Are You Letting Others Add to Your Workload?

Beware of the upward delegator. When others come to you with a problem, be careful not to make their responsibilities yours.

In an effort to end the conversation and get back to your already full agenda you may offer to “look into” the problem. The result: a new project for you.

Instead, turn the conversation around and offer to review the finished work.

Source: 365 Ways to Simplify Your Work Life, by Odette Pollar.

Do you keep your e-Mail inbox empty? If not, why not?

Your inbox should be empty on a regular basis. It’s an inbox not a keepbox.

What makes groups successful and what gets them stuck?

There was a gentleman in the 80's (Meredith Belbin) who discovered the Apollo Syndrome. His discovery was broken down into a couple of key concepts. Your group will be successful with the absence of highly dominant individuals and a leader that can hold their own, but not dominate. Also, the leader would need to be skeptical of anyone in the group who "had an agenda" because the "deadly embrace" would happen. "Deadly embrace" came from the computer world when computers with competing agendas in a network would stop each other from making progress.

Have you ever witnessed someone using empathy just to get something?

Empathy is identifying with someone on the basis of feelings, thoughts, or attitudes. You don't give empathy to get something. However, when you empathize with someone else, you do connect with them and a connected team achieves desired action (and Commitment to Change) better than disconnected teams.

What is the one thing that you’re NOT willing to do for business?

I would not lie and I would not do a job without fulfilling a client need. The money is not worth trading integrity.

How do you change or improve corporate culture?

You can not change or improve corporate culture until you hire and retain the people with the desired culture to begin with. Once the majority of people have the desired culture, they will work like antibodies encircling the infected area until it improves, changes, or ejects itself.

5 Keys to Building Trust

A recent survey concluded that trust has declined at three out of four workplaces over the past two years.

Here’s what you can do to help reverse that trend in your organizations:

• Start from a position of trust. You can approach trust in two ways: 1) trust people on the front end and withdraw it if they prove untrustworthy, or 2) withhold trust until you’re sure it’s warranted. Risk trying No. 1.

• Be consistent. Eliminate discrepancies between what you say and what you do. People can’t count on you if you react one way today and another way tomorrow.

• Listen with an open mind and respect others’ opinions. Attempt to understand and be open to what you hear. Every opinion is worth hearing, even if you don’t agree with it.

• Admit your mistakes. When you’ve erred, others probably know it. Own up to your mistakes and apologize when you’re wrong. Don’t pass the buck or blame others.

• Give credit where credit is due. If the team as a whole did something great, say so. There’s plenty of recognition to go around.

Source: Polish Your People Skills. Published by AMACOM, 1601 Broadway, NY 10019.

What is the best way to deal with difficult people?

The answer lies in Stephen Covey's Habit # 5 of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: "Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood".

Empathic listening to a difficult-to-deal-with-person is powerful because it gives you accurate data to work with. "Projection" happens when we project our own autobiography (through evaluation, probing, advising, or interpreting) on to others.

When we filter everything through our own paradigm, we miss empathic listening. Instead, rephrasing their content and reflecting their feeling offers a transformational opportunity for them to see themselves in a different light...and that may be the change you're seeking.

I witnessed this, personally, when I was voluntarily working with inmates in a correctional facility. We had a rather difficult-to work-with inmate that we saw transform before our eyes!

What is the difference between a group and a team?

Teams:

• are a group of people working towards a common goal
• clarify goals
• identify hurdles that prevent them from reaching their goals and remove them
• forge pathways to get to their goals
• set up performance measurements to get to their goals

Groups:

• have limited techniques to get to goals that may not be set up
• may not resolve relationship problems all that well
• can distract the people involved from achieving their individual goals
• can meander

Can conflict be a good thing?

Absolutely...conflict is essential to productivity. A sailboat cannot sail without some type of resistance. If there is fear of conflict, the organization or family is dysfunctional.

How do you encourage honest feedback?

Input from bosses, co-workers, or employees is the best tool you have to improve your performance.

But you may be unintentionally sending the message that any criticism – constructive or not – is unwelcome. Even a slightly negative cue can effectively cut off communication.

Here’s how to convey that you’re open to input from others:

 Remember, giving feedback is a risk. Offering constructive criticism is like walking through a minefield. Thank those who take that risk. This reassurance will encourage them to keep communication open and honest.

 Assume they want to help. People who offer feedback are most likely doing so because they want to improve their relationship with you. Those who just want to gripe rarely tell you what they’re thinking.

 Assume the feedback is accurate. Perception is reality. If others say your actions have a negative effect on them, that’s the truth – regardless of what you intended. Explaining your intentions can help, but it doesn’t solve the problem. You must change your behavior to make a positive impact.

 Think now, act later. Exposing a shortcoming almost always hits a nerve, so distance yourself from feedback before you decide what to do about it.

Source: Teaming Up: Making the Transition to a Self-Directed, Team-Based Organization. Published by McGraw-Hill, 800-722-4726.