, there are various expenses required to get them started. Two of the biggest expenses are training and experience. Every new employee will require some training and some will require extensive training. During the time an employee is learning the job, the lack of experience is taking a toll on productivity, both because of the new employee’s inexperience and because someone has to take the time to show the new employee the ropes.

Why are so many people leaving their jobs? Several recent surveys indicate that the number one reason people leave their jobs is that they don’t like their boss. They may be leaving because of you! Of course, that’s a pretty nebulous statement. Why don’t they like the boss? Usually because the boss isn’t giving them what they want, and or need. Most people want certain common things on the job. There is much talk about the motivations of the different generations, and there certainly are differences. More importantly, there are also similarities. The first of these is respect. Workers want to be respected for who they are and what they contribute. Here’s where the generational difference comes in. While a Baby Boomer might accept a lack of respect from their boss, younger workers won’t. Some are already looking for an excuse to move on.

Humans seem to be hard-wired to win. The trend to not keep score at young people’s sporting events is a good example. While some adults thought such a policy would be good for a child’s emotional development, they didn’t consider the child’s innate desire to win. Even if the parents weren’t keeping score, the children were. They wanted to win! A good leader will leverage this desire to win.

Along with this need to win, most people want to be part of something. It’s true that some work better in a team setting than others, but the vast majority of people want to be a part of something that is successful and worthwhile. They don’t just want their name on the roster though. They want to know that both the leader and the group appreciate their contributions. It all comes together with a winning team of which they are a valuable and recognized contributor.

It costs money to lose an employee. If you’re losing a lot of employees it costs a lot of money. That means it’s much more cost effective to treat the ones you have with respect and keep them working for you.

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May 13 2010

Leadership Questions — What’s On Your Mind

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One of the hallmarks of a good leader is the ability to listen. A great leader goes beyond that to seek out as much information as possible about their workers. The more a leader knows the better he or she can provide the type of leadership people need.

As a speaker and trainer, I find that to be just as important as it has been in my various leadership positions. I can tell you what I think is important, but to be most effective, I also need to know what you think is important. Therefore, in this blog, I do not offer advice, tips, techniques, or stories. Rather, I solicit information from you, the reader.

My mission is to improve leadership because bad or at least ineffective leadership costs your organization a lot of money. What’s important to you? What issues are you dealing with?

Please give me your thoughts either by commenting on this post or directly to my email address; rlm at planleadexcel.com. I look forward to hearing from you.

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May 11 2010

Does Military Leadership Translate To The Business World?

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Several of us were standing around a table discussing the good and bad of young people in the workplace. When a member of the group complained that his young workers were not as productive as he wished and just didn’t seem to be able to “get it,” I suggested a technique to lead these people through mutual understanding of mission and goals and helping the younger workers learn as a method of engendering loyalty. I mentioned that, in some ways, older generations have abdicated a responsibility to teach, opting instead to change our behaviors to meet their desires. One of the members of the discussion immediately referred to my military experience saying that it was easy in the military to make people do what you want them to because they have to obey. He professed that it wasn’t as easy without military law as an overriding threat to non-compliance.

That statement was at once correct and incorrect. Correct in that military members do have a legal obligation to follow orders and superiors often have legal remedies to non-compliance. Incorrect in that the legal sledgehammer is a very ineffective and inefficient way to obtain loyalty and effective behavior from subordinates.

Yes, I’ve known military leaders who accomplish their goals through the brute force of legal authority. Sometimes they are successful and some even make it to the top ranks of the service. However, more commonly they stall out somewhere because that approach alienates their subordinates and does not engender the sort of loyalty that makes an organization excel. But, I’ve also known non-military leaders who use this approach as well; usually with the same results.

In a Harvard Business Review blog post last year, Colonel Tom Kolditz, a professor at the U.S. Military Academy, wrote that good military leadership is based on the values of duty, service, and self-sacrifice. These are the qualities of a good leader, whether in the military or civilian sector. It is the leader who understands their duty to the organization; who knows they are serving that organization and the people in it; and who is willing to sacrifice their own desires for the greater good that will be successful.

In my military service I was twice in unusual situations where I did not have the normal legal (or financial) sledgehammer, but still had broad responsibilities to accomplish a specific mission. In both cases I had small staffs (most of whom had no particular requirement to follow me, at least not in the normal military sense) but national, and even international, responsibilities for which I had no real authority. I found in both cases that one didn’t need brute force to accomplish goals. By treating people with respect, learning their needs and motivations, and doing my best to meet them while ensuring we all accomplished the overall mission, we were able to meet our goals and move the entire organization forward.

The military services have learned that a leader who works to understand and inspire his or her subordinates will be more successful than a leader who relies only on the brute force tools that may be available. They also understand that the troops need a leader who will stay with them; who understands and shares their hardships. No not all military leaders get it. But, the good ones do.

Col Kolditz’s excellent article can be found at http://blogs.hbr.org/frontline-leadership/2009/02/why-the-military-produces-grea.html.

Bob Mason

http://www.planleadexcel.com

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May 04 2010

Four Tips for Effective Visual Aids

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A recent article in the New York Times centered on the military’s overuse of PowerPoint as a communication medium. From my own experience, I can attest to the truth that a successful staff member in the military either acquires PowerPoint skills or dies in the effort. In fact slide making has reached a singularly distinctive point in military culture making it the butt of creative, humor.

But, there is a serious side to the issue. I can remember a world without PowerPoint, or any other easy way of making visual aids. Yes, I remember Harvard Graphics, but I said easy. What we now called slides were usually made with markers on a piece of acetate (clear plastic). Though the higher corporate leadership didn’t make their own slides they still used them. Fortunately, today we have wonderful tools that help us produce a never ending shower of stuff, all with beautiful formatting and lovely pictures. Now we can all make beautiful visual aids. Constantly! Seemingly without regard to what it’s costing to do it!

Think about that last meeting or seminar you attended. Were there a bunch of slides with all kinds of stuff all over them? Was the entire presentation written out in small print suitable for an eye exam? How long do you think it took the presenter to make those slides? How much of what you saw do you remember?

PowerPoint, like many things, is best when used in moderation. It can reinforce or supplement your presentation, but when used as the centerpiece of the presentation, it loses its effectiveness. There are many studies indicating that everyone has a particularly effective method of learning. Some learn best by reading, some by listening, and many by doing. When you use visual aids to enhance your presentation, you’re more likely to stimulate more than one mode of learning. Also, good visual aids will help hold your audience’s attention. Bad visual aids will have exactly the opposite effect.

Here are a few tips to make visual aids better. I’ve included a sub bullet for each to show how I’d put it on a visual aid.

– Use words sparingly. Short bullets with main points only. If the bullet extends to two lines it may be too long. Like this one.
— Short bullets. Main points only!

– Careful with graphics. If you use a chart, it should probably be the only thing on the slide, without explanations. That’s what you’re for!
— Graphics like charts get their own slide

– Don’t use transitions. I know that some very smart software engineer spent a lot of time creating nifty transitions, (how the slides change) but they don’t do much for your presentation. They also tend to slow you down, especially if the computer is a little slow.
— No transitions!

– Be careful with colors, especially red and yellow. Yellow is equivalent to invisible ink! Red has some really weird properties. It can appear as any of a million different shades including pink and if it hits the right hue can actually dance around on the screen.
– Don’t use yellow or red

Notice how each bullet stands on its own while reinforcing the narrative of what I would say. My audience would not be concentrating on the slide instead of listening to me.

Learn more tips with How to Lead Meetings Your People Won’t Hate And Might Even Want to Attend!”

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