Archive for the ‘Leadership’ Category

In organizational development and certain psychology and HR circles, they talk about job embeddedness. It’s an odd sounding term that simply refers to how attached an employee is to their job. The more embedded an employee is, the less likely they are to leave their job and the organization.

There are three main parts to job embeddedness:

• Fit – Job fit refers to whether or not an employee’s knowledge and skills match job demands and it also refers to the employee’s sense of belonging. Do they feel like they are a good fit for the job? A good fit for their team? And a good fit for the organization?
• Links – Links are strong positive connections with other employees. Has an employee developed positive ties with their team and other colleagues?
• Sacrifice – If an employee left the organization, would they be giving up things they value? These can be material or psychological costs. What would they sacrifice if they left? What’s the cost of leaving?

Job embeddedness is important because if you can increase an employee’s embeddedness, they are less likely to leave. Research has shown it increases retention as well as performance. Employees who feel they are a good fit have a sense of job security, feel like they belong, are more committed, and more motivated to do their job well.

Ways to Increase Embeddedness

There are several things you can do as a leader or manager to increase your employee’s sense of belonging and fit. The first starts with onboarding—the process you use to bring new employees into the company. Studies have consistently shown the first 90 days on the job to be critical in terms of whether or not an employee commits and makes the decision to stay for the long haul. Ensuring they have a positive first experience, receive adequate training, and get connected or embedded quickly makes a world of difference.

Another way to increase embeddedness it to take an active role in employee career planning. What training and development opportunities do employees on your team want and need? Spend time with them to work out a career plan within your organization and make it standard practice to promote from within.

Third, enhance work-life balance. This plays to the sacrifice component of job embeddedness. Provide employees with more control over how, when, and where they do their job. You may even want to consider implementing a results-only work environment (or ROWE) which will allow employees to more effectively manage their work and their life. With more control over their schedule, they can pursue interests outside of work as well. This raises the cost of leaving. They will be sacrificing a whole lot more than just a job if they leave. They’ll be giving up work-life balance, the freedom to pursue other interests, and control over their schedule. That’s a pretty significant sacrifice.

Finally, consider moving employees around within the organization if they don’t fit on their team. Perhaps you have an employee that hasn’t been able to form any positive links with their team; they don’t yet have a sense of belonging. If you shift them to another work group, they may feel a better fit and find colleagues with whom they have more similar and compatible personalities and skill sets. This can completely turn around a low performer and make them one of your star players.

If you’re interested in improving performance, productivity, and increasing retention, look at job embeddedness. Examining fit, links, and sacrifice can make a big difference in terms of whether an employee stays or goes.

Want to radically shake up how you work? It all starts with beliefs and behaviors. Here are 5 shifts in attitude and behavior that promise to revolutionize the way you work forever.

1. Shift from judging based on politics and time to judging based on performance and results. 

The way most leaders evaluate performance is a subjective mix of outcomes, face time, and office politics. Isn’t it time we evaluated performance based solely on results and contributions? Set up clear expectations and performance outcomes and then shift to judging someone’s work by the results they produce and the goals they achieve. Nothing more, nothing less. 

2. Shift from paying for a chunk of time to paying for a chunk of work.

Are you paying your employees to show up 40-hours a week and sit at a desk or are you paying them to complete a specific job and produce certain results? Hopefully it’s about the work, not the time, or you’re wasting your money. Stop thinking in terms of trading dollars for time and start thinking about trading dollars for a concrete outcome and/or the completion of a project.

3. Shift from time off as a reward to control over time as a reward.

Managers that reward their employees for a job well done by “letting” them leave early on a Friday afternoon are kidding themselves. It’s not a real reward. Managers shouldn’t act like parents “letting” their kids stay up late. Treat your employees like adults. A true reward would be giving your employees the ability to control their time, set their own schedule, and determine how and when their work gets done. You’ll most likely create a team that works harder and produces higher quality outcomes because they’ll do whatever it takes to keep that kind of reward. 

