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Tips for Building Organizational Performance

Bronwyn Davis RoseWhen management applies the right balance of styles and skills, their teams gain a new competitive edge that moves the organization forward. But few managers know how to develop and apply their styles and skills to creating that forward movement.

As a seasoned operational manager, a sought-after trainer and facilitator, and the Director of a growing matrix of training and development businesses, Bronwyn Davis Rose has improved the careers of thousands of business people and the profits of diverse businesses.

At this blog, Bronwyn shares some of the choice bits of what she’s learned so you can start creating forward movement in your own organization.

With the Australian unemployment rate still an employees market, you need to make the most of the team you have on board. If you’re ready to advance your business by improving the performance of your organization, please download and read “How Savvy Employers Outwit the Tightening Job Market,” available in the box on the right.

Put the “Man” Back in Manager

April 1, 2012

One day last week I was encouraging one of my long-time team members to be a bit stronger, take a few more risks in her management style, and those words just popped out: “Put the ‘man’ back in manager.”

We both had a laugh—so “politically incorrect” to say such a thing!

Yet it touches on a truth of our times. Most of us need to be stronger in our management style.

Two decades ago, we were so dictatorial as managers, so autocratic. Women as well as men made control their priority.

The negative reaction to that has pushed us into a consultative style, but frankly, the pendulum has swung too far. It’s like we all took a valium with our step back. We’re too wussy!

You can’t run a business the way you run a commune or a prison camp. What’s needed is an effective balance of consultative and authoritative styles.

Our strategies for decision making, communication, where and when to “call it”—all these need a foundation of substance, strength and courage.

Put those things back into your leadership style! Be a leader! Don’t just be the most senior person getting the most pay.

Our post-modern culture is inclusionary, and that’s a good thing—until it’s carried too far. Without discrimination of good and bad, right and wrong, effective and ineffective, you have no standard of excellence. Without the ability to identify excellence or appropriateness to goals, we lose direction and become rudderless.

I was recently on the phone with someone late one evening, and I could hear her five-year old child playing with her sister in the background, still up at 10 pm. “What time do they go to bed?” I asked. “Oh, they self regulate,” she replied.

I don’t think she’s doing those kids a favor. I’ve seen too many kids grow up to struggle at work or simply become unemployable. They don’t know to adhere to timeframes. They expect to get away with stuff. They’re unhappy when they didn’t “get a say” in a decision whose scope far exceeds their experience. When you get a person like that on your team, no matter what their age, the necessity to weigh in with substance and strength is even greater.
What do you think about this? Where are you on the pendulum swing? Do you have a more politically correct way of saying ‘Put the man back in manager?

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Call It—and Call It Early

March 1, 2012

We’ve all been in one of those situations when something seems wrong or off—where something’s not quite adding up. But when you don’t know exactly what the problem is, what can you do about it? It may not seem right to interrupt the meeting or other activity just because something doesn’t seem right.

The truth is, anything that looks fishy, smells fishy or tastes fishy… is probably fishy! Don’t let it slip by.

“Call it.”

That’s our abbreviation for “Hey, this doesn’t seem right. What’s going on here?”

Instead of letting something slip by without discussion—whether it’s a tiny fly in the ointment or a giant elephant in the room—just say, “I need to call it.”

I’ve noticed when we teach this concept, “call it” quickly spreads as a catch phrase throughout the organisation, and becomes part of the culture. People seem to recognise immediately that it’s one of those little things that leads to big improvements.

That’s because to “call it” is an act of leadership: a decision to step outside the situation for a moment and see what’s going on. Like a time-out, it opens a space where you can start asking around, researching, finding out. You can look at the situation from another perspective. You can evaluate responsibility and accountability. You can think it through and if necessary decide, “How are we going to do this differently?”

For example, when a disagreement starts turning into a conflict, you can say, “Hey guys, I’m going to call it here. We’re just going to stop and figure out what’s really going on.” Or if there’s unacceptable behavior in a meeting: “I have to call you on this.”

