Here’s a quick secret for getting along and playing nicely in the sandbox: When something goes amiss, don’t look for guilt, look for cause. Focus on correcting the situation and not blaming anyone. The former develops support, the latter enmity.

While he mentions it in a more general context of human relations, it is a good reminder for managers whose employee screws up on a task and the situation calls for feedback.

Depending upon the gravity of the situation and the history of the employee involved, it’s hard not to swing directly to the blame option. Judgments of the employee as incompetent, uncaring, or even malicious flow into our mind. This just makes us angry, a rather destructive frame-of-mind in which to engage the employee in “constructive” feedback, wouldn’t you say?

Operating from a place of anger or frustration activates what author Seth Godin calls our reptile mind, causing us to block out other explanations. We neglect to consider the staffer’s skill level (training) or other external forces in play such as lack of resources, too many pressures on the employee, or difficulties in the system of work and information flow.

Blame speaks–not favorably–to the imagined intention of the individual. If it is their fault, why look beyond the person to other possible contributing causes?

We need to program into our minds–yes, we’re talking about a mental habit here–a default response that scans for cause, not blame, when a staff member falls short of acceptable performance. Your spirit of problem-solving has a chance of turning around performance AND building a more trusting relationship. The other way never will.

How much responsibility and risk can reasonably be shifted to employees without impeding their productivity?

And what can organizations do to equip individuals to be more self-reliant in owning and managing their own performance, career, financial security, health and well-being?

A core teaching in our management development programs at Fulcrum Associates is around how to get your employees to accept the “monkey of accountability” for their performance, career direction and job satisfaction. I am heartened to see this corroborated so clearly in this major study.

Here’s what employer organizations and their managers need to do build their overall self efficacy:

• Provide their managers with skills training in how to talk effectively with their employees about their performance (good, bad, or OK) and address their level of job satisfaction, should it falter.
• Engage employees periodically in a provocative conversation about their career prospects, what they want, what’s required of them to make this happen, and what they can start doing now to mitigate the impact of future economic downturns or a shift in job demand.
• Encourage managers to be a “pygmalion” to their employees by emphasizing the employee’s current strengths, assessing his or her potential (no matter how small) and expressing a belief in the staff member’s ability to achieve that potential.
• Make training available on personal financial management
• Promote health, fitness and wellness with initiatives such as learning programs, gym memberships, coaching in fitness and nutrition, etc.

These actions certainly fall within the core of that “significant workplace transformation” that TW referred to (see my previous Comment #1 blog entry) in their study.

A recent study published by the Employee Engagement Survey company, Modern Survey, has detected a trend that merits any manager’s attention. Since 2007 they have been tracking semi-annually five questions that they connect with levels of employee engagement, the percentage of employees who:

1. Takes pride in the company
2. Intends to stay with the company
3. Goes “above and beyond” (what’s expected of them)
4. Recommends the company (as a place to work)
5. Sees a promising future at the company

In February 2010 the percentage who responded affirmatively to all five questions dropped from the previous survey, conducted in August of 2009. The first two declines are statistically significant:

1. (Takes Pride) from 79% to 73%
2. (Intends to Stay) from 63% to 57%

You can read a summary commentary from Modern Survey. Clearly, many staff members are approaching the burnout stage. This has depleted both their energy for their work and their positive feelings toward their employer. Here’s my take on it and what I would advise my managerial clients to do.

First of all, if you have been distracted with the challenge of keeping your enterprise or institution solvent during the recession, it’s time to shift some of your attention to the current state of your employees’ state-of-mind and well-being. This is especially true for those stars and “solid citizens” whose loyalty and consistent performance enable you to sleep at night. Talk to them. How are they doing? How are they keeping up with the seemingly never-ending extra workload? How can you make things easier for them.

Secondly, as a consultant at Modern Survey recommends, express your appreciation for their hard work, positive spirit and performance contribution over these tough economic times.

Finally, (re)start investing some resources in their development. Send them to conferences and courses that keep them current in their functional/technical expertise. Put in place a leadership development initiative for your managers and supervisors. This does two things. It gives them an immediate benefit they may not receive elsewhere and it tells them that you mean it when you say they are valued partners in the success of the enterprise.

