Our very own Dr. Mark Frein was featured in the most recent issue of Texas CEO Magazine. In it he discusses the keys to building and maintaining an engaged workforce. Definitely a fun read!
Check out the article here: http://texasceomagazine.com/departments/simple-steps-toward-an-engaged-workforce/
En esta serie de blogs, he hablado de la distinción principal que existe en nuestra compañía entre enseñar y capacitar (Re: método #1), y sobre la fase inicial de nuestros proyectos– descubrimiento (Re: método #2). En lo personal, veo el proceso de diseño en nuestra compañía como el de un punto de apoyo en donde tenemos la oportunidad de convertir algo bueno en algo grandioso. Tengo la confianza suficiente en la calidad de las personas que tenemos en nuestra compañía para saber que podemos llegar a prácticamente cualquier situación de un cliente y realizar un buen trabajo de desarrollo de liderazgo. Sin embargo, lo que realmente nos permite realizar nuestra mejor labor como profesionales es una experiencia elegantemente diseñada
¿Cómo diseñamos?
De lo que se trata nuestro trabajo de diseño es de crear una serie de experiencias acordes a las necesidades del cliente. Si el trabajo de descubrimiento que hicimos fue bueno, contamos con un conocimiento profundo de la cultura del cliente y entendemos claramente las oportunidades que existen para el crecimiento individual, del equipo y de la organización. El proceso de diseño es como la creación de un puente, de un travesía, de una escalera, de un desafío (elijan su metáfora) la cual ayuda a impulsar el desarrollo de una realidad presente hacia una posible.
Cuando diseñamos, lo primero que abordamos es la historia… concebimos la(s) experiencia(s) que las personas vivirán y que las van a impulsar a avanzar en su propio crecimiento como líderes. Cuando damos con una historia clara y sólida de desarrollo, articulamos los conceptos, las herramientas y el lenguaje que los líderes van a necesitar como parte de su “equipo” para realizar su travesía. Reconocemos la historia básica de a dónde vamos y dónde estamos por lo que podemos profundizar en la serie de experiencias conjuntas y en los conceptos asociados que completan el paquete – las partes del “cómo llegamos ahí”.
La importancia de la historia – el diseño de la experiencia – no se puede menospreciar. Las historias sencillas y hermosas acerca del mundo y del lugar que ocupamos en él, siempre han sido, y probablemente siempre serán, el instrumento de aprendizaje más efectivo con el que contamos los seres humanos. El buen diseño de la experiencia crea una travesía en la que la persona que éramos cuando la iniciamos y la persona que somos cuando la concluimos, tienen cosas interesantes de que hablar.
Al igual que una travesía, una experiencia de aprendizaje bien diseñada debe ser: desafiante (¡difícil!), pero también divertida, estimulante y avanzar a buen ritmo. En una travesía, debe haber partes que sean cuesta arriba, que puedan provocar que las personas consideren regresar, y debe haber partes que sean como un paseo tranquilo y sinuoso en el que las personas se puedan relajar lo suficiente para ver el paisaje. También hay momentos alrededor de la fogata o a la hora de la comida para que reflexionemos acerca de lo que pasó durante los esfuerzos que realizamos durante el día.
Lo que nos sucede en el camino al emprender físicamente una travesía, nos brinda la oportunidad de ver el terreno por el que hemos viajado desde una nueva perspectiva. Lo que nos pasa al emprender el camino de un desarrollo de liderazgo bien diseñado, es que desarrollamos una nueva perspectiva para vernos a nosotros mismos no sólo como somos, sino como podemos ser.
No siempre es obvio para los clientes o para el nuevo personal de The Refinery por qué tomamos el proceso de descubrimiento tan en serio. No todos los casos de enseñanza requieren de un descubrimiento extensivo o de un trabajo de diagnóstico. Normalmente, no necesito saber mucho de alguien para explicarle dónde está Bora Bora en un mapa o para darle a alguien información acerca de las tortugas galápagos. Si ese “alguien” en cuestión sabe leer y escribir, habla mi idioma, y ha visto mapas y tortugas, no necesitamos mucho “descubrimiento” para entender cómo le tendríamos que enseñar.
Nuestro trabajo rara vez es ése. Nuestro trabajo generalmente está más enfocado en provocar cambios en el comportamiento, no simplemente en la adquisición de información. Nuestros clientes esperan que nosotros no sólo influyamos para que se dé un cambio individual, también esperan un cambio organizacional. Cambiar el comportamiento de una persona es difícil… como lo puede atestiguar cualquier fumador o ex fumador. Cambiar el comportamiento de una organización representa, por lo menos, un reto tan grande, si no mayor.
Como mínimo, la mitad del valor de la habilidad de un buen médico consiste en saber qué hay que cambiar. La palabra diagnóstico, en griego, significa “conocer a través de”. Un doctor competente elimina todo el “ruido” provocado por los diferentes síntomas y ve la condición que subyace y que puede tratar para mejorar la salud del paciente. Al ver las cuestiones subyacentes de manera correcta, el cambio es posible.
Nuestra habilidad como profesionales del aprendizaje enfocados en mejorar el liderazgo, es descubrir las condiciones de la organización que representan tanto limitaciones como oportunidades de crecimiento. Más allá del ruido organizacional, vemos las posibilidades que hay para que la organización sea más exitosa si sus líderes son más fuertes, tienen mayor auto conocimiento y más confianza en sí mismos.
Necesitamos pasar bastante tiempo “conviviendo” con nuestros clientes para empezar a reconocer las oportunidades. Este proceso no termina cuando empezamos a enseñar sino que continúa a lo largo del compromiso que establecemos, y nos ayuda a darle forma a nuestro trabajo.
Empleamos muchas de las habilidades y de las herramientas de los investigadores de campo de Discovery… hacemos uso de la sociología, de la antropología, de la psicología social, de entrevistas periodísticas y de la observación. Esta labor exige contar con un juego de herramientas consultivas considerable.
El aprendizaje diseñado para el cambio carente de la información que da una tarea de descubrimiento profundo, generalmente no puede apreciar las resistencias existentes en el sistema organizativo. Un aprendizaje diseñado para encajar dentro del sistema pero con ajustes y mejoras, siempre nace de la realidad del cliente, aún cuando la desafíe.
¿Alguna vez has sentido el deseo ardiente de hacer algo sólo por las ganas de hacerlo? Si es así, y estoy seguro de que lo has sentido, ¡has estado inspirado…! En algún momento de nuestras vidas, y ojalá suceda con frecuencia, todos vivimos de este estado de pasión.
En este texto, voy a compartir contigo lo que entiendo por inspiración, cómo reside en el núcleo de todo lo que hacemos en The Refinery y cómo influye en el trabajo que realizamos con nuestros clientes; y lo haré bordeando el límite entre lo pragmático y lo filosófico, aunque un poco más inclinado hacia este último lado.
Estoy convencido de que la inspiración es el denominador común en el equipo de The Refinery. Antes que nada, somos un colectivo de seres humanos a quienes nos apasiona ofrecer a nuestros clientes lo mejor de nosotros; creamos espacios de aprendizaje que le permiten a la gente crecer, una y otra vez, para transformarse en una versión más verdadera, más feliz y más auténtica de ellos mismos y, en consecuencia, en miembros más efectivos de sus equipos, lo cual constantemente agrega valor a sus organizaciones. Lo maravilloso es que a lo largo de esta experiencia, nosotros mismos seguimos creciendo y desarrollándonos.
Pero, ¿qué es la inspiración? ¿Qué te inspira? ¿Qué pasa cuando te dejas guiar por la inspiración? Y… ¿qué pasa cuando no te dejas guiar por ella?
La inspiración es algo poderoso… es algo inexplicable e inevitable; es una bendición y, cuando la acallamos, puede convertirse en una maldición.
La inspiración es motivación, sí, pero es mucho más que eso. La diferencia principal es que mientras otras clases de motivación nos pueden obligar a actuar, influenciados por el miedo -a no tener o a no ser lo suficiente-, por la escases, por la obligación…etc., la inspiración nace de un profundo sentido de propósito personal y nos impulsa a servir, a compartir con el Mundo nuestros regalos personales (ideas, imágenes, creaciones, palabras, risas…). La inspiración alimenta el deseo de dar, de conectarnos con los demás y de formar un ‘lugar’ espontáneo, que ha sido creado, de manera única, aquí y ahora. Ese lugar está en cada uno de nosotros, con nuestras luces y sombras, con nuestros talentos y nuestras deficiencias, y cuando dejamos que eso pase, le ponemos a la vida nuestro propio sabor, ¡lo cual es reconfortante!
¿A tu equipo, a tu organización, a tu familia le basta con tener sólo “una parte de ti”? En The Refinery, creemos que no es así y queremos ayudarte para que te inspires y liberes todo tu potencial.
La inspiración viene en formas diferentes y varía de persona a persona. No elegimos exactamente cómo inspirarnos o por qué, pero todos conocemos la sensación de tener una gran conexión energética con la vida. Cuando experimentamos la belleza del mundo, en esencia son nuestras musas las que están reflejando la belleza que reside en nosotros. Podemos sentir cómo corre por nuestras venas la fuerza de la vida cuando escuchamos una canción que nos impacta, cuando vemos una sonrisa gentil, cuando escuchamos palabras amables, cuando tenemos una gran iniciativa de negocios, cuando vemos los colores silenciosos de una puesta de sol y la manera en que nuestro jefe lleva un tema difícil, cuando leemos un poema, cuando contemplamos una bella pintura, unos ojos hermosos, cuando meditamos en silencio, cuando vemos la autenticidad en alguien, un paisaje humilde, la generosidad… La vida es belleza. Creo que tenemos el derecho de regocijarnos con ella y de agregar nuestro propio granito. Como le gusta citar a un buen amigo: “la belleza depende del cristal con que se mira”, está a nuestro alrededor y dentro de nosotros.
¿Tú eliges verla, sentirla, convertirte en ella? ¿Qué cambiaría en tu equipo y en tu organización si motivaras a las personas para que siguieran su inspiración?
Toda gran hazaña, toda obra de arte imponente, el más noble de los logros humanos y también el más humilde y privado, ha sido creado a través de seres inspirados. Todos hemos experimentado la pasión de dar el todo simplemente por el gusto de hacerlo. La gente se refiere a este estado de creación como momentos en los que el tiempo desaparece y el trabajo no es una carga sino un regalo. Muchos grandes artistas y atletas han descrito este estado de “flujo” en donde la actividad se da a través de ellos, sin esfuerzo. Cuando “nada más” estamos motivamos, a lo mejor necesitamos lograr algo para sentir el éxito; pero, cuando estamos inspirados quienes somos, lo que hacemos y lo que damos se funden en una única experiencia. Hacer y ser conforman la inspiración, ésa es la recompensa que encontramos en ella.
¿Alguien se beneficia del hecho que reprimas tu inspiración?
La inspiración es un regalo, un desafío y una maldición. La inspiración nos abre, nos da la oportunidad de entender con mayor claridad, de recordar qué es lo que más nos importa. Cuando nos guiamos por nuestro corazón, necesitamos estar preparados para enfrentar la desaprobación, ya que estamos desafiando la estabilidad de los sistemas de los que formamos parte. Romper patrones, revelar nuestra verdadera voz, aquí y ahora, una y otra vez, es un compromiso que dura toda la vida; no es fácil, requiere de un esfuerzo coordinado convertir la suciedad en oro. Pero, lo que es realmente difícil, es no intentarlo e ignorar la inspiración que nos lleva a vivir una vida llena de significado personal. Cuando las personas se dan por vencidas y deciden que no pueden permitirse ir en la dirección que su corazón o su mente los obliga a ir, pierden el rumbo, el sentido de relevancia, de valía. La amargura reemplaza a la alegría, la crítica sustituye la celebración de la diversidad. Este es el gran riesgo que veo para todos nosotros.
¿Puede el Mundo prescindir de lo mejor de nosotros? ¿Debe hacerlo? Mi respuesta es que NO, y que nos toca a cada uno de nosotros, todos los días, tomar esta decisión.
A Steve Jobs le gustaba decir: “No puedes hacer un gran trabajo, a menos de que ames lo que haces”. Para mí, esto se refiere al hecho de que cuando nuestras creaciones están imbuidas con el ADN del amor, la calidad de nuestro trabajo y de lo que hacemos es completamente diferente a cuando actuamos de manera ordinaria, cuando cumplimos con las formalidades. En The Refinery, amamos lo que hacemos: nos encanta ayudarle a nuestros clientes a brindar lo mejor de ellos mismos al Mundo.
El uso de la tecnología para el aprendizaje y el desarrollo en las organizaciones parece no mantenerse al ritmo del crecimiento y el cambio de la tecnología misma. Según el Informe del Estado del arte de la Industria ASTD del 2010, se encontró que la proporción de la tecnología usada en la impartición de aprendizajes ha disminuido en un 7.2% desde el 2009 hasta el 2010. Desde el 2006, el porcentaje de la impartición de aprendizajes basada en la tecnología sólo ha aumentado un 3%.
Cuando leí este reporte, me sorprendió el crecimiento relativamente bajo de dicho sector, especialmente considerando el ritmo de cambio en el crecimiento de la tecnología y la discusión actual sobre el uso de la tecnología para el aprendizaje que se dió durante la Conferencia de Tecnología del Conocimiento ASTD el mes pasado en Las Vegas. La tecnología nos permite atender los distintos horarios, ubicaciones y preferencias de los estudiantes, por lo que me hizo pensar en las barreras que impiden usar la tecnología para la formación y el desarrollo.
¿Qué se necesita para que el aprendizaje en línea sea verdaderamente exitoso? He participado en distintos cursos formales en línea – cursos guiados,aprendizaje auto-dirigido, y en foros de discusión de clase y tareas; también he diseñado y facilitado programas basados en la tecnología utilizando el correo electrónico, sistemas de gestión de aprendizaje, y conferencias en la web. A través de mi experiencia como estudiante y facilitador, así como a través de mi trabajo académico en el campo de la educación de adultos, he identificado algunas formas principales de utilizar la tecnología efectivamente
para las experiencias de aprendizaje formal.
En el reporte ASTD, se encontró que el aprendizaje auto-dirigido en línea ha disminuido entre 2009 y 2010; sin embargo, han aumentado las horas de aprendizaje en los cursos impartidos por profesores que utilizan dicha tecnología en línea. A pesar de que el aprendizaje auto dirigido en línea sea benefico en su misión, y a la vez útil para ciertos tipos de aprendizaje, no lo considero una forma atractiva de educación. Lo más notable,
para mí, es que su eficacia se ve obstaculizada debido a la abrumadora cantidad de información disponible, especialmente para un solo tema en particular, lo que
finalmente ocasiona que la experiencia desanime al estudiante en vez de
motivarlo.
Yo creo que existe un grave detrimento al aprendizaje en línea a consecuencia de su aplicación en ciertos contenidos. En particular, me llamó la atención la aplicación que se le da al área de desarrollo de liderazgo y gestión. El problema, como yo lo veo, es que no existe la oportunidad de practicar habilidades reales, de conversar y reflexionar en un ambiente comparable al del lugar de trabajo. En The Refinery estamos particularmente decididos a relacionar nuestro trabajo con un ambiente de aprendizaje principalmente basado en situaciones laborales reales. Esto significa que los participantes practiquen comportamientos en los cuales se refleje lo que significa ser un líder en su organización– que observen su comportamiento al igual que el de los demás, que den y reciban retroalimentación, que dialoguen sobre su desempeño, que creen y entreguen casos de negocios convincentes, y finalmente que trabajen en conjunto para aprender, crear y ejecutar.
Hemos tenido que renovarnos para mantener nuestro compromiso de desarrollar líderes a través de experiencias prácticas y reales, mientras adaptamos la tecnología para mejorar nuestros programas. En lugar de simplemente diseñar y crear el programa en línea que recopila información a través de toda la web; hemos unido ciertos métodos de impartición/enseñanza que son fruto de nuestras experiencias y que consisten en la importancia/ el significado del aprendizaje real.
Mantenemos un modelo de cohortes en nuestro aprendizaje en línea– los integrantes participan en un grupo en el que pueden crear relaciones y donde se pueden apoyar y desafiar entre sí. El aprendizaje de todos estos grupos es guiado por un facilitador de The Refinery. Este facilitador indica a los aprendices en donde se encuentra esta información
nueva, interesante y relevante; actúa como un entrenador y guía, y sobre todo mantienen
ese espacio de aprendizaje para que los alumnos puedan intentar cosas nuevas,
reflexionar sobre su desempeño y tomar riesgos.
Asimismo, no eliminamos por completo la interacción cara a cara. Al iniciar y aumentar (no entiendo qué quieren decir aquí con aumentar) nuestros programas con sesiones personales, establecemos relaciones con el grupo, practicamos las habilidades que hemos aprendido a través del programa, y celebramos el éxito en conjunto. Mediante la
combinación de aprendizaje tanto en presencial como en línea, somos capaces de alcanzar de manera eficiente los objetivos del aprendizaje.
Finalmente, utilizamos una metodología de aprendizaje en acción para que los estudiantes apliquen sus conocimientos en el campo laboral. El aprendizaje en acción
les presenta la oportunidad a los participantes de mostrarse de manera diferente en el área de trabajo. Toman proyectos, utilizan y ponen a prueba nuevos conocimientos o habilidades que tienen un impacto real en su organización y en el área de trabajo. Este método ha sido usado en línea para crear un efecto genial como en Evoke, un juego en línea que busca inspirar a las personas a crear un cambio mundial. Mediante el
uso de una metodología lúdica para que la gente intentara probar cosas nuevas en su mundo, Jane McGonigal atrajo a más de 20,000 personas en este juego/iniciativa.
Etienne Wenger, uno e los escritores más importantes sobre las comunidades de práctica como motor de crecimiento y aprendizaje, escribe: “El aprendizaje es el motor de la práctica, y la práctica es la historia de ese aprendizaje”.
Los avances tecnológicos han cambiando rápidamente el panorama de muchas industrias y entornos globales, y el mundo del aprendizaje no se encuentra a salvo de dichos cambios. En vez de tratar de utilizar la tecnología en su sentido más simple, obvio, y económico; necesitamos acercarnos a las innovaciones tecnológicas de forma innovadora. Necesitamos abrir nuestros ojos a lo que es posible mientras nos mantenemos firmes basándonos en lo que sabemos sobre cómo aprenden las personas. La tecnología nunca debe ser la solución, sino la herramienta que nos facilite el acceso al aprendizaje diseñado e impartido por seres humanos.
Pensé hacer una serie de blogs sobre nuestro “método” o proceso. Probablemente, la pregunta que me hacen con mayor frecuencia es cómo hacemos nuestro trabajo. Ésta es una pregunta clave, no sólo para nuestros clientes, sino para nuestros nuevos empleados.
Planeo tocar algunos aspectos diferentes de nuestra metodología de desarrollo de liderazgo, los cuales incluyen nuestro proceso de descubrimiento, nuestro proceso de evaluación y nuestro proceso de diseño. Todos ellos están, de alguna manera, “patentados”, pero ninguno se puede imitar fácilmente. Me complace mostrar mis cartas, por así decirlo.
En este primer post, me voy a centrar en la diferencia entre enseñar y capacitar. Generalmente, usamos la palabra “enseñar” para referirnos a nuestro trabajo. Es la palabra que usamos más comúnmente a nivel interno para describir lo que hacemos cuando tomamos un avión para ir a hacer nuestro trabajo y, probablemente, también sea la más común cuando hablamos con los clientes o clientes potenciales. Rara vez, empleamos la palabra “capacitar”, aunque la mayoría de las firmas de nuestra industria se refieren a sí mismos como capacitadores.
