tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3768942114621171512024-03-08T08:46:07.137-06:00The RAD GroupThought Leadership for Safety & Human Performance in the WorkplaceRon Ragainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15135382890275532025noreply@blogger.comBlogger43125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-376894211462117151.post-56656474559292180312014-05-25T22:44:00.000-05:002014-05-25T22:46:49.447-05:00Something’s Missing from Behavior Based Safety - The Human Factor<div class="p1">
by Ron Ragain, Ph.d.</div>
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Since the early 1970’s, there has been an interest in the application of Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) techniques to the improvement of safety performance in the workplace. The pioneering work of B.F. Skinner on Operant Conditioning in the 1940’s, 50’s and 60’s led to a focus on changing unsafe behavior using observation and feedback techniques. </div>
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Thousands of organizations have attempted to use various aspects of ABA to improve safety with various levels of success. This approach (referred to as Behavior Based Safety, or BBS) typically attempts to increase the chances that desired “safe” behavior will occur in the future by first identifying the desired behavior, observing the performance of individuals in the workplace and then applying positive reinforcement (consequences) following the desired behavior. The idea is that as safe behavior is strengthened, unsafe behavior will disappear (“extinguish”). </div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">The Linear View</span></b></div>
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<span class="s1">Traditionally, incidents/accidents have been viewed as a series of cause and effect events that can be understood and ultimately prevented by interrupting the chain of events in some way. With this <i>“Linear”</i> view of accident causation, there is an attempt to identify the root cause of the incident, which is often determined to be some form of “Human Error” due to an unsafe action. The Linear view can be depicted as follows:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="s1"><b><i>Event “A” (Antecedent) </i></b></span><span class="s2"><b>→</b></span><span class="s1"><b><i> </i></b></span><span class="s1"><b><i>Behavior “B” </i></b></span><span class="s2"><b>→</b></span><span class="s1"><b><i> Undesired Event </i></b></span><span class="s1"><b>→</b><b><i> Consequence “C”</i></b></span></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Driven by the views of Skinner and others, Behavioral Psychology and BBS have been concerned exclusively with what can be observed. The issue is that, while people do behave overtly, they also have “cognitive” capacity to observe their environment, think about it and make calculated decisions about how to behave in the first place. While Behavioral Psychologists acknowledge that this occurs, they argue that the “causes” of performance can be explained through an analysis of the Antecedents within the environment. However, since they also take a linear view, they tend to limit the “causal” antecedent to a single source known as the “root cause”. </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Human Factors</span></b></div>
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<span class="s1">The field of Human Factors Psychology has provided a body of research that has demonstrated that many, if not most, accidents evolve out of complex systems that are not necessarily linear. Some researchers call this a <i>“Systemic”</i> view of incidents. The argument is that incidents occur in complex environments, characterized as involving multiple interacting systems rather than just simple linear events. That is, multiple interacting events (Antecedents) combine to create the “right” context to elicit the behavior that follows. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">In such complex environments, individuals are constantly evaluating multiple contextual factors to allow them to make decisions about how to act, rather than simply responding to single Antecedents that happen to be present. In this view, the decision to act in a specific (safe or unsafe) manner is directed by sources of information, some of which are only available to the individual and not obvious to on-lookers or investigators who attempt to determine causation following an incident. </span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-size: large;"><b>Local Rationality</b></span><br />
<span class="s1">This is referred to as <i>“Local Rationality”</i> because the decision to act in a certain way makes perfect sense to the individual in the local context given the information that he has in the moment. The local rationality principle says that people do what makes sense given the <i>situation</i>, <i>operational pressures</i> and <i>organizational norms</i> in which they find themselves. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">People don’t want to get hurt, so when they do something unsafe, it is usually because they are either not aware that what they are doing is unsafe, they don’t recognize the hazard, or they don’t fully realize the risk associated with what they are doing. In some cases they may be aware of the risk, but because of other contextual factors, they decide to act unsafely anyway. (Have you ever driven over the speed limit because you were late for an appointment?) The key here is developing an understanding of why the individual made or is making the decision to behave in a particular way.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">A More Complete Understanding</span></b><br />
<span class="s1">We believe that the most fruitful way to understand this is to bring together the rich knowledge provided by behavioral research and human factors (including cognitive & social psychological) research to create a more complete understanding of what goes on when people make decisions to take risks and act in unsafe ways. We believe it is time to put the Human Factor into Behavior Based Safety.</span></div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-376894211462117151.post-32049984435626400092014-04-21T03:18:00.000-05:002014-04-21T05:05:28.447-05:00Dealing with Defensiveness in Relationships<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">by Ron Ragain, Ph.D.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">If you are a normal human, then you are regularly stuck dealing with defensiveness in relationships,</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;"> both in yourself and in others. </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">Defensiveness is the normal human reaction to threats to a person’s reputation and/or dignity.</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">We are hardwired to protect ourselves both physically and emotionally and we do that by either fleeing or fighting.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">We call these “retreating” or “pushing” and both are signs of defensiveness.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">When we feel threatened, s</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">ome of us, at times, get quiet and don’t say anything. </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">Others argue back or provide justification for their actions. Depending on</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;"> the situation and</span><span style="font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;"> the person with whom we are interacting, all of us can, for the most part, resort to either </span><span style="font-size: 12px;">defense</span><span style="font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;"> mechanism. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">The bottom line is that defensiveness, while normal, is also harmful and disruptive because it doesn’t help us think or communicate effectively.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">As a matter of fact, it causes us to “dumb down” and become </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">cognitively </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">less effective in the moment. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">We call this process “the Defensive Cycle” and it looks like this:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">It starts when we see or hear someone do or say something.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">We then make a bad “guess” about why they did it. </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">That bad guess is what is called the “Fundamental Attribution Error” because we mistakenly attribute </span><span style="font-size: 12px;">the</span><span style="font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;"> other person's action to some internal state of theirs that puts them into a bad light (e.g. poor motivation, selfishness, personal satisfaction in insulting or devaluing you in some way).</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">That interpretation then creates a desire in us to defend. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">We then do so by either retreating (sulking, withdrawing, looking down, etc) or by pushing back (using harsh words, giving a harsh glare, etc).</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">The other person observes our action.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">They interpret our response as offensive.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">They likewise defend by either retreating or pushing. </span></li>
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<li><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">We in turn respond and the cycle goes on until someone “wins” (actually until both lose because there is always a winner and a loser and when we lose we like to get even with the winner which leads to another defensive cycle).</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">Notice that the defensive cycle begins when one person does or says something and the other person “guesses” bad intent. </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">It is that “guess” that is the problem because we can't determine the true intent unless we communicate. Unfortunately, the bad guess leads to anger or frustration which impedes the very communication we need.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12px;"><b>Dealing with Us</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">We suggest that the key to defusing your defensiveness is to “Learn Your Trigger”. </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">When you become angry or frustrated, let that emotion trigger </span><b style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;"><i>curiosity</i></b><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;"> rather than blame.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">When you become angry or frustrated, think to yourself, “I must be guessing something bad.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">Why would this person have done or said that?”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">Simply stopping and asking yourself this question interrupts the defensive cycle, re-engages your brain and keeps your cognitive skills at a higher level so that you can hold a more effective, less defensive conversation. </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">So that is how you can help control your defensiveness, but what about the other person’s defensiveness?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">Remember</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">that defensiveness starts with a bad guess, so when the other person becomes defensive it is because they have attributed bad intent to what you have done or said. </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">Your job is to help them understand your true intent which you can do by simply telling them what that intent is.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">Use what we call a “Do/Don’t Statement” to accomplish this. </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">Tell them what you do mean and, if necessary, tell them what you don’t mean.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">You and your spouse are planning to attend some event and it is time to leave.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">You are not sure that she is aware of the time since she doesn’t wear a watch, so you say to her…”Do you know what time it is“ and she responds with “I can tell time!”</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">To this you could respond with a Do/Don’t statement to clarify what you really mean…”I certainly don’t mean to insult you or make you feel rushed, I just wanted to know if you were aware that it is time to leave.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">Dealing effectively with both your defensiveness and the defensiveness of others will lead to happier, healthier relationships and a lot less “getting even”.</span></div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-376894211462117151.post-6876800291436991462014-03-12T09:29:00.000-05:002014-03-26T11:36:49.321-05:004 Feedback Pitfalls Every Manager Should Avoidby Mike Allen<br />