4. Shift from a command and control model of leadership to a model of trust and collaboration.

It’s time to put the old military model of leadership to bed. Command and control leadership is a thing of the past. The only person you can actually control is yourself, so you might as well give up trying to control everyone around you. It’s not going to happen. Instead, adopt a leadership model of trust and collaboration. You’ll increase your ability to influence your team and you’ll help them be more successful.

5. Shift from treating employees like children to trusting them to act like adults. 

In high school, students were treated a certain way because they were teenagers. High school was a fairly controlled environment with a routine schedule and very little choice. And if you recall, most high school students can’t wait to graduate. Why? Because once they go on to college, things immediately change. In college, professors trust students to act like adults, show up for class, study, turn in papers, and take exams. No one is telling them what to do or controlling how they do it, but college students still get the job done (and enjoy the process a whole lot more). Then, they graduate college, get a job, and it’s like high school all over again. Work should be more like college and less like high school. You can trust your employees to act like adults and they will get the job done. 

Those are just five small shifts that can radically change your perspective on work. Which shift would make the biggest and fastest impact on your work life? Pick one shift to start with and begin thinking and acting based on this new model of work. Be sure to let me know how it goes.

During our fourth and final call in the Flexible Work Summit, Blake Leath of The Blake Leath Group, Ryan Healy, co-founder of Brazen Careerist, and Kyra Cavanaugh, owner of Life Meets Work, shared “Strategies for Stretching Leaders and Teams.”

During today’s call we talked about ways to successfully implement change within your organization, how Generation Y is changing work and leadership, and tips for managing flexible performance. Here are a few of my personal notes from the call:

• Resilience is paramount in a changing work environment and can show up 4 different ways: in individuals, in behaviors (e.g., it can be practiced and learned; meaning & engagement are important), in experiences (e.g., emotional echoes), and in leadership (be engaged, accessible, and get some wins).
• The One Degree Assessment: Look for the right one degree of difference—one thing you could change and do really well, that would make a world of difference within your organization.
• Gen Y employees, despite the common perception that they are disloyal job hoppers, are actually extremely loyal to their team.
• When leading Millennial employees, take extra time to provide clear direction, fully explain expectations, and provide plenty of feedback. It’s also important to provide opportunities for leaders to emerge from groups and teams.
• Want to start a flex work policy in your organization? Take first steps by co-creating a flexible work agreement with your employees. Lay out all the expectations and set a time to revisit and revise after a trial period.
• Which side of the management style continuum are you on? Controlling or Trusting? 
• Work-life balance doesn’t have to be perceived as a “soft” benefit. You can, and should, tie flexibility to profits and productivity—especially in this economy.

If you’d like access to the full recording of the fourth session, head over to www.FlexibleWorkSummit.com and register for the entire teleseminar series (the recording is available until Friday afternoon). 

If you missed any part of the Flexible Work Summit and want to grab the recordings, transcripts, and action guides for the entire series, you can do so here. There is a Home Study version with binder and CDs, as well as a Digital Version with MP3s and PDFs. These packages are available at a discounted price for the next few days.

Finally, I’m offering $100 off of the upcoming Flexible Work Bootcamp until Friday, May 22nd. As a member of the Bootcamp you’ll receive 12-week s of in-depth and personalized training and coaching, along with a lot of extra resources to help you implement flexibility within your organization. We’re keeping the size of the group small so you and your team can get the personal attention you need to implement a customized flexible work solution within your organization. You can find the full details about the program and reserve your spot at the discounted rate at www.FlexibleWorkBootcamp.com.

As work increasingly becomes something you do, not somewhere you go, you won’t be able to count on all of your employees, colleagues, or clients working in the same place or at the same time. One big challenge we’ll face as the workplace becomes more virtual is tracking people, projects, and client work in a simple new way. 