Scott Campbell and I went into more details about this in our article entitled, Down the Slope and Up Again.

I wasn’t surprised, as I encounter this as an issue for most managers. At the same time, a part of me was disappointed. How sad that so many managers out there encounter a negative outlook in the heads of their employees. Now, dear reader, we can commiserate about this fact and acknowledge that the sources of this negativity are many and complex.

Better, however, for us to direct our attention onto what a manager can do about it. So, here’s what I told the participants in my program.

Chronically negative people are blamers.

• They are continually filtering for what’s wrong and, at the drop of a hat, will let you know who is to blame for the problem. (BTW, it is never the blamer himself/herself. When is the last time you heard an employee say, “The problem around here is nobody communicates and, in fact, I am one of the worst offenders.”)
• They don’t really want solutions to their complaints. That will just jeopardize the (comfortable, thank you very much) problem-centered lens through which they view their employer organization.
• Life is simple when it’s not their fault. Add to this that wonderful feeling of being “right” and a tad superior to those who are running the place.
• These people let their “victim child” side of their personality run rampant. They refuse to allow their “adult” side to join the discussion and bring up how they might be contributing to the predicament and what responsibility they bear for working toward a solution.

Gently, with respect, throw a spanner into their thinking process.

• The next time your frequent complainer expresses a negative, unfocused criticism, respond with something like:
  • “How would you like things to be instead?”
  • “What would it look like if this problem were fixed?”
  • “What’s missing for you that, if present, would make this not a problem anymore?”
• When an employee complains to you about another employee, respond with:
  • “What would  you prefer that they do instead?”
  • “Are they aware of what they are doing?”
  • “Furthermore, do they realize how much it is bugging you?”
  • “Have you told them what you want from them?”

Be persistent and unwavering with these responses and before you know it they will stop being negative, at least with you.

By using approaches like these, you invite them to shift their focus from the problem to possible solutions for the problem. You are asking them to take accountability for getting their needs met. After all, that’s what adults do.

They assessed three factors:

1. STAY – Willingness to remain with your current employer
2. SAY – How positively you talk to others about your employer
3. STRIVE – How motivated you are to go above and beyond to contribute to the business success

Among the 50 “Best Employers,” the average employee engagement score (i.e. % of employees who responded positively to all three factors) was 80%.

Particularly important, I think, are two key findings. First, there was two-way communication. To quote the Hewitt news release:

One characteristic common to all organizations with high engagement is open, transparent, complete and timely two-way communication. During the last year, employees were well aware of the challenges the organization was facing, understood the possible solutions, proactively offered input, and committed to the course of action the organization’s leaders decided to follow.”

A second finding, employees in these high-engagement companies exhibited:

• Support for improving productivity
• Willingness to make trade-offs in benefits over the shorter term (e.g. reduced salaries and work hours to enable colleagues to be retained on the payroll)
• High trust and confidence in their leaders.

So, once again we see the impact of excellent leaders who foster open communication leading to trust. Especially in tough times, your people will demonstrate greater patience, resilience and discretionary effort when they trust you and your colleagues in management.

• Flawless execution in everything that touches the customer.
• Make it right with the customer.
• Treat employees so well that they become ambassadors of the company’s brand.

Let’s take a closer look at that third one.

There are at least four good reasons that are trotted out as arguments for attending to the well-being and for meeting the needs of your employees. I agree with all of them:

1. Leads to greater productivity
2. Reduces staff turnover
3. Keeps high potential leadership talent in the pipeline
4. Increases employee resilience in tough times

We should add Neeleman’s ambassador concept as a fifth reason, one that most results-oriented leaders overlook. Employees who see the value they contribute through their work and who have opportunities to do their best work, to challenge themselves to grow and be better will feel pride in themselves. Add in a management group that genuinely cares about them and shows it. Now you have the makings of an “ambassador.”

So, what do these ambassadors do for your enterprise? They talk with friends, family and strangers about their job and their employer in positive ways. They become walking testimonials for why people should do business with your firm and why people should apply to work for your firm.