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<span class="s1">Giving feedback to employees is critical for improvement to occur, but effective feedback involves avoiding these four pitfalls.</span></div>
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<b><span class="">1. </span><i><span class="">Avoiding feedback all together or waiting too long to give it</span></i></b><br />
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<span class="">Research has demonstrated that feedback that follows immediately after the action will have the biggest impact on the behavior. </span>Immediate negative feedback will weaken unwanted behavior and immediate positive feedback will strengthen behavior. But don't let not being able to give immediate feedback keep you from giving it at all. Later is still better than not-at-all! </div>
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<b><span class="">2. </span><i><span class="">Over-or under-boarding</span></i></b> </div>
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Have you ever seen a manager call someone up in front of a group for some success and go on-and-on about the success, totally embarrassing the recipient of the praise? <span class="">That is what we call "over-boarding" and it should be avoided because the praise actually becomes punishing and has an effect opposite of that which is desired. </span>On the other hand, failing to provide enough feedback for significant success can lead to reduced motivation in the future. <span class="">For example, you just saved the company $2 million and the boss, in private says, "Hey, thanks". </span>Make it appropriate to the level of success.</div>
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<b><span class="">3. </span><i><span class="">Blaming the employee for a failure</span></i> </b></div>
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Blame rarely fixes anything; it usually only de-motivates. <span class="">Focus on finding the real reason for a failure and fix that. </span>Blame may be quick and satisfying, but it is not effective.</div>
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<b><span style="text-align: center;"><span class="">4. </span></span><i style="text-align: center;"><span class="">Punishing in public</span></i></b></div>
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<span style="text-align: center;"><span class="">No one likes being "made an example of" or humiliated in front of their peers. </span></span><span style="text-align: center;"><span class="">Such humiliation leads to "getting even" and employees can be very creative when getting even ... like work slow-downs, fake injuries, bad-mouthing t</span><span class="">he boss behind his back, or talking bad about the company to potential customers. </span></span><span style="text-align: center;"><span class="">Negative feedback should always be given in private. </span></span><span style="text-align: center;"><span class="">There are instances when a witness will be present, but the witness should not be a coworker of the person receiving feedback.</span></span></div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-376894211462117151.post-69986881700233118042014-02-26T08:47:00.000-06:002014-02-11T22:24:00.895-06:003 Keys to Building and Maintaining Confidence and Confidentialityby Ron Ragain, Ph.D.<br />
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“Confidence” is the feeling or belief that you can rely on someone to do what they say they will do, including keeping personal information confidential. In supervisor and coaching relationships there must be mutual confidence between the parties for mutual trust to be developed. Here are three keys to developing confidence in a relationship.<br />
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<b>1. S</b><b>et confidentiality ground rules.</b> This may seem unnecessary, but just setting a ground rule that all information about each other is to be held in confidence unless there is agreement to the contrary can help create an environment of trust. This will create an atmosphere where the parties are willing to be vulnerable with each other, making it easier to be helpful to the other person.</div>
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<b>2. Be honest about expectations and abilities.</b> In supervisor or coaching relationships it is critical that each party understand the capabilities and expectations of the other. This requires that honest evaluation of what is expected from the other person and what the other person feels competent to deliver is made clear. Supervisors must have confidence that the employee understands and is able to deliver. The employee must have confidence that the supervisor is providing complete information about expectations and the resources necessary for success. Failure in either of these areas can lead to lack of confidence. </div>
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<b>3. Keep promises.</b> This is simple; do what you say you will do. People need to be able to rely on others if trust is going to be maintained. When you can’t do what you say you will do, then make sure that you make the other person aware at the earliest possible time so that surprises are eliminated. The ability to rely on the other person to do what they say they will do and to protect that which is told in confidence is critical to the development of mutual trust in a relationship.</div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-376894211462117151.post-35030395574934139512014-01-29T09:49:00.000-06:002014-01-27T03:40:45.486-06:00All They Care About Is Money!<div style="text-align: left;">
by Ron Ragain, Ph.D.<br />
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So is money a requirement for motivating employees? For years we have been asking students in our Performance Management classes to tell us why people leave their jobs, and for years they have told us that most people leave for more money. </div>
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<span class="s1">Actually, research has consistently shown that while salary increase is important, it is usually far down the list of reasons why employees decide to leave for another job. Significantly more people leave because they want more or new challenges, they are not happy with how they are treated by their current supervisor or they believe their contributions are not valued. </span>Money is obviously important because it allows us to meet our basic needs and achieve some of our life goals, but it may not be as important as other factors that are in the direct control of supervisors. </div>
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<b>Using Extrinsic Motivators Effectively</b></div>
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<span class="s1">The best supervisors understand that money is just one of the extrinsic motivators that they have at their disposal and that the way they use these motivators is more important than the motivators themselves. Because of this, they follow what we call <i>“The Contingency Rule”</i> in the application of all extrinsic motivators. So what is this rule?</span></div>
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<span class="s1">The Contingency Rule: <i>Tie the extrinsic motivator to performance.</i> Extrinsic motivators that supervisors have at their disposal include such things as money, praise, job assignments, training opportunities, etc. Making the receipt of any of these contingent on successful performance is critical to their motivational impact. For example, it has been well documented that cost of living increases act as a satisfier and not as a motivator because they are not tied to performance. It could be argued that not receiving an expected cost of living increase could act as a motivator to look for another job, but in this case it would be a de-motivator for improved performance in the current job. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">"Best Bosses" are clear about what they expect from employees, and they are also clear about the relationship between accomplishment of those expectations and extrinsic motivators. When people know that successful performance leads to increase in pay, praise, desired job assignments, etc, they are much more likely to put out the effort required to receive those things. Failure to understand these contingencies will only lead to employee confusion, dissatisfaction and lowered motivation. It might also lead the person to look for another job.</span></div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-376894211462117151.post-70440499695096134742013-12-18T15:37:00.000-06:002013-12-13T08:55:47.362-06:00Conflicting goals make room for performance failures<div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">
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by Ron Ragain, Ph.D.<br />
<span class="s1"><br /></span><span class="s1"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Most people do not set out to fail. On the contrary, most of us regularly attempt to succeed; but at times we do fail none-the-less. The role of a supervisor is to get results through the efforts of other people, so an important question for supervisors is, “Why does a specific performance failure occur?” There are a lot of reasons - knowledge, skill, motivation, etc. - and key among them is something called “goal conflict”. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We live in a complex work-world with multiple competing demands. We must be safe, fast, cheap and valuable all at the same time. It is humanly impossible to make all of these goals #1 at the same time, so we make cost-benefit tradeoffs and “choose” which objective is the most important at the time given the pressures of the environment/culture that we are in. I may choose to “hurry” because of time pressure, but in so doing sacrifice safety and quality. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As a supervisor I need to understand the drivers behind employees’ performance failure before I can adequately help them become successful. <i>What “tradeoffs” did the employee make that produced the failure?</i> Did his desire to “please” the supervisor outweigh his calculation of his own skill-level? Did her perceived <i>pressure to produce</i> outweigh the thought to evaluate hazards associated with the task and take precautionary action? </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Unless we as supervisors take the time to evaluate the conflicting goals that drive employees’ performance, we will be less effective in reducing the opportunity for failure.</span></span></div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-376894211462117151.post-81000685450301471242013-11-25T08:56:00.000-06:002013-11-25T00:36:35.502-06:00Consequence Predictability and Results<span style="background-color: white;">by Phillip Ragain</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">Have you ever worked for someone whose reactions were unpredictable? One day they were giving positive feedback for success and the next day they were dressing you down for the same results? How did/would that make you feel? What impact would that have on your desire to achieve good results? </span><span style="background-color: white;">For most of us the lack of predictability would create a reduction in motivation to succeed and show initiative.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">Research has shown that lack of predictability of consequences increases stress and that increased stress, beyond a certain point, reduces the ability of individuals to perform. When we know what to expect, we are less stressed and more likely to put out the effort required for success. Although we might not appreciate a “knit-picking” boss, we can live with it (for a while), if we know that it is his/her style and it is predictable. We all prefer working for someone who provides consistent positive feedback for success and consistent input (redirection) on how to be more successful when we fail. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">It is always better to hold people accountable for their results in a predictable and consistent manner. As always, we recommend fair evaluation of results followed by consistent/predictable positive feedback for success and consistent/predictable redirection of actions that have led to failure. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">By the way, parents, this goes for your children, too. They need to know that they can expect appropriate, consistent and predictable consequences when they succeed and when they fail. </span>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-376894211462117151.post-75569442399169410452013-10-23T15:31:00.000-05:002013-10-16T00:03:49.007-05:00Unsafe Behavior Is a Downstream Indicator<div style="text-align: left;">