One way technology is increasing workplace flexibility is by offering us a variety of online collaboration tools. An online collaboration tool, also known as group collaboration software, “provides tools for groups of people or organizations to share information and coordinate activities” (Wikipedia). The key word being “online,” so that any employee, anywhere in the world, can access the system at any time of day and be connected with the latest and most current business information.

There are many different types of online collaboration tools and today I want to focus on those that help with project management. What can you do with these online project management tools? 

• Project planning and coordination
• Task management
• Document and file sharing
• Contact management
• Communicate with your team
• Create reports
• Send notifications
• Sync calendars

Here are 5 group collaboration tools worth checking out. In addition to the many features listed above, I’ve included some unique capabilities, along with pricing, below:

1.  

• Additional features: Manage multiple projects at a time with to-do lists, file sharing, chatting, messages, calendars, and time tracking. This is an offering from 37Signals and integrates with their other great services. There are a ton of add-ons and extras that integrate with BaseCamp as well.  
• Cost: 30-day free trial; Monthly plans range from $24-$149/month.

2. 

• Additional features: Sales and project collaboration, internal discussion forums, and a file repository.
• Cost: 30-day free trial; Price based on users: 1-3 users free; 4+ users $150 and up/month. 

3.  

• Additional features: Internal and private team blog, Twitter-like status updates, i-cal integration, project templates, and more. 
• Cost: Manage up to 3 projects for free; Monthly plans range from $10-$99/month. 
• Behind the scenes video tour of DeskAway.com: I recently recorded a video sharing a behind the scenes look at my DeskAway account so you can see all of the features for yourself. You can check it out here: DeskAway Video 

4.

• Additional features: Consists of a set of intuitive tools designed for optimizing collaboration on projects involving internal and external resources; to-do list, project planning, document sharing, and a wiki.
• Cost: 30-day free trial and free plan for 5 users; Monthly plans range from $13-$80+/month. 

5.

• Additional features: Manage private and shared tasks, turn emails into tasks, attach files and Google Docs to tasks and projects, integrates with Google calendar.
• Cost: Free

This is just a small sampling of what’s available, but it should help you get started. If you’re using another online collaboration tool that works well for managing your virtual team, let us know. 

And if you want to learn more about how technology can improve the flexibility of your workplace, join us next week at the Flexible Work Summit, where we have 3 amazing speakers lined up on Tuesday, May 12th to address Strategies for Stretching WHERE You Work. They’ll be discussing telecommuting, virtual teams, and how to harness the power of technology to revolutionize your business. Register for your free pass today!

I want to invite you to join me and 8 other experts as we reveal how to revolutionize your business by harnessing the power of workplace flexibility. Flexibility is a proven business strategy, not a passing fad! In this free virtual seminar series you will learn the insider secrets of increasing flexibility, productivity, and success! Sign up for your free pass now: FlexibleWorkSummit.com! 

Here’s an overview of the 4 sessions:

Strategies for Stretching WHEN You Work | Monday, May 11th, 2pm CST

• How to create a competitive edge in your business by harnessing work-life integration.
• Why work-life fit is more important than work-life balance.
• How workplace flexibility isn’t just about mommies (Secret: it’s actually a cross-generational and gender-neutral issue).

Strategies for Stretching WHERE You Work | Tuesday, May 12th, 2pm CST

• How to successfully implement telecommuting and remote working for your team.
• Tips and tricks for effectively managing a virtual team.
• How to harness technology to revolutionize your workplace.

Strategies for Stretching HOW You Work | Wednesday, May 13th, 2pm CST

• How to make work all about producing results (vs. putting in time, office politics, and face time).
• How to drive results for yourself and your employees by mastering the art of managing to SMART goals.
• Secrets for turning frustrated workers into high-impact performers.

Strategies for Stretching Leaders & Teams | Thursday, May 14th, 2pm CST

• How Generation Y is changing work and leadership—and why it’s a good thing!
• How leadership must evolve to support this new world of flexible work.
• Tips for implementing flexibility in a strategic way that improves team and leader performance.

