"In dwelling, live close to the ground. In thinking, keep to the simple. In conflict, be fair and generous. In governing, don't try to control. In work, do what you enjoy..." ~Lao Tzu
"Authority is always built on service and sacrifice." ~James C. Hunter, The Servant
"This project would move along much more quickly if everyone assigned to the project actually wanted to be on the team," remarked a client at the outset of our recent meeting. I prodded her for additional detail.
"For instance," she continued, "while most of us arrive for the project meetings on time and prepared to focus upon the agenda, we have a few members who straggle in, phones still attached to their ears, wearing undisguised disdain for being burdened with having to attend the meeting. We are all managers and supervisors in our various areas, but for some reason it appears that these few believe that their position should exempt them from having to work on the project. When drawn into the discussion by the Project Leader, these few individuals deflect commitments or delay sharing needed data from their areas of responsibility. Worse, they sometimes become downright abrasive when pressed by others who are relying upon those commitments or data."
As my colleague Robert Whipple discusses in "Wag More, Bark Less", a barking dog is simply warning possible encroachers to steer clear of his territory. But almost nothing could be less desirable in the workplace than an environment of feared territorial encroachment. In the ever-increasing competitiveness for consumers in our industry, as Leaders and Team Members we must become more effective collaborators at cross-training, supporting one another's efforts and ultimately delivering the best products and services to fulfill our members'/customers' needs.
As a contracted Project Team Facilitator, I cannot afford myself the luxury of brandishing my title and authority or shirking my responsibilities to the Project Team or to the Organization. An effective Project Team requires that ALL members of the team--regardless of organizational title or number of employees reporting to them--must come to the Project Team as equals in responsibility. The Organization forms a Project Team for a sole purpose: To Achieve the Objective.
Perhaps your Organization is merging with another Organization; launching a new technology platform; rolling out a new loan product. At the end of the Project, regardless of the detail of the metrics, success will ultimately be measured by: Did We Achieve the Objective?
How do you ensure that individual pretense, self-importance, and other personal blindspots do not reduce your Project Team's effectiveness?
- Early in the project (best: at the kick-off meeting), communicate the shared expectation to all assigned Team Members that you are coming together as a Team of equals, chosen for the respective strengths and expertise that each individual brings to the Project Team.
- If during the project life cycle certain individuals fail to fully engage or actively disassociate themselves from the shared responsibility to the Project Team, then politely but directly remind those individuals of the path between their participation/contribution and the successful achievement of the Project Objective.
- Follow up as necessary with offline one-on-one dialogue to uncover any additional reasons that the recalcitrant individual may have for failing to support his own shared responsbility to the Project Team.
- When personal responsibility and inherent professionalism fail to spur that individual to shoulder his responsibility to effectively achieve the Project Objective, you may then use additional Organizational leverage to the extent needed.
My final point is rooted in the concept well espoused by Jack Welch that some managers in the workplace may not be of the caliber that your Organization would seek to retain to reach its long-term Objectives. That being said, sometimes the high level of collaboration required for a Project Team to successfully achieve its Objective is underdeveloped in (or rejected by) a percentage of managers in your Organization. Upon having the deficiency brought to their attention, many individuals will accept the feedback, seek self-improvement, and grow as Leaders from the experience. But those individuals who choose to remain islands unchanged will find themselves islands outside of the Organization. Bon voyage!
"Everyone must choose one of two pains: The pain of discipline or the pain of regret." ~Jim Rohn
"If a warrior is to succeed at anything, the success must come gently, with a great deal of effort but with no stress or obsession." ~Carlos Castaneda
I am obviously a proponent of workplace and societal effectiveness, especially when working in financial institution teams to accomplish myriad objectives that contribute to achieving the core aims of the organization. Often we are called upon to exhibit flexibility and efficiency to work effectively in those teams. And while many of us are familiar with Fisher & Ury's excellent negotiation read, GETTING TO YES, my friend, Monty Rainey, raises some interesting points in his article regarding the questionable effectiveness of Multitasking that led me to consider the alternative wisdom of "getting to no."
"Just Say No" became the popular cultural refrain in response to the epidemic of youth drug use a generation ago and remains equally important today. When faced with cataclysmic outcomes such as drug addiction, child abuse, or genocide, we may find it unquestionably simple to resoundingly say "no" to the heinous perpetrators and actions that lead to pain, suffering and death of countless individuals globally. Why, then, do so many of us lack that same resolve to say "no" when it comes to the everyday requests we find ourselves bombarded with via email, telephone, and in person?
As Stephen Covey aptly said, "(with people) if you want to save time, don't be efficient. With people, slow is fast and fast is slow." Yet, how often do we find ourselves attempting to efficiently multitask our family, household and faith life responsibilities? The internal conversation goes something like this: "Well, if I can review this proposal while helping Timmy with his Algebra homework after picking him up from hockey, then I can microwave some soup and help Betty with her science fair project that's due tomorrow once Lilly brings her home from ballet. That should leave me enough time to complete my presentation while I watch the 11 o'clock news." Did you smile knowingly, even just a little bit?
