Here are a few ideas to consider in 2010:

1. Get off the carousel.  It’s hard to make changes in your work habits when you are traveling 100 miles an hour. The first quarter is a perfect time to step back and reflect on the past year’s goals and achievements and set new ones. However, leaving behind crisis management means stopping long enough to do a fierce inventory of your current work habits and make commitments to change. As change management teaches us, “seek the truth in every situation.” If you want to get the real picture, complete a time audit and analyze it for trends.

2. Recognize that today’s glory is tomorrow’s sacrifice. Even though it feels good to be the “manager of the hour” and get the glory for fixing the problem of the day, the truth is we are spending our time fixing what’s broken and never have time to improve the process and attack the root cause so that we anticipate problems before they happen.

3. Gain clarity on the 20% you need to do to be 80% successful. Operating in crisis management means the squeaky wheel gets our attention. We are driven by others’ demands and priorities, and the work we had hoped to accomplish in the day, well, is still there tomorrow. We suggest the use of a tool that helps you capture your department’s mission, vision for the future and strategic objectives on one sheet. It’s a visual reminder of what needs to be accomplished out of the day-to-day. Work Breakdown Plans help take those goals and put feet and timelines to them so that they don’t get forgotten the minute they are unveiled. Having quarterly meetings to revisit these goals and report on progress is a good way to make sure everyone is on track and moving forward.

4. Use meetings most effectively. Meeting structure tends to go out the window in crisis management unless protocols have been defined and become common place. Having good meeting structure with a protocol, agenda, scribe notes and action items in place gives you a foundation for efficiency and consistency across the organization. Using an agreed upon process for problem solving allows the key players to put their focus on reaching good solutions. 

5. Define accountability and responsibility.  Lack of role clarity, authority and responsibility is one of the major factors in workplace conflicts and inefficiency. Use of a chart to plot major tasks points out where there is role confusion, multiple people with accountability and overburdened or under-utilized staff members.

6. Empower your workforce to make good decisions. When we operate in crisis management, we go with the quickest idea to implement and make course corrections later. I do agree that it is better to make quick decisions than no decision at all; however, the goal is to have the time to make well-thought out and explored decisions, using all your talent to tackle the problem. With certain tools managers can anticipate how decisions will affect all facets of the organization, illuminate trouble spots and ultimately, make better decisions with less course correction. Ideally, plans can be crafted ahead of time, warding off problems before they occur.

Many managers do not realize there are useful tools that can help them stay out of crisis management.  If you are interested in learning what these tools are and how to administer them for maximum performance, I encourage you to sign up for my CM to CM workshop in Albany.  Most importantly, I hope you have taken in some of the information provided and decide to make a promise to yourself in 2010 to consciously shift out of crisis management and move toward the controlled management style that will make you feel successful at the end of the day.  

Lisa Dunbar is a 23-year veteran of organizational development with New Directions Consulting and specializes in time management and workplace efficiencies.  Dunbar will be presenting an open workshop at the Albany-Colonie Chamber of Commerce entitled, From Crisis Management to Controlled Management, where she will provide 6 proven organizational tools that structure task lists and help delegate the workload to others.  This open workshop will be on Wednesday, February 17th at 9:30am.  For more information or to register visit: http://bit.ly/CM2CM_LearnMore or call 800.730.3631.

When the phone rings, it’s often an organization or business calling to talk to us about a group or team that is having problems with communication, personalities, or group dynamics.  As a result, the project or task isn’t coming together as everyone anticipated.  In fact, in one case the project had been delayed 7 months at a cost of over half a million dollars.  It seems impossible that group dynamics could have such a detrimental effect, and yet, it does.  Let’s look at why.

   Many people fail to realize that there are three things going on when a group is working together:  the task/assignment, the processes being used and the relationship interaction.  The task/assignment requires the group to build and commit to a common goal that is specific, measurable, achievable, results-oriented and time bound.  The processes include the approach the team will use to reach the goal, the way information will flow and be shared, the problem solving methods that will be used and the way decisions will be made.  The relationships include how roles are defined, how leadership is managed, the personality differences, and the manner in which conflict is resolved.  When we step back and look at all of these elements, it’s no wonder that a group can so easily derail.  It’s been our experience that the derailing occurs because so many of these elements are not dealt with at all by the group.  They are expected to just happen, and they don’t.  For example, there is no group that would be so naïve as to think that decisions won’t need to be made along the path of a project timeline.  However, very few groups have a decision making or conflict resolution protocol spelled out and agreed to by every member.  As a consequence, decisions start being made on an informal, ad hoc basis that ultimately tests all three elements:  task, process and relationship.

     Before we look at a few critical fixes for groups, I’d like to share some interesting data*  that hopefully will reinforce this need to structure a group’s approach more proactively:

1.  Faced with the majority of people who agree on a particular approach or decision, we are likely to adopt the majority perspective whether it is right or wrong. (Ash, 1956) Interestingly, a majority of 3 has the maximum influence; larger majorities do not have more influence.  In addition, we will convince ourselves of the truth of our position by limiting the information we will take in, reading only information that explains, justifies and corroborates our position (Nemeth and Rogers, 1986).

2. Research shows that people who maintain a dissenting viewpoint, even when they are right, risk the possible rejection from the group.  The group will “dislike those people, make them feel unwelcome and essentially reject them.”

3. Anonymity is an important way to reduce this conformity.  Another way to reduce conformity is the presence of a dissenter.  When one person dissents, others feel free to do so as well.  And if a person has a “buddy” or what we call a “me, too,” in the dissention, 33% of conformity will drop to 5%.
 