So, if the first four reasons aren’t enough to get you to invest in the skills and the development of your managers (I can’t imagine why they wouldn’t), then perhaps the impact of tens/hundreds/thousands (pick your employment level) of employee emissaries out there promoting your firm in a very good light will sway you.

Before getting into answer mode, ask “Whose decision is it?” If it is your decision to make (based upon your job description), ask questions that will help you arrive at the best answer. If it’s your co-worker’s decision to make, ask questions to help him or her–referencing his or her particular skills and tendencies.

What a great filter–Whose decision is it?–for a manager just about to open his/her mouth and EITHER tell an employee what to do to solve a problem OR get the staffer to come up with a solution.

Pretty well all managers who attend my leadership workshops, when faced with this decision in a case role-play about an employee’s poor performance, default to telling, not asking. It’s comical to watch it happen. Their advice streams out of the (person playing the) manager’s mouth before they realize what they have done. Then they look at me, smile, smack their forehead with the palm of their hand and say, “Man, I just did it again, didn’t I?”

This  is a huge lesson for managers to learn because they are working against synaptic pathways worn deep over years of giving their employees the answers.

So, the next time you sense you’re about to inform an employee of what he or she should do, swallow that golden piece of advice and ask yourself Gary’s question, “Whose decision is this, anyway?”

]]> http://buildbestbosses.com/2009/10/22/resist-the-temptation-to-tell%e2%80%a6ask-instead/feed/ 0 http://buildbestbosses.com/2009/10/01/mirror-mirror-in-our-brains/ http://buildbestbosses.com/2009/10/01/mirror-mirror-in-our-brains/#comments Thu, 01 Oct 2009 11:00:42 +0000 Ian Cook http://buildbestbosses.com/?p=745 I know you have had an experience similar to this.

During a recent planning meeting of a volunteer group the conversation was flowing, people were at ease, light hearted opening pleasantries had been shared and we were tackling the first agenda item in a positive, upbeat spirit. Ten minutes into the discussion a key member showed up. He was uncharacteristically subdued and di not respond to our welcomes in his usually smiling way.

The mood in the team shifted palpably–in a heartbeat. I know I felt a heaviness in my stomach area. We continued on, with his involvement, but it never felt the same. We became more businesslike, humor faded from the conversation, and I found myself making as little eye contact as possible with our late comer.

Now, we never did ask what was on his mind. Knowing him, there was a reasonable explanation for the low mood he was exuding that day. For this piece, however, that is not important.

What this incident did demonstrate is the power of what neuroscientists are calling mirror neurons. These are neurons that fire both when we (1) feel and express an emotion and (2) when we sense a similar emotional state in another person. PBS’ NOVA ScienceNOW has a great little video on mirror neurons.

In situation #1, if I am both feeling angry and expressing it in my face, body posture, gestures, voice tone, etc., certain neurons relating to my emotional state will be firing. That’s pretty straight forward. But, in situation #2, if I sense anger in you–by my observing your non-verbal cues–those same anger-related neurons that fired independently in me in situation #1 will fire once again in my brain. They are, in effect, “mirroring” your emotional state in my brain and I will most likely experience the very emotion you are feeling.

But what does the discovery of mirror neurons have to do with being a “best boss?”

Here are three points for you to consider:

1. As a manager, the impact of having your current mood permeate the minds of your employees is much greater simply because you are the boss! If one employee down at the end of the table is in a funk, the group can, if it chooses, get on quite well anyway. If it’s the boss who is in the funk, however, it’s really hard for staff to ignore it and keep up and positive despite it.
2. If you find yourself in a negative mood, consciously intervene to either change your mood or mask it when interacting with others. Best bosses cannot afford the luxury of letting a foul mood go unchecked at work.
3. The flip of this: realize that your positive, upbeat, confident state-of-mind will contaminate (a good thing here) the moods of your staff, peers and customers. Cultivate these elements in yourself and you will energize your people to perform at remarkably higher levels and do so consistently.

Part of being a good leader is being a good actor.