by D. Kevin Berchelmann | Mar 28, 2018 | Brazen Leader, Executive Improvement, Kevin Berchelmann, Miscellaneous Business Topics, Organizational Effectiveness
As leaders, we need data and information to make sound decisions. Without them, we are but knee-jerk reactionaries, our direction and focus more resembling a weather vane in the wind than the rock-solid vision necessary for leading others.
So, as we start this new year, let’s decide now that we’ll do everything within our power to have access to that information. For instance: Do you blow up (real or perceived) when your staff brings you really bad news? Shooting the messenger is the pinnacle of foolish; the bad news continues, you simply don’t get it anymore.
The truth is, we should embrace those delivering us bad news. Even if they caused it. we can deal with the performance and behavior later, but right now, the best thing we can hope for is knowledge.
So, what do we say to our folks to prompt such open and forthright discussions? Well, realize first that your words don’t mean squat if your actions portray something else, but here are some suggestions:
1. Tell your staff to always be honest and frank with you, particularly when one-on-one. Having to “ask the right question” to get to an answer is no way to run a railroad. Or a manufacturer. Or a construction company.
2. Make sure they don’t color bad news positively. Present it “naked,” so to speak. As I frequently tell clients, “I’m just going to say this, and probably poorly. Please allow me to clean it up afterward.” You do the same. Unvarnished, bare truth first, pretty, glossy, covers later.
3. They need to know that you want ALL relevant information — good and bad. It’s not “horn-tootin’” to let you know of things that happened as planned; it’s simply informing your boss of relevant status. Both are important.
4. Tell them you want both sides of any story with known conflict. We can’t be interested in a one-sided flow of information; the hallmark of a good senior manager is the ability to see and discuss both sides, even if they personally favor one.
5. Make sure they realize that, if they know the answer, they should say so. Equally, if they don’t know the answer, they shouldn’t wrap it in so much BS that it appears they do.
These are merely suggestions. It’s a new year; time to correct some old “wrongs,” establish some new “rights.” One of those rights should be positive, accurate communications between you and your staffs.
As a friend of mine is so fond pf saying… “This ain’t rocket surgery.”
by D. Kevin Berchelmann | Feb 11, 2018 | Brazen Leader, Executive Improvement, Kevin Berchelmann, Organizational Effectiveness
Human Resources is not a day care. As such, conflict resolution should only be a part of our accountabilities as it relates to making the business successful.
In other words, we aren’t resolving conflict merely to create some kumbaya-looking harmonious state; we resolve conflict so employees will work better and be more productive.
Sometimes, the right answer can be taken from a day care playbook: Shut up, sit down, and color. Quit touching her. Don’t make me stop this car. The list goes on.
They all mean the same thing — “Drop the petty stuff and get back to work.”
I know that sounds heartless, but we are actually paying these folks, right? I don’t think saying, “Hey, I paid you last week — do your job and quit starting trouble” is terribly out of line. In fact, we should probably say it more often.
Yes, there are times when conflict resolution skills come in handy; times when more finesse and delicate handling is called for. But let’s be real — that’s not the norm. Too frequently, HR gets involved in regular, interpersonal dynamics that have little to do with business productivity or success, and everything to do with one employee’s general dislike of another.
Stay focused on what matters. Don’t hesitate to say, “Shut up, sit down, and color.”
If that doesn’t work, put them in time-out…
by D. Kevin Berchelmann | Feb 10, 2018 | Brazen Leader, Executive Improvement, Kevin Berchelmann, Organizational Effectiveness
In this and 4 subsequent blog entries, I”m expanding on the “5 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership” I outlined in a recent article.
This first law is based on decision-making; one of the most significant things we must do, as leaders, is to make decisions. Some will be good, some require further decision-making.
Law #1: Never delay or abrogate a decision that must be made. Make it and move on. You may have to immediately make another decision; this doesn’t mean your first one was wrong, merely that your second one had the benefit of additional knowledge.
Let me share a story…
I used to work for a 30-year General, a war veteran with a chest full of medals, ribbons, and other colorful accouterments. Great guy, razor sharp, did not suffer fools lightly. His name was Brigadier General Lawrence Bose.
General Bose, as many battle-hardened leaders (military and corporate) seem to be, was known to say some pretty profound things. The sorts of things you would tell yourself, “Hey, I need to remember that one…” Some actually stuck, which for me, is nothing short of miraculous. One, in particular…
“Shirt,” he would say (“Shirt” was sort of slang for “First Sergeant” in the USAF), “Leaders don’t really make good decisions or bad; they just make decisions. If they’ve done their job correctly, the people working for them make the results of those decisions good.”
Now, never mind whether you agree that decisions are never classified as “good” or “bad.” Set that part aside… more important is the leadership genius behind the comment. Our jobs as leaders is to make decisions. We’ve heard this a hundred times, so here’s a hundred and one: A mediocre decision made promptly and unequivocally trumps a really good decision delayed and hesitant.