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<span class="s1">by Phillip Ragain</span><br />
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<span class="s1">At first glance, the suggestion that behavior is a “downstream” indicator may seem ridiculous, because in the world of safety and accident prevention, behavior is almost universally viewed as an “upstream or leading” indicator. The more unsafe behaviors that are occurring, the more likely you are to have an undesired event and thus an increase in incident rate (downstream or lagging indicator). This view is the basis for most “behavior based safety” programs. </span><br />
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<span class="s1">Over the past few years, however, there has been a great deal of research in the area of human factors which suggests that there are variables much more upstream than behavior that can help us decrease the chances of an incident. The human factors approach views an individual’s behavior as a component of a much more complex system which includes contextual factors such as social (supervisory and peer) climate, organizational climate (rules, values, incentives, etc.), environment climate (weather, equipment, signage, etc.), and regulatory climate (OSHA, BOEMRE, etc.). Individuals work within these climates, evaluate action based on their interpretation of these climates and then act based on that evaluation. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><br /></span><span class="s1">Research has shown that individuals, for the most part make rational decisions based on the information that they have at their disposal in the moment. If an individual “understands” that her boss really rewards speed, then she is more likely to pick up speed even if she is not capable of working at that speed and thus increases the likelihood of having an incident. While speed of performance is a behavior, it is the result of the person’s knowledge of the demands of the climate and is therefore a downstream indicator. Evaluating and impacting the climate is thus more upstream and should be the focus of our intervention programs. When we can impact the decision making process (upstream) we can have a much better chance of creating safe/desired behavior (downstream).</span></div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-376894211462117151.post-64864466978558866452013-09-25T16:29:00.000-05:002013-09-18T21:11:41.633-05:004 Keys to Effective Listening that Maintain Mutual Respectby Michael Allen<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Txo8O4U61So/Ujpc8SabqDI/AAAAAAAAAbo/-C1WhemRCxo/s1600/dreamstime_s_18068690.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Txo8O4U61So/Ujpc8SabqDI/AAAAAAAAAbo/-C1WhemRCxo/s320/dreamstime_s_18068690.jpg" width="213" /></a><span class="s1">“Respect” does not necessarily mean to admire or even to like the other person, but it does mean to see the other person as worthy of special consideration. Mutual respect therefore means to be considerate of each other as a means of building trust. The primary way that we show respect is through the way that we listen to the other person and the way the other person listens to us. There are four keys to effective listening that impact the perception of respect.</span><br />
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<b>1. Look like you are listening.</b> It has been said that up to 80% of what you communicate about your interest in what the other person is saying is carried by the way you look. This includes appropriate eye contact, facial expression, body posture, arm position, etc. If you don’t look like you are interested and that you are really listening, then the other person is very likely to feel that you aren’t and that is communicated as lack of respect. You may be listening but failure to look like like you are listening is almost always viewed as lack of respect.<br />
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<b>2. Ask clarifying questions.</b> One of the quickest ways to demonstrate disrespect is to interrupt the other person with comments or judgement about what they are saying, but interrupting to ask a clarifying question communicates that you are listening and that you care about really understanding what the other person is saying.<br />
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<b>3. Paraphrase to demonstrate your desire to understand.</b> Paraphrasing is not repeating back exactly what the person said but rather your understanding of the meaning behind what they said. This, like clarifying questions, indicates that you are interested in truly understanding both the content and intent behind their message and in doing so, it demonstrates respect.</div>
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<b>4. Apologize when you are disrespectful or perceived to be disrespectful.</b> Sometimes we say things that are either clearly disrespectful or could be viewed to be disrespectful by the way we said it. In such cases it is appropriate to apologize. We suggest that you use a “do/don’t statement” such as “I am sorry I came across that way. I certainly don’t intend to be disrespectful, and I really do want to make sure that I understand what you are saying.”<br />
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-376894211462117151.post-71843127300187571502013-08-28T15:24:00.000-05:002013-08-26T19:29:51.848-05:00Why Rule Breaking Makes Sense<b>Complexity & Rationality</b><br />
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by Ron Ragain, Ph.D. and Phillip Ragain<br />
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Why do employees decide to break the rules? Do it their way? Resist change? It doesn’t make any sense!<br />
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It can be frustrating, and often perplexing, when employees fail to adhere to company policies and procedures, especially when those policies and procedures are in their best interest. There is a useful way to think about this issue: What employees do makes sense...to them; but the complexity of work environments makes it hard to understand <i>why</i> it makes sense to them.<br />
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<span class="s1">We live and work in complex environments. It helps to think of our environments as systems with overlapping and interacting components - including people, things, rules, values, etc. - which are, in turn, complex sub-systems. One of the principles of complex systems is that the “people” component tends to respond only to the limited information that they are presented with locally. We make decisions based on our knowledge of what makes sense at the local level, which is called “local rationality”. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">The policies and procedures contained in the corporate manual are only influential if they are brought to bear on the daily lives of people in the workplace. If those policies and procedures only exist in the manual and are not made a part of the local workplace, then they don’t exist in reality and will not have an impact on performance. They will lack influence.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Companies have policies and procedures for a reason - to create good, reliable results; so it is the responsibility of supervisors to bring those policies and procedures to life in the workplace. By intentionally incorporating formal policies and procedures into the “local” work environments of employees - through conversation, feedback, modeling, etc. - supervisors make it “rational” to follow the rules.</span></div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-376894211462117151.post-54944538864284016882013-06-25T01:18:00.000-05:002013-06-26T08:38:20.827-05:00Championship Teams are the Result of 5 Critical Factors<br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">by Mike Allen</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Before starting a career in oilfield operations and ultimately consulting, I was fortunate to coach ten high school football and baseball teams to state championships. As I look back at what made us successful as sports teams and then start to look at the very successful business teams I have been fortunate to serve on, I notice a trend. They both have the same five critical factors necessary to be successful.</span></div>
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<li><b style="font-family: Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px;">Great teams set high goals</b><span style="font-family: Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px;">. We never set a goal to win X number of games, we always set a goal to win the championship. In business, we never set a goal to be average, rather we set goals that would create a competitive advantage for our team and company. </span></li>
<li style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>Great Teams hold themselves accountable</b>. As we have stated before, accountability does not mean punishment. We must focus on three things for which we must hold all team members accountable:</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px;"><b>Great teams talk through tough issues.</b> Team members do not always agree on everything and at times don’t even get along. To help with these “bumps in the road”, great teams must show respect to all team members, focus on the goal and collaborate for success. Dr. Stephen Covey once said “It is not my way or your way it is a better way” that is the essence of collaboration as you check your ego at the door and focus on the goals and objectives set out from the start. </span><span style="color: #ff4013; font-family: Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px;"><i><a href="http://eepurl.com/AInl9" target="_blank">(Check out the latest Newsletter on Collaboration and Teamwork).</a></i></span></li>
<li><b style="font-family: Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px;">Great teams connect their work with the other teams in the company</b><span style="font-family: Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px;">. They understand that the Company as a whole is the total team and that its success is based on the success of all the teams that support and deliver that success. Knowing this, they will then support and contribute to other teams as necessary and share knowledge and results throughout the organization.</span></li>
<li><b style="font-family: Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px;">Great teams believe in their mission/goals</b><span style="font-family: Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px;">. A</span><a href="http://thegallupblog.gallup.com/2013/06/gallup-releases-new-findings-on-state.html" style="font-family: Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: #021eaa; letter-spacing: 0px;"> Gallup Poll released June 11, 2013</span></a><span style="font-family: Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px;"> indicated that only 30% of workers are engaged at the workplace and that the vast majority do just enough to get by. Great teams get their teammates to understand how their efforts impact the team and company and ultimately get them to buy-in. They know that to motivate the employee to a top level of performance they must align sub-team goals with the goals of the overall team.</span></li>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Let’s look at these 5 critical behaviors through the lens of one of the more underrated American sports team. The San Antonio Spurs have quietly built a dynasty of sorts. No, they may not be the Celtics of the of the ‘60s that won 8 in a row and it’s not the Bulls of the Michael Jordan era, but they are great in their own right. No, they didn’t win the World Championship this year, but they did take a far superior team (on paper) to 7 games and they have 4 championships since 1999. </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">This is what is amazing about the run the Spurs have been on over that time, they are ALWAYS overmatched on paper. If you simply compared the talent of the players, the Spurs are almost always on the short end of that stick. Sure they have Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, and had David Robinson. These are all names that the casual fan has heard at some point, but they may not have heard of them if they hadn’t played for the Spurs. Ginobili and Parker look more like law partners than world class athletes and the two big men quite honestly are closer to Will Purdue than they are Wilt Chamberlain. So how do they win? How have they continued to be so successful? </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Look back at our list of 5 critical factors and imagine what it must be like to be on that team and playing for a leader like Greg Popovich. Do you think each team starts with the goal of winning a World Championship? Do you think the coaches hold the players accountable to their actions and performance, as well as the players to other players? Do you think they deal with tough issues that arise over a grueling 82 game schedule? Do you think the front office, medical staff, coaches, players, etc. all have the same mission and vision for the organization? Do you think that the entire organization has bought into this vision? If you answered “yes” to all of these questions then you see what an incredibly functional team must look like. The other side of that coin must look like the Dallas Cowboys, but it pains me far too much to discuss that disfunction in this blog.</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-376894211462117151.post-71770584324230812182013-05-22T03:37:00.001-05:002013-05-29T09:38:56.896-05:006 Steps to Effective Accountability <div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">“Hold them accountable for their performance!” This is an often repeated and seldom understood mantra in today’s workplace. Accountability is a critical aspect of the very best organizations, but there is a significant distinction in the way the best approach it. First and foremost, the very best do not equate accountability with punishment. But if accountability is not just punishment, then what is it? </span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Accountability can be viewed as a 6-step process which, if applied correctly, will create an environment where people will willingly receive feedback and see the process as constructive.</span></div>