I attended a business building seminar not too long ago and as we neared the final hours on the last day, the trainer gave us time to plan our upcoming week and encouraged us to integrate what we had learned from the weekend into our schedule in the coming days.

I added several action items to my calendar and was excited to get back home and start working away. After the exercise had concluded, the trainer asked a few audience members to share what they were going to do over the next week. I was dumbfounded by their answers; everyone was going to spend the next week planning. During a rare gift of focused time to schedule action, they used their time planning to plan. Planning to plan is NOT the same as implementation!

People who are successful are taking action! Recently I heard Carrie Wilkerson, the Barefoot Executive, say something that perfectly captures this concept. She said (and I’m paraphrasing), “How much money is your potential making you? None! Start taking action.” Many of us have a ton of potential, but if we’re not taking action and putting our potential to use, we won’t be successful.

Planning is important, but where do you spend the majority of your time? Planning to plan or taking action and implementing the plan? When you start taking action on a regular basis you will be consistently successful.

Part of building a results-driven team is hiring for results. This activity will help you create results-based job descriptions for all the positions in your company. These job descriptions can be used during the recruiting, hiring, and interview process to guide you towards hiring self-directed and motivated employees that are capable of working independently. Additionally, results-based job descriptions are great tools for performance management, feedback, and coaching because they establish clear expectations and accountability. 

What is a job description? A job description is a written description of the outcomes, measurements, and reporting relationships for a particular job.

3 Characteristics of a Well Written Results-Based Job Description:

1. Clarifies the outcomes or results for which the person is responsible.
2. Establishes how progress and success will be measured and by whom.
3. Explains the consequences of meeting, exceeding, or falling short of achieving the desired result. 

As you create or rewrite your job descriptions, be careful you’re focused on results, rather than activities. Activities are not results. Activities lead to results, but activities are not outcomes. You don’t want to create a company that’s focused on being busy (e.g., lots of activity) rather than accomplishing something that matters (e.g., results). A result is a measurable, desired outcome. An activity is a tactic or task completed to achieve the result. 

Once you’ve completed this activity, put your new job descriptions to use. During interviews discuss your unique work environment and ask questions around the results-based job description you’ve created. When you purposefully hire for results, tie performance to results, and reward for results, you’re more likely to see those results achieved.

Ricardo Semler, author of The Seven Day Weekend and CEO of Brazilian-based Semco, is well-known for breaking all the rules of traditional management. At Semco there are no job descriptions, no corporate mission statements or values, they don’t have an HR department, there’s no dress code, no set schedule (people can work wherever and whenever they want), and no performance reviews. And over a six-year period, the company grew from $35 million in revenue to $212 million, with virtually no employee turnover. Clearly, Semco is on to something.

In this video he talks about his employee-friendly management philosophy and discusses how he’s applying the same ideas to a new type of school. A school that was named by Bill Gates as a “school of the future.”

For a quick overview, here is one of my favorite quotes from Semler, describing how employees are treated at Semco:

“Don’t be a nanny. Most companies suffer from what I call boarding-school syndrome. They treat their employees like children. They tell them where they have to be at what time, what they need to be doing, how they need to dress, whom they should talk to, and so on. But if you treat people like immature wards of the state, that’s exactly how they’ll behave. They’ll never think for themselves or try new things or take chances. They’ll just do what they’re told, and they probably won’t do it with much spirit. At Semco, we have no set work hours, no assigned offices or desks, no dress codes. We have no employee manuals, no human resource rules and regulations. We don’t even have an HR department. People go to work when they want and go home when they want. They decide when to take holidays and how much vacation they need. They even choose how they’ll be compensated. In other words, we treat our employees like adults. And we expect them to behave like adults. If they screw up, they take the blame. … Ultimately, all we care about is performance. An employee who spends two days a week at the beach but still produces real value for customers and coworkers is a better employee than one who works ten-hour days but creates little value.”¹

Semler’s ideas may seem a bit radical at first, but he’s clearly on to something. When we turn our focus to results and truly trust our employees to act like adults, our business will benefit. Which parts of the video and quote resonnated with you? What can you take and apply to your business?