4. Directive leadership is linked to reduced flow of communication and less information considered, to fewer solutions explored, to discouragement of opposing viewpoints and to increased self-censorship (Flowers, 1977; Leana, 1985; Moorhead and Montanari, 1986).

Years ago, B.W. Tuckman* introduced us to the Development Wheel (view wheel) for group process that suggests groups develop through four stages:  forming, storming, norming and performing.  This progression is never neat and tidy, but there are some critical tasks that must be accomplished in the forming stage, for use later on during the group’s storming stage.  When these elements are missing, the task, process, and relationship components begin to fall apart.  Here are a few that we know are critical to a group – or team’s – success:

1.  Development of a Help/Hinder list (view sample here) or some specific ground rules that spell out the behaviors the group finds acceptable and unacceptable.  Members must then be empowered to mention problem behaviors, and individuals must be required to stop the behaviors.  This is simple to do in the beginning (when everyone is relatively agreeable) and almost impossible if a group enters storming without any behavior commitments.

2. Development of a charter (view sample here) or detailed list of expectations, including the high level goal, the approach, the sub goals, the key activities, authority level, role expectations, and time expectations.  Starting out with an email from the project sponsor with a brief goal statement is not sufficient information for a group to do well.   Nor does it work for a sponsor to come in with everything arbitrarily decided. 

3. Development of some key protocols (view sample here) for how meetings will be structured, communication will be handled, conflicts will be resolved, problem resolution structured and decisions made.  These must be written out and committed to by consensus of the group.

4. Development of a RASCI chart (view sample here) for all key tasks that defines who is responsible, accountable, expected to support, consulted and informed.  “Holes” in the RASCI are a key indicator that roles, responsibilities and authority are unclear.

In the beginning of a group’s work, it seems cumbersome to take the time to put these four elements in place, especially when everyone is so eager to get started on the project/task.  Like so many things in life though, a foundation built on sand will crumble or wash away, whereas a strong foundation will withstand the group storming that will soon follow.

Deborah Mackin is author of the popular teaming book series. The Team-Building Tool Kit, the first book, is now in its second edition (view book):

About six months ago I read the book, The Leadership Pill. It’s not a long book by any means, but I was surprised at Ken Blanchard and Marc Muchnick’s ability to interweave a fictional story with real life references and provide the reader with a parable on effective leadership.

The Leadership Pill begins with the idea that a fictional company has just developed an antidote for correcting poor leadership and in turn improving the productivity and profitability of workplace teams. Set in “Corporate America,” Leadership Pill Industries (LPI) has just announced to the media its new discovery and boasts of its ability to revolutionize the way in which people lead. The company quickly gains national recognition and is hailed as the savior of the modern workplace. There is, however, one man known as the “Effective Leader” who decides to challenge LPI on its product, stating that he believes the pill contains the wrong ingredients.  From there the story grows into a competition of two cross-functional teams led by two separate people.  One is led by someone taking the Pill to enhance their performance and the other by the Effective Leader.  Each team is made up of employees with the worst performance ratings, at two companies struggling to stay afloat. The two leaders have a year to turn their groups into high-performance teams and each will be regularly measured using the “Triple Bottom Line” (Provider of Choice, Employer of Choice and Investment of Choice). 

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The emails are backed up, the inbox is full, voice mail messages are piling up on both the office phone and the blackberry, the next three days are packed with meetings and two reports are already past due.  At this rate, you mutter, “there is no way I am going to get out from under this mess.” Since the layoff of people in the department, the situation is hopeless, even laughable at points. 
 
It would be laughable, except that somewhere, someone is expecting that the work will get done.  So, how to begin?  I’d like to share some tips to help those who are feeling overwhelmed with the workload, and even with their own expectations of themselves. 
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I don’t know about you, but I am very glad to leave 2009 behind. In fact, the whole “00″ decade wasn’t what I had dreamed about when we were all preparing for Y2K. At that time, we were on the cusp of a new century and everything sounded exciting: the projected technological and scientific advances, globalization of industry in a world that would bring people together, greater respect and support for diversity, and more sensitivity to the environmental issues. There was even talk about how we would achieve better work/life balance because of the speed of technology. 
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I have a good friend who came on board as the HR manager for a manufacturing plant in the past year or so and within the first month he was required to lay off about 75 people. In the beginning, it was probably a bit easier for him because he didn’t know the people well, but as time went on and the layoffs continued, it became harder and harder. You could see it on his face and hear it in the tension of his voice, especially when some of the layoffs included members of his own staff. It wasn’t what he signed up for; it wasn’t what he envisioned for his career. This has been quite a difficult year for HR professionals.

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When the experts analyze human communication, they report that 55% of our effect is based on our body language. That means that over half of how our communication is received, is not based on the words we say or our tone of voice, but on the signals we are sending through our eyes, facial expressions, hand and arm gestures, and body posture. What makes our body language so powerful as a communicator?
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This is often the time of year when staff are scrambling to finish projects by year-end or preparing to formulate goals, both professionally and personally for the coming year. How can we help our staff to choose a path of success and personal power rather than failure and lowered self esteem?

1. Help them to recognize their strengths. When we first introduce teams, Read the rest…

We’ve always had a variety of traditions during our Thanksgiving dinner. We start the meal by reading Abraham Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Proclamation (1863) as a way to remind us from where all our blessings come.
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