La distinción que hacemos no pretende ser snob, ya que una buena capacitación es sumamente importante, de la misma manera que una buena enseñanza es sumamente importante; ambas están estrechamente relacionadas.
¿Qué diferencia hay entre estos dos términos, si la hay, que sea relevante para nuestra labor?
Para mí, y muchos otros que han escrito sobre esta distinción, la capacitación busca desarrollar una habilidad concreta y bien definida. Tendemos a usar “capacitación” con mayor frecuencia en un contexto profesional por su significado. Después de todo, los profesionales ya “acabaron” su educación formal, ¿verdad?
Enseñar, por otro lado, implica dos cosas que son importantes para nuestro trabajo:
1) El liderazgo como habilidad, no puede reducirse fácilmente a una serie de habilidades separadas. La capacidad de dirigir y de administrar implica una serie de habilidades importantes; por ejemplo, administrar presupuestos, dar retroalimentación. En nuestro trabajo, incluimos capacitación en esas habilidades; sin embargo, ninguna de ellas en sí misma es suficiente para que una persona desarrolle su liderazgo. Lo sorprendente del liderazgo y del desarrollo del liderazgo es que requiere que investiguemos nuestros propios valores, prejuicios y emociones. El auto conocimiento, la adaptabilidad y entereza moral son “habilidades” complicadas, si es que se pueden llamar habilidades.
2) Los maestros saben cosas. A veces, capacitar puede ser visto sólo como una habilidad técnica; eso quiere decir que si aprendemos ciertos métodos de capacitación, podemos capacitar a alguien en alguna habilidad, siempre que tengamos claros los objetivos. Una visión reduccionista de la capacitación, sería que realmente no necesitamos saber mucho del tema sobre el que estamos capacitando, mientras sepamos cómo capacitar. No me gusta esta visión de la capacitación – y no estoy de acuerdo con ella – pero existe. Contrariamente a esa postura, nosotros esperamos que nuestros consultores sepan algo de lo que enseñan. De hecho, esperamos que sepan mucho sobre lo que enseñan…que conozcan de liderazgo, de administración, de comunicación, de retroalimentación, de Inteligencia Emocional y de las disciplinas que enseñamos.
En última instancia, yo veo la buena enseñanza como algo que abre conversaciones. A uno de nuestros socios, David Gibbons, la gente siempre le pide que los ayude a tomar decisiones respecto a sus finanzas personales, o que los asesore para invertir, porque David hace que las finanzas sean “divertidas”, para usar una de sus expresiones favoritas. Enseñar despierta la curiosidad de las personas porque nuestra pasión y nuestros conocimientos profundos son contagiosos. Eso es precisamente de lo que se trata lo que hacemos en The Refinery.
Todos hemos escuchado el dicho “La práctica hace al maestro”. Tal vez te puedas imaginar como esta frase se le pudiera aplicar a un pianista que se esta preparando para un recital. El pianista repite una sección de la partitura una y otra vez; ellos hacen esto hasta que puedan tocar la pieza musical sin ningún obstáculo. También podrías pensar en algún atleta que tu admires y cuanto tiempo deben de invertir en perfeccionar su técnica que los ha llevado a esa etapa tan prominente en la cual ellos compiten.
El dominicano José Bautista, pelotero de los residentes de los Azulejos de Toronto, es un atleta que se ha desempeñado en su entrenamiento. Ha conseguido pasar de ser un jugador relativamente desconocido en el mundo de las grandes ligas de Béisbol a ganar consecutivamente los premios Hank Aaron. Su historia es un ejemplo de cómo la práctica efectivamente, te hace (casi) perfecto, pero, lo más importante aún, muestra el enorme impacto que un buen entrenador puede tener en el rendimiento de un individuo.
Reclutado en el 2004 por los Orioles de Baltimore, el primer año de Bautista en las Grandes Ligas no fue ideal. En su año de novato terminó en las listas de cinco clubes diferentes y finalmente fue enviado de regreso a las ligas menores. Allí se mantuvo en gran parte hasta el año 2008, cuando fue cambiado a los Azulejos de Toronto. Su carrera fue un comienzo bastante mediocre, pero a partir de aquí las cosas empiezan a ponerse interesantes.
Al comienzo de la temporada 2009, Bautista comenzó a trabajar con el entrenador de bateo de los Azulejos Dwayne Murphy. En septiembre de ese año, Bautista ascendió de ser un jugador prácticamente desconocido de poca utilidad a la industria a ser considerado uno de los mejores bateadores de la liga, terminando el año con 13 jonrones. Bautista continuó trabajando con Murphy a través de la temporada y acabó su temporada 2010 con 54 jonrones, ganándose el premio Hank Aaron.
Cuando se le preguntó cuál era la clave de sus bateos exitosos, Bautista rápidamente acredito a su entrenador de bateo Dwayne Murphy. Bautista explicó que los entrenadores son capaces de ver las cosas en su origen, antes de que un jugador pueda verlo y antes de que pueda convertirse en una falla o una crisis. En este caso, Murphy cuenta que su nuevo jugador estaba empezando su swing demasiado tarde y ha trabajado con Bautista para iniciar el swing un poco antes en el terreno de juego.
Existe un periodo de tiempo muy corto en el cual el lanzador libera la pelota hacia la base y el bateador toma la decisión de pegarlo o no a la pelota. Para entender un poco mas citamos la obra de Víctor Frankl titulada “El hombre en busca del significado”, este período de tiempo crítico es el espacio entre el estímulo (el lanzamiento) y la respuesta (batear o no batear, esa es la pregunta). Como Frankl dice, “En algún lugar entre el estímulo y la respuesta, hay un espacio. En ese espacio se encuentra nuestro poder de elegir nuestra respuesta. En nuestra respuesta reside nuestro crecimiento y nuestra libertad. “
Como un bateador parado sobre la base de nuestra vida cotidiana; nos llenamos de estímulos en dicho espacio y es aquí cuando tenemos la oportunidad de determinar nuestro propio destino. Como líderes nos vemos constantemente bombardeados por este tipo de situaciones: tomar decisiones críticas que se necesitan hacer en el momento, momentos decisivos con compañeros de trabajo en donde se tienen que elegir las palabras con sabiduría. No siempre se puede tener el 100% de éxito en estas situaciones pero estoy seguro que todos podemos estar de acuerdo que siempre habrá un margen para la mejora. En términos de béisbol, a menudo batallamos para mantenernos en ritmo y terminamos haciendo menos “jonrones” de los que quisiéramos (alguna vez alguien te ha lanzado”curve ball”?).
José Bautista trabajo con su entrenador de bateo Dwayne Murphy para convertirse en un maestro en la gestión del espacio entre el estímulo y la respuesta y esto ha dado cuentas de grandes dividendos para el astro del beisbol y su equipo. Encontrar en una fracción de segundo las diferencias que pueden inhibir el potencial de rendimiento de un individuo muestra cómo los cambios de menor importancia pueden crear un impacto enorme. Como líderes en los negocios, también podemos trabajar para convertirnos en maestros en la gestión de este espacio.
Entrenadores, maestros y facilitadores en el mundo de la gestión del liderazgo pueden trabajar con líderes para observar cosas que tal vez ellos no vean. Estas personas pueden ver esos momentos entre el estimulo y la respuesta y ayudar a la persona a reclamar ese espacio y recuperar la capacidad de tomar una reacción apropiada y efectiva. Desarrollando tu habilidad para aprovechar al máximo ese espacio entre el estimulo y la respuesta le devolverá con abundancia a tu organización, con las personas que diriges y en tu vida personal.
Hace poco tiempo, todo el personal de The Refinery se junto en Vancouver para lo que se puede describir como “el gran encuentro ”, reuniendo a toda la comunidad global de The Refinery. La razón de esta reunión en el año nuevo fue para profundizar nuestras prácticas, compartir y discutir las metas de dicha asociación. Después de este asombroso retiro, decididí tomar la conectividad como algo serio, especialmente ya que este tema surgió bastante en nuestras discusiones. Hubo momentos en el cual este tema tuvo apariciones estelares, ya que se mencionaban palabras como; identidad, compromiso, compañeros, responsabilidad, relación con el cliente Y esos solo son algunos ejemplos que se me vienen a la mente! En otras ocasiones la conectividad era implícitamente evidente a través de nuestro lenguaje corporal mostrado.
Al terminar las pláticas serias sobre los negocios, tuvimos la oportunidad de comer, tomar y bailar. La declaración que continua puede ser audaz, sin embargo pienso que la conectividad en el retiro se llevo a cabo cuando nuestras mentes y cuerpos se fusionaron por causa de la música. Al estar bailando, empecé a crear un mundo de fantasía en la fiesta, esto en parte a que soy una soñadora seria. Durante uno o dos minutos estube transportada como flash a mi cuarto año de la primaria.
El equipo me recordó de los Taínos; un grupo de indígenas que vivieron en nuestra isla; La Española (ahora siendo dos naciones, la República Dominicana y Haití), antes de que los españoles la “descubrieran” en 1492. También recordé como habían sido retratados en mi libro de historia. Había dibujos de unos cazando, otros pescando y construyendo casas, pero también existían dibujos de ellos sosteniéndose las manos en un círculo realizando lo que ellos llaman AREITO.
El AREITO como una ceremonia formal era considerada la manera más avanzada para llevar a cabo la expresión cultural dentro del grupo, y consistía en cantar y danzar todos en conjunto. Además de cantar y bailar, se narraban anécdotas pasadas e historias de héroes. Sin embargo, lo más poderoso y fascinante de los Areito, para mi, fue que esta cultura pre-colombiana tenía la increíble capacidad de conectar a los miembros de la tribu para tener un propósito emocional claro. Por lo tanto, cada Areito tenía un significado distinto como amor, dolor, guerra, o hasta misterio. Y sí, durante la ceremonia también se tomaban bebidas “des-inhibidoras”. Cada Areito tenía un líder que se encargaba que la ceremonia cumpliera su propósito, así como nosotros tenemos nuestro líder de los Areitos Sergio Montiel. Esta moderna manifestación de los “Areito” ayudo a nuestro equipo, en especial a los recién llegados a The Refinery para que se acoplaran al ritmo cultural de la compañía.
Yo creo que nuestro grado de “conectividad” o de “unión” a otros es proporcional a las memorias/historias que intencionalmente buscamos crear con ellos y mantener esas conexiones latentes en nuestros corazones a pesar de nuestras vidas atareadas, diferencias de tiempo o distancias geográficas es una prioridad para formar conexiones genuinas. Solamente será una prioridad para las personas que voluntariamente lo decidan y que deseen crear conexiones que puedan llegar a forjar un amor fraternal que nunca se canse o desvanezca. Esto requiere que humildemente se admita que solamente se puede recibir lo que se puede dar. El concepto de “conectividad” es crítico sin importar donde se lleva acabo, ya que es critico para desarrollar relaciones profesionales o con familia y amigos. Yo creo que es mucho más fácil nutrir esas relaciones aprovechando la información disponible y los avances tecnológicos, como las redes sociales. Aprendí de Mike Bruner, nuestro genio de Mercadotecnia y desarrollo de negocios, que estamos haciendo un gran trabajo exponiendo nuestra empresa en Twitter, Linkedin y Facebook. Pero, si buscamos una conectividad de mayor profundidad con amigos y miembros fuera de la comunidad de The Refinery, entonces sería necesario enfocarnos muy seriamente en nosotros y comenzar nuestra propia red social interna. Es por esto que consideramos importante aprovechar y utilizar el ímpetu que poseemos.
Esta comunidad en línea será como un panal para las abejas, te puedes imaginar el placer de producir la dulce miel? Este panal será el lugar ideal para reunirnos en cualquier momento y compartir ideas sin importar lo que sean. Es para transmitir esas ideas que inherente nos forman como seres sociales. Será como un pueblo secreto en donde seguiremos compartiendo lo que Mark Frein inició. El despliegue de comedia, tragedia y romance que vivimos mientras crecemos y vivimos dentro de The Refinery.
¿Podrán ustedes “abejas” interesarse en Areito en las nubes? Cómo se compara su entorno laboral en el fachada de la conectividad?
It’s always exciting when one of our clients (and friends!) is recognized for their commitment to their people and organization…Habañero was just honoured with three recognition awards at the Globe & Mail Best Workplace Awards!
They were recognized by the Great Place to Work institute with the following:
Head on over to their site for more details – http://bit.ly/hnXac0
Again, congrats from everyone here at The Refinery.
A nombre propio y de mi equipo completo de The Refinery, me complace anunciar que el Dr. Mark Frein y David Gibbons se han unido al grupo de socios propietarios del grupo, a partir de hoy.
Tanto Mark como David han contribuido a esta compañía de manera inconmensurable desde que ingresaron a ella en mayo del 2007 y febrero del 2008, respectivamente. Su labor no solamente ha ayudado a mejorar la calidad de los servicios que ofrecemos y ha refinado nuestro compromiso con la excelencia en el servicio al cliente, sino que ambos continúan innovando y desarrollando nuestra práctica y a nuestra gente.
Al desempeñar los diversos papeles de “líder”, “innovador” y “coach”, David y Mark han sido muchas cosas para The Refinery y ejemplifican quiénes somos como compañía. Es un tributo a nuestro equipo y al compromiso que tenemos con nuestros valores ya que ambos nos han ayudado, y lo seguirán haciendo, a llegar a una segunda década de operaciones en la que expandimos nuestra labor a nuevos territorios del Continente Americano y del mundo.
Una vez más, les pido que se unan a mí para felicitar a Mark y a David por este emocionante nuevo paso que dan en sus respectivas carreras, y por su futuro éxito con nuestros clientes y con nuestro equipo aquí en The Refinery.
Barbara Ross-Denroche
Presidente y CEO
Terry Dillon discusses the importance of developing leadership confidence.
I have spent the last 3 months travelling around North America visiting various mining sites. I have been everywhere from Newfoundland to Alaska and several places in between. In that time I have observed, shadowed, interviewed and listened to over 150 supervisors and senior managers. The focus of the conversations has been exploring “what makes for good supervision”. When we think of the good supervisors – what is it they are good at and what are the factors that determine their success or failure?
The issue of developing good quality supervision is particularly important in mining, an industry that has undergone rapid growth after a prolonged period of contraction. The industry has a chronic shortage of experienced Foreman and Senior Foremen. Mining companies have invested heavily in traditional management and leadership training programs with only limited success. The lack of success is in some part because the programs are not always as industry specific as they need to be. Training activities that look at office or retail based examples and case studies, fail to capture the imagination of the average miner! No amount of role playing conversations involving a difficult customer will prepare a foreman for dealing with a 20 year mining veteran who refuses to wear his safety glasses. But the reason that the programs fail to address the familiar issues of holding people accountable, having tough conversations and working effectively across organizational boundaries is not for lack of understanding the issues. All these programs provide a multitude of intuitive tools, techniques and practice – they are big on “the how” and “the skills” needed.
So why did I hear, time and time again, that these programs somehow missed the mark or didn’t really bring about the desired shift in behavior? I suspected that the answer to improving these programs was not just about getting a better understanding of the industry specific challenges. The training was already providing the right tools but it was failing to develop a critical element in the participants – the confidence to use the tools. In fact where I saw supervisors who were effective even without a particularly good understanding of management technique they all exhibited this “confidence to lead”. The key word here is confidence. Typically in early stage development this confidence comes from having done the job themselves –“I can supervise you because I know about what I am asking you to do”.
Over time a different more robust confidence emerges from the hard knocks of the leadership experience itself and they develop an ability to be effective leaders across a broader range of operational areas. The problem for the mining industry is that this typically was a 10 to 15 year journey and the industry doesn’t have the luxury of time this takes. It needs the supervisors now!
On my final flight from Cranbrook to Vancouver I reflected on what I had heard over my 12 week odyssey. There are some specific requirements to developing good supervisors for the mining industry but the need for a development program that built “leadership confidence” transcended the industry sector. The key design question was not going to be how we embed knowledge and understanding of leadership or management skills. The question would need to be how we design a program that accelerates the development of the confidence for participants to lead.
I am mindful of not simply tooting the Refinery horn here but clearly this aspect is something that differentiates many of the programs we are running for organizations right now. I believe it speaks to the importance of a cohort based program model not just a number of coordinated development events. It speaks to not just teaching skills but changing mindsets. The challenge becomes one of how do we continue to raise the bar on the effectiveness of these programs and possibly being even more explicit about developing confidence as an objective.
I am interested in what experience you may have had with programs that have developed leadership confidence?
Como biólogo, frecuentemente me encuentro realizando analogías entre los sistemas naturales y humanos, es interesante reflexionar sobre las similitudes, y como de alguna u otra forma los sistemas humanos buscan de manera consciente o inconsciente replicar, función y estructura de los sistemas naturales.
Un tema que constantemente tratamos en nuestros talleres es pensamiento sistémico y como desarrollamos esa habilidad de entender y comprender a un sistema, recientemente mientras esperaba un vuelo a casa,se me ocurrió realizar esta comparación con la esperanza de mejorar mi capacidad como educador, y dar una ejemplo tal ves mas tangible y ligado a nuestra propia naturaleza.
Para ilustrar lo anterior permítanme dar el ejemplo utilizando el concepto de complejidad biológica, partiendo del eslabón organismo, sabemos que un organismo está compuesto por una serie de sistemas, que interactúan entre si en perfecta sincronía. Ahora los sistemas son producto de arreglos y conexiones especificas entre órganos, sabemos que un órgano está compuesto por tejidos, y los tejidos están conformados por un conjunto de células especializadas que se encargan de realizar funciones fisiológicas específicas.
Utilizando esta lógica podemos realizar algunas analogías y destacar algunas lecciones importantes:
Si continuamos con las analogías, podemos ver que los tejidos que conforman a los órganos, dependen de células con funciones fisiológicas especificas, aquí desde el punto de vista organizacional, lo explicamos como las habilidades, compromiso y actitud de los individuos que dan forma al tejido social y laboral del cual esta conformado un equipo de trabajo .
Por ultimo es importante concluir no importa de que nivel hablemos :
Es fundamental no perder de vista proposito u objetivo de un organismo u organización, debemos comprender la razón de ser, la importancia de que todas sus partes/componentes trabajen en sincronía, congruencia y de forma coordinada entre si.
“A ship in harbor is safe, but that’s not what ships were built for.” – John A. Shedd
My name is Valerie and I am a new doctoral student in Human and Organizational Systems. I was encouraged to write this blog – to share the first year of my doctoral program – so that others may gain some insight from my experience.
My aim with this blog is to tell a “real” story versus the “perfect” story we often make up in our heads about these kinds of “achievements” and the people who actually achieve them.
If my life were a song, it would be – “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”. Given I work in business perhaps Hungry Like the Wolves or Everybody Wants to Rule the World, might be more fitting – but it isn’t for me. I have something hardwired in my DNA that makes me question, search, envision, collaborate and create.
In my formal education my path started with a BSc in Psychology to answer the question – who the hell are we? Then onto an MBA to answer – how do we make things happen? And now a PhD to ask – what does it all mean and for what purpose?