Our spouses, our children and our friends deserve the quality of our time, not simply the spectre of our harried presence. While there are admittedly differing viewpoints, as noted by Maureen Salamon (Healthday), this tendency to overschedule and multitask has even infiltrated the lives of our youth, causing varying degrees of unnecessary stress in children.
Applying that same perspective to our financial institutions and our teams, I invite you to review the outcomes you seek to achieve and I encourage you to examine the expectations and roles--both explicit and implicit--that each contributor is fulfilling to ensure that each member of the team has been assigned an appropriate share of the effort. As Leaders, we must factor into our review the cultural perceptions that each team member may have regarding priorities and imperatives, and ensure that an expectation of work-life balance is clearly communicated to everyone.
We must empower our team members to know that it is acceptable to choose to say "no" when a proposed additional task or project would impede an organizational objective of higher importance. While we must also be careful not to create the false impression that no one is expected to remain flexible when higher importance objectives arise, we should emphasize that increased efficiency and decreased error rates can be achieved when one is allowed to "Just Do It"--to focus upon the highest priorities first--instead of attempting to juggle too many multitasked items.
A confident and integrity-driven Leader knows that he can trust his team members to plan accordingly to meet or beat each milestone on the timeline. Given that trust, those same team members are better able to balance their lives outside of the organization, thus moving them personally into better alignment with their loved ones and their community. The most effective project leaders and team members I've observed are those men and women who know how to kindly say "no" and then get back to the task at hand. The strongest banks and credit unions will continue to be led by those focused Leaders.
TODAY'S QUESTION: Do members of your team continue to labor under the illusion of multitasking? What can we do as Leaders to authentically convey the effectiveness of focused attention and remove the expectation of multitasking?
"Character is much easier kept than recovered." -Thomas Paine
"You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him." -James D. Miles
I recently visited a service provider in my local area, and received the value-added service that I have now come to expect from the organization. In fact, their service offerings are nearly identical to many local competitors, but I continue to loyally patronize the organization for one particular "plus factor": character. Quite simply, not only do their representatives not attempt to sell me products and services that don't fulfill my needs, but they will also inform and dissuade me if I am requesting a product or service for which I do not currently have a need. Now THAT is a plus factor that makes financial sense.
You have likely observed and most certainly have heard or read about other organizations' business transactions that were conducted with something less than integrity and fair dealing. One does not have to be thinking of large conglomerates or evil backroom deals to understand the deeply negative impact that such actions have upon unwary customers, innocent employees and other competitors in the industry. In fact, most of our interactions with business organizations likely occur locally, whether they be our professional or our personal dealings.
Consider the organizations that you return to for products and services. Even if the products and services themselves are fungible in the marketplace, something (quality, service, dependability, etc.) draws you back to that organization or even one particular location or representative of an organization with whom you enjoy conducting your transactions. Spend a moment jotting down 2 or 3 words that describe attributes you value in that organization. Although the words "integrity" or "character" may not appear initially among the top 2 or 3 descriptors, if we were to analyze that organization more thoroughly, we would most likely discover that foundational pillars of the culture include integrity and character.
Character cannot be taught, but it will most certainly be modeled and adopted throughout an organization. For an individual who is still developing his/her character or who struggles with integrity decisions, well-placed coaching may often provide a life-changing shift toward stronger character. Conversely, a perversion of character leading to a lack of integrity will also be modeled and adopted. When the Leaders in an organization live lives of integrity day in and day out, their character--whether at home, in the community, or in the organization--becomes firmly entrenched in making right choices.
Character-based Leaders will attract like-minded team members, provide role models for others whose character is still being formed, and repel those individuals who do not share the same value of strong character. This principle holds true whether we are speaking of a family, a youth group or a project team.
When members of a Team measure themselves against a character-based standard, their personal development, professional interactions, and service to clients/customers/members is infused with integrity. Such a culture requires less formal rules, fosters teamwork and continuous improvement, and serves to eliminate many of its own potential challenges because individuals who attempt to subvert the character-based standard are quickly identified and either choose to leave or are asked to leave. A culture built upon a character-based standard provides no haven for shortcuts, duplicity, or lazy performance.
Customers recognize when they are being dealt with fairly and transparently, because they themselves are persons of integrity. Hence they not only return to your organization and its team members, but these customers also send their friends, family and colleagues to do business with you as well. Your growing customer base and healthy bottom line attest to the success of your character-based culture being practiced by your Teams.
Unfortunately, the converse is true as well, so competitors who fail to develop a character-based culture may attempt to gain marketshare through gimmicks, duplicity, or outright disregard for true customer needs and team member welfare. In the end, such a competitor will fail in business because the Leaders failed themselves, their Teams and their customers. Not a pretty sight!
You are Leader committed to the character-based standard, so I can already envision how you treat your family, your team members, and your customers. Continue to set that standard and those who interact with you and work for you will model and adopt integrity-laden principles as well. Your investment will be well worth it, both in the short run and in the end.
TODAY'S QUESTION: Are there individuals in my organization who may be failing to support our character-based culture for whom coaching may provide the additional encouragement they need to succeed here?