Another fairly well known General, George S. Patton, put it this way: “A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.”
Consider this: If we’ve managed our talent appropriately, and developed our staffs as we should, most of our decisions will result in unmitigated success — those people working with us will make sure of it.
Just make the damned decision…
by D. Kevin Berchelmann | Feb 7, 2018 | Brazen Leader, Executive Improvement, Miscellaneous Business Topics
Yes, leadership development can cost money. Most of us believe the returns are well worth it, and I’ve had the professional pleasure of working with many of you in improving the skills and behaviors in your leadership staffs. Plus I do this stuff for a living, and I like getting paid.
But you know what? Most of the more significant things that leaders can do are free.
That’s right. Gratis, free of charge. No sales tax, shipping and handling, or any other spurious expense. What, then, can we do to take advantage of this FREE leadership development? Nothing more than some simple effort on your part.
Without going into ad nauseum detail, suffice to say that there are three very simple things that a leader can do to set him/herself apart (positively) from the pack:
- Ask for input. Even when you already think you know the answer. Here’s the funny thing, and those I’ve worked with have heard me say this countless time: ask frequently for others’ input.
If you ask all the time, people don’t get offended when you don’t “take” their suggestions each and every time proffered. If you only ask once per year, that person will fully expect you to use their input in a meaningful way… after all, why would you finally ask if you weren’t going to take it?
Besides, keep on asking, even if you don’t believe you’ll get a meaningful response. Even a blind squirrel gets a nut every now and then, and who knows? Maybe that employee will just get lucky…
- Say please and thank you. Face it — no employee with the brains of a rock believes when their boss “asks” them to do something, it’s really a choice… what does it hurt, then, to always —
ALWAYS — say “please,’ and “thank you?”
At the end of the day, you’ve got the business card. You can always be a jerk and say “do it my way.” Just don’t lead with that.
- Admit mistakes. Freely. And don’t water them down with that passive-aggressive crap, like “I probably shouldn’t have done that, but…” or “In hindsight…” Call it like it is — I SCREWED UP! I made a mistake, and I hope to do better. Then LEAVE IT ALONE!
Credibility can skyrocket when leaders accept full (not conditional) responsibility for their actions.
Warren Buffet, the Gandhi of all investing, recently apologized to the world for buying a poor-performing stock. He didn’t blame the subsequent losses on the market, the mortgage industry, or the government. He said, “…I have been dead wrong. The terrible timing of my purchase cost Berkshire several billion dollars.”
Several billion dollars?? If Buffet can fess up to a mistake costing more money than the GDP of 90% of all the world’s countries, surely we can own up to some near-trivial misstep during our regular workday?
These three things — all by themselves — can help leaders stand out from the mediocre masses. You’d think it was pulling teeth, though, since none are as common as they should be.
Make them common with you.
Be Brazen.
by D. Kevin Berchelmann | Feb 6, 2018 | Brazen Leader, Executive Improvement, Kevin Berchelmann
We spend no small amount of money on employee retention. Do we spend the right money on retaining the right employees?? Hmmm, I wonder…
Employee retention, the RIGHT employee retention, is a significant issue for businesses today.
Retention is personal; there are some things we can do to create a generally favorable environment, but that’s a small piece of the big puzzle.
You know how to retain key employees?? You ASK them what it takes to keep them. This isn’t rocket science, though we sometimes try to make it as difficult as possible.
Now, most managers would prefer it not be so ‘personal,’ since that brings them in close with employees, and puts them – as managers – squarely in the bulls-eye if the retention efforts don’t work out.
Sure, there are some foundational things we can do; Frederick Herzberg called them “Hygiene Factors.” [Shameless commercial plug: I identify these “Input Assumptions” in my Performance Triangle model] Acceptable compensation and benefits, a safe work environment, generally free from harassment, etc. All these are necessary, but simple. They aren’t, however, “satisfiers.” They merely remove the “DIS-satisfiers.” Not nearly the same thing, but significant nonetheless.
I sincerely believe that key-person retention and development should be a significant part of every manager’s accountabilities, and a central component of his or her incentive program. Succession plans are neat; employee and managerial development programs are great. All of these initiatives, of course, hinge on us KEEPING those employees. It’s time to take retention seriously.
Also interestingly, I have two clients who have retained me to find quality engineering and process-consulting professionals. These have become challenging searches, to say the least. Finding “bodies” is simple; online postings, a few databases, and you’re there. Finding QUALITY candidates, however, who can add value to these organizations, has become incredibly difficult.