In my informal education l am a world explorer. My life-changing adventures include being lost in a Malaysian jungle, detained by secret police in Vietnam as one of the first foreign travelers after the Vietnam war, witnessing the beauty and struggle of Ethiopia, discovering the Arctic in a retro-fitted Russian ice breaker, and meeting my ancestral homeland in Japan as a 3rd generation Japanese Canadian.
I am a career activist – meaning I’ve tried to be an active participant in the ongoing transformation of my life’s work – landing in the field of leadership and organizational development after fifteen years in large organizations. This brings together my business education and experience, my fascination with people, and my commitment to bringing out the best of who we are.
So in the spirit of being real…
Confession # 1
Writing this blog scares me. I’m embarrassed to write about myself. It seems arrogant. Who cares? What if it’s boring and no reads it? Once it’s out there in cyber-space you lose control.
ANSWER TO MYSELF: You wouldn’t care how much people thought of you if you realized how little they do. A bit of humour is healthy, right?
Confession # 2
What if I’ve made a bad decision? Voice in my head goes like this…
Why would you go back to school at YOUR AGE? What if you can’t CUT it? Haven’t you paid your DUES? Don’t you have ENOUGH on your plate? Your tuition and EXPENSES could buy a waterfront property! You will LOSE 5 or more YEARS OF YOUR LIFE! I begin to question my decision to pursue doctoral studies. What have I done?
ANSWER TO MYSELF: What’s the worst that can happen? You can always make another decision. Like most important decisions in life, trust yourself – leap and the net will appear. The universe conspires.
Insight # 1
I sat there in my program orientation wondering what I got myself into. Then someone said these brilliant words “It isn’t about GETTING a PhD, it is about BECOMING one”. It is about a life of mindful inquiry. About finding your voice and expressing it in the world. Suddenly it became clear that I had not come to get the PhD as much as it had come to me at a time when I needed it most.
Now I know why I scrawled out these words on my notebook years ago in my undergrad. “Education is not a means to an end; it is a means within itself.”
Every friend, colleague, family-member, and client I told about my decision thought it made perfect sense. I was aching for someone to talk me out of it. Now I had no excuses or barriers except those I chose to impose on myself.
So begins a new way of being, of seeing, of un-learning and re-learning. It forces me to let go of some things I have come to rely on, and embrace new things that make me very uncomfortable. I am learning to experience this “adaptive space” as a portal to new knowledge. It is hard to be curious and child-like in a world that values expertise and certainty. I am trying to be gentle on myself and silence the perfectionist in my head. I am learning to trust myself.
For this month, I thought I’d share a post I wrote last year. Last year I had the opportunity to attend events and work with some amazing women to delve deeper into why women are still not represented in upper echelons of organizations. This was a topic I explored a lot last year and I would love to share it with you. Additionally, this is still a very relevant topic and I came across this article my first day back from the holidays: http://www.thestar.com/business/companies/article/906409–mentors-position-key-to-higher-pay
Gender parity initiatives are about change; they are about changing mindsets, changing systems, changing behaviours. Much research of late has shown that women are not making the strides that were hoped for in reaching the top of organizations (example, Catalyst Pipeline’s Broken Promises), and I’m suggesting that we start to think a little differently about why that is in a way that is thoughtful and actionable.
In our business at The Refinery, we are acutely aware of what needs to be in place for leadership development solutions to be successful. One of the most important variables, in our experience, is the support from senior leaders in the organization.
In the June 2010 issue of the American Society for Training & Development’s (ASTD) T+D magazine, Mark Frein and Rosie Steeves, present a framework for conceptualizing what executive support really looks like and when it is most needed (you’ll need an ASTD login to see this article). Frein and Steeves present three considerations when analyzing executive support for a leadership development initiative: the degree of influence of each executive member, the purpose of the leadership development initiative, and the nature of the support given.
I believe a similar framework should be considered with any gender parity (or change) initiative.
In the 2009 Catalyst Member Benchmarking Report, it is clear that there exist a number of initiatives that are targeting women’s advancement in the workplace. They include access to mentors, educational and developmental opportunities, and high potential programs, to name a few. However, statistics from other sources, such as the gender parity survey from the Harvard Business Review (Why Workplace Equality Initiatives Aren’t Helping Women), indicate that while most employees (80%) in the workforce agree with the benefits of gender parity, only 20% believe that their companies are really doing something about it. Obviously, a gap exists.
One phrase in the conclusion of the Catalyst report stands out to me as to what accounts for differences in impact: “These activities, in combination with a well-developed, well-executed strategy and the commitment of senior leaders, allow employees – women and men – to gain advantage in their careers and the organization’s business” [emphasis added]. So, if the support of senior leaders is this important, conceptualizing what that actually means is critical for success.
A recent article in HBR presents an excellent example of this idea in action, looking specifically at mentoring programs. Their study of 40 high potential men and women enrolled in mentoring programs found that women’s mentors were less likely to act as sponsors. Sponsorship is a relationship “in which the mentor goes beyond giving feedback and advice and uses his or her influence with senior executives to advocate for the mentee” and was found to have an impact on the mentee’s career advancement.
Applying Frein and Steeves model, it matters who the mentor is and the nature of the support they provide. If the purpose of the initiative is strategic in nature and intended to result in real change, the mentor needs to have organizational influence and be willing to use it on their mentee’s behalf.
Women are graduating from post-secondary institutions in higher and higher numbers and many Canadian women are opening their own businesses (as reported by the Globe and Mail Report on Business, yet disparity still exists in many corporate settings. Why do we still see this gap? Do gender parity initiatives and corporate women have adequate sponsorship from senior leaders? If they don’t, what can we do to shift thinking and behaviour at these ranks?
Further reference:
Catalyst Pipeline’s Broken Promises by Nancy M. Carter, Ph.D., and Christine Silva
Catalyst Member Benchmarking Report by Heather Foust-Cummings and Emily Pomeroy
HBR Why Workplace Equality Initiatives Aren’t Helping Women by Orit Gadiesh and Julie Coffman
Globe and Mail Report on Business A qualified man is hard to find
Recientemente estuve en México, involucrado el proceso de inducción e implementación de un programa encaminado a gestionar el desempeño de los empleados de una corporación transnacional. Durante dos meses y medio, tuve la oportunidad de aprender sobre la cultura e interactuar con empleados de dicha organización en México.
A continuación, me gustaría compartir con ustedes algunas de la lecciones aprendidas, que se derivan de mi experiencias al trabajar en este proyecto.
Si el programa, contempla el concepto de gestión del desempeño, debemos hacer énfasis en explicar de manera clara y concisa, que significa “gestionar” no debemos asumir que la gente entiende de facto este concepto. Particularmente en México, donde este concepto despierta dudas e inclusive escepticismo. Durante mi experiencia, el hablar o describir los elementos diferenciadores entre gestión y evaluación directa es muy importante, para esto me refiero a aspectos como, la gestión implica un alto nivel de comunicación efectiva entre el empleado (subordinado) y su supervisor.
Donde el saber escuchar con intención y dar retroalimentación de forma efectiva son factores críticos y esenciales para desarrollar un comunicación efectiva. También, la gestión establece un sistema de seguimiento continuo para evaluar el progreso, y avance de los objetivos determinados por el empleado.
Un aspecto que también resulto de gran relevancia durante la etapa de implementación del programa, fue hablar con los empleados del concepto de “Manejo de Cambio” Es importante, educar y sensibilizar a los miembros de la organización, sobre el hecho de que este tipo de programas, van a generar un cambio en la cultura de la organización, sobretodo en la forma y periodicidad con la cual se van a comunicar supervisor y subordinado, asi también, en el como un empleado va a determinar y dar seguimiento a sus objetivos, y finalmente como será evaluado.
El explicar los aspectos teóricos del cambio como: Psicología, esquemas de transición a nivel individual y organizacional, tipología, niveles de adopción y un marco metodológico (Modelo de Kotter) que contribuye a implementar y generar un proceso transformación dentro de una organización, es de suma relevancia. Al final del dia debemos asegurarnos que tanto supervisores como subordinados entiendan y sepan manejar los cambios que ocurren dentro de su organización.
Finalmente, otro aspecto que se debe considerar, es hablar con bastante claridad sobre las áreas que van a ser evaluadas ya sea, en los objetivos de negocio, objetivos de desarrollo personal y profesional o competencias. Se debe explicar como funciona la métrica o escala numérica que se va a utilizar para evaluar el desempeño. Una pregunta que surgía con relativa frecuencia, se relacionaba con el alto nivel de subjetividad que los procesos de evaluación del desempeño poseen, Aquí es donde la importancia de la comunicación entre supervisor y empleado, la aplicación de la escala y como debe utilizarse, juega un papel preponderante.
Finalmente, los empleados desean y necesitan ser evaluados en su desempeño, también desean saber de que manera les beneficia el adoptar un programa de gestión y evaluación del desempeño, que actualmente es diferente al que tienen, la pregunta obligada es ¿En que me beneficia? Aquí es donde los lideres de la organización juegan un papel muy importante al brindar una visión sobre dicho programa, resultados esperados, beneficios y como se va desarrollar dicho programa .
Like many Vancouverites, I am an avid hockey fan. I watch almost every game and I live and breathe for Canucks hockey. I assume that some of you can identify with my enjoyment of watching the first game of the season, when anything is possible. I’m feeling a little withdrawal from hockey season, so this is my reprieve.
I’ve actually wanted to write a blog post about sports and business for awhile. It’s a comparison that I’ve heard on quite a few occasions and one that I find often resonates with people. While any comparison of this nature is never going to be perfect (just as is the case for any metaphor), they serve as a way to make sense of all the complexities that we face every day. While one should never forget the complexities of the world around them, they should also try to avoid getting to caught up in it.
Thinking about the role of a coach is an interesting analogy. As is obvious by the personnel changes some teams make when things are not going well, the coach is often viewed as the catalyst for the success of the team. Sports such as basketball or hockey cannot be won with one player (I’m putting it out there!), so you need more than big names or big talent to win the game – you need a team. While each individual team member works on their own skills, conditioning, or game play, it’s up to the coach to ensure that all this development is aligned with the team strategy, and aligned with the role that person needs to play on the team. Not everyone can be the goal scorer, the play maker, or the goalie, the coach is responsible for managing the distribution and development of these roles. Additionally, while players work on their individual development, the coach needs to ensure that these roles fit well together. In hockey, it is well known that chemistry is a huge component of the success of a team. It is the coach that has to create an environment where players can develop chemistry, and they also have to be able to switch things up when it’s not working. However, ultimately, the players are the front line. They produce the ultimate product – the game. The coaches don’t get out on the ice or the court and score points for the team, only the players can do that.
I would propose that a coach in sports is very similar to a manager in an organization. Managers have to manage their team – one talented individual is not going to get the work done for the entire team, it requires the skills, abilities, and roles of all the team members. Managers have to know when people are working together successfully, and take action when this is not the case. They need to be actively involved in the development of their players to align their development with the strategic direction of the team and ultimately the organization, and to guide that individual’s development such that they can provide value to the team in contributing in their role. Ultimately, however, it is the front line that executes and delivers the team’s product/service/etc. The manager has to be able to do all the activities mentioned above, but at the end of the day, they have to have developed that trust in their team to execute on their own. Easier said than done.
I hope Alain Vigneault is up to the task this year. Go Canucks!
Hace algunos días después de una serie de reuniones con clientes potenciales, en el Centro y Norte del país, reflexionaba sobre como un cliente potencial determina o decide que nuestra firma, es la mejor opción y la mas adecuada para cubrir sus necesidades en desarrollo organizacional y liderazgo.
Además, garantiza un proceso capacitación y educación que contribuyen a la transformación de fondo de la organización, y brinde a su planta laboral conocimientos sustentables, efectivos, aplicables y transferibles otros miembros de la misma organización.
En este proceso de reflexión llegue a varias consideraciones que me gustaría compartir:
La intención: Considero que la relación entre el cliente y empresa consultora debe ser lo mas transparente y clara posible, pero mas importante aún, es el hecho de mostrar un interés genuino en el desarrollo y crecimiento de los individuos y equipos que conforman a la organización. Para mi esto es algo que se debe demostrar y casi transpirar cuando estamos enfrente de un cliente, es nuestra pasión y lo que al “final del dia “ lo que nos inspira, motiva y conmueve.
Una relación de colaboración: No solo desde el punto vista contractual y comercial, sino también en realizar un esfuerzo honesto, claro y sin sesgos, donde demostremos un interés real y autentico en entender la visión, misión y necesidades de nuestros clientes, esto nos ayudara a un co-diseño mas efectivo de los contenidos y curriculum para nuestro cliente y su organización. En el caso de que nuestro cliente no tenga claridad en su visión, misión y necesidades, debemos de hacer la preguntas que le ayuden a definir los componentes antes descritos, es claro que no nos corresponde decirle como conducir su organización, pero si podemos ayudarlo a encontrar algunas de las respuestas.
Enfoque multidisciplinario: Los problemas y retos a los cuales se enfrentan las organizaciones actualmente, son multivariados , complejos y en constante fluctuación, sin mencionar que los entornos económicos, sociales y administrativos, también están bajo la constante de cambio. Por la anterior el enfoque para resolverlos debe ser multidisciplinario e inclusivo, lo cual nos permitirá integrar el mayor numero de variables que nos ayuden a brindar a nuestro clientes soluciones integrales, de fondo, que comprendan el fenómeno de un forma integral ,y sobretodo que defina la conectividad entre estas variables, y el como que afectan o influyen a la organización o sistema.
En resumen, desde mi perspectiva es importante tener claridad en mi intención sobre crecimiento y desarrollo del individuo, establecer y definir una relación de franca colaboración, y asegurarse de brindar un enfoque multidisciplinario.
I’m not a big fan of much of the language surrounding training and development. It is gauche to call adults “students” as opposed to learners or some other term. But for the most part, these changes are political as opposed to real. We still teach/train students because they tend to want us to be teachers. Some learn. Some don’t. Some learn a lot and go on to do things with what they learn. Call them “learners” or “students” or “trainees” or whatever is the best-fit term. There are characteristics of students of management and leadership that make them so much fun to work with … students from whom we as teachers learn a great deal as well.
I had the pleasure of working with such a group of students last week in Thunder Bay. It was a group of trainers from a world-leading mining company. Why were they the “perfect” students?
1. They were there to learn. Shockingly, many people attend training and development experiences with other motives. One of the most common is to advance their career(s). I do hope that the trainers I worked with advance their careers, if they wish to do so. But I truly believe the group of people, from all over Canada and the US, were there, first and foremost, to learn things. The willingness to learn and the associated curiousity go a long way.
Others attend simply because they must, but have no interest in learning. Job #1 of an organization that truly wishes to use learning as a way to advance its strategic interests is to convince employees that learning is worth the time … and that learning is part of the job, not a “vacation” from the job. This message was loud and clear, presented directly by the Chief Operating Officer of this organization. Learning is work.
2. They were there to play. Learning is also playful … or at least should be. They were funny, open to experiment, willing to take risks, willing to be silly, etc. We learn best when we fool around even if the “fooling around” is serious in nature. As children we don’t separate learning and play. Our formal education, sadly, drives a wedge between these two things. I was very pleased that this group hadn’t lost the ability to play and learn at the same time.
3. They were human. In some ways, this is the result of #1 plus #2. But perhaps it is even more than that. The group was human in that they were willing to be honest, open, authentic, and real with each other, with myself and my colleague (as teachers), and to talk about their lives as well as their careers. We don’t learn as positions in organizations, we learn as human beings. They brought themselves as human beings — whole selves — to the training, not as “positions”. Teaching/training is exhilarating when you are working with human issues … how to be a better colleague … a better friend … a better father or mother. Teaching/training is, for me at least, horrifying when it denies our humanity, our emotions, and our passions and reduces everything to “transactions” between the positions of manager and subordinate, for example. We were ourselves together as a group of learners, teachers and students, people. It lifts us up together, as opposed to reduce us to cogs in a machine
Thank you C20 (you know who you are!). I learned a ton.
I’ve just been placed on a wife-imposed detox program for the next 30 days. My addiction: TV sports. Until 6 months ago I didn’t even have cable. Then the local cable company cold-called us just before the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and offered us such a great 6 month deal that I risked a divorce and signed us up. I couldn’t miss the Olympics – the drama, the passion, the power – and it was my patriotic duty after all with the Olympics only a stone’s throw away from where I live.
Even my wife succumbed as we all became Olympic sized couch potatoes which culminated of course in us watching Canada’s Olympic gold medal win in hockey. Then, of course, it was on to the Stanley Cup finals as Chicago outlasted the Flyers. By late June my wife Kelli was ready to hurl the TV off the balcony as she watched her once active husband and two young boys get fat and lazy and glassy eyed watching every second of not only the action but the replays and post game commentary.
Just when she thought life could get back to normal the FIFA World Cup soccer action began with a thrilling game between Mexico and South Africa. Although I enjoy hockey and bobsledding and curling as any good Canadian, soccer is my game. I played soccer from the age of six up until a knee injury forced me to quit junior varsity at the University of Victoria. So it was with this added excitement that my boys and I watched two games a day in the early group stage of the World Cup. We’d get up at 630am for the pre-game commentary of the first game and then sit thru the second game which lasted until about 130pm. Fortunately I had strategically taken my annual leave so all that went wanting were household chores and anything else beyond reach of the remote control.
But wait, this isn’t about my TV sports addiction, it’s a leadership blog. So I’ll get to the point. This is about Luis Suarez’s ‘Hand of God’. In case you were out camping, hiking, boating, mowing the lawn or enjoying the sun in early July, I’ll fill you in. Uruguay was playing Ghana in the quarter-final of the FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Uruguay were the sentimental favourites having last won the cup in the 1950s but Ghana was indisputably the local favourite as the last African team standing. With only seconds to go and the game tied, a Ghanaian player headed the ball toward the Uruguayan goal in what was a sure bet to be the game-winning goal. With the ball in the air on the goal line, Uruguayan star Luis Suarez reached out and deliberately swatted the ball away with his hands, committing the most egregious foul possible on the soccer pitch. He was ejected from the game and Ghana was awarded a penalty shot. With a whole continent on the edge of their seats, the Ghanaian star Asamoah Gyan struck the crossbar and the ball deflected over the goal. The game went on to overtime before Uruguay eventually won in a penalty kick shootout. The whole continent of Africa went into a deep depression as Ghana was robbed of their place in history as the first African team to reach the World Cup semi-finals. Below is a picture of Señor Suarez in flagrante delicto.
And Luis Suarez? He was touted as a national hero in his native country but widely vilified elsewhere for his actions on the field. It was like Suarez had stolen a page straight out of Machiavelli’s The Prince where ‘the ends justify the means’. Post-game Suarez was quoted saying:
“There was no alternative but for me to do that and when they missed the penalty I thought it was a miracle and we are alive in the tournament. With courage we move forward.”
But what really needled away at me and continues to do so almost a month later is how to explain this to my boys. They are at the impressionable ages of 11 and 7 and love soccer as much as I do. We’ve always taught them to play fair, respect the rules and face up to the consequences of your actions. But here was Suarez, one of the biggest stars of the World Cup, committing heresy on the soccer pitch with him and his team being touted as heroes back in Uruguay. I still can’t quite find the right words to really talk to my boys about what happened. The reality is that there are just too many parallels that surround us for me to tell them that what happened was an anomaly. It has been interesting though to see their MBTI types come to the fore. My son who is of the ‘Thinking’ preference says the outcome was ‘just not fair’ and that Ghana should have been awarded a goal anyway. My other son who is of the ‘Feeling’ preference feels badly for all the people in Africa who sorely wanted Ghana to win.