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<b style="font-family: Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px;">1. Set clear expectations </b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px;">Never expect results that you haven’t clearly communicated to your employees. If you expect them to perform in a certain manner, you must first communicate that expectation to them. Keep in mind that almost every employee wants to please the boss and experience both organizational and personal success. They can’t do this if they don’t know what is expected of them.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">When possible, quantitative metrics should be in place for every desired result. These metrics should assess the relationship between the actual result and the result that was expected. If the metric shows success then positive feedback is in order. If, however, the metric indicates a gap, or failure, then move to step #3 with intentional curiosity as to why the gap exists.</span></div>
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<b style="font-family: Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px;">3. Account for the “why” behind failure to meet expectations (Don’t assume poor motivation)</b></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I once had a young engineer who was just starting his career ask for the best tip I could give him as a future manager. I told him that he must be curious and a great diagnostician. Human failure is seldom the cause of anything, rather it is almost always the result of something. If you have found a gap between expectations and performance, you should work with the employee to find out what caused it. The vast majority of the time we find out it is something within the work system that caused the gap to occur and not that “they just didn’t care or work hard enough”. Remember that humans work in incredibly complex and dynamic systems and often the consequence of that complexity is human failure. Examine the context (Self; Others; Surroundings; Systems) that the person was in and which aspects of that context impacted performance. Don’t start by assuming that personal motivation is the cause. If you do, you will most likely create defensiveness and fail to find the “real” cause behind the failure. Objectively evaluate all possibilities before finalizing your conclusion. Remember, accountability literally means to “take an account” of what caused the failure.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Once you have diagnosed the cause of the failure, put a fix into place to eliminate the cause. This could be training or mentoring if knowledge or skill is missing, new equipment if failure is the result of not having the correct resources for success, contractual changes with your clients if there is incentive to rush or take short cuts, or a multitude of other fixes. Just remember that the fix should affect the cause of the actual gap, not just punish the person who failed. If progressive discipline (punishment) is in order, move to step #5.</span></div>
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5. Apply negative consequences appropriately</b><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Yes, sometimes punishment (progressive discipline) is in order, but it should only be used when trying to impact motivation or to document repeated failure. Helping the person understand the consequences of continued failure or the impact that failure is having on how he is perceived by you and/or his team members can have a significant impact of motivation. Keep in mind that the primary objective of any progressive discipline program is performance improvement. So whether you are conducting an informal counseling session or discussing a written reprimand, care should be taken to communicate clearly and respectfully, with a focus on determining the real cause of failure. </span></div>
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6. Model by holding yourself accountable for your results</b><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Employees are impacted more by what they see their supervisors do than by what their supervisors say should be done. If you want your employees to respond positively to being held accountable then you must be open to feedback from your employees and publicly admit and diagnose your own performance gaps. This shows that accountability is not something that should be feared and it also provides the opportunity to make bosses, employees, and the organization more successful.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">While these steps are important, the way you communicate is also critical. Make sure you do so with respect and with the person’s best interest in mind. If you can minimize or eliminate defensiveness, you will be well on the road to helping others improve and get the results that you both want.</span></div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-376894211462117151.post-2649313663409640202013-05-22T03:06:00.001-05:002013-05-22T03:06:32.664-05:00You Might Not Always Get What You WantBy Michael Allen<br />
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<b style="background-color: white;">What does it mean to have a "Formal Culture" and an "Informal Culture"?</b></div>
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<span class="s1">Have you ever instituted a new policy or procedure into your organization, spent countless hours and dollars trying to drive the initiative throughout the organization, only to see it fall flat? Organizations large and small face a similar problem -- how to make their organization become what they envision it to be. </span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SneTMwFGgtc/URpXeXviivI/AAAAAAAAAV4/T3tUik3UYCw/s1600/gumball+machine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SneTMwFGgtc/URpXeXviivI/AAAAAAAAAV4/T3tUik3UYCw/s320/gumball+machine.jpg" width="213" /></a><span class="s1">When organizational experts refer to the overall performance of an organization, they often use the word “culture”. While there is disagreement on the exact definition of organizational culture, most would agree that it includes the values and behaviors that the majority of participants engage in; what most of the people believe and do most of the time. This is called the “informal culture” as compared to the “formal culture”, or what the leadership wants the culture to be. It makes no difference if your organization is a large corporation, a small “mom and pop”, a non-profit, or an educational institution, each of you have a formal and informal culture. One aspect of great organizations is that they close the gap between the two cultures so that “what’s going on - out there” very much resembles the vision of leadership. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">“<b>Informal Culture is what </b></span></div>
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<span class="s1">You may wonder if these great organizations close this culture gap by hiring the “right people”, or if they do something more intentional to close this gap. The answer quite simply is both. Great organizations start with great people, but they also understand and affect the other aspects of their culture. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><b>The Best Organizations</b></span></div>
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<span class="s1">The best organizations don’t stop with simply creating rules and policies, they do much more to impact the everyday behavior of their employees. If you’ll refer back to our <a href="http://theradgroup.blogspot.com/2012/08/incident-free-without-punishment.html" target="_blank">August 2012 Post</a> on the role of contextual factors in industrial safety incident prevention, the very best bosses and organizations understand that human performance is a result of complex systems. Organizational factors such as rules, policies, and reward systems are only a portion of the complex system that drives human performance. The best organizations understand that it is also people, both the individual and intact teams, plus surroundings that drive their overall performance. If the employee base has failed to implement a new directive from leadership, there could be several reasons affecting this. It could be that employees don’t understand the new initiative, operational pressures contradict the initiative, they don’t have the equipment necessary to make it happen, or a myriad of other factors. The very best organizations are those that are able to gather field intelligence detailing actual performance and factors driving the performance, and then institute corrective measures that enable the workforce to align their own performance with the vision of leadership.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">So what does that mean for you if you are in an organization with a gap between your formal and informal cultures? We would first encourage you to perform a cultural analysis to get a better understanding of your informal culture. With this knowledge you will be able to understand what contextual factors are driving the performance of your employees. This information will allow you to initiate corrective measures to close the gap between your formal and informal cultures. The best organizations don’t make the mistake of simply focusing on changing people, they focus on the entire context to enable those on board to perform to a higher standard.</span></div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-376894211462117151.post-54890118424324412652013-05-22T03:06:00.000-05:002013-05-22T03:06:10.754-05:003 Considerations When Implementing New Policies & Procedures<span style="font-family: Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px; text-align: left;">by Michael Allen</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Most organizations have policies and procedures that they expect employees to follow.</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">One difference between the best organizations and the rest is how those policies and procedures integrate with various components of the organization.</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">In this blog we will detail three key organizational components that the best take into consideration when evaluating and implementing new policies and procedures.</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Let’s begin with an example of the impact of a new policy and its associated procedure in a normal organization. </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Company XYZ was having problems tracking expenses incurred by their employees when they were traveling on company business. To deal with these issues, they decided to institute a policy that all employees must use a new web-based program to record all expenses, scan receipts, and track payment. The procedure was straight forward and only required an employee to log into the system using their employee number, input requested information including the vendor name, total amount spent, and scans of receipts. When the information was completed the employee simply hit submit and the program took over from there. The CFO was very excited about this new policy because it was going to make his life and his office staff’s job much easier. Six month’s later they went back to their paper tracking system because they had continued complaints from employees and they terminated one employee who refused to use the system. The CFO determined that it was a failure because employee’s were simply too irresponsible to use a new and simple procedure.