Once you start “calling it” and see the results for yourself, you’re ready for the corollary: “Call it early!” Because if there’s one thing better than improvement, it’s getting that improvement started as soon as possible!

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Decisions, Decisions; Who’s Making Decisions?

February 1, 2012

When I’m walking around taking the emotional temperature of a client organisation, I frequently sense team members’ frustration with the decision-making process.

“Management says they want my opinion, but then they ignore it. Maybe I need to say it louder and more vigorously! But if nobody’s going to listen to me, why should I bother to say anything at all? The boss must be crazy to ask me to spend time on this and then not take my recommendation.”

Comments like these point to management being confused about the balance between consultative and authoritative decision styles. As the pendulum swings back and forth between the two styles, the process gets stuck.

For example, a manager might start with a consultative style, asking for information from the team and looking for consensus. But as time runs out and the manager makes the call, ensuing comments such as “you’re ignoring my input” or “you disregarded my point of view” might lead the manager to avoid asking for input the next time. When the pendulum swings completely to the authoritative style, team members experience “little dictatorships.”

The solution has two parts:

  • Getting the balance of consultative and authoritative right, and
  • Communicating clearly to the team what the decision making process will be: who will be providing information and who will be responsible for the decision.

For example, try communicating a decision process like this:

“This is a big decision. I will consider input from each of you, but in the end I will take it all under consideration and make the decision.”

Then, when you present the decision, say:

“I know this isn’t exactly what you want. You’ve got to trust me. If it fails, I’ll take full responsibility. So for now, let’s test it out. We’ll review it as we go along.”

Typically, the response is something like,

“Okay, that’s fair enough. You may be crazy, but at least you’re taking responsibility.”

With the understanding of “who is responsible for what,” team members get clear expectations and little frustration. Leading with good communication clears the air and lifts the energy, enthusiasm and commitment of your team.

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“We’ve got Activity but no Traction”

January 1, 2012

One situation business leaders ask me about quite often is this:

“I look around my team and everyone is busy. There’s a lot of activity, but we’re not getting much output, much real traction.”

It’s a common frustration. From infrastructure companies who watch project progress creeping along at a seeming snail’s pace, to non-profits who are disappointed when additional investment doesn’t yield a commensurate increase in services provided—leaders want to know, why aren’t we moving forward?

They may have a sense they should be doing more to measure their progress, but here’s the thing:

Measures of progress are not necessarily the best indicator.

If you want to get traction fast, here’s the question to ask:

What is the level of energy, enthusiasm and commitment of your team?

If you’ve got that, you move!

Learn how to take the temperature of your team—their satisfaction and frustration–and how to keep the energy high. Then the outcome will naturally fall into place.

This does not require some great “culture survey.” Just walk around, attend meetings, and tap into how people are feeling. Use your emotional intelligence to detect when there’s a problem.

If you notice everyone is consistently tired and grumpy, it’s a good bet that any formal measures of progress you might apply will reveal that the team hasn’t gotten very far.

Leadership or management training can help you develop the skills to turn this around and lift the energy of your team. You’ll be surprised how quickly this can happen.

That’s because you learn small things early on–little things that make a difference. These little tactics can be easy to implement. They get you in the mix, working with the business and the team, and can create results quickly.

For example, on one recent consultancy, we discovered some employees were spending up to twenty-two hours per week in meetings. The first twenty minutes of each meeting was spent reviewing the previous meeting’s minutes. Can you imagine the frustration level of those employees?

Two small changes turned the situation around. The previous meeting’s minutes were distributed beforehand. Anyone who arrived late to the meeting or had failed to read the minutes before arriving was fined $10. After three infractions, the fine went up to $25.

The resulting reduction in meeting time freed up almost a whole day per week for some people. That changed their entire attitude, boosted their productivity and produced some visible traction and results.

Remember to pick up on the emotional dynamic of your team. Gather the feedback and apply your emotional intelligence. Then look for little things you can do to steer the ship in a better direction. It’s the small adjustments, not massive changes of direction, that often make the biggest difference.

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