But if anyone is still with me here at the end I’d be interested in what others think. Was Suarez’s ‘Hand of God’ justified? Was it a split second reaction made without thinking? What would you have done? How would you explain it to your kids? Does this have anything to do with leadership or is it just a soccer game? How can I convince my wife not to cancel our cable subscription? Can your couch comfortably fit one more adult and 2 small children?
I used to hate going to the dentist. I recall childhood dentists who grinned as they fired up drills like they were chainsaws.
That is until I met Dr. Tony Knight.
Seems every time I go to my dentists I learn something valuable about leadership. His is a special story.
To begin with, he’s no ordinary dentist, because he’s no ordinary man.
Dr. Knight was born and raised in Johannesburg South Africa. His parents taught him to love what you do, and as a youngster of 5, he knew that he wanted to help people. He lived in London England and then moved to Calgary and established a dental practice with his father – an occupational passion that ran in the family. In 1991 they sold the practice and Dr. Knight and his young family embarked on a 5 year adventure – visiting fifty countries as they sailed around the world. Throughout the 55,000 km journey, the family faced lightning strikes, sharks, broken rudders, injury, and illness.
Despite these challenges, Dr. Knight did the extraordinary for others. Like sailing 600 miles off course in response to a radio call for help – to ease the pain of residents struggling with toothaches on Bora Bora.
Theirs is a remarkable story about dreams, courage, strength and love. So much so that it was made into an Outdoor Life network series called, Ocean Wanderer.
Fast forward ten years, and here I am sitting in my dentist’s chair.
From the moment I enter the office I notice small things – warm greetings, colorful fish, creative space, calm. The mood is friendly and relaxed. For my first visit, I am seated comfortably in a room and asked what I want from my dental experience – never before have I been asked that by a dentist!
Later, I listen to the conversations around me and notice that they are not superficial or transactional – rather they are filled with curiosity, joy, and respect. Among the stories are those of making Christmas dinner for an extended gathering of family and friends, and the numerous volunteer projects at home and in developing countries. The staff works as a team and they enjoy it. And they also seem to have a clear sense of independence and accountability. I trust them in my mouth.
Dr. Knight says he tries to lead by example, starting each day by running up 8 flights of stairs to his office. At a morning meeting, the team discusses issues or needs, and how to support each other. And then it’s “show time” when Dr. Knight says he commits to putting in 100% every day, for every patient.
When I ask Dr. Knight about his philosophy of leadership, he humbly and simply describes it as the things he teaches his kids.
- Show people you care
- Always do your best
- Always tell the truth
Dr. Knight calls me on my birthday. Although one could cynically say it’s a slick marketing tactic – I see a different motivation – that it’s a genuine gesture, in his busy day that says he cares.
And I believe that is the essence of what makes Dr. Knight a great dentist and a great leader. He cares about his patients, his team, his family, and himself. He cares about his business, his profession and the community. He puts his money and time, where his mouth is. He is good at what he does and cultivates that excellence in others.
Like many great leaders, Dr. Knight has the vision and passion to dream of a different kind of dental practice, and the will to bring it to life. His world travels have given him appreciation for all he has, and the ability to connect with many different kinds of people. With a spirited sparkle in his eye and a sense of humor, Dr. Knight sees life as an adventure.
I like that in a dentist.
by Valerie Nishi, Consultant, The Refinery Leadership Partners
I sat drinking tea in a downtown Seattle Starbucks the other day. I was writing, waiting for a friend and listening as k.d. lang sang “Hallelujah” in the background.
My attention kept wandering back to a couple at the next table. She had long dark hair and he was tall and casually dressed. Her back was to me, but I could see his face. In fact I had trouble keeping my eyes away from him. He stared at her with such rapt attention. He smiled and laughed softly. He was so clearly engaged with her and he sent off this warm energy that expanded beyond the two of them.
Now, I have rarely been accused of being romantic, so it was not the type of thing that would usually catch my attention. But his emotional presence was so strong I was drawn into it.
I began to wonder about the emotional space around this couple and what their situation might be. Did others feel this warm glow that I experienced? Was his adoration simply for this woman, or did he have an ability to attend emotionally to others as well? I suspected it was a combination.
As a reality check, later at dinner I asked my friend if he had noticed this man. “Yes,” he said immediately. “It was amazing to watch him. I wondered if he was faking it but he seemed so genuine. It was impossible not to notice them.”
Increasingly we are learning about the science behind such emotional connections. Specifically, we know that being attuned to another in a genuine caring, focused way can be healing. This effect is a key underpinning of humanist psychology. It pulls us to the early stages of romantic love, it is essential for infants to grow into their full humanity. And it is largely under-used in our daily interactions with each other.
In a world where to-do lists and deadlines loom, it is easy to ignore this fundamental connection between ourselves and others. We too often miss the opportunity to provide the genuine focused attention that is one of our greatest natural human resources.
As leaders, our people need this from us, and we are well-advised to have people in our lives who can bring this back to us in return. We have so much capacity for the benefits that true connection brings, if we can just stop the activity for a moment to notice what is going on around us and be with others.
Do you take the time each day to stop working your to-do list and just listen to the people around you? Do you know what their greatest sources of concern and pride are? Do you find that you are interrupted by phone calls, or that you can’t keep your eyes off your preferred digital device? Or have you taught yourself to put it all aside for a little while and really attend to the person across the table from you?
Do you have people in your life who give you the same attention? What difference does it make for you?
And finally… I wonder how my Starbucks guy affects those who work with him.
I am an educator, like my father before me.*
I realized this recently in a way I had not before. Or, I became comfortable with this statement in a way I had not been before. Sometimes we spend much of our career or even lives being overly careful about the language we use to describe ourselves. We don’t want to put boxes around ourselves. In the world of consulting, it’s even worse most of the time. My choice of the word “educator” comes with high risk, or at least I thought it did. I’ve spent most of my professional career trying to present myself as anything but an “educator”. Being an educator implies “academic” which is sometimes interpreted as being impractial or (gasp) theoretical. Those aren’t good things to be when one is trying to be of value to some, but not all, business clients.
I sort of “happened” or even failed into my current profession, to tell the truth. That may be one reason I’ve struggled with the notion of what I fundamentally am. I was raised by my father in a single-parent family. He was a professor of humanities. Going to college, I had very little sense of the world of work beyond what my dad did – teach adults. I studied the eminently practical subjects of English Literature and Classical Languages. I do remember the one career suggestion my father made to me was medical school – I loved science and was learning Latin, so he thought it a sensible transition. Sadly, I’m a bit squeemish.
My first choice for a profession was graduate school for Shakespearean dramaturgy. But I failed to get into the one serious program in the US that offered it. So I opted for the only other thing I could imagine studying in graduate school – teaching and learning.
My father gave me the gift of craftsmanship in the area of teaching. He was always, and still is, the best teacher I have ever known. His pride of workmanship for his own teaching is second to none. Equally, his dedication to continuously being a student as well as a teacher is what forged my own value system regarding what it means to be a professional educator.
I took that gift with me to graduate school, but either because of it or in spite of it, I failed out of being a career academic. I became disillusioned with academia and struggled to find the sort of job I wanted post-PhD. I got lucky and was given a break in the private sector, which put me on the path that I still walk today.
As Brando (playing the character Kurtz) says in Apocalpyse Now … sometimes one has a realization as if we were shot with a “diamond in the forehead”. I had that not too long ago about “being an educator”.
I don’t know why I struggled to say this to myself or admit it publicly. Probably because I was afraid of being judged as unvaluable by my clients or potential clients. I have been told to avoid the use of that term by people in the private sector before. I suppose now I not only am proud of being one, but comfortable with the consequences of being judged as one, whatever may come.
Like my father, it is not only what I do but who I am.
Thanks, Dad.
*I’m not a huge Stars Wars fan but appreciated Luke’s speech.
One day, in one of my university classes, a presenter came in at the start of class to tell us all about this amazing opportunity to volunteer and travel abroad for a month with other students like ourselves. I was instantly intrigued, attended the information session, and signed up before I even realized what was happening. Suddenly, I was leaving for the Dominican Republic with no Spanish, no one I knew, and no idea what to expect. It was a scary, uncomfortable, tough, enlightening, and wonderful experience. Among many other things, I learned a valuable lesson about myself. Sometimes, to push myself to learn and experience something new, I just have to sign up.
The first few days in the Dominican Republic were tough. I was adjusting to a completely different way of life, both culturally and physically. First night, I wondered how I would make it through an entire month. However, as the month went on, I realized that I was surviving, quite effectively! Not only was I making it through, I was having an amazing, enriching, and enlightening experience that I’ll remember for a long time to come. Not only that, the fact that I had pushed myself to do something new gave me a sense of accomplishment and pride.
There are definitely times when I regret signing myself up for things; I get locked into commitments that I don’t want or need, or I come to resent the situation I have put myself in. However, these feelings are honestly few and far between. More often than not, I end up finding out new things about myself and the world.
Recently, I’ve embarked on a new adventure to stretch myself beyond my comfort level to try something new: contributing to BCHRMA’s Fireside Blog (launched May 25). I am now responsible for a blog every two weeks (instead of the once every couple months that is expected of me on The Refinery Blog) and am putting myself out there into the ‘blogosphere’ in a new and real way. Am I a little scared? Yes. Am I worried about coming up with a new post every two weeks? Sure. Am I excited? Definitely! And will I come out of this having grown and learned more about myself?
Absolutely.
My point (yes, there is one), is to always push yourself. Push yourself past your preconceived notions of what you can accomplish, and take risks. Whatever strategy you employ to make this happen has to work for you.
I push myself by making a commitment to try something new.
How do you push yourself?
The pointy end in the world of rock climbing is the end of the rope that the leader ties into before ascending the rock face. On the pointy end all the decisions are yours and so are the consequences. Its an exciting place to be if you’ve trained properly, set your goals clearly, have the right mind-set, the right equipment and the right team backing you up on belay. It’s a lot like life in fact.
In my years spent rock climbing in places like BC’s Squamish Valley and California’s Yosemite Valley, I’ve often reflected on how, indeed, rock climbing is a lot like life. Rock climbing, like many other outdoor pursuits, lends itself well to many metaphors about life and business principally because being in the natural world strips us down to our essential being, our essential needs and our essential relationships.
With that in mind I designed an exploration of some of the fundamental metaphors of life and business using a portable rock wall. I recently took that rock wall to the Vancouver Trade and Convention Centre for a session with some participants of the 2010 BC Human Resources Management Association convention. My preference of course would have been to gather all my participants at the rock climbers’ mecca known as Camp 4 in Yosemite Valley but the logistics of that would have been a bit tricky. So we sacrificed the fleece and polypro and had to make do with business casual but my participants didn’t seem to mind and they threw themselves at the team challenge with great enthusiasm and spirit.
We separated the 30 or so participants into 3 teams and simulated a climb of the famous bottleneck on Mt Everest known as the Hilary Step. We threw in some decision making curve balls and some funny hats and the result was classic learning in action. The intention was to use the exercise to creatively explore metaphors for life and business. The word metaphor comes from the ancient Greek word meaning to transfer or carry across. So we left behind the traditional, literal meaning of the word metaphor that our Grade 8 English teacher taught us and instead looked for ways to apply, or carry across, our experience on the wall back to our personal and professional lives.
After each team successfully completed the activity we debriefed the learning. One participant drew a comparison of the exercise to the choice that intra-company departments have to either cooperate together or compete against each other for scarce resources. He was referring to the subtle decision about whether to damn the torpedos and get all his team up ‘Hilary Step’ first or cooperate and let other teams squeeze into the bottleneck. Another woman had an epiphany at the bottom of the wall as she coached and coaxed a team mate who was struggling up on the wall. She commented that she had never before been able to muster any empathy for colleagues facing fear in the workplace but here at the wall she was full of empathy and encouragement for a team mate experiencing the same emotions but in a different context. She commented that she would be re-evaluating her reactions at work.
It’s always a deeply satisfying experience to see learners in any context step outside their comfort zone in a physically and emotionally safe environment and try on new ways of being, new behaviours, new attitudes and reflect on the results. It certainly seemed to me that this was what was going on at the pointy end in my workshop.
My workshop at the 2010 BCHRMA conference was part of a larger effort of mine to expand out the ‘Metaphors for life and business’ concept into a series of workshops for those interested in further and deeper explorations of these metaphors. I’m currently developing 3 workshops using wilderness settings as a backdrop. Our ‘Metaphors’ series will take us aboard a classic 45 foot schooner in Georgia Strait, by kayak on Vancouver Island’s west coast and surfing in Todos Santos on Mexico’s Baja peninsula. Ok, I’ll admit I’ve got some skeptics who don’t believe you can do anything productive for your company while on the bridge of a sailboat, in the seat of a kayak or riding the right break at Los Cerritos other than come back refreshed. But with over 20 years teaching leaders how to lead in wilderness settings I’m convinced you can. It all has to do with helping participants carry across their learning from the natural world to that other world that some people insist on calling the ‘real’ one. If you’re already imagining some of the metaphors we’ll be exploring in each of the workshops mentioned above, I’d love to hear from. If you were a participant on the portable rock wall, I’d also love to hear about any metaphors you’ve brought back to your personal or professional life. And be sure to check out the great video that my colleague Jenny has posted on You Tube about the workshop at the BCHRMA conference!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEMpABvs-zA&hl=en_US&fs=1&]
OK, I’m not a hockey fan (sorry). I say this given the degree of Vancouver Canucks enthusiasm present in our small office. Now that’s out of the way, let’s talk basketball.
Sports teams are a good source of discussion for strategy, teamwork, and leadership and the value of doing those things right in an organization. The Phoenix Suns are an NBA basketball team currently competing for the NBA title. Canadian star Steve Nash plays in the point guard position on the team – effectively a player-leader/team leader role. I’ve been a fan of the Suns for many years; my “fandom” springs from an admiration of key players on the team (Steve Nash and Grant Hill in particular from a spokesperson point of view) combined with the entertaining play style.
Years ago, the Suns were a very successful team adopting a 7-seconds-or-less rule. This meant that the team would attempt to always have a shot within 7 seconds of receiving the ball on offense (a team receives 24 seconds to do so). The team was built with a number of players that were fast, athletic, and offensively-minded. They were also good shooters – talented at hitting 3-point shots. The team won large amounts of regular season games. Yet, their “goal” (as any strong team would share) was to win a championship or at least compete for one. What hampered their ability to compete ultimately for a championship was an inability to succeed in playoff games – which are characterized by a slower pace and more defense.
Two seasons ago the Suns recruited the famous All-Star Centre Shaquille O’Neal (Shaq) in hopes of becoming a stronger defensive team, better equipped to compete in the playoffs. Shaq played very well during his time with the Suns. However, in the first year with Shaq on the team they were still ousted early in the playoffs. The team was criticized as being “unclear” or confused … the play style had rapidly transitioned from an up-tempo game to a slow, plodding game. The second year with Shaq the team did not even make the playoffs.
This current year, under Coach Alvin Gentry, the team has performed much better than anyone expected. They are one of only four teams left competing for the championship. To outside analysts and the players and coaches themselves, this is the result of: a strong, fair-minded, and trusted leader (the new coach), his ability to recover some of the fast-play style of the “old” Suns but also slightly change the team play style to also emphasize defense. To do this, he and the General Manager acquired and developed new talent, made several interesting choices about player rotation, and preached the new vision, continuously, until all players “bought in”.
What can we learn about strategy, leadership, and teamwork? The following critical but important lessons:
This last point is critically important, I think. In a post-game interview, Small Forward Grant Hill discussed the ability of Coach Alvin Gentry to provide feedback to all team members – regardless of how much of a superstar a team member was. Ultimately, Coach Gentry seems to have changed the team’s performance through changing its culture. This is, in my view, the root of all successful change. Coach Gentry has helped the team learn how to play differently (defensive-minded, tougher, better at half-court execution, with two full rotations). It would appear he has the trust of all his players, earned by helping them grow, develop, and perform at a high collective and individual level.
Coach Gentry may or may not be aware of quality-guru W.E. Deming’s famous 14 points for management (hyperlink http://deming.org/index.cfm?content=66). From what I can tell as a fan and basketball aficionado, he certainly manages his team with these principles in mind.
For those curious, check out http://www.nba.com/suns.
P.S. (shameless solicitation) Yes, I will write a leadership biography with Coach Gentry, Steve, or Grant … for free! Or, simply take an autographed ball … or anything.
Acting “As If”
Do you want to be more decisive? A better listener? Do you wish you were more articulate, more organized, more collaborative? Or perhaps you’d like to be less deferential, or less hesitant? These are a few of the common desires I hear from folks when talking about their personal and professional development. What makes developing in these areas a little harder than say, becoming a faster keyboarder or a better excel chart maker is that these involve the combination of several skills AND the path to “better” is not as clear cut. Improvement requires a combination of heightened self awareness, some ability, some learned technique, some situational practice and some sort of feedback. Not easy stuff.
But, I have begun to believe that sometimes we over-complicate our own development, to the point of hamstringing ourselves. I surmise that one of the ways we do this is by identifying too strongly with our current ways and not enough with our desired ways. Of course we all have traits, temperaments, preferences, styles, etc. that together make up our unique personality or identity – which is usually pretty stable throughout our lives. I don’t believe we can just ‘want’ to be a completely different person and *poof* it becomes so – but I do see how powerful a self fulfilling prophecy can be; especially when it constrains us from developing in areas that are important to us. How then, do we loosen the hold of our current picture of ourselves – to make room for a different view.
In looking for ways to help myself and others, I am drawing on my roots in theatre. From early childhood through to University years, I took many drama and acting classes and performed regularly in plays and skits. One of the acting techniques commonly taught to students is the Stanislavsky method or system; where the goal is to help actors be as real as possible, on stage. To believe in the circumstances of the play, Stanislavsky created the magic IF; “What if this was really happening to me?” Rather than pretend and play a part, the actor was encouraged to believe and carry on AS IF this was truly how he/she felt; to use his/her own thoughts, emotions and physical actions to guide performance.
In the realm of skill development, this magic IF can take the form of being or doing the desired skill or behaviour AS IF it were already a part of your repertoire. Rather than treating it as a future state that may happen down the road – try it on now. Think, do, feel, act AS IF you are already the way you desire to be. If you want to become more decisive i.e. decide on alternatives faster, for example; act AS IF you are already adept at decision-making and carry through. See yourself in that light. Watch what happens.
I have started using the magic IF on myself. One of my developmental goals is to become a better salesperson. Clearly this goal requires building a few skills (finding potential clients, introducing myself and our services well, asking good questions to determine fit and then offering something they can/want to buy, for starters) through practice and feedback. What held me back initially is that I did not see myself as someone who did those things. I didn’t identify with it and therefore believed it was beyond me; a fuzzy picture of something off in the distance.
Using my old acting lessons though, I began acting AS IF I was a salesperson. I began making calls, talking to more and more people about what we do, looking for the right kind of opportunities, etc. Sometimes with a colleague, sometimes on my own, I am writing proposals and pitching ideas. I am happy to report I am progressing. I have made mistakes and blunders along the way and certainly have lots to learn. But that’s part of the process. What’s critical is that I see myself differently, which has lead to action, movement and progress in an area that I wanted to develop in.