</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">So how do the best avoid these types of problems? Do they simply hire more responsible and competent employees or is there something else? With the example above in mind, let’s examine how the best organizations look at three key factors to help develop and implement new initiatives, including policies and procedures.</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">1. The Individual Employee (Self):</span></b></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">People are very complex and make decisions about things on the basis of a variety of factors which include knowledge and past experience. People are also typically averse to change because it requires effort and many times is counter to the habits that they have developed over time. The best organizations want to affect both the knowledge and habits of employees to ensure that they actually comply with new P&P. In the case of the expense tracker, the best organizations might train employees on the proper use of the software and hardware (computer and scanner) and on the value associated with the new procedure, so that they had the necessary knowledge and skills and were therefore competent and motivated to use the new procedure. They could also address old habits with email reminders, signage in the workplace, or other means to prompt a break in the old habits associated with the paper tracking system.</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">2. Other People in the Organization and How They Affect the Individual Employee (Others):</span></b></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">The performance of individual employees is influenced by the people around them in significant and specific ways. Two of the common factors exerting this influence are the “help” and “model” provided by others. When an employee is experiencing difficulty with the execution of a new procedure because of knowledge, skill or resources, getting assistance from a coworker can provide the needed support to create success. The best organizations create work environments where peer support and assistance is both encouraged and reinforced by management. Modeling simply means that other people demonstrate that they are accepting change by utilizing and supporting the new policy or procedure. When an employee sees others using the new procedure to input their expenses without complaint, they are more likely to want to comply with the policy. If they see other employees, especially the boss, not doing so then they are more likely to see the new policy as a mere suggestion and resist or avoid the new procedure all together.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">3. The “Stuff” Around Us That Impacts Our Performance (Surroundings):</span></b></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">The best policies and procedures are merely good ideas without the surroundings to support their use. Our employees work in environments that not only include other people, but also physical surroundings such as climate, equipment and the layout of that equipment. These physical surroundings impact the ease with which people can implement new policies and procedures. Let’s return to our expense report example. The operations of the XYZ company are often conducted at remote sites that don’t have the tools of a modern office. Employees have laptops but wifi and scanners are only located at central field offices. Employees rarely spend any significant time in these offices, rather they perform their work out in the field. The equipment they need to use the new procedure is a resource that they would have to travel great distances, after hours to use. For these employees, in these surroundings it was just easier to turn in paper receipts and reports hoping somebody else would log it for them.</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Managers in the best organizations understand that the knowledge and habits of individual employees, the help and model provided by others, and the surroundings in which employees find themselves are significant factors in determining the successful utilization of organizational policies and procedures. They understand that without deliberately addressing each of these contextual factors they are likely to fail in the implementation of new initiatives.</span></div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-376894211462117151.post-10680107290882698942013-04-24T09:24:00.001-05:002013-04-24T09:46:09.346-05:00The Safety Side Effect<h2>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Things Supervisors do that, Coincidentally, Improve Safety</span></span></h2>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">by Phillip Ragain</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-t0enGlXMh1I/UXflzXpck4I/AAAAAAAAAWw/r3LIodP4mos/s1600/dreamstime_s_15861516+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-t0enGlXMh1I/UXflzXpck4I/AAAAAAAAAWw/r3LIodP4mos/s320/dreamstime_s_15861516+copy.jpg" width="210" /></a><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Common sense tells us that leaders play a special role in the performance of their employees, and there is substantial research to help us understand why this is the case. For example, Stanley Milgram’s famous studies of obedience in the 1960s demonstrated that, to their own dismay, people will administer what they think are painful electric shocks to strangers when asked to do so by an authority figure. This study and many others reveal that leaders are far more influential over the behavior of others than is commonly recognized. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">In the workplace, good leadership usually translates to better productivity, efficiency and quality. Coincidentally, as research demonstrates, leaders whose teams are the most efficient and consistently productive also usually have the best safety records. These leaders do not necessarily “beat the safety drum” louder than others. They aren’t the ones with the most “Safety First” stickers on their hardhats or the tallest stack of “near miss” reports on their desks; rather, their style of leadership produces what we call the “Safety Side Effect.” The idea is this: Safe performance is a bi-product of the way that good leaders facilitate and focus the efforts of their subordinate employees. But what, specifically, produces this effect?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Over a 30 year period, we have asked thousands of employees to describe the characteristics of their best boss - the boss who sustained the highest productivity, quality and morale. This “Best Boss” survey identified 20 consistently recurring characteristics, which we described in detail during our <b><a href="http://eepurl.com/sR5rP" target="_blank">2012 Newsletter series.</a></b> <b><i> </i></b>On close inspection, one of these characteristic - “Holds Himself and Others Accountable for Results” - plays a significant role in bringing about the Safety Side Effect. Best bosses hold a different paradigm of accountability. Rather than viewing accountability as a synonym for “punishment,” these leaders view it as an honest and pragmatic effort to redirect and resolve failures. When performance failure occurs, the best boss...</span></div>
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<li style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b></b>consistently steps up to the failure and deals with it immediately or as soon as possible after it occurs;</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b></b>honestly explores the many possible reasons WHY the failure occurred, without jumping to the simplistic conclusion that it was one person’s fault; and</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Helvetica; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b></b>works <i>with</i> the employee to determine a resolution for the failure.</span></li>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">When a leader approaches performance failure in this way, it creates a substantially different working environment for subordinate employees - one in which employees:</span><br />
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<li><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">do not so quickly become defensive when others stop their unsafe behavior</span></li>
<li><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">focus more on resolving problems than protecting themselves from blame, and</span></li>
<li><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">freely offer ideas for improving their own safety performance.</span></li>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-376894211462117151.post-57161904540680373932013-02-27T08:05:00.000-06:002013-02-27T08:05:58.816-06:004 Steps to Influence Mission "Buy-in"<b>How can I influence employees to "buy-in" to the mission of the organization?</b><br />
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by Ron Ragain, Ph.D.</div>
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<span class="s1">As we stated in <a href="http://eepurl.com/vB2Db"><span class="s2">our last newsletter</span></a>, the mission of an organization “is its reason for existing, its purpose, where it is headed”. People need to know, understand and “buy-in” to the mission so that they can “get on board” and help with its accomplishment. But how can you get them “on board”? </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Average organizations assume that people are on board when they read the mission statement, so they place signs and even plaques around their facilities, on the walls in conspicuous places, so that employees are always <i>aware</i> of the mission. We call this “buy-in by proclamation” and it is a strategy that a lot of managers use when giving assignments and introducing change. However, while awareness is essential, it is not sufficient for buy-in. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">The key is to “influence”, not to dictate or merely proclaim. Influence is not related to “power” but rather to understanding and therefore requires communication of the impact of accepting the mission and the individual’s role in its accomplishment. This requires communication of something more than the mere mission statement. It requires communication of the relationship of the organization’s mission to the success of the organization, the individual and society in general. We recommend following a 4-step process in communicating these relationships. </span></div>
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<li><b>Articulate the importance of the mission to the success of the organization.</b></li>
<li><b>Articulate the importance of the mission to the individual team members.</b></li>
<li><b>Articulate the importance of the mission to society/customers.</b></li>
<li><b>Communicate 1, 2 and 3.</b></li>
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<span class="s1">While we could discuss these steps in the abstract, it might be helpful to use a specific example, so let’s use The RAD Group’s mission statement as that example.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><i>“The RAD Group’s mission is to improve individual, team and organizational performance. We seek to provide products and services that help leaders create a culture in which employees are skilled, motivated and able to serve all stakeholders - employees, investors/owners, customers and others.”</i></span></div>
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1. Articulate the importance of the mission to the success of the organization. </b> This mission statement helps to guide our decision making relative to what products and services we develop. Not all products and services fit with our mission and we only consider those that do. Likewise, not all products and services that fit our mission are accepted or developed; only those that are deemed to contribute to both the success of our customers and the success of The RAD Group.<br />
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<b>2. Articulate the importance of the mission to the individual team members.</b> Every team member of The RAD Group understands that his/her success is in some part tied to the success of the organization. Likewise, every team member understands how his/her performance impacts the success of every other team member and therefore, our ability to succeed as an organization. Marketing impacts our image, research impacts the quality of the products and services that we develop and delivery impacts our reputation and impact on the performance of our customers. The understanding of this connectedness increases the motivation of each of our team members to work toward the accomplishment of our mission. <br />
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<b>3. Articulate the importance of the mission to society/customers.</b> This may sound a bit lofty, but we need to understand that if our mission does not provide value to society, and especially our customers, that there is little or no reason to exist as an organization. We believe that what we do provides value to our customers by improving their performance and we constantly challenge ourselves to both demonstrate and increase that value.</div>
