Getting Their Attention

They’re thinking: “I can’t even think about my To-Do list . . .  The housekeeping issue has to be taken care of first and that’s that . . . What did he just say? . . . And we have to stop the revolving back door! . . . Wait . . . I forgot to tell Don to shut down the production line on first shift . . . What does TTYL mean? . . . So after my 7:45 meeting, I’ll call the vendor myself and ask her to go ahead and ship . . .”

How do you break through that battle of the mind to gain their attention so you can communicate your message?

1. Know your audience or prospective audience. Know their key frustrations/problems/challenges and how your message will help relieve one or more of these.

2. Craft a concise, compelling, head-turning question or statement.

3. Choose more than one delivery mode if necessary. Email, telephone, LinkedIn message, US Mail, small package containing a book, greeting card . . . you may have to test several if you don’t know their preference.

4. Your message must contain a call to action. What do you want them to do?

5. When you have their attention, keep it. Don’t be a messenger of doom and gloom; however, agree with them that their situation is bad.

6. Give evidence THAT you can help but don’t actually help them until the time is right. For example, until the deal is signed.

NOW you have their attention. You have broken through the clutter. NOW you can deliver your message. Now do it well.

Whose attention do you need?

What’s on the line if you don’t get your message across?

How proficient are you at getting their attention and communicating in a concise and compelling fashion?

These are some of the communication goals we have helped many of our clients achieve. Contact me at JoUmberger@TrainSpeakCoach.com to get your message to the right audience.

Leadership Trends: Is it a real fire?

You are minding your own business, just standing on a platform like you do everyday . . . HO HUM . . .  when suddenly the platform is set ablaze! You see the fire. You feel the heat. It’s legitimate, you conclude. You examine your options and then take action. You jump.

People need a reason to propel them to things differently . . . but they need more than any reason. They need reason enough. They need a reason so compelling that,  after examining it themselves to determine if they buy into the reason, they take ownership and begin considering their options.

Of course taking ownership isn’t so easy in every organization. Sometimes authority figures won’t give people the power to own their course of action, even within boundaries. At that point, people feel stifled. Their ideas don’t count. Their attention was at the point where they were ready to take action.  But if they can’t own part of the solution, their attention is likely to be diverted. “Let someone else put out the fire.” They get bored with acting like a robot. They lose focus. They lose morale.

Leaders who empower their workforce set the rules of empowerment, give people a chance to experience the freedom and fun that come with taking ownership (engaging), wean employees from having to be told what/how/when, remain patient when mistakes are made and refrain from pointing fingers, and celebrate wins with recognition and rewards.

But the change begins with a really compelling reason. Perhaps market conditions. Perhaps a new law that negatively affects the business. Or perhaps the leaders simply communicate realities unknown to the workforce in a compelling fashion, inspiring them to sit up and take notice. To buy-in. To engage mind and heart.

But take heed, when people believe their platform is burning, they are more likely to want to help put out the fire!

Taking the Scary Out of Empowerment–Who’s in Control Here?

To avoid losing control when you give others the authority to do something for which you ultimately are responsible, follow these steps:

(1) As the leader, you set the ground rules. Clearly state the scope of authority you are delegating and check for understanding. (2) Engage their minds by seeking their  input (at various levels as they prove their ability) and engage their hearts by helping them connect the desired outcome to their personal values. (3)Ensure they have the skills, judgment, and other tools necessary to accomplish the work. (4) Delegate authority in steps, gradually allowing more room for the person to excel. (5) Embrace the learning that comes from mistakes, rather than punish employees for taking calculated risks. (6) Gradually reduce the amount and depth of reporting to you as they become more adept at initiating and implementing the necessary work.

Of course there are no guarantees that everything will work out just as you would have it . . . but inherent in empowerment is that a leader is gradually mentoring others to own their work and their results.

Taking the Scary out of Empowerment–Dealing with Mistakes

Who is most likely to think empowerment is intimidating? Potentially everyone if it’s new (or if it has been executed poorly). Employees who feel unsure about the consequences of making a mistake can be intimidated, as can managers who are unsure how the ELT will respond to the way they handle their mistakes or the mistakes of their teams.

There are several techniques for helping to build the confidence needed for leaders and employees alike to move forward with empowerment. We’ll deal first with learning to deal with mistakes, as it can be one of the biggest roadblocks to empowerment.

In a Command & Control environment, everyone is focused on identifying WHO made the mistake. (Blame often follows.) In an empowered environment, everyone is focused on WHAT can be learned when a mistake is made and the learning is documented.

In a Command & Control environment, most (or all) mistakes are labelled as BAD. In an empowered environment, mistakes are CELEBRATED because the team is one step closer to improving the process.

In an empowered environment, people clearly understand the rules of the game. They know the boundaries. They are expected to play the game to the best of their ability. They are encouraged to take calculated risks in order to improve their processes.

Next: Taking the Scary out of Empowerment–Who’s in Control Here?

Your next step to Continuous Improvement

What is your next step toward Continuous Improvement? Try this: Identify the biggest hurdle in delivering your products or services

    On Time In Full,

    at the highest quality level possible,

    at the highest level of productivity possible,

    as safely as possible,

    and at the highest profit margin possible, 

    while maintaining high ethical standards.