Want to be more patient? Begin seeing yourself as a patient person. Identify with it. Do what patient people do. Wish you were more assertive? Believe and act AS IF you are assertive. Rather than just hope or wish it, see it as part of who you already are and act it out.
Now, my suggestion to act AS IF is only part of the development process. There are many other aspects to learning or improving a skill, behaviour or capability in the form of study, practice, setbacks, challenges, redo’s, etc. There is no replacement for focused and continued effort. Further, I am not promoting being fake or insincere in pursuit of your own agenda. By all means be open with others as to what you are doing – most times they’ll want to help!
When desired ways of being and doing seem too foreign, farfetched or far-off for you, try the magic IF and see where it takes you. You might just un-complicate your own development and surprise yourself!
I don’t recall how the conversation arose but I was hanging out on the couch with my kids and my husband last night. It was right before my kids bedtime, so an extended conversation was welcome, and we started to talk about what “our thing” was. Once my son’s pre adolescent humour resided, the thing that we were discussing was that one trait, trap, vulnerability or challenge that is unique to each of us and tends to trip us up in life.
It began with an idea and then my son wanted to know what his thing was, then my daughter’s, my husband and mine, and out through our extended family. Now, it is pretty easy to guess how this kind of conversation could get us into an awkward situation. “Hey Grandma, do you know that Mommy thinks your thing is….” So I was very careful to couch these assessments with phrases like, “well in my perception” and “we all have something”. But it seemed like such a great moment to help my kids to see their own, and other’s human frailty with a sense of acceptance and compassion, that I took the risk. And what was surprisingly, as we looked around our little social world, was how easy it was to guess at what someone’s thing might be.
We all meet “our thing” with a familiar response. Typically, we tend to react with something like frustration, resistance, denial, projection, resignation or some combination of these. Generally, these responses just keep us in the loop of ongoing struggle. Rather like wrestling with an invisible enemy that keeps punching us in the gut. Over time, I have come to the opinion that the best way to meet our thing is with humour, compassion as well as an eye to that other thing, or things that we possess that reflects the best and biggest of us, rather than the smallest and the muckiest.
Still intrigued by the concept, my son woke us the next morning with questions of that unique thing that belonged to his friends, my friends our cat and his sea monkeys. Now, once you get to the sea monkeys, there really isn’t too much further to go in our home.
So what is your thing?
What is the smallest and the mucky?
What is the biggest and the best?
And how do you deal with this thing?
Do you meet it with a little selective blindness, a big invisible fist, or a little kindness and humour?
It might seem strange for a consulting firm to offer suggestions on how to develop management and leadership abilities in organizations and spend nothing …or at least very little. While we do certainly want to engage with clients, we also want industry in general to get as smart as possible about development. It only benefits our practice. We design and deliver amazing developmental experiences, yet the responsibility or the development of people cannot be outsourced. We win if our clients recognize what we can do; what they can do themselves; and what role they must play in fostering a good learning culture within their organization.
I would imagine that many readers of this newsletter have tried some or all of the concepts below.
If you have others, send them in, and we will post them as a top 10, 20, 30 list on our blog here.
My purpose in providing the suggestions is to explore what learning in an organization really is, and what it can be.
1.Have everyone read something really interesting
By really, I mean something that is not a typical leadership guru or management trend publication. McKinsey and Co. dropped copies of Jared Diamond’s Pulitzer Prize winning book “Guns, Germs, and Steel”on all their consultants’ desks. There are some very good books on business out there, but there are also many fairly empty and unchallenging reads. McKinsey picked a book that challenges assumptions, opens the mind, and makes one think. As well, Diamond’s book contains many gems that can be related closely to the world of business. There are many such books out there. I would be happy to recommend some as well. Beyond just reading a good book, getting together to talk about or creating some virtual space to discuss the book adds to the value. However, the simple act of reading a mind-stretching book together can create good synergies and spark good conversation and creativity.
2.Attend something artistic together
Similar to #1, theatre; good cinema; and artwork are all forms of creativity that can inspire, challenge, and entertain us. Get a team or even a small firm together to attend something artistic, and then spend some time talking about it. If I were to chose a movie or piece of theatre, I would likely choose something that explores ethical issues. I remember showing Spike Lee’s film “Clockers”to a group of students to explore questions of ethics. Like in Lee’s more famous film –“Do the Right Thing” –he explores questions of leadership, choice, ethics, and decision-making in the film “Clockers”. All of these topics are hot on the minds of business people these days, and most of the commentary in standard business media tends toward platitudes and aphorisms. Engage your people in something that presents a problem without a clear solution.
3.Play a game together
Everyone has likely been to corporate barbecues in which employees play softball, hockey, or another sport. Those are all fun things to do and occasionally do create good team and organizational bonds (although I’ve seen just as many resentments develop from corporate barbecue team sports).
In the literature of organizational culture, we call such things “rites of integration”. For a change, try bringing in a board game, or even a video game, for a team. One of the interesting things that happens when people play games together is that they are forced to learn. If it is a competitive game, they must learn to “adapt to the competition”. If it is a cooperative game, they must learn to “play well with others”. We often use the Nintendo Wii with clients for developmental purposes. The trick is not just to encourage play, but to think about, and then talk about what happens when we play and what we can learn about doing working more effectively by playing together. Many of the custom simulations we develop for clients have their roots in strategic board games and there are plenty of good ones to pick from.
4.Teach each other
Once per quarter, all our consultants come together for a Development Day. During this day, we focus on teaching each other. It is one of the few things that I hold sacred as Managing Director at the firm. The concept is that we practice teaching and learning from and with each other, to deepen our individual and collective craft. I have often thought that many organizations miss wonderful opportunities to put some simple structures in place to encourage development by and for themselves.
In addition to being a great way to develop communication skills, there is no better means to deepen one’s knowledge of something than to have to teach it to others. Not everyone is a talented teacher or facilitator, but encouraging employees to try is a great way to engage them and create an interesting new challenge.
5.Feedback seeking process
We have worked with clients on occasion to design and develop custom 360 processes, or custom feedback-generating activities. Yet this need not be a formal or expensive process. And, it need not be about “performance” or even treated too seriously. It can be as simple as a period during which employees exchange notes on something they noticed another person do that inspired them. Organizations that are truly continuously improving, make feedback cultural, not occasional. The idea of a once per year performance review becomes as ridiculous as the concept of a once per year review of the current financial health of the organization. Like a Financial Statement, a formal performance review may be an important part of organization process and accountability. We care continuously about financial health and we ought to care continuously about growth and development of employees. The more an organization can do to foster regular ways to give and receive feedback, the more it can become part of the culture.
These ideas do share a few things in common –they are aimed at expanding knowledge, challenging assumptions, and encouraging links between individuals. Almost any activity that accomplishes these three things is, in my opinion, educative.
Some organizations approach the development of people as something that occurs, conceptually, “outside” the bounds of the organization. In the same vein, some organizations see training, development, and education as something that is done “to”their people.
We would recommend changing the paradigm on learning. Learning is as much something done within an organizationand betweenpeople.
Even further –learning is a primary vehicle for the development of excellence in an organization; the kind of excellence that leads to better execution, more money, etc.
I’m not worried about being put out of business because organizations take development seriously, and teach themselves. I’m worried about organizations not seeing the value of serious learning, and not taking the responsibility for growth and development of their people.
I believe that every person should be accepted as a unique individual, regardless of their colour, size, age, orientation, lifestyle, culture, education or any other differential that is but only one small aspect of their person.
Yet, the same courtesy is often hard to extend to myself.
I sometimes find it difficult to accept aspects of myself that seem contradictory to each other and I acknowledge my subconscious, and sometimes conscious, effort to ” fit in ” in academic, social, or career groups.
Whether through my manner of speech, my style of dress, my composure or activities, I find that it is easy to try to melt into a mold, alternative or otherwise, and of course, it has never been a successful venture. Doing so was lying to myself.
Today, a wise person asked me ” Why must you fit in at all?”
In the metaphor of a child’s punch and shape box, why must the blocks go inside the box?
Why can’t you play with the blocks?
Although one facet of myself may fit into a variety of slots, there may very well never be a particular slot for me.
Stereotype molds exist because they are comfortable and safe. They may be viewed as guidelines to life, and make decision making easy if I simply rely on the group decision to make my own. However, to do so is to disempower myself. It makes futile my ability to use my knowledge, skills and experience to make the best possible choice for myself.
So this week, I’m making a concentrated effort to love myself, oddly shaped block and all, and to live life and simply love the things I do because I enjoy them, and to not worry about “fitting in” with the people who just so happen to share a few of those hobbies, or to engage in activities simply because they are “acceptable” to my group.
I am who I am. The things I do do not define me. I honour myself in accepting and respecting every part of me.
My name is Jenny Thuy Anh Nguyen and I am a French-born, Catholic Vietnamese Canadian woman who studies design, works for a company I respect and admire, reads, writes, snowboards, longboards, roller skates, cooks, bakes, rides a sport bike, doodles, drinks, loves Ikea, classical musical, acoustic guitar, piano, psychobilly, punk rock, graphics, photography…
I am still learning, about myself and the world.
So Who are you?
Durante los meses de Marzo y Abril, estuve involucrado en la impartición de una serie capacitaciones iniciales de un programa encaminado a desarrollar el liderazgo para mandos medios en la industria minera.
Durante las sesiones de trabajo hubo comentarios y preguntas muy interesantes sobre la definición y diferentes estilos de liderazgo, algo que me pareció muy interesante fue un cuestionamiento sobre la diferenciación entre liderazgo y manipulación, esta pregunta alimento una serie de comentarios y debates, que considero yo, ayudaron a elevar esta pregunta inicial a un diálogo constructivo inteligente y altamente productivo.
Una de los aspectos que me pareció relevante es como se definieron ambos términos y mas aun en que consiste la diferencia.
Lo primero que debemos aclarar es que inicialmente para establecer una clara diferencia recurrimos primero revisar definiciones y conceptos, debo confesar que la búsqueda de definiciones brindo cierta claridad y contribuyo al entendimiento de ambos conceptos. Aun así, sentíamos que faltaba mas contundencia y fuerza al discurso, en ese momento la participación de un colega (graduado en estudios filosóficos) de nuestra consultaría brindo los elementos que nos faltaban.
Entonces, ¿cual es la diferencia? Primeramente debemos entender la intención, la manipulación tiene una intención encaminada a satisfacer las necesidades personales del manipulador, la racionalidad de un manipulador es simple, asume que los “demás” son inferiores y son solamente vehículos para lograr sus fines. Recuerdo en mis clases de filosofía que existía un termino denominado “cosificación” donde transformamos nuestra relación con otros seres humanos y, los percibimos como “cosas” u artefactos.
La manipulación es dirigida e intencional, tiene estrategias, acciones y tácticas encaminadas a simplemente ejecutar ordenes y cumplir con los resultados asignados a los subordinados. En la manipulación no existe ningún elemento encaminado al desarrollo o crecimiento del individuo.
A Diferencia del Liderazgo, donde la intención del líder primeramente es desarrollar una visión compartida, e inspirar a sus seguidores a actuar sobre esta visión compartida. Mas aun la intención de un líder, esta encaminada al desarrollo y crecimiento de su seguidores o subordinados. El líder debe buscar que las acciones y compromisos que se establecen como grupo de trabajo, deben estar encaminados cumplir con la visión, misión y metas estratégicas, junto con el desarrollo personal y profesional del individuo.
Un comentario final, algunos de nuestros participantes preguntan, ¿debe un líder aplicar acciones y tácticas de manipulación para lograr objetivos? Nuestra conclusión y respuesta fue si, siempre y cuando los objetivos estén encaminados a educar, desarrollar y crecer efectivamente a sus colaboradores…
The fantastic part about the MBTI is that, contrary to some myths out there, it does not attempt to put you in a “box” or label you. It does not claim that anyone could accurately describe you if they knew your four letter combination. In fact, there are specific ways in which it asserts that everyone expresses their type differently.
When you take the more elaborate Step 2 form of the MBTI, an additional 51 multiple choice items are added to the existing 93. These items, in conjunction with the original ones, allow the tool to further narrow down your type. Within each “letter” or preference, are five ‘facets’ that have been identified as representing or being part of that preference. While these five facets do no encompass the entire preference (the whole is greater than the sum of the parts), they can provide insight about how people may express their preference differently than other.
I am going to use the example of the J-P dichotomy to illustrate this. If you recall from my last post, people with a preference for Perception, or P, tend to life their life spontaneously, they are very flexible and adaptable. People with a preference for Judgment, or J, live a more planned life; they are generally more decisive and orderly.
I, myself, am a J. When I first took my MBTI, this result struck me as a little odd; it didn’t quite fit. One of the facets of the Perception preference is pressure prompted-ness. While sometimes I like to start projects earlier rather than later (or at least think about starting them), I find myself more motivated by a fast approaching deadline, and often do most of and my best work right before a deadline. This is generally thought of as something that would describe someone with a preference for Perception. As an example, this YouTube video basically describes my day (especially when I was a student). Does anyone else relate?
My Step 2 results helped reconcile my results to my experience in life. I score quite high on some of the facets of the Judgment preference – I like to keep a detailed schedule and have lists galore! However, a few of the facets, namely in this case, pressure-promptness, I scored “out-of-preference” – i.e. under the Perception preference side. The tool recognizes that, while my preference is for Judgment, there are certain situations, circumstances, or moods in which I exhibit a preference for Perception. This doesn’t mean that I don’t understand myself, nor that I am a master of my personality, able to switch back and forth at a whim. It simply means that I express my preference for Judgment in a unique way.
Has anyone else taken the MBTI and had difficulty reconciling what the results said and what you believe or experience yourself to be? I would love to hear your stories.
Taking a page, literally, from John Brockman’s annual book and on-line World Question Centre (www.edge.org) I am putting out a question in this post. Every year Brockman puts out a big question to a wide community of thinkers, scientists, philosophers, artists, leaders, writers, etc. who respond with what is on their mind. The results are more than an amazing read, they are deeply insightful, helpful, sometimes shocking and for the most part, mind expanding. Ultimately, they provoke more thoughts, possibilities and questions. And learning. As I ate up my copy of his latest book “This Will Change Everything” which is the compilation of over 100 responses to this year’s question, it struck me that I am really curious to know what has changed peoples’ minds in the context of their working world – since my playground is the world of organizational dynamics. As (the collective) “we” evolves and as our relationship with work evolves…I am keen to surface what is changing for people at the individual level.
For a starter, I used to believe that anyone could do anything in terms of making a living, or career; the only ingredient we needed was self motivation and determination. While I still believe in those ingredients wholeheartedly, I don’t believe that we can do anything we want, on sheer will power. We come into the world with some innate tendencies and proclivities, which then may be realized and nurtured. And, if we are lucky, we find the right kind(s) of work at the right time, to create a little personal utopia. Influenced by research in neuroscience and cognitive psychology and the works of Howard Gardner (multiple intelligences), Daniel Goleman (emotional and social intelligence) and even Marcus Buckingham (Now Discover Your Strengths) I now see that while there is a range of possibilities with respect to vocations and careers; it is certainly not boundless. I believe this realization made me a better Recruiter, HR Business Partner and now organizational development consultant and coach… more realistic, more discerning, more useful to myself and others.
So, what has changed your mind in the realm of workplace dynamics?
I am about to attend a certification workshop for the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), so it’s on my mind. The MBTI is a tool for self awareness; through a self report questionnaire, the report highlights your preferences on four different dichotomies, giving you a four letter type. The four areas the tool explores are 1) the way a person receives energy, 2) the way a person prefers to take in information, 3) the way a person prefers to make meaning of information or come to a decision, and 4) the way a person prefers to live their life. I won’t go into too much detail about the theory and research behind it, but the four dichotomies are expressed as follows:
1. Extroversion (energy and stimulation comes from the external world of people and things) versus Introversion (energy and stimulation comes from the internal world of thoughts and reflection)
2. Sensing (taking in information via the five senses) versus Intuition (taking in information by way of insight and seeing patterns)
3. Thinking (basing decisions on logical analysis) versus Feeling (basing decision on evaluation of relative worth)
4. Perception (flexible, adaptable, and spontaneous lifestyle) versus Judgment (planned, decisive and orderly lifestyle)
The MBTI isn’t intended to tell you anything about yourself that you don’t already know; it just structures the information in such a way that it is accessible in everyday situations and highlights how your preferences might lead other to behave in ways that are different to the ways that you commonly behave.
An area that the MBTI has helped me in during the last year and a half is in communicating effectively with others. An example I often use is how a former colleague of mine, Mike Bryde , and I managed to communicate so effectively over the year and a half that we worked together.
Mike’s preference for Introversion had an apparent impact on his communication style. He was very reflective, didn’t give up too much, and was obviously energized by working on complex tasks on his own. Mike and I collaborated a lot when we worked together and one are that we had to consciously work on in order to collaborate effectively was in our communication styles.
I have a preference for Extroversion. One way that people can tell this about me is that I think out loud. Having the opportunity to talk about an idea with someone helps me form a fully coherent idea. The differences in mine and Mike’s communication styles came out a lot, and we worked at communicating effectively. I could have easily talked over Mike, not recognizing that when he was being silent, he was reflecting on the information he was taking in, not inviting me to keep talking. Mike, for his part, could have kept to himself, keeping his own ideas to himself and letting me go on and on. If this had been the case, we would not have been very effective.
Mike had to recognize, that sometimes I just needed to talk out my ideas and that they were not fully formed yet. For my part, I had to recognize when it was time to sit quietly and let Mike think. Our knowledge of the MBTI was extremely helpful. It gave us a framework to discuss our differences, and terminology to use to remind each other of our needs. We both were able to recognize the benefits of each other’s communication style and were able to create an environment in which we were able to work together. This not only allowed us to work together, accepting our diverse styles allowed us to bring out the best that each had to offer.
I’m curious if anyone else has any interesting stories of different communication styles working together. Was it challenging? Did you have a framework available to you, such as the MBTI, to help work through your differences?
I sat at my only Olympic competition in a sea of Canadian Red as I watched my first ever hockey game, a confession I make with some chagrin since I am a 43-year-old third generation Canadian. Canada was playing Switzerland and the crowd was happy, vibrant and charged. Red maple leaves were everywhere, including on my kids’ hands. Flags waved, people cheered, and pre- and post-game, small groups spontaneously burst out in song – our song, our Canadian Anthem. 
Let me say that again – people spontaneously burst out singing our National Anthem. How is it, I wondered, that we could become a people with such a surge of passion for being Canadian? I had never imagined experiencing this rush of enthusiasm at our common identity. And it was a rush!
For me the Olympics are an experience in paradox. Seven years ago, when I looked at the choice of spending millions of taxpayer dollars on the Olympics, I voted against them because I saw far too many social needs, which to my mind surpassed the need for a global athletic party. But the No votes were outnumbered by the Yeses, and so we partied. Given that the decision to hold the Olympics was a legitimate collective choice, I wanted to experience what happens when you bring together some of the greatest athletic talent in the world.
The voices of early demonstrators remind us to pay attention to the everyday realities many of our neighbours face when they line up for shelter with their child or go in search of an evening meal and not have these voices drowned out by the patriots and sports fans who sing and cheer. On several occasions now, the people around me have broken into songs and cheering. To accept this pretty picture of our home while denying the shadow-side reality would be a lie that compromises us all. But I also refuse a world where we cannot play and laugh and celebrate with one another.