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<b>4. Communicate 1, 2 and 3.</b> While we do attempt to communicate our mission formally through papers, speeches and marketing materials, communication does not have to only be formal. It can be done through conversation with customers and within the organization by respectfully challenging and evaluating ideas to determine if they align with the mission. We bring our mission statement to life, not by having it on a plaque (although we do have it on our business cards as a reminder), but rather by asking ourselves regularly if our products and services are improving the individual, team and organizational performance of our customers. We also attempt to measure that impact to help us fine tune those products and services.<span class="s1"></span></div>
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<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-376894211462117151.post-28275263197477056322013-02-12T09:05:00.004-06:002013-05-22T03:06:55.726-05:00Dreaming of Greener Pastureby Michael Allen<br />
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<span class="s1"><b>How do I find personal satisfaction in an organization that doesn't seem interested in being effective?</b></span></div>
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<span class="s1">This is a very important question for all of those who have spent time working in seemingly heartless or meaningless organizations. In <a href="http://eepurl.com/t4tB5" target="_blank">January’s newsletter</a> we defined an effective organization as one that meets its stated goals and accomplishes its stated mission. But of course, by this definition, low goals and unimportant missions can create effectiveness and this would miss the point, therefore we add that effective organizations are those where the mission and goals are ones that people would want to invest in and/or participate in because they bring value to not only the individual, but also customers and society in general. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">So what about the employee who is stuck in an organization that doesn’t seem to meet these criteria? The easy answer is to simply quit and find a better organization. While this may seem to be the prudent decision, is it the right one? Let’s now refer back to the original question and focus on a key word in the question - “seem”. Often times employees can only guess as to what their organization’s goals and mission may be because they have not been clearly articulated (<span id="goog_2114853449"></span><a href="http://eepurl.com/c2FL-/" target="_blank">our February Newsletter topic</a><span id="goog_2114853450"></span>). Until one clearly understands where leadership is wanting to take the organization, employees should not make bad guesses about their willingness to be effective. This is where candid and frank conversation with leadership is critical to clearly understand the mission.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">For argument’s sake, let’s make the assumption that the employee is actually working in an organization that simply has no intention of meeting our definition of an effective organization. How do we find personal satisfaction without simply leaving for greener pastures? At this point the employee needs to focus on what they can control and influence within the organization. They have control over their own performance and influence over the performance of their team. To this end, an objective setting and strategy exercise can help the person move toward higher satisfaction. We would recommend that the employee set short, intermediate and long term objectives for themselves and, where possible, their team. These objectives should meet five SMART criteria. </span></div>
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<li class="li1"><span class="s1"> Specific</span></li>
<li class="li1"><span class="s1"> Measurable</span></li>
<li class="li1"><span class="s1"> Attainable</span></li>
<li class="li1"><span class="s1"> Relevant</span></li>
<li class="li1"><span class="s1"> Time Bound</span></li>
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<span class="s1">Once we have SMART objectives in mind, the next step would be to create a task list which would take us step-by-step to the accomplishment of each objective. The key to reaching our objective is to stick to the plan while measuring its effectiveness. These measurements of effectiveness are critical to determining if we are on the right track. If the measurements are in-line, we should continue on course until the objective is met. If the measurements show that we are somehow failing, we need to either tweak the task list, or reassess the objective.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">We find that those who focus on individual and team objectives, with a sound strategy for attaining and measuring, have greater satisfaction and better performance than those who simply go to work every day, counting the days until the next paycheck. In the end, organizational effectiveness is impacted by both organizational mission and employee performance. Not all of us have control or even influence over mission, but we all have considerable impact on our own performance and the objectives that we set can help improve that performance and ultimately our satisfaction.</span></div>
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Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-376894211462117151.post-65654191386086360802012-12-19T00:57:00.000-06:002012-12-19T00:57:31.488-06:00The Positive Side of Conflict<br />
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<span class="s1">by Phillip Ragain</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><b>1. <i>Conflict gives rise to conversations about "undiscussables"</i>.</b> These are things that silently constrain healthy interaction among employees and that need to be resolved, but are considered minor enough that they do not outweigh the risk associated with trying to resolve them. For example, employees might perceive that leadership does not respect their contributions. This would normally be a topic of conversation that employees choose to avoid when in the company of the organization's leaders because, while bothersome, it is not so severe a problem that it warrants "rocking the boat." When conflict arises, though, there are usually strong emotions involved and the parties will bring up issues such as this, which, in more sober moments, would be considered "undiscussable." It then becomes the responsibility of the leader to take the opportunity to learn from the conflict driven discussion and make changes that will lead to increased productivity within their team.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><b>2. <i>Differences in opinion (conflict) can also fuel productive creativity.</i></b> Substantial research by Dr. Charlan Nemeth has demonstrated that, when people disagree, they put significantly more effort into supporting their positions. In other words, we think through, develop and vet our own ideas much more thoroughly when we have to defend them against countervailing pressures. Conflict among individuals can present such countervailing pressure and therefore increase analysis of ideas and lead to more positive discussion and thus increased creativity. It goes without saying that such increased creativity can, when managed effectively also lead to organizational improvement and innovation.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Unfortunately, conflict is usually a destructive force in organizations. People disagree, emotions elevate and the social bonds that keep organizations operating effectively begin to dissolve. When unmanaged, this is what most conflict creates, but we have proposed that conflict has a positive side. It presents us with an opportunity. The key, of course, is for the conflict to be handled well. When people (1) understand the anatomy of conflict - how and why it fuels emotional fires and spirals out of control - and (2) possess the skills to redirect conflict into healthy conversations, conflict becomes a uniquely positive force on organizations.</span></div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-376894211462117151.post-91481974333766893862012-11-28T09:09:00.003-06:002012-11-28T09:09:45.133-06:00The Secret to Conflict Resolution -- Stop Compromising
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<span class="s1">by Michael Allen</span></div>
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We hear the word “compromise” anytime we turn on the TV or read a newspaper article about how the U.S. Congress should fix our fiscal woes. Talking heads and Joe Public alike beg for more compromise to fix the situation. Is it possible that compromise is what is putting us in such a predicament? Compromise is based on giving up something you want, thus it is based on “losing”. As that term suggests, I give a little, you give a little, and we meet somewhere in the middle at an agreement. While compromise sounds like the best way to get unstuck, it actually leaves both parties feeling unsatisfied, almost as if they gave up too much. </div>
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<span class="s1">To truly resolve conflict we suggest another “C” word -- “Collaboration”. To collaborate, two or more parties must brainstorm ideas to fix a problem. The goal, in the end, is to walk away with a solution that is more likely to truly “fix” the situation over which the parties were at odds to begin with. The process is really pretty easy. First, the two parties must come to an agreement on a goal that they both want to achieve. Once that goal is agreed on, they brainstorm ways to get them to their shared goal. No giving up one’s beliefs or buying into the other guy’s beliefs, simply agreed upon strategies that can get both parties what they have agreed that they both want. The task then is to choose one solution that both parties have already agreed will achieve the common goal.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Let’s look at an actual conflict that shows how this works. There was a state in the Southern U.S. that was having violent clashes between Pro-Choice and Pro-Life groups. The state’s governor knew he must do something before more violence led to somebody’s death. He told his assistant that he wanted the leadership of both groups to meet with him so they could come to some sort of agreement to stop the violence. His assistant, thinking the governor had lost his mind, questioned if getting these two groups together in the same room was wise, but the governor insisted. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">When the meeting did occur, both sides were at each other’s throats from the moment they arrived in the meeting room. The governor eventually created calm so that he could address the restless crowd. What he told them was surprising even to is staff. He said, “As you all know, we have a significant teen pregnancy problem in our state. We rank 49</span><span class="s2"><sup>th</sup></span><span class="s1"> out of the 50 states in teen pregnancies and 50</span><span class="s2"><sup>th</sup></span><span class="s1"> in the number of teenaged abortions. What I need from you is to help me solve this problem. I need your ideas for cutting back the rate of teen pregnancy so that we can cut the number of abortions in the state.” Both sides instantly changed their demeanor. After all, the vast majority of abortions are performed on teenaged mothers. If they could solve that problem, their debate would become moot. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">For the next few weeks both sides met and came up with a strategy to lower the pregnancy rate of girls in their state. They worked together, civilly to reach a common goal, and in the end, they lowered the teen aged pregnancy rate over 50% in their state. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">How about you, how does this work in your world? Can you find a common goal to work towards rather than trying to determine what you are willing to give up, and therefore feeling unsatisfied? Stop compromising when you are at odds with your co-worker, spouse, or neighbor and find a way to create an action plan that gets you both to a mutual goal. If only they understood this in Washington. </span></div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-376894211462117151.post-55530463939895377642012-10-23T13:54:00.000-05:002012-11-01T07:30:38.036-05:00Don't Throw Them Under the Bus<br />
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<span class="s1">by Michael Allen</span></div>