Where did they go? 6-7 years ago, we couldn’t find technical talent, since it was all absorbed. 5 years ago, there was a glut. Today, there’s a shortage… did they all change fields? I suspect they are still there, just not as open to discuss leaving an organization that has hired and been good to them – much different than the “free agent” thinking that brought chaos to hiring in the late 1990’s and 2000.
Curiously, the things that retain workers today – development, skill enhancement, advancement opportunities – are those things that can create the vacuum necessary for an organization to get those workers to consider their opportunities.
Keep an eye on your workers, and develop necessary plans to keep them. Someone else — your competitors, likely — are looking at them as a potential trained talent pool…
by D. Kevin Berchelmann | Jan 17, 2018 | Brazen Leader, Miscellaneous Business Topics, Uncategorized
Leadership is inherently simple.
By that, I mean that leadership is not complex. Can it be difficult? Certainly. But we need to remember to keep things as simple as humanly possible.
We read books, articles, white papers, etc.… All in search of a silver bullet, a magic wand, or something that will allow us to leapfrog common sense and simple leadership techniques. We study “The Five Principles of Employee Engagement;” we listen intently to the webinar, “How to Increase Employee Commitment;” we read books on “Motivating Millennials.”
And we don’t get any better. In fact, many could make a good argument that as we study these “new and innovative” techniques our ability to actually lead people gets worse. In other words, the more we “know,” the less we do.
My advice then is simple: just stop it! (love me some Bob Newhart…)
Leadership is really simple. Truly non-rocket surgery sorts of stuff. We rarely get into trouble for failing to “engage” employees, or for failing to “motivate millennials.” Nope, we usually get in a bind because we forgot to set clear expectations, refused to diffuse known conflict, or maybe we just didn’t listen to the feedback we received from interested employees. This is not higher level math. Leadership hasn’t changed much in a couple of thousand years.
The business of leadership is inherently simple. A couple of years ago, I was at Champions Golf Club in Houston Texas as a guest of a good friend of mine (Roy). The owner of the club, Jackie Burke, used to be a PGA Pro, winning the Masters and PGA tournaments. Roy and I were having drinks in the locker room when Jackie came and sat down with us. As we were discussing the strange economic times, Jackie described an event from 50-some years ago. In Jackie’s words…:
I attended a Northeast liberal arts college, before business majors were mainstream. In one class, we had a visiting lecturer from a large nearby business. He explained that he was not a professor, but would do his best nonetheless. He divided our class of 20 into four groups of five; he then went to one chalkboard and wrote in large print the number 50. 
Walking across the room to the other chalkboard he wrote, in similar size, 51. He instructed us to work in our groups, and explain the significance of these two numbers.
You could feel the intense mental gyrations occurring in each group. These young upstarts, destined to be captains of industry, were churning away. Guessing, postulating, brainstorming… They were so intent at solving the riddle that the visitor had to loudly proclaim that their deliberations were over so they could discuss the results before the class time ran out.
He then asked each group to provide their answers and offer an explanation; and they were aplenty. “Perhaps it’s the age of the successful CEO,” said one group. “It’s the margins necessary for any business to succeed,” said another. Still another opined that perhaps it was the leverage to equity ratio required for long-term success in business. The room was literally abuzz with suggestions, opinions, and outright guesses.
Finally, the visiting gentlemen explain the correct answer: “if you make this,” pointing to the number 50, “don’t spend this,” he said, pointing to the number 51.
To quote Sean Connery, “there endeth the first lesson.”
Now, I always hate to simply offer opinions on matters in these articles. I like to provide some practical tips, so here goes… If you want to know “How to Simplify Leadership,” there are some simple ways:
- I know, I know… It sounds so simple. Actually, it is. Set expectations — clear expectations — for those you lead. Then, give feedback, letting them know how well they are progressing toward reaching those expectations (or not). Get good at — and insist on — receiving feedback from those you lead. You can’t survive without it. Finally, listen. Learn to really listen. I don’t mean hear; I don’t mean notice; and I don’t mean simply acknowledge. I mean listen.
- Set a positive example. Sounds so simple, but we screw this up more than anything else. You must model the behavior that you want your followers to emulate. Remember that leading by example is not a choice, you do it every time you show up. And part of that example must be remaining positive. There is no place for bitching, moaning, whining and complaining in leadership.
- You’ve gotta have it. Be honest, be consistent. Do what you say you’ll do.
That’s it. Sure, there are plenty of other tips, techniques and methods to fine tune your leadership approach and success. None, however, will trump the simplicity of the three listed above.
In the 1300s there was a theologian and philosopher named William of Occam. Now Billy (I like to call him Billy) was a pretty smart dude. He came up with something (later named after him) called Occam’s Razor, which simply stated means that the simplest solution is usually the best. In other words, folks, if you hear hoofbeats in the distance it could be zebras… It’s more likely, however, to simply be horses.
Words for leaders to live by.
Be Brazen.