The Olympics would not have been my choice for a collective celebration but it is here and I realize I am proud of what Canada stands for, in how we strive to make room for our differences and for our evolving sense of our dignity and rights as human beings. As Canadians, and particularly as Vancouverites, I believe the Olympics will change us, as Expo did. But we have an opportunity to make this a change for the better, to grow and to know ourselves in a new way and to share this voice in the world – politely perhaps, but also a little louder than we have in the past. And while we evolve, my greatest wish for us is that we retain our ability to celebrate and tap into our collective joy and pride while never turning a blind eye or an empty hand to the painful realities that surround us everyday.
And speaking of how we grow and change as Canadians, on a personal note, I think I may have actually grown into a hockey fan. Go Canada go!
El concepto de “Compromiso” me resulta fascinante e intrigante, en mi vida profesional he ocupado varias posiciones de liderazgo, donde constantemente me enfrentaba a situaciones donde una de mis prioridades era fomentar el compromiso de mis subordinados y transmitir valores, creencias y supuestos base de la organización a la cual pertenecía.
Ahora que me encuentro realizando una investigación y revisión bibliográfica sobre este tema, he logrado descubrir varios conceptos que a continuación quisiera compartir.
Un elementos que surge de inmediato es la definición, resulta impresionante el número de definiciones que existen y citan al respecto, pero tal vez la más coherente desde mi perspectiva, establece que el compromiso es “La relación emocional e intelectual que un empleado establece con su organización”
Aún mas interesante resulta los tipos de compromiso que algunos autores definen, por ejemplo Webber y Ellen, identifican 3 tipos de compromiso que los empleados establecen con su organización.
1) Afectivo, este tipo de compromiso se genera cuando los valores y creencias del empleado están alineados y son congruentes con los de la organización, el compromiso afectivo genera un nivel de lealtad muy elevado y alta productividad. Este tipo de compromiso resulta ideal y es buscado por parte de las organizaciones.
2) Normativo, depende y resulta de los preceptos morales que el empleado posee, el empleado se mantiene y vincula con la organización por el compromiso moral que el mismo establece. Es posible que el empleado no este de acuerdo con valores y creencias de la organización, pero su compromiso moral lo compromete y obliga a permanecer con la organización.
3) Continuidad, considerado como el tipo de compromiso de menor nivel, concretamente establece que un empleado se vincula y permanece con una organización, por la necesidad de mantener un empleo e ingreso constante, y donde hay un elevado “costo” si decide abandonar su empleo. Curiosamente, según varias investigaciones recientes, indican que estos empleados son productivos y cumplen con los resultados esperados.
La diferencia radica en que no están dispuestos a realizar un esfuerzo adicional por la organización, a diferencia de los empleados de compromiso afectivo donde si existe tal disposición.
Finalmente, varios autores concluyen que existen infinidad estrategias para promover el compromiso, pero la mayoría coincide que uno de los motores principales para generar compromiso en la fuerza laboral, radica en los procesos que la organización posee para escuchar y aceptar retroalimentación de sus empleados. Inclusive algunos autores concluyen tajantemente “los empleados quieren opinar y ser escuchados “ Sobretodo si es una decisión, que va repercutir o tener un efecto sobre su entorno laboral y nivel de desempeño.
Dado lo anterior, solo queda preguntarse ¿Que tipo de compromiso observamos en los miembros de nuestra organización? ¿Donde estamos situados? Y mas importante aun, ¿Qué tipo de compromiso estamos generando?
It is funny how many euphemisms we generate in the business world.
As if saying anything negative would harm productivity. Of course, the opposite is almost always the case … we all know the real meaning of our business euphemisms, and typically respond with cynicism to their use. “Rightsizing”, “opportunities” … everyone knows when this language is being used to talk about something bad as if it weren’t. Willing self-deception of this kind is one of my pet peeves.
Turnover is one of those euphemisisms; a word to describe people leaving the organization.
In my career I’ve seen many people leave organizations, and I have left organizations. We all probably know the host of reactions to “turnover”. Sometimes, no matter how valuable or well-liked an employee is, the organization and people within it go through a bizarre set of responses. Some typical responses are to frame the departure ultimately as more the “loss” of the departing employee as opposed to the organization … their mistake. Or, the departure is framed as an opportunity (always the positive spin!) to renew the role or build a new team, etc. Most often blame is thrown towards the departing person, although sometimes blame is directed internally.
No one likes to be on the receiving end of a departure. We have so much baggage about “being left” in general. When an employee informs you that he or she is leaving, it is so easy to hear it as “I’m leaving you” and then the host of emotional demons rises up. At our firm, since we are hyper-aware of literature regarding departure, it is even tougher … we all know the Gallup research — people don’t leave organizations, they leave supervisors.
One of our employees, Mike Bryde, is leaving us next week. Mike is an amazing employee. He reports to me.
He is very well-liked and he is a very strong contributor. Mike’s presence helped form our culture, and I believe the culture helped form him. However, I have chosen not to see his departure as a loss, regardless of my own feelings. I swam through all the troublesome emotions when he told me a couple of months ago … what did I do wrong? Can I convince him to stay?
I am tempted to explain the circumstances of his departure in this blog, but have realized that is because of my own fear of being judged as a bad manager (unless I explain why a great employee would be leaving us/me). His reasons are his, and his to share if he chooses, in the way he chooses.
While he will be missed, his departure is not a loss for the following reasons — he created excellence while here. He created so many positive things during his stay at our firm that to see it as a loss would, I believe, be to trivialize his contributions to us.
We grew as a firm because of his presence. Beyond his employment and its benefits, Mike grew as an employee during his stay. To understand this as a loss would be to do injustice to something deeply right about the situation.
Life will go on at our organization without Mike. We will miss him. I will miss him. But I at least will choose to celebrate the “turnover” … in life circumstances, in growth, in renewal, in opportunities.
Free Play.
I highly recommend the book by this title. It has nothing to do with business, and at the same time everything to do with business. The author is Stephen Nachmanovitch, an improvisational musician, cultural anthropologist, and philosopher.
His book is all about the importance of play, in the context of all human endeavours. Among many pieces of wisdom in his book is the concept of uniting play with performance and practice. Instead of driving out playfulness from our workplaces, we must work hard to ensure play stays firmly embedded there. Like the concept of “serious play” that is common lingo in the world of simulation-based learning, Nachmanovich’s suggestion is that we do a disservice to both play and work by imagining them to be at opposite ends of a spectrum.
We try to play with our clients. Often it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Playfulness is all about taking risks in order to grow. Organizational change and renewal does require strategy and planning, but it also requires that sense of adventure that we all felt as children and every so often must work to rediscover… What is around that bend in the road? What happens if … ?
We also try to play together at the office. We often coach clients to close the gap between who they feel they can be at home and who they feel they can be at work. I’ve noticed in my own coaching practice that some of the greatest dissatisfaction seems to come from situations where people do not feel they can express themselves as a complete human being at work.
Which brings me to the video clip …
This was captured on our marketing assistant’s Iphone during our firm Christmas party. Myself on guitar and our accountant Andrew on drums. It is our Director of Business Development’s garage (he also plays drums). We are improvising/playing/performing on a basic blues progression.
Our accountant rocks harder than yours.
When I announced a couple of weeks ago that we would be doing a piece of work with a major international natural beauty product retailer, it sparked some curiousity in our office. We have a pretty diverse set of clients, but beauty and health retail was a new industry for us. My client contact was lovely enough to bring along a sample of their products are our first meeting, which I happily distributed around the office.
From my very first communication with the client, I was impressed by the openness, the enthusiasm, and passion of the people I met.
I did the work with the client last week, and beyond being an interesting “success” story in which I was deeply touched by a client, it is the sort of differentiating stuff that is very important to me as a practitioner and for us as a firm.
We do “customized” management and leadership development … but almost everybody does that these days, or at least says so. For me, the question is how to really respond and connect with a client in such a way that trust is built and ultimately we can help them from within their culture and their experience as opposed to standing outside and preaching or directing.
The work involved a keynote talk on leadership for over 200 store managers from all across the US and Canada at an annual conference. I focused on “sustainable leadership”, a topic I’ve been thinking about quite a bit lately, but also a topic that seemed to correspond well with their own position on ethics.
I was invited to attend their corporate party the evening before my talk. My contact told me that the party would be an 80′s theme and that everyone would be in costume. I only knew one person from the organization – my contact – but I dressed in my best preppie look … think Caddyshack (photo below) .. and went downstairs to find women dressed as versions of Madonna, Joan Jett, etc., and men dressed Miami Vice or as headbangers. I soon became known variously as “Chet” or “Tad”.
I ultimately met up with my contact, but even before that, a number of managers made the effort to find out who I was, include me in conversations, and make me welcome. It was the best corporate party I’ve ever attended. Pure, good-spirited fun. By the end of the night, my contact/chaperone was looking around for me only to find me up on stage with some other manager dancing the night away.
My time with everyone that night helped me see and experience the folks as they are as a culture, and getting a chance to talk to a bunch of managers about the company deepened my understanding of the company. But the more serious point is how much I personally believe in being with and for our clients … not just doing “work”. How I can help an organization change its culture when I don’t appreciate and understand that culture?
They are a wonderful, caring, passionate company that believes in their product, knows how to have fun, and wants to learn. I was authentically inspired … and motivated by them … it was far easier to get up in front of them the next day and do my best to inspire, challenge, and motivate them in turn.
I’ve noticed recently, how seemingly small gestures can create big change.
It was Friday night and my family was too pooped to cook. My partner, 12 year old daughter and mom-in-law popped down to a new and happening Italian Bistro in our ‘hood in Calgary. The place was hopping and luckily we got the last table.
As we were catching up with each other we noticed a particularly boisterous group of young guys at a table near to us. As their alcohol consumption increased, so did the chest thumping and foul language. You could smell the testosterone.
It was clear that my daughter, mom and other patrons were becoming increasingly uncomfortable and, quite frankly, so was I. My husband gestured to them a couple of times that he’d appreciate it if they could tone it down. After some token head nodding, they continued with their disruptive antics.
After a few minutes my husband asked our waiter if he could ask the fellows to quit the swearing as there were young kids in the restaurant. Their response to the waiter bordered on abusive. A brash and handsome young blond – said loud enough for the restaurant to hear “I want to hear YOU tell him we are VERRRY SORRRY!” They then continued on with the swear-fest. The air was thick with tension. He was doing the alpha male thing with his buddies, and although some laughed, you could sense their growing discomfort.
This was a pivotal moment. Between stimulus and response, we humans have the ability to make a choice. Past experience, personality, and emotions play a key role in the decisions we make – and that decision will have a certain impact.
This nasty situation had all the hallmarks of a fight. What happened next was unexpected. My husband called the waiter and asked him to take a bottle of wine to the guys’ table, and tell them that he hoped they would enjoy their dinner. The waiter looked shocked. Shortly after, a bottle of wine arrived at their table. They looked confused and thought there must be a mistake. My husband looked over and waved at them. They waved back. You could hear the music again.
We were getting up to leave. Our waiter came by to walk us out, and said he would never forget this experience as long as he lived. My husband said he was trying to teach them about having a little grace. On our way out we passed their table. They stopped us, stood up and shook my husband’s hand to thank him for the wine. Looking embarrassed, they apologized sincerely for being jerks.
Then most surprisingly, they introduced themselves as a visiting sports team, and invited our family to come to their event as their guests. In a world of growing darkness and disregard for others, it was a fine moment of humanity. A place where there is understanding, forgiveness and connection.
Once outside and into the cool evening air, I asked my husband why he did it. He said it was mainly for our daughter who was sitting there soaking up every nuance of this interaction between “mature adults”. He wanted to be a good role model for her, and so he was.
I believe that great leadership is alot about being a good role model for others, and having the presence of mind to make courageous choices under fire. Those able to break through the noise of everyday transactions with even small gestures that matter – can create learning and change that touches many.
I asked myself what I would have done? What about you?
¿Que significa manejar nuestro tiempo? Suena de cierta forma ambiguo o cuasi imposible, cualquier profesional con una carga de trabajo importante, asume que pasamos buena parte de nuestro tiempo atendiendo “asuntos prioritarios, urgentes e impostergables”. Aunque en ocasiones nos damos cuenta que una buena parte de esos asuntos no son importantes, aparentemente son urgentes sin serlo y tampoco se pueden postergar.
Por esta razón, prefiero atender asuntos importantes, urgentes o no, la razón es simple, generalmente estos asuntos contribuyen al crecimiento profesional de colegas, jefes y subordinados. Además promueven la sustentabilidad de nuestra empresa, por medio de la planificación, desarrollo e innovación de ideas.
Personalmente estoy convencido que debemos generar criterios que nos ayuden a gestionar un manejo efectivo de nuestro tiempo, a continuación quisiera compartir algunos de estos criterios y de que forman me ayudan a clasificar mis asuntos o tareas a resolver.
Evalúe si el “asunto” contribuye a cumplir, se conecta o esta alineado con la visión, misión y metas estratégicas de la empresa, tenga cuidado que las acciones que resulten al resolver o atender un asunto, no contradigan o sean incongruentes con la visión, misión y metas de la empresa.
Pregúntese, ¿en que contribuye este asunto a desarrollar a mis colegas, jefes o subordinados? Recuerde que uno de los factores mas importantes en promover y mantener el compromiso de los empleados, es precisamente la calidad de la relación que existe entre usted y sus subordinados. También considere si el asunto ayuda e mejorar la comunicación, confianza o inclusive es una oportunidad para brindar retroalimentación.
Contemple el efecto o consecuencias que tiene este asunto a corto y mediano plazo.
Considere si necesita ayuda para resolver este asunto, si es así, determine un plan de acción o estrategia, generalmente si no lo hacemos, exista la posibilidad de no entregar en tiempo y forma los resultados esperados.
Bueno amigos como pueden ver no es fácil decidir entre lo importante y lo no importante, a veces TODO parece serlo, la sugerencia es tome unos minutos para evaluar la situación, busque datos y no reaccione de inmediato.
Recuerde lo escrito por Victor Frankl “Entre el estímulo y la reacción existe un espacio donde yace nuestra libertad, poder y capacidad para elegir una respuesta” y continúa “Es en la respuesta donde esta nuestra posibilidad de crecimiento y desarrollo”
I’ve recently graduated from Simon Fraser University. And while I worked throughout my degree and have been at The Refinery for over a year, until recently, the statistics about women’s plight in the workforce were really just that to me, statistics. Remember studying statistics in history class in high school? Stats, years, dates were all memorized for tests, but did they really mean anything unless you had either experienced something related first hand or heard an engaging story. For any of you like me, numbers are numbers, and it can be difficult to truly grasp the story behind them. The issues women faced in the workplace used to be simply numbers to me; I appreciated what they meant, but, in keeping with a common complaint about my generation, I had the “it will never happen to me” syndrome without even knowing it. However, some truly inspirational ideas and the speakers who delivered them at the Women on Board Forum on October 22, 2009 brought me the story behind the numbers and helped me connect to this issue on a new level.
I always consider it ‘worth my while’ when I walk home and can’t help my mind from racing with the new information I have received. While not everything the speakers said hit the mark for me, to expect that out of a conference would be to be often disappointed, I wanted to share what really impacted my thinking that day. I’ve summarized below a few of the key points that I really took home. I encourage anyone, whether you attended this conference, or just have an opinion on the matter, to join in the discussion in the comments. What impacted you the most? Has your behaviour or actions changed at all? How does your organization stack up?
These were a few of the thoughts that were running through my head after the conference. What about yours?
– Krysty
A veces nos preguntamos porque una iniciativa o propuesta de cambio dentro de una organización fracasa, no se implementa o simple y sencillamente no se sustenta en el largo plazo? Empezamos a elaborar conjeturas e hipótesis sobre las posibles causas o razones, que ayuden a entender que no funciono o faltó.
Recientemente he tenido la oportunidad de presentar ante diversas audiencias en origen y propósito, el método que ayuda definir la cultura de una organización. Edward Schein considera que para entender una organización y promover cambios dentro de la misma, debemos explorar tres aspectos fundamentales.
En el primer nivel tenemos los artefactos, estos son elementos observables o visibles dentro de una organización, generalmente los artefactos nos permiten ver de que esta compuesta una organización a un nivel superficial, algunos ejemplos de artefactos pueden ser; logotipos, arquitectura, estructura de la organización, lenguaje utilizado por los miembros, estrategias y procesos operativos solo por citar solo algunos ejemplos. Es muy importante no tratar de descifrar o entender una organización desde los artefactos, podemos caer en interpretaciones erróneas y sesgadas.
El segundo nivel, que resulta útil para entender la cultura de una organización, son la creencias y valores que los miembros de la misma manejan, valoran e implementan, estos dos elementos dictaminan en gran medida lo que se considera correcto e incorrecto dentro de una organización, definen el proceder cuando un fenómeno se presenta, y como los individuos pertenecientes a la misma deben reaccionar y actuar en respuesta.
Ahora, en respuesta a un fenómeno que requiere un respuesta, las creencias y valores se traducen en acciones específicas que generalmente denominamos estrategias o hipótesis.
Además, para que las creencias y valores sean aceptados por los miembros de una organización, deben ser validados.
La validación únicamente se da cuando una todos los miembros pertenecientes a la organización, aplican las estrategias o hipótesis planteadas, de tal forma que cuando se obtienen los mismos resultados cada vez que aplican las estrategia o hipótesis, entonces entramos al tercer nivel que nos ayuda a entender la cultura de una organización.
El tercer nivel se refiere a los supuestos base, como se menciono anteriormente, cuando se implementan las estrategias e hipótesis obteniendo siempre los mismos resultados, entonces pasamos de una estrategia o hipótesis a un supuesto base o teoría.
La función de los supuestos base, es definir como los miembros de una organización deben sentir, pensar, interpretar y actuar, evidentemente es un nivel muy profundo al cual estamos analizando a la organización, y debemos reconocer que cualquier cambio a este nivel, requiere de hacer ciertas consideraciones y reconocer los efectos que los cambios generan en los miembros de la organización y el rol de líder.
Primero debemos considerar que los supuestos base (teorías) están profundamente arraigados en la cultura, resulta difícil cuestionarlos y generalmente hay una reacción del sistema “inmunológico” organizacional, que intenta detener o eliminar el cuestionamiento.
El líder debe observar y atender varios asuntos relacionados con la cultura organizacional. Lo primero es reconocer que cualquier cambio genera angustia e incertidumbre entre los miembros de una organización, por consiguiente el líder es responsable de ayudar al manejo de esta angustia e incertidumbre, y de otras posibles necesidades emocionales que los miembros estén experimentando.
Otro aspecto importante es que el líder debe seriamente evaluar, si la organización que dirige posee el gen del cambio, o preguntarse si existe la capacidad instalada dentro de la organización para cambiar, y adaptarse a entornos sociales, ambientales y económicos cambiantes, que generalmente demandan que la organización cambie para lograr su desarrollo sostenido.
Finalmente un líder que desconoce la cultura de la organización para la cual trabaja, es muy probable que no la pueda dirigir. Inclusive, es muy probable que carezca de conocimientos adecuados para implementar las estrategias para promover los cambios necesarios dentro de la misma.
En los últimos meses he pasado una buena cantidad de tiempo conversando con grupos sobre el conflicto, y como resolverlo.
A lo largo de mis conversaciones he aprendido que es posible plantear una posible hipótesis que nos ayude a conocer el origen del conflicto.