-————————————-

1. Ricardo Semler, “How We Went Digital Without a Strategy,” Harvard Business Review, 78, (2000): 52.

This is the final part in this series on change from the book Influencer: The Power to Change Anything. If you are in a position of influence, want to motivate others to change, or want to change your own behavior, you need to grab a copy of this book. 

The premise of Influencer is that if you want to change behavior, you must impact motivation and ability on three different levels: personal, social, and structural. Today I conclude by talking about two aspects of structural influence:

1. Structural Motivation: Design Rewards & Demand Accountability

Creating structural motivation is about answering the question “What’s my payoff and is anyone watching?” In Part 1 of this series we talked about personal motivation and if you can tap into that in a big way, extrinsic rewards won’t matter as much. Intrinsic motivation typically goes a long way in driving behavior change. 

When you do provide rewards, keep in mind a few things: 

–> Rewards don’t need to be large; small, heartfelt tokens of appreciation are often the best.
–> Reward small improvements in vital behavior along the way – don’t wait for massive results to provide a reward.
–> Only use punishment as a last resort and if you do opt to use it, provide a clear warning before hand. Make sure everyone knows negative things will happen if changes aren’t made to turn things around. No threats.

It’s also important to create a culture of accountability—one where the team, rather than just the manager, hold others accountable. Work with your employees to determine how they think they should be held accountable for changing their behavior. How will progress be assessed? How often will you receive updates? If a problem arises, who will be notified? What’s the standard process for review and feedback? Hammering out these details will provide the structure necessary for your change efforts to succeed.

2. Structural Ability: Change the Environment

“You are a product of your environment. So choose the environment that will best develop you toward your objective. Analyze your life in terms of its environment. Are the things around you helping you toward success—or are they holding you back?” ~Clement Stone

We often don’t notice things around us or our environment, but it’s far easier to change things, than people, and changes in things can have a permanent impact on how people behave. What can you change in the physical world to help your people thrive? Are there work procedures, job layouts, or reporting structures standing in their way? Work with your team to brainstorm ways you could change things, rather than behaviors.

Influencer presents a practical and actionable model of change that any small business can follow. Before you attempt to change something else in your business, consider both motivation and ability at the personal, social, and structural level.

Chris Ferdinandi, creator of the Renegade HR blog, wrote a great post the other day on “Why Your Employee Sucks at His Job.” Rather than complain about poor performance to HR or another colleague, do your best to identify the source of the problem.

Ferdinandi suggests taking a look at the following 5 causes of poor performance:

• Lack of knowledge, skills or abilities.

If this is the issue, train your employee, hand the task off to someone who does have the ability to get the job done, or hire someone else. And then look at your hiring or onboarding process to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

• Incorrect role expectations.

Performance may be a problem because your employee doesn’t know what is expected of them. The fix? Tell them and be clear.  

• Lack of motivation.

While there can be many reasons a person lacks motivation, the quickest way to solve this is to ask the employee what motivates them. And then do your best to make it happen.

• Lack of resources.

Are your expectations for performance reasonable considering the resources available to the employee? If not, provide what they need – or change the performance target.

• Lack of energy.

This is my favorite and ties in perfectly to workstyle design. We all work best at different times of the day, in different locations and environments, and when we’re working on different types of tasks. You can read more about this in my post, “When Do You Work Best?” The bottom line is, don’t try to force your employees into a box (or cubicle). Let them have control and choice over how, when, and where they do their work.

Take some time to read the full article and I’m sure you’ll walk away with some good ideas for dealing with performance issues in your organization.