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<span class="s1">This month’s “Best Boss” characteristics are being a problem solver and a team builder. Best Bosses often exemplify these characteristics in tandem, at a moment when lesser bosses solve problems at the expense of the team. That moment is when poor performance has resulted in a problem and it just seems easier to throw the “guilty” under the bus. Instead, effectively redirecting poor performance can single-handedly change the fortunes of an employee, team, or even the organization as a whole. The best bosses use these redirection moments to not only take performance from bad to good, but build team morale. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Let’s use a specific example to make sense of the skills that shape these characteristics. Thomas is an engineer working with a team of other engineers on a project with the company’s most important client. Thomas is tasked with providing specs for the design of a key portion of the project to the team, upper management, and the client. During the presentation, the client becomes very upset when a fundamental error is discovered in the supply chain logistics. The client leaves the meeting and tells the team lead, Sarah, that she has one week to fix the problem before they begin looking for a new engineering firm. Sarah is taken back by the threat of losing the client and now has some very tough decisions to make. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">The first thing she does is assemble the team and give them the latest details on the timeline and the mistakes made. Sarah’s next step clearly identifies her as a “Best Boss.” She says, “Look, at some point, we’ve all made a mistake that could impact the success of our team. I don’t blame any individual for the supply chain issue, but I now ask that we all lean on one another to fix the problem, and in the end, we will flourish as a team.” </span></div>
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<span class="s1">At this critical moment it would be very easy, and costly, for her to blame Thomas for the mistake. After all, he is in charge of the supply chain. To some bosses, he must be held accountable which in many cases means punishment. Fortunately, Sarah does not jump to place blame, but instead rallies the troops to come together and fix it as a team. From that moment on, the team will have increased morale and a sincere sense of being a part of a true team.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">The next thing she does is facilitate a rigorous problem solving session where they: </span></div>
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<li class="li1"><span class="s1"> Identify the Problem</span></li>
<li class="li1"><span class="s1"> Explore the Problem</span></li>
<li class="li1"><span class="s1"> Set Objectives</span></li>
<li class="li1"><span class="s1"> Create an Action Plan</span></li>
<li class="li1"><span class="s1"> Measure and Correct</span></li>
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<span class="s1">In the end, the team finds the cause of the error and fixes it to such an extent that the client thanks them for their attention to detail. They remain their top client to this very day. Thomas is now a team lead on a different team and claims that, without Sarah, he would never have reached such a level in the company. He still calls her weekly for tips on managing his new team. </span></div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-376894211462117151.post-24234748251607329122012-10-09T16:54:00.000-05:002012-10-10T09:54:57.723-05:00The Lumbergh Principle - You have to mean it <br />
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by Bobby Robbins</div>
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Despite a now insignificant pre-Y2K (Year 2000) computer software plot and laughable late-90’s fashion, the 1999 cult movie classic <i>Office Space</i> still matters in today’s workplace -- in your office space. The social commentary on display through caricatures of the American workforce, such as the “Upper Management” character Bill Lumbergh, still stings. People still laugh at this movie because bosses and companies still do the very things that this movie makes fun of. </div>
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<span class="s1">If you have never seen <i>Office Space</i>, the name Lumbergh might not mean anything to you. If you have seen the movie, the video clip below may just inspire a revision of your weekend entertainment plans. Either way, the clip should serve as a decent framework for understanding what has come to be known as the <b>Lumbergh Principle</b>. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Actor Gary Cole portrays the perfect disingenuous, high achieving authority figure -- the type that would have been likely shot in the back by his own soldiers in a time of war, yet manages to ascend into Senior Management in environments with less plausible deniability. In this instance, Corporate Vice President Bill Lumbergh pours on the friendly. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">This is not, however, what our “Best Boss” research sample of **20,000** employees meant when they described the best boss they had ever had as -- being friendly. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">We instinctively know that a “Best Boss” is a friendly boss. As children and employees, we have seen sufficient successful parental and supervisory applications of friendliness used to help the one with authority to get results from the efforts of others that lack authority. Certainly the pendulum of leadership history is heavy on the side of heavy handedness, but the modern workplace is different. Given the choice of a friendly boss or an unfriendly one, both the shiny shoes in the corporate tower and the dirty boots on the shop floor have come to prefer the friendly approach.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">The Bill Lumberghs of the world also recognize the obvious correlation between Friendliness, Best Boss Status, and Desirable Results. So, they have done what only makes sense -- pretend to be friendly. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">The problem is that friendly can’t be faked. It can be, but not with “Desirable Results” as the predictable outcome. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><b>The Lumbergh Principle defined -- </b></span><span class="s1"><b>Friendly doesn’t work, </b></span><span class="s4"><b>if you don’t mean it</b></span></div>
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<span class="s1">The heart of the issue is that employees and kids alike can tell if you mean it.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><b>Advice for Accidental Lumberghs</b> </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><b>1.)</b> Knowing that you can’t fake friendly, don’t try. Be yourself. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><b>2.)</b> It is possible that your employees think of you as a walking-talking Lumbergh Doll and all you are really doing is innocently imitating an unfortunate model from your past. Open your eyes and align yourself instead with the basic tenets of Best Boss Friendliness:</span></div>
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<li>Friendly is not about hiding behind friendly words. It means not being Antagonistic or Hostile. </li>
<li>Friendly is not about forsaking performance to be nice. It means showing concern for things that concern others and listening to help deal with those concerns.</li>
<li>Friendly is not about being buddies. It means creating a relationship that helps individuals and teams share their concerns and ideas while working to accomplish their agreed upon objectives. </li>
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<span class="s1"><b>3.)</b> Take the time to understand some of the potential consequences of a Lumbergh-esque style:</span></div>
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<li>Subordinate Resentment</li>
<li>Disengagement from Team Goals</li>
<li>Sabotage (remember that the subordinate characters in <i>Office Space</i> go on to embezzle millions and even burn down the office, even as the audience roots for them to get away with it.)</li>
<li>The loss of genuine access to the hearts and minds of employees when in a position to actually work with them to “Find a Fix” for their concerns and the concerns of the team. </li>
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<span class="s1"><b>4.)</b> Talk with someone away from work or away from home about why you are having trouble shedding your Lumbergh skin. Feeling the need to fake friendly or the genuine lack of concern for others may indicate there is an opportunity to dig deeper into your own personal context and maybe improve more than just performance metrics. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Before you discount this concept as something only valuable for the “shiny shoe”, white-collar crowd, watch this out-of-the-cubicle take on the same approach. Lumbergh’s cousin, the Drilling Rig Safety Man, stands even less a chance of improving performance with this strategy. </span></div>
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<span class="s3"><a href="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/10368397/Charm%20School.mov" target="_blank">CLICK to WATCH Charm School Video</a></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Video Production Note -- **The script direction said to think Eddie Haskell from <i>Leave it to Beaver</i>, but unexpectedly - Lumbergh showed up. Did you catch it? Great.</span></div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-376894211462117151.post-20669250292574283372012-09-26T08:22:00.000-05:002012-09-26T08:22:11.168-05:00Your Culture Gap is Showing<b><span style="font-size: large;">The Gap between your Formal and Informal Cultures is as simple as 'Follow the Leader'</span></b><br />
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<span class="s1">by Michael Allen</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Companies often express frustration that their operations fail to live up to the standards set forth for itself. These companies are essentially describing gaps between their formal (company standard) and informal (what actually happens) cultures. While many factors contribute to this gap, such as communication, size, number of locations and hiring practices, maybe the single most prevalent force in driving informal culture is the behavior of front line managers and supervisors. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">One important characteristics of a “Best Boss” is leading by example. On the surface, this seems like a straightforward and common characteristic of many bosses, but let’s look deeper. How does the significance of this characteristic extend beyond just the personal esteem in which we hold the boss to the point that it actually impacts the success of the entire organization? </span></div>
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<span class="s1">A workplace is an extremely complex and dynamic organism and the workers themselves will only act in ways that make sense to them in the moment. If the actions of supervisors suggest that certain behaviors are acceptable, even if they fly in the face of company policy, the employees will be prompted to act in the same manner as their leader. Even worse, if the boss is allowed to pick and choose which rules to follow, he or she is giving unspoken permission for others to do the same.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Let’s look at a specific example. There is a manufacturing company that has very high safety standards, including the proper use of PPE (Personal Protective Equipment). The plant manager is well known to show up on the manufacturing floor wearing his Nike training shoes and a hat of his favorite football team. While he may try to justify not wearing PPE in his own mind, what he fails to recognize is the precedent he is setting for the workforce. After all, if the boss can wear his tennis shoes on the plant floor, why can’t the others? Not only is he not modeling the proper standard, he has now set the precedent that the standards themselves are simply suggestions and not to be taken seriously. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Some of you may be asking yourself, “but what if I make a simple mistake and now I’m leading the entire team down the wrong road?” There is actually no better time to demonstrate the characteristic of leading by example than when you make a mistake. Simply stating your mistake and the steps that you are going to take to rectify the situation shows that you do in fact care about the standards of the company, and most importantly, that you are willing to hold yourself accountable to the standards. The resulting impact on informal culture is that the formal culture will be seen as worthy of being embraced and that everyone is able - especially leaders - and prepared to redirect and be redirected for performance that doesn't match the desired culture. </span><br />