Sin mayor preámbulo, mi hipótesis plantea que la mayoría de nuestros conflictos tanto interpersonales como intrapersonales, tienen su origen en nuestras necesidades de tipo emocional, intelectual y económico.
De que sirve conocer esto? Bueno, primeramente ayuda a identificar con mayor claridad las posturas e intereses de las partes en conflicto.
Posteriormente podemos avanzar hacia a realizar con mayor precisión las preguntas encaminadas a entender e identificar aspectos como supuestos base, expectativas, prioridades, valores, esperanzas, deseos, temores y obstáculos
Como todos saben, los puntos anteriores son elementos fundamentales que debemos contestar para poder encontrar intereses en común entre las partes en conflicto. Esto marca la pauta para luego elaborar posibles soluciones o respuestas al conflicto que den el mayor grado de satisfacción a ambas partes.
Como pensamiento final el llegar a entender el origen y vectores del conflicto, nos ayuda a elevar nuestro grado de empatía tanto de entendimiento y certeza al igual que de acción.
This time of year, holidays are the talk of the office. Some go to Disneyland with their kids, some take an Alaskan cruise, some take their RV and go camping on Vancouver Island, and some explore Europe for the first time. My holiday, on the other hand, was in Hamilton, Ontario.
I recently took some “vacation days” in order to volunteer as a judge at the Canadian National Trampoline Championships. Some might question my decision to take time off of my day job to volunteer to work somewhere else, but let me explain why doing this turned out to be a great holiday.
First let me convince you that flying to Hamilton to judge trampoline was very much “work”. Some days began before 9 am and didn’t finish until 9 pm. I had to get dressed up in a suit every day. My time was scheduled for me. I was assigned a “work area” (the specific apparatus I was to judge). My role was clearly defined and I was expected to produce “output” (scores for the athletes). And, I was accountable for my actions (if I gave a score that was out of line with the other judges, I would feel shameful).
Now, having described some of the expectations of me, I realize I’m not making this trip sound like very much fun, but it was. Without the “relaxing” that most people would include in their holiday objectives, I found my time in Hamilton to be completely refreshing. I think that what made it so refreshing was that judging all day made me unable to devote any of my mental energy to my day job. Having the distraction of the judging role seemed to be what was most effective at making me feel refreshed.
I propose that a holiday is not really about taking time away from work. It’s more about removing your emotional focus away from work temporarily so that you can return with a fresh perspective and greater energy. I also don’t think that holidays need to be about relaxing. That’s certainly not how I would describe my time in Hamilton, anyway. For many of us, our work is more emotionally exhausting than it is physically tiring. When this is the case, I think that an emotional break is what’s needed more so than a physical one.
What holidays have you had that were successful emotional breaks from your work?
At a recent Executive Forum in Calgary, Futurist Edie Weiner posed an
interesting question – do you know too much about what you know?
She referred to this as “Educated Incapacity” which means knowing so much
about what you know that you can not imagine the world differently. if we
base our reality or worldview on only those things we know, we risk losing
objectivity and access to more information, creating a potential barrier to
learning and growth.
We got there with good intent education and business value expert
knowledge and intelligence because we can define it, manage it, and it has
contributed to our success.
In our society, experts are granted authority and respect, and may feel
threatened and protective if challenged with something they don¹t know about
what they think they should know, to be an expert.
Don¹t get me wrong – expertise is important. But a strength over-done can
become a weakness. It can create ³tunnel vision² or ³blind spots² in our
learning, and can seriously hold back our performance, impact and potential.
And current success can be a killer of innovation and change, both on an
individual and organizational level. Why on earth would we change what has
made us successful? Why, because the world is changing every nanosecond of
every day and the past may no longer predict the future.
Ever work with someone who thinks they know everything? They never want to
hear ideas or insights from others or consider new ways of approaching
things. They may have the noblest of intentions, but their way of looking
at the world stifles creativity, fresh ideas, hidden value creation and new
paths forward. Plus it¹s not much fun.
Or executive teams or boards who drink deep from the pools of success, only
to be blind-sided by evolving competitive forces because they have stopped
listening, asking and wondering. They assume they know what is good for
employees, customers and shareholders, and at one time, they did.
On the flip side I recall being shocked at a successful recording artist who
burned every piece of music and personal recording she had ever created
with the intention of re-defining her music. And recently I asked a CEO of
two companies about his secret to high retention of employees. He said it¹s
because he doesn¹t know everything, and simply asks people what they think?
Could it be that our mastery path is to un-learn, so we can learn again?
Suspend judgment when we¹ve been taught and rewarded to make quick judgments
and decisions? I suppose context has a lot to do with it – and the key is to
apply expertise where it serves us, and suspend it when it does not.
It’s not easy to learn. It is uncomfortable and it takes time and practice,
which is why we love to stick with what we know. We’re hardwired as humans
to create repeatable ³habits² to keep our lives manageable.
That was a good strategy when things stayed the same for a long time. The
challenge is the degree of complexity and change that is our world today.
Things shift so rapidly that it is believed that a university degree today
will be obsolete within 5 years!
So what can we do to avoid ³Educated Incapacity²? Here are a few ideas and
I¹d love to hear yoursŠ
- Imagine that you are a child or an alien from another planet how would
they describe a situation, problem or opportunity?
- Subscribe to a magazine that represents the opposite of your interests or
preferences. Look at the world through another lens.
- Surround yourself with people from diverse backgrounds who think, and
approach things differently.
- Take on the role of an “outside observer” and get out of your head.
- Practice counting to ten and actively listen when someone presents
information or insight on something you know well.
- Get curious, ask questions, keep exploring and put your ego aside
Learning requires us to see anew, and be open, courageous and adaptive. It
brings delight, renewal, and purpose. Perhaps this is the new frontier of
³expertise².
In many, if not all of the workshops I’ve facilitated or been a participant in, someone asks “What’s the take away?” In fact it just happened a few weeks back in a session with my Masters Degree cohort. My class mate, in the middle of a 3 day working session, took the Program Director aside to find out what it was we were supposed to walk away with.
Up until recently, when asked this question, I would immediately pull out the program and workshop objectives and recite them, thinking this is what the person wanted. In some instances, the person responded, no, what are the 2-3 key things I am supposed to take away from this? Here’s where I drew a blank…surely you wouldn’t be here unless you knew what this was about, I thought to myself.
So, what’s going on, when someone asks for the supposed take-aways? Do they need the nutshell version before they can settle in and go through the process? Or, are they not clear what it’s about and if it is worth their time? Perhaps they are testing the facilitator/instructor? Might they prefer the “coles notes” way of absorbing information?
Maybe it’s a combination of these? Or, maybe it’s a mind-set that pits the facilitator/instructor as the one responsible for their learning? If so, it makes sense, look at our average North American elementary and high school model – the teacher teaches and the student learns. For some aspects of scholastic achievement, this model works. However, it seems to be rendering us incapable of determining what our own desired take-aways are, as adults. Adults who are supposed to be in charge of our own continued development and learning.
And that, I realized, is what bothered me about that question. What I now say to those who ask the question is, I don’t know what you’ll take away. That will be up to you. Let’s check with everyone when we wrap up, to see what has been of most use. Many folks nod, as if it makes a lot of sense. Some still furrow a brow and begrudgingly let it go.
I’d love to hear from those who ask that question and any reflections they have on why they ask it.
I’ve always had an uneasy relationship with the truth. It’s not that I’m an inveterate liar, it’s just that I often find myself reflecting on the ways we tend to temper what we say in our relationships. My sense is that we all tend to operate fluidly on a continuum which can extend from giving the unvarnished truth to shading the truth to outright lying. Some of us may spend more time operating on the more truthful side of the continuum but then slip over to the dark side in momentary lapses. For others the situation may be the opposite – that is they may often feel more comfortable hiding the truth in their relationships with others and only occasionally being honest.
Of course context may often play a role in our desire or willingness to tell the truth. This is where the ‘white lie’ comes in. Writer A.J. Jacobs in his article I Think You’re Fat describes these as “Half truths. The kind we all tell. ‘Yes, let’s definitely get together soon.’ ‘I’d love to, but I have a touch of the flu.’ ‘No, we can’t buy a toy today – the toy store is closed.’ Jacobs claims that, “Without lies, marriages would crumble, workers would be fired, egos would be shattered and governments would crumble.” To combat his cynicism about the truth he did an experiment. He vowed to live a life of ‘radical honesty’, a term coined by Brad Blanton, an American psychotherapist. Imagine going through an entire week being completely and utterly honest with everyone you encountered. Jacobs found it extraordinarily difficult.
Reading the Globe and Mail a few days ago, I came across a quote by Thomas Flanagan, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s former chief of staff. In the context of Flanagan’s assessment of Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff, he said, “…once you get into politics your task is mostly to conceal the truth. The truth becomes a gaffe.” Ignatieff responded the next night by explaining to reporters that telling the truth was important but that sometimes telling all the truth isn’t always the best strategy.
The exchange between these two powerful political figures in our country really struck me hard. We’ve come to expect the notion that politics is a game of spin, brinksmanship and deception. And perhaps this notion extends to business as well. It’s a tough world out there. Eat or be eaten and the truth can be a luxury in that place. Flanagan’s quote has a distinctly Orwellian and frightening tone that I fear only too accurately reflects the general perception of how business gets done in our culture.
How does this have anything to do with us here at The Refinery. At The Refinery a key component of our explicit value system is the phrase, “Just Tell The Truth.” It’s a simple phrase with the most profound implications for individuals and organizations. Part of why the phrase is so profound is because just telling the truth can seriously challenge the status quo that we’re all so comfortable with. Another reason why the phrase is so profound is that it’s so darn difficult to interpret. Does it mean we all practice radical honesty all the time? I don’t think so. I think it has more to do with aligning what is going on for each of us internally and externally – making sure what we say reflects accurately what we feel and think. We get closer to truth the more accurately our words represent our internal reality.
We are creatures largely governed, whether we realize it or not, by our limbic system which controls our emotions. When we try and rationalize and express these emotions we are confronted by our relationship with truth. When we are not able to express our emotions effectively or accurately we are less able to express the truth as we see it. I think this is partly why there is such an emphasis being put on developing emotional intelligence. Developing emotional intelligence (EQ) allows us to more accurately interpret all those conflicting messages that our limbic system fires at us daily in all of our human interactions.
There is also the aspect to emotional intelligence which allows us to be more capable of hearing someone else’s reality portrayed as accurately as they are able. The more EQ we have, the more able we are able to hear someone else’s version of reality without flying off the handle. The circle can then be completed: if I’m capable of accurately representing my internal world to you and you are capable of hearing it without going off the deep end then I’m going to be able to be more honest with you more frequently. And presto – we can each “Just Tell The Truth”.
Blaming political and business leaders for not telling the truth is almost a national sport but let’s first ask ourselves if we’re ready to hear it and then ask ourselves how we’d react if we did hear it. Once we answer those questions then maybe speaking the truth in politics and business won’t be such a gaffe.
I recently completed a 10K, something I’ve never done in my life, and not necessarily for lack of trying. When I’ve started new exercise programs in the past, I’ve never with it; I tend to stop before ever really seeing or feeling any change. So, what motivated me to keep with it this time? And what does this mean in terms of motivating members of an organization?
At The Refinery, we started a Sun Run team (the Sun Run being a big 10K event in Vancouver every year in April for those who don’t live in the Vancouver area). The basic premise was that we would run once or twice a week in training to all run the Sun Run together in April 2009. I am not a runner, at all. I’ve always kind of hated it, but it is fun to be part of a team and I figured it couldn’t hurt to get in better shape, so I joined in. David, the orchestrator of this endeavor, provided me with a “Learn to Run 10K” schedule. When I got to Week 3 and had to run in 3 minute increments, I thought I would never make it to the 10K. Now, three months later, I’ve just run 10K for the first time in my life. Besides being very proud of myself and wanting to tell the world, this small feat of mine got me thinking about motivation. What motivated me for the last three months to finally reach this goal?
A few things fit into place for me this time around. First of all, I was provided a clear, structured, and reasonable plan to follow. The incremental increases in running time each week made sense and didn’t push me too hard. I just kept thinking to myself to take it one week at a time and stick to the plan. This worked well for me. The structured nature of the plan drew upon my personal tendencies identified in my MBTI type. As a “J”, I am comfortable with routines and like established methods such as this “Learn to Run 10K” plan.
The plan also had built in accountability. Each week, running time went up bit by bit, so if I missed a run, I was really hurting myself for the next week. Basically, I was motivated by the desire not to be in too much pain the next week! Additionally, I needed to be prepared to run 10K for the Sun Run and if I didn’t train, it would be much harder. A tendency to be motivated by deadlines (the MBTI folk would call it pressure prompted) helped me here as well.
So, for me, it was a combination of a set structure and built in accountability that kept me motivated. However, those are not my reasons for participating. I participated to be a part of a team, to feel good about myself, and to improve my health. It’s funny how sometimes your reasons for doing something may not actually be enough to keep you motivated. In my case, I needed the structure and accountability.
So what does this mean for organizations? I would argue that this highlights the importance of having supporting structures such as project plans, deadlines, built in accountabilities, dependent processes, and the like, in your organization. Even if you have an engaged employee, their desire to do a good job for the company may not be enough to help them reach their full potential. I’d like to add a disclaimer here that people are motivated differently, so here is what makes it difficult. Other people at our office had no desire to follow a program to reach the 10K goal; they had other means of staying motivated.
I’m not really presenting any recommendations or conclusions here, just opening up the discussion. What really is needed to keep a group of people, people in an organization, motivated?
Krysty Wideen
Last week, our own Rosie Steeves led an intimate one-and-a-half-day conference on the topic of Employee Engagement here in Vancouver. The HR and OD types in the room were all eager to boost engagement in their organizations and there was fruitful discussion for the entire length of the conference.
For me, the conference reminded me of the complexity of organizations and the many “levers” that are available to pull:
I’m being a bit over-simplistic to call these “levers” because while each was valuable, it remained clear that no “lever” had the final answer.
Other quotes that stood out to me:
“We wouldn’t have to worry about engagement if we just didn’t do disengaging things.” For example, don’t rob a worker of his pride by requiring safety precautions that a human could judge for himself (as a side note, this is one of Deming’s 14 points).
“It’s simple but not easy”. There was much agreement that simple and easy are not one and the same. The engagement problem is simple, but getting people’s behaiour to change is no easy task.
One reflective question
During the conference, Rosie left us with a challenging question: What would you do if in one year from now you had to have the most engaged organization in the world? Feel free to post answers below.
Mike Bryde
I have never met a single person – not even a human resources professional – who is really excited and positive about “performance management”. After years of being personally responsible for performance management systems at a few different companies and now working with clients on their processes, I’ve had the opportunity to talk to A LOT of people about it. While their reasons for dislike differ, a common thread is that the amount of effort and energy required for the process never leads to a meaningful or satisfying experience. I believe it has become tough and stressful for individuals and those charged with making the systems work. But, we have created that mess. We’ve gotten too far away from the essence of performance management in the quest for Performance Management Systems. We are too caught up in the procedures and processes. Fundamental to effective performance management though, is a human interaction and a focus on what is means to develop as a human being. We do a disservice to people by using the system to take away involvement and accountability from the individual in dictating more of their own performance development.
I get excited about the possibility created by better performance management. Simple and straightforward principles – ones that ask and expect individuals to take ownership of their commitments to the organization – seem to make a much bigger impact on the culture of an organization than complex, confusing “systems”. The much used phrase, less is more, rings very true here.
Our philosophy at the Refinery is very simple. We all have yearly commitments tied to company goals and objectives. These are written by us (employees), in the form of a letter, and discussed with our respective manager, throughout the year. These are posted and shared with everyone. Going public allows us to help each other realize our commitments. The focus of this approach is on making progress towards a few significant contributions to the collective enterprise. The letters commit us to objectives, goals and stretch achievements that we believe will stretch the company. The letters serve as an historical record of what we wanted to achieve at the beginning of the fiscal year, and we can compare our actual accomplishments with what we imagined and hoped we were capable of at the beginning. Here’s a few examples of what we commit to…
From one of our Consultants, “I want to help streamline our content and processes by moving our work from the server to the Wiki. By the end of FY 2009, I want to have all of our content transferred from the server onto the Wiki, as well as make sure that as a team, we all feel comfortable with the transition.”
From one of our Managers, “I will ensure that project management of our consulting business is smooth, systematic, clear, and track-able.”
From one of our Project Coordinators, “I always want to find ways to save money on our projects. I am committed to researching and being inventive to find the most efficient and cost effective ways to do things while still maintaining the quality and integrity of everything we present to a client.”
From me, a Consultant, “Support and assist our Calgary and Latin America “hubs” to develop – whether it is helping with design ideas behind the scenes or assisting to deliver the work with the client.”
After years in other organizations of participating in heavy administrative processes, including long forms, check boxes, ratings, rankings, and very little real connection between my work and the companies’ successes, I personally find our approach liberating and energizing. I am focused on a few meaningful and relevant goals, which evolve and change from year to year. Our approach is certainly not perfect. Some team members have had a harder time with the process; envisioning how their activity plays into quantifiable outcomes in support of company strategy. It is also tricky, and always will be, when the meeting or failing to meet those commitments is tied to monetary rewards. The narrative format of the commitment letter seems to help some team members focus on a vision for themselves in the future. The most important element of this process is that the commitment letter is developmentally driven, not just a record or checklist of specific objectives. This makes it both challenging and engaging. It also gives us the freedom to express our stretch commitments in language we prefer and with concepts that are most meaningful to us. Ultimately we are more in tune with our work and what will help move us forward collectively.
So, what to take from this? Spend less time as a company developing procedures and administration; spend more time on finding ways to connect people to the work of the organization. While our approach may not be applicable to other organizations, its essence would. At the heart of our method is the importance of having performance management connect people to the core of what is important to the organization, not a peripheral “system” that everyone hates to do and everyone hates to think about. It’s tough. Performance management is judgment, and in many cases impacts a person’s career and pay. It will never be easy. We’ve chosen to spend more effort and time focusing on what the principles of performance need to be at our organization and how to ensure our method creates energy and accountability instead of spending our time development a complex or even standardized system.
Following our philosophy regarding performance, here are some of the questions we ask clients – or help them ask themselves – when re-thinking performance management in their organizations:
What is performance?
What is the purpose of managing performance in organization?
What responsibility does the organization have in this process?
What responsibility do individual employees have in this process?
Why would we care about measuring performance? Is it worth the time and effort and cost?
What gets in the way of great performance?
What leads to or enables great performance?
What role does a manager play in supporting or enhancing great performance in his or her people?
Katie Wyka
Click here for Katie’s bio
Internally at the Refinery we’ve been talking quite a bit about executive support recently for leadership and management development initiatives. It prompted some of us to begin to think about this question in more depth. Rosie Steeves and I had a sustained internal dialogue about this question. I figured we’d make it public!
In my career I have designed and delivered development initiatives at a wide variety of organizations and with the full range of “support” stances coming from the executive: from complete antagonism to complete accountability. It’s a common training and development platitude that programmatic initiates ought to have executive support. But what does “support” really mean, what does it entail, and what are the varieties of support (and consequences)?
It seems to me there are a few kinds of executive support, each with their own consequences for how development, learning, and change initiatives are put into place. These may seem like “levels” and to some extent they are. However, an executive can take an Accountability stance (as below) but not be Involved or Support and be Involved but not take Accountability. Also, when thinking about the Executive, it is important to remember that there can be different executive team members with different stances or support levels. I feel that while senior HR executive support is crucial regardless of how other executives may feel about learning, it is important that non-HR executives take positive support stances toward learning. Indeed, our highest impact work at The Refinery flows from clients where operational executives take direct accountability of the outcomes of the learning.
Resistance — One or more senior executives can conclude that a learning initiative is not only unnecessary (either culturally or from an expense point of view) and actively sabotage it. I remember an occasion when I was interviewing an executive regarding large-scale developmental initiatives and he remarked that he’d do everything he could to ensure that organizational resources were not wasted on it. While it’s possible to use an executive’s passion against a specific learning initiative to “turn” them to the side of the light, it will be a tough battle. The key strategy here is probably focusing on getting buy-in for something the executive will support. I don’t think Resistance is the worst situation, however. At least there is passion and that can be redirected.
Disinterest — Perhaps the most troublesome kind of executive support — or lack thereof. And, probably the most common. Many senior executives delegate the entire accountability of people and organizational development to Human Resources or OD (or external consultants). The only positive aspect is that this usually frees those functions to do whatever they want, as long as it is in keeping with budget. The serious negative consequence is that, at best, the initiative is seen “only” as an HR program and conceptually shelved as irrelevant to strategy. A further negative consequence can be that participants — especially senior managers — will conclude that the executives don’t care about development given their absence. This typically makes it hard for anyone to take development seriously, in the right ways. It is certainly possible to do skill-building learning and maintenance/reward learning without any executive interest. But in my experience, it is foolhardy to believe that initiatives framed against a disinterested executive will have any major organizational consequences. Sometimes, very special learning that galvanizes participants can lead an executive to either Support/Interest, or, equally possible, Resistance as it gets their attention.
Support/Interest – Executives that see the possible positive benefits of well-designed learning and change are likely to want to support initiatives through one or more ways. Commonly, beyond budget, they enjoy being present for launch and closure (giving their blessing, of a kind). My question for such executives is always why not be involved? Typically, the answers are time, lack of perceived personal value, etc. A well-supported initiative has the advantage of lending credibility and importance to the learning. However, it still can fall short of creating meaningful change. Participants will “read” meaning into the lack of involvement from executive. Equally, a lack of accountability around the initiative can mean that it is not tied to specific organizational strategies. Support and Interest are, however, the bare minimum in my mind for launching a serious learning initiative designed to produce meaningful change.
Involvement — Involvement requires that executives step inside the initiative not only as a supporter but as a participant. It is not uncommon for executives to support an initiative or learning program as an executive. It is far less common, in my experience, for an executive to temporarily drop his or her role and stand side-by-side other organizational members as a participant in learning. Doing so has the powerful effect of demonstrating that learning is for everyone. It is not just a reward or gift; it is something worthwhile for everyone in the organization, regardless of rank. Obviously, managing executive participation in an initiative requires careful planning to keep traditional hierarchical patterns out of the environment. But the payoff can be magical.
Accountability – In my experience, the rarest kind of support but the only form that will lead to significant organizational impact. By taking accountability for learning strategies, one or more executives see the learning as tool for organizational change. This level of support can create amazing results; however, it can also be challenging as a provider (either internal or external) to meet the needs and create appropriate balance between setting strategy — the executive’s role — and controlling tactics. I personally find this kind of support the most helpful and refreshing for the work that we do. I don’t need or want to have our work be “our” programs or initiatives. Indeed, I am most happy when one or more executive sponsors see learning as part of “their” strategy. To create “accountable” executives for learning, it is important that OD/HR professionals not only involve executives in strategic organizational and people development, but ask them to be accountable and to make such initiatives part of strategic planning. Executives that are able to see the criticality of organizational development are quite likely to treat such initiatives as fundamental levers to pull for overall strategic importance.
One tactic that we are seeing often is a committee approach to supporting learning initiatives. An HR leader pulls together a cross-functional team to serve as a standing committee on learning and development. This may or may not include executives. These committees can play all the roles above with one possible exception – it is challenging for a committee to take Accountability for an initiative. Typically, Accountability is moved to the HR or OD leader from the committee … the committee’s role is to advise and approve. With the appropriate structure, however, a “learning” committee with appropriate senior representation can be held accountable for information OD/HR leadership on what learning must accomplish in the realm of strategic transformation. We’ve recently seen a wonderful example of this in practice with a client … it can work. As with all committees, the crucial question is the role and purpose of the committee combined with effective leadership of its process.
In summary, executive sponsorship is complex with multiple possible “stances” from one or more executives toward a developmental initiative. Each stance creates opportunity and each allows for different degrees of organizational impact. In my opinion, any developmental initiative that is designed to have organizational impact should seek Support (at least), but ideally Support/Interest plus Accountability and Involvement.
Having spent nine full years of my life training and competing in trampoline, I maintain a keen interest and involvement in the sport. After retiring I perceived three options: leave the sport entirely, become a coach, or become a judge. Realizing that leaving the sport entirely was too drastic a move and having the self awareness to know that coaching would drain my energy almost completely, I took up judging.
To me, being a judge is appealing because I get to play a more objective role; we’re trained to see flaws, something I’m naturally quite good at. Coaches, on the other hand, play a much more humanistic role in the sport. It’s their job to guide athletes to improve through motivation, emotional support, and technical guidance.
Since I knew that coaching wouldn’t be the right fit for me, I never gave it much thought. Recently, however, I was driving home from a competition with a coach who was curious about my job. When I got the chance to explain to her that I help organizations to better perform (mostly through their people), she asked a few questions that prompted me to look at coaches through a different lens. I spent so many years as an athlete, and now a few years in the organizational development (OD) field, that I had never looked at trampoline coaching through an OD lens. This will be the first post in a series of posts where I’ll share some of the thoughts that I had. I hope the example will help to bring out some core OD thinking that is simple and refreshing for all.
The coach I was talking to was concerned about the possibility of adding two new coaches to an existing coaching staff of six. Much of what we discussed was relevant whether these two coaches join the club or not. I brought in some basics of organization design and organizational behaviour. Apart from the one part of our conversation where she said “I hate it when you ask a question in response to my own question”, I think the lens through which I saw the people, behaviour, and relationships helped the coach to see things a bit differently. Anyone who’s worked with an OD junky can probably make the same complaint about us that the coach had of my endless questioning. My hope is that they also get the benefits.
Throughout the car ride home, apart from asking questions of the coach, I nearly lost my voice as I enthusiastically drew out several key points, all of which I’ll list here, the details of which I’ll leave for more posts:
Mike Bryde
Click here for Mike’s bio
Networking. The word was drilled into my brain from the time I began my Business degree at Simon Fraser University. We held networking events. We held workshops that taught students how to dress, or eat, or behave at networking events. Anytime we wanted to convince students to come out to an event, you would think we would offer free beer or something, but nope, we branded it as an opportunity to network. I have to admit, as a student, I started to hate the word; it wasn’t rational, but I had this strong negative feeling whenever I heard the word networking. I have been with The Refinery for just over six months. It’s the first job where I consider myself to be a professional rather than a student. I can happily report, I’ve learned a little since then, and have embraced the idea of developing my network wholeheartedly.
Developing and maintaining a personal network has already served me in my short professional career. Most importantly, it was from my network at Simon Fraser University that I was offered my position with The Refinery. Returning the karmic favour, I’ve used my network to help others find jobs or find suitable candidates in their recruiting efforts. Anyone looking on Monster or Craigslist can attest that you miss things with the thousands of job opportunities listed, and I appreciate that I can connect people who can develop a mutually beneficial relationship. This is the obvious benefit to networking, the part that people can see and identify with, but I would argue that was has changed my attitude is what lies beneath this.
Being a consultant, it’s almost like trying to find a job (for The Refinery) is part of my job. Without clients, we are not able to do what we love, to help people find their true potential in their work. To be fair, in my role, I’m not expected to know the CEO of a Fortune 500 company who is dying to hire The Refinery for ten years of work; expectations are set at a reasonable level for my experience. However, this does not mean I cannot add value by developing my personal network.
The first place I looked, beyond my network at school, is with the BC Human Resources Management Association. I had been a student member and had a few friendly faces within the membership, so it has been a safe place to start. I joined the Events Committee so that I would not only have the opportunity to attend different networking events, but I could actually help plan and orchestrate them.
My first event was a Mingle. Basically, it’s nice few hours, with some finger food and drinks, and people can just get together, meet, and chat. It’s a fabulous idea. I realized something that first evening, approaching people you don’t know is a little intimidating. I’m generally not the type of person who chats up people in the line at the grocery store or anything, so it was a challenge for me. This first time around, I tended to talk to people I already knew. I tried not to be discouraged; I was just testing the waters. The next Mingle I managed to come out of my shell a little more. I had great conversations with quite a few new acquaintances; I learned a lot about the challenges they face and was able to share a little bit about what I do at The Refinery. While it may sound surprising, I managed to make a connection with people in a relatively short amount of time, really, by just putting myself in the same room as them (with a glass of wine).
It is here that I really find value in my personal network. Finding a job, or a client, is invaluable in our professional careers, but there is something else that is often overlooked, and that is really just the interaction. I may be able to help someone find a job now, they may connect me with a potential client in 10 years, but today, we can share experiences, horror stories, and achievements, and really just enjoy each other’s company. Organizations are made up of people after all and my business is about people in organizations. What I’m finding the most valuable is this. I consider it not only an investment in finding business, but an investment in improving mine, while meeting some truly great people.
My core message is that, as a student, I felt like I was always asking for something, mostly a job. But this is not where the value of networking is. It’s talking with real people, with real issues that may be similar or different to your own, and mutually helping each other out along the way, is the real value.
Cheers,
Krysty Wideen
Click here for Krysty’s bio
Most organizational development firms offer a “change” related service. This can take many forms: change strategy, change implementation, change evaluation, etc. But what is change, really?
We don’t need much help understanding what the word means on a basic level — it is a difference between two situations or states. We can talk about a person changing, a team changing, a company changing, or a system changing. We can also talk about the physical environment changing … in fact, it is easier to “notice” changes in our physical environment than it is with a person or organization (especially when it is a change for the worse!).
The nature of organizational and personal change has been on my mind quite a bit in the last year. We hope (and advertise) that our services help foster change. We hope that the learning interventions we deliver have a positive impact on individuals and organizations. We even seek to measure such impacts from the most superficial (“happy sheets”) to the most fundamental (“ROI”). We hope that when counselling executives on strategy or when doing in-depth one-on-one coaching, we are fundamentally shifting mindset, knowledge, or behaviour.
At the same time, I believe some of the ways the organizational development industry talks about change is not very helpful. We are guilty of this ourselves from time to time.
The issue revolves around seeing change as a result of something, as opposed to change as something unfolding. In the realm of learning work, we can see this when business people use expressions like “the program produced a change” or “this intervention will lead to the positive change we need”.
I don’t believe thinking this way about the relationship between interventions and change is helpful. Neither is actually true.
Social systems are not like physical systems. When we drop a stone into a pond we can say that the stone changed the pond … a placid, glass-like sheet of water was disturbed. We wouldn’t typically say that the pond changed the stone. In matter of fact, the stone does undergo changes by being put in the pond, but the relationship is clearly much simpler in that the produced “change” is tied so closely to action and observed result.
When we design and “go in” to a client organization with a learning intervention several more complex things are happening. Multiple changes often happen that have nothing to do with our intended change. We might intend to help a group of managers give and receive better feedback. That’s our intent … like the intent of changing the surface of a pond by dropping a stone into it. But other non-intended outcomes always go along for the ride. Our intervention might cause the managers to question the politics of the organization; to question why we were called … (“am I a bad manager?”).
And, dropping ourselves into the metaphoric pond of an organization changes us … immediately … and sometimes in significant ways. Consequently, we are in relation to and in fluctuation with our clients — as individuals and as part of a changing system — from the very first time we engage with a client.
We do change work because we do learning work. Our interventions don’t just produce change; they are change. When I know we’ve done something very right with a client I know because our work is a fundamental change … not just in result but in the activity itself. The work stands for something different.
On the flipside, when our work isn’t stellar it is because we are either not able to — or not asked to — “disturb” the pond and be “disturbed” in turn by the pond.
I would be most happy if instead of viewing learning as a way to accomplish change, we viewed learning as change (and vice versa). This shift in thinking would, I feel, help create more powerful interventions which actually do lead to better future states for people (including ourselves), systems, organizations, and communities.
–Mark Frein, Consulting Practice Leader
We are in the business of convincing other people that our ideas, our presentation of those ideas, and the ways we help others arrive at new ideas is worth money. It’s a funny business in many ways. Particular to Refinery philosophy, we are in the business of helping other people — and the organizations they are a part of — learn and improve.
Fundamental to our business is how well we learn, grow, and adapt to the people who stand at the “gateways” to our ultimate clients (the people with whom we work). Usually, these gateway individuals or meta-clients are senior Human Resource or Training managers. Success in our industry is tied intimately to developing close relationships with these individuals … such people can literally make (or break) a career and make or break a firm.
These relationships can be short or long. In our business, long-term client relationships are the best sources for business growth and stability. These relationships are like dances … one may not always be dancing with the partner as you can’t dance continuously without rest, but there is a shared feeling that when you will dance, you will be asked by that partner to join him or her. We can’t reasonably expect to always be “in” business with our clients … there will be times when we aren’t providing work for them because there is no need … or because of ebbs and flows of business realities. What we want to aim for is to be the “pick” when there is business to be done that fits our capacity AND be able to turn to these clients to speak on our behalf (even when we aren’t looking/listening).
There is plenty of popular literature on making client relationships in the services industry work … a great book with wonderful stories is One to One B2B by Peppers and Rogers. Two concepts important to their account of successful B2B relationship development are Trust and Teaching/Learning.
Trust is critical to any relationship and business relationships are no exception. The trust relationship with a client is tricky; ultimately, we must build our trust on the confidence that we are acting professionally, and in the best interests of the client at large … meaning, it is challenging at times to balance the trust relationship fostered between ourselves and an individual meta-client (our HR stakeholder) while recognizing that ultimately our client isn’t “simply” this person: it is the organization as well. We are trusted that we will do good work, put our best resources on a project, act with integrity, etc. One of our values is also “just tell the truth” so it is important that we live this value with our clients, even when it risks trust. Indeed, it is critically important that we are trusted to tell the truth as trust is a form of confidence that what we say is what we do.
Teaching/learning is another concept they refer to. This one is much more complex as ideally the teaching/learning relationship is a two-way street and in a process of evolution for both client and vendor. However, as Peppers and Rogers articulate, we (being the provider) will simply not get business if we do not offer something new, different, and ultimately “teachable” to the client as well as to participants in our services. The worst scenario for us, in many ways, is to struggle to be able to articulate to a client what we offer that is beyond their internal capacity. Ideally, during the dance of a long-term client relationship we are learning more and more from them about their reality and their culture, while they are learning more and more about possibilities, new ways of thinking, new directions for action from us. It is and should be collaborative; yet many client-vendor relationships begin to go “south” when the client starts to question who is really the lead dance partner and who is the follower.
As with any long term human relationship, there will be ups and downs. I have personally never had a long-term relationship with a client that did not have its incredibly stressful or difficult moments. What I have learned is that in these relationships — as with any relationship — it is how difficulties are addressed and how open and authentic communication is that “saves” or even deepens the relationship. In my mind, the absolute worst crime is to enter a blaming exercise … either blaming ourselves (for screwing up) or blaming the client (for not “getting it”). Blame, as in any human relationship, does not mend tears … it builds walls. It is so easy to enter this game, however, but so critical to resist.
One long-term relationship that has been particularly successful for my career as a professional in our field was characterized by a major delivery going fully “sideways”. I had led a team in doing a very experimental piece of work … which, from the point of view of “delivery” alone was spectacular. However, it fundamentally was at odds with some very basic cultural and system contraints on the client side. Simply, we/I had taken some risks and what we hoped for didn’t happen. While not an outright “disaster”, the intent and process of the program unravelled before our mutual eyes.
We did have a great record of performance with this client, which helped in the end. But what I believe helped more was my willingness to own up to the risks we took — not apologizing for taking them — but seeking to account for why we took them and why it didn’t work. I “blamed” neither the client or myself, but tried to make public with the client what had happened from a learning perspective. In doing so, the client and other senior stakeholders still learned. As did I.
If we do not model our purpose — learning and growth — in every action we take, we run the risk of having clients miss the point of why they should dance with us. I’m still “dancing” with this client after a decade of relationship. Despite this relatively big misstep, the client speaks very highly of what I do, and my approach to work. Most importantly, the client affirms with others that I practice what I preach and am committed to the dance, to the relationship.
My own career has had many mistakes with clients that have taught me well. I like to think I’ve had just as many successes. But each new dance partner presents a different challenge and the teaching/learning never stops.
Mark Frein
Ever wondered how The Refinery got its name? It is question we’re regularly asked, so for those of you who are interested, here’s a brief history lesson.
Many years ago, when Barb and I were starting to build this enterprise we were faced with one of the toughest decision we had to make. What do we call ourselves? We were still in the middle of defining all kinds of things such as our philosophy, what we did, etc. And so while we knew we needed it, a name wasn’t an easy thing to come up with. Out of the blue we thought of The Centre of Exceptional Leadership. A little cheeky we thought, but it seemed to work. And so we became CEL – in fact that’s what we were called when we worked in Puerto Rico. It took us a while to figure out who this group called “sell” were.
Then three years ago, we decided we needed to up our marketing and branding efforts. We were looking for someone to help us, when a guy called Ray Torresan came into our office to talk to us. Some of the first words out of his mouth were “I have a hunch you need to change your name.” Ray took us aback. We had no idea. But he’d been doing a bit of research and had found out that either people thought we were some academic think-tank or they couldn’t remember our name. True enough we’d been called the Centre for every kind of leadership possible. But we had no idea. We needed Ray to point it out to us.
We, or rather I should say Ray, then set out on a quest to find a different name. I remember merrily telling Ray that I thought it would be pretty easy – by then we were really clear on who we were and what we stood for. Famous last words! Every week or so, Ray would present us with a list of names and every week or so we’d say “well, it’s almost it but not quite”. And Ray would go back to the drawing board.
Then one Sunday, Barb was doing her laundry, when Ray phoned. “I’ve got it!” he announced excitedly. “And I have to show you right now.” And so he did. Then I got the call from Barb. “I think we’ve got it, but I’m not going to tell you. Ray will be in first thing on Monday.” Thanks Barb, sure I can wait.
I remember when Ray presented his idea. He had realized we’d been on the wrong track and had been looking for that simple obvious name. But that wasn’t who we were. We needed a name that differentiated us, that intrigued people, and that made people think. Ray had figured out that it needed to be a metaphor, a name that was out of context but said so much. And a name that people remembered.
I remember when Ray first presented The Refinery. I had the same reaction as many do today. I looked puzzled, thought hard and then I got it. It was perfect in so many ways. A refinery takes raw product through a sometimes complex process. The net result of this process is a product of high value. Similarly, we provide the process in which individuals can release their leadership potential and organizations can realize their full potential. Refineries provide the process, just as we do. And while I wouldn’t say we extract impurities, we do remove dysfunctional habits and systems. The fact that at that time we worked with many resource-based companies was just a coincidence. Really.
Since then, The Refinery has grown on us. We’ve even developed our own language around it. If we need something formatted with our look it becomes “refined.” And sure enough, our clients are becoming “refined” as well, but in a Refinery kind of way.
Rosie Steeves