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<span class="s1">We won’t go into detail in this post about what leaders do to redirect bad performance, in themselves or others, but you can </span><a href="http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=9c7ab2e437f225c6198dc3bfb&id=a19752eb13" target="_blank">click here</a> to read an archived newsletter on that topic.</div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-376894211462117151.post-38308364702014452742012-09-12T09:18:00.001-05:002012-09-12T12:25:32.428-05:00A Taste of Your Own Medicine<br />
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<span class="s1"><b>Leading by example means accepting redirection as willingly as you provide it.</b></span></div>
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by Ron Ragain, Ph.D.<br />
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It is difficult for most of us to accept criticism from anyone, but especially from our children or our employees. After all, we are supposed to have all the answers and know how to do everything the correct way, right? Wrong! Everyone makes mistakes, even bosses and parents, and we really don’t know everything. Willingness to accept feedback from others is important in how we lead. If you want your children and your employees to accept your feedback when they fail, you have to be willing to accept theirs when you fail. So how do you do it? We suggest that there are four key things to keep in mind to successfully receive redirection from others.<br />
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<li class="li1"><span class="s1"><b>Remember that they are taking a risk.</b> In the parent-child and employer-employee relationships you have the power and they don’t. You can make their lives difficult and in some cases even dissolve the relationship (we don’t recommend this with your children). Therefore it is vital that you understand that they are assuming all of the risk when giving you this type of feedback.</span></li>
<li class="li1"><span class="s1"><b>Assume that they have your best interest in mind.</b> It is very easy to become defensive when receiving less than positive feedback. The primary reason that we become defensive is because we assume that the other person is trying to hurt us in some way. We generate a “guess” about their motive and that guess is usually negative. If you start with a guess that they have your best interest in mind, then you will be less likely to become defensive and more likely to have a successful conversation. If they are trying to hurt you, then you have an opportunity to discover why and determine what you can do to rectify that.</span></li>
<li class="li1"><span class="s1"><b>Listen with respect.</b> Respectful listening really means allowing the other person to express their views and thoughts without you becoming defensive. Ask clarifying questions when you don’t understand something, but don’t justify your actions/results before the other person has finished because this will most likely be seen as defensive. It is also important to show good body language through your posture, eye contact and facial expression. How you look and what you say will set the tone for the conversation and will either lead to success or failure.</span></li>
<li class="li1"><span class="s1"><b>Show gratitude for their feedback.</b> Remember that it is difficult for someone with less power than you have to step up and give you feedback. It is very important that you let them know that you recognize this and that you appreciate their willingness to help you become the best leader that you can possibly be.</span></li>
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<span class="s1">If you want to lead by example, you will need to be willing to accept negative feedback as easily as you are willing to give it.</span></div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-376894211462117151.post-84066993780529578182012-09-05T10:45:00.000-05:002012-09-13T09:54:35.992-05:00Deal with Employee Failure -- the SAFE Wayby Ron Ragain, Ph.D.<br />
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<span class="s1">Have you ever worked for someone who seems to notice every small error you make (and points it out), but almost never says anything when you are successful? We call this leadership style “The Persecutor” and we see it a lot in both industry and parenting. We have learned by talking with Persecutors that they are trying to motivate people to improve by holding them accountable for their results, but the exact opposite actually occurs because of the way they do it. </span><br />
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Employees become demotivated because there is no balance between positive and negative feedback, and because they feel disrespected in the process. People need both correction (what we call “Redirection") for failure and positive feedback for success. So how can you avoid persecution and create the results that you need? We suggest that you use the following redirection guidelines when correcting performance. <br />
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<li class="li1"><span class="s1"><i>Remain calm</i>. Emotions such as frustration and anger only make us less effective in thinking and communicating. Most of the time those emotions are the result of a “guess” about why the person failed. Avoid guesses and you will have much more control over your emotions.</span></li>
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<li class="li1"><span class="s1"><i>Conduct the session in private</i>. One of your primary objectives is to reduce defensiveness so that you can get the employee to help you examine the reason(s) behind the failure and develop a “fix” for the future. Calling someone out in public almost always leads to defensiveness, so make every effort to find a private location for this discussion.</span></li>
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<li class="li1"><span class="s1"><i>Eliminate interruptions and distractions</i>. Gaining the full attention of the employee is critical for an effective conversation. Make sure that you control as many distractions as possible and you will get much better attention from your employee.</span></li>
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<li class="li1"><span class="s1"><i>Point out positive aspects of performance first, followed by identification of the inadequate performance</i>. Typically the employee will have had some success that you want to continue in the future. Positive feedback helps to strengthen those behaviors, so take this opportunity to create repeated success with positive feedback. Then point out the specific result, action, lack of action, etc. that you have identified as failure. Avoid ambiguous terms such as bad attitude, unmotivated, etc.</span></li>
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<li class="li1"><span class="s1"><i>Follow the SAFE* approach to giving feedback.</i></span></li>
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<li class="li1"><span class="s1"><b>Step Up</b>: When you see failure, say something, but say it with respect. If you don’t step up, then the things that have led to this failure will continue to create failure in the future and if you say it the wrong way (disrespectfully) you will create defensiveness and less desire for improvement going forward.</span></li>
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<li class="li1"><span class="s1"><b>Ask:</b> Learn the real reason for the failure. Was it motivation, ability, pressure, lack of support, etc? Evaluate the total context that led to the failure before you come up with a plan for improvement.</span></li>
<li class="li1"><span class="s1"><b>Find a Fix</b>: Find a fix for the real reason for the failure. Work with the employee to determine a way to create success in the future. Don’t create the plan yourself, but rather create it in concert with the employee when possible. This brings more ownership and more motivation for improvement.</span></li>
<li class="li1"><span class="s1"><b>Ensure the Fix</b>: Keep an eye on improvement and give feedback accordingly. If the “fix” works and you observe success, then give positive feedback to strengthen performance. If you observe failure, then work your way through the SAFE approach again until you find the real reason for failure and the right fix going forward.</span></li>
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<span class="s1"><b>*</b>SAFE Skills are a component of The RAD Group’s <b><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_606240669">PerformanceCOMPASS</a></b></span><span class="s2"><b><sup><a href="http://www.theradgroup.com/organizational-development-performance-compass.html" target="_blank">TM</a></sup></b></span><span class="s1"><b> </b>training.</span></div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-376894211462117151.post-73049054273515115802012-08-29T07:32:00.000-05:002012-09-12T12:22:45.811-05:00Four Keys to Managing Outside of Your Area of Technical Competenceby Ron Ragain, Ph.D.<br />
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<span class="s1">When we ask newly promoted, first-time supervisors why they got their supervisory job, they almost always say it was because they were really good at getting technical results in their last job. In other words, they became supervisors because they were very technically competent. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">But what happens when people progress in management and find themselves managing people who are much more technically competent than they are? What if they are totally out of their area of technical competence? How do they manage under these conditions? Do they admit their lack of technical competence or “fake it until they make it”? </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Has this happened to you? Is it possible that it might happen at some point in your career? To help you answer these questions, we offer you four keys to success when managing outside of your area of technical competence.</span></div>
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<li class="li1"><span class="s1"><b><i>Honestly evaluate your competencies.</i></b> We can’t all know everything so an honest evaluation of your competencies will help you identify where you either need help from others or where you need to seek education for yourself. I can honestly say that I am not competent when it comes to development of websites or just about anything IT. I also know that my time is much better spent not taking a lot of time attempting to become proficient in this area. I have made the decision to delegate this area to someone else; someone with a lot more competence than I have, which leads to Key #2.</span></li>
<li class="li1"><span class="s1"><b><i>Seek the support of those who are competent.</i></b> You can’t “fake it” for long and when you are discovered your credibility and influence will most likely be reduced. There is no shame in admitting that you don’t know how to do something or how to do it well. Look for those on your team who have the competency or competencies needed and delegate to them, while at the same time attempting to gain an appropriate level of competence for yourself. I know there are some computer programs that I need the ability to navigate and use in my daily activities. For these I have taken the time to gain proficiency. Everything else IT is delegated with delight!</span></li>
<li class="li1"><span class="s1"><b><i>Show thanks for the support of others.</i></b> People need to feel appreciated and showing thanks for the competencies of others on your team is important to the development of respect and relationship. Make sure you thank those who help you gain competencies or who take away the need for you to do so by handling it themselves. This is exactly what I have done with many of my IT needs and I always try to remember to show gratitude to those who take on this role.</span></li>
<li class="li1"><span class="s1"><b><i>Use ‘Best Boss’ skills to manage.</i></b> Use the same skills that thousands of our students have consistently identified over the last 20 years when asked to describe the best boss they ever had. Your employees will likely give you the benefit of the doubt while you seek to grow in technical competence, if they have already experienced the benefits of your non-technical competence. To help you with this, we will continue throughout 2012 to use <a href="http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/home/?u=9c7ab2e437f225c6198dc3bfb&id=784735415a" target="_blank">The RAD Group Newsletter</a> to explore the Top 20 Characteristics of a ‘Best Boss‘. To refresh your memory, revisit the ‘Best Boss’ Newsletter Archive and keep an eye on your email inbox for future editions.</span></li>
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<span class="s1">No boss can know everything. ‘Best Bosses’ know that their primary responsibility is not to be competent in all of the technical aspects under their control, but rather to surround themselves with competent people and treat them with respect.</span></div>
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