By helping many organizations for 20+ years to engage their employees in accomplishing these various phases of Continuous Improvement, we’ve learned that it’s always important to identify your biggest hurdle to taking your next step toward improvement. Sometimes focusing on overcoming the hurdle frees people to think more creatively than merely setting them on yet another process, policy, or performance improvement project.

As you know, Continuous Improvement is a mindset rather than a series of projects, as is Employee Engagement. By making a “project” out of these critical business practices, either can easily get lost, put on the back burner, or relegated to “whenever I have time.”

Who will do more and go farther . . . because they want to?

The short answer is those employees who meet 3 criteria:

1. know and understand their roles

2. find passion in their work

3. are equipped to perform well

So here are 3 applicable questions for leaders.

1. Have you invested the time to ensure that all employees who report directly to you fully understand their responsibilities? Go beyond asking a yes/no question — you’ll most likely get a YES every time. Have a clarifying conversation with them. This sounds so simple that I believe it sometimes gets overlooked as a foundational management strategy.

2. Have you asked each employee what they love to do? Only after learning what their heart desires are you most likely to help them see how their role connects with their passion. If this seems too hard or too tedious or too soft, consider the hard dollars it costs corporations when employees are disengaged from their work.

3. Have you asked them if they have all the tools they need to do the work . . . or have you polled yourself only?

Opening up the communication channels in these 3 areas is most likely to help your organization improve productivity.

Keys to Helping Employees Make Changes

1. Involve the employee in a discussion about expected outcomes (benefits to him/her as well as to the org) if they were to make a certain behavior change.

2. Ask them how making the change will support their values.

3. Ask them to identify the steps they may have to take. Be prepared to provide a little coaching.

4. Very important: SET A DATE FOR THE FOLLOW-UP “SUCCESS STORY.”

In my 20+ years of working with adults to help facilitate their making personal changes, the importance of these 4 points continues to be reinforced. The best behavior modification training in the world without the appropriate follow-up will fall to the floor. I suppose that follow-up is so simple that leaders some times think it unnecessary. Positive accountability includes 3 steps and is preferably conducted in a group setting where all are working on making some type of change.

1. Remind us of the action step you committed to at our last meeting.

2. What have you done?

3. What have been the results?

Truly this is simple . . . but absolutely necessary in all but the rarest case.

Don’t leave out the follow-up if you want changes to last!

Creating an Environment Where People Want What You Want

We have already established that you cannot control anyone but you. Yes, you can impose consequences, which can help steer employeees to do what you need them to do. But that’s very different from creating an environment where employees’ wants line up with management’s wants. There is no sure-fire prescription, but there are clear steps to take to help them overcome their resistance and gain their willingness to accomplish the mission-critical goals.

1. Be 100% credible yourself. To buy yourself some leeway when you make mistakes, tell people your intentions.

2. Share as much information in all directions as possible. “Need to know” basis is important; but avoid using it as an excuse for not giving people the info they need.

3. Ask them to list the benefits of doing what you want them to do…business benefits and personal benefits. This often helps gain the all-important buy-in. The willingness.

4. Ask for their input. We have great stories from client companies whose employees saved hundreds of thousands of dollars because they were asked how to save money…and they implemented their own ideas.

5. Get to know what your employees value. Ask them how doing what you need them to do will support their value system. This is a huge motivator.

6. Give employees room to create their own tactics. If you determine the goal, let them figure out how to achieve it…even if you provide some coaching along the way.

7. Provide a designated time for them to share their successes with their peers and you.

8. Celebrate the gains.

9. Celebrate what was learned from the mis-steps. This frees people to take calculated risks…if you’ll let them.

Value: It ain’t always about the money…

What are the benefits of your employees knowing that you truly value them?

Are they are more likely to do their best if they believe they are valued?  Are they more likely to buy into mission-critical tasks and do a great  job at them? Are they more likely to communicate information to you that you need to know? In our experience with organizations of all sizes over 20+ years – yes. 

You can’t manipulate your employees’ feelings, but you can take actions to create an environment that demonstrates the value you place on your employees.

• Tell them. What you appreciate, what a great job they did, how glad you are that they are on the team.
• Celebrate. It’s a way to show them that you appreciate them. Let’s face it, everyone is doing more. And people are weary of trying to hit yet another stretch goal time after time after time. Stop between projects and celebrate.
• Engage them. If your culture doesn’t routinely ask for the opinions of those who actually do the work, try it. They hold a lot of power because of their specialty knowledge. They can contribute it or hide it.
• Remember. Their names, conversations you’ve had, maybe even their kids’ names.

This is just the start. If you really want to know what actions [in addition to a pay raise ] would demonstrate to your employees that they are very valuable, you could ask them. Or if that seems too risky because you think you may not be able to deliver, then ask yourself. What do you think would communicate to them that they are truly important to you? Sometimes just communicating your intention is a great start.

And by the way, measuring whether or not your employees feel valued may be as simple as an anonymous survey.

What can you do to increase your Credibility Score?

Technically YOU can’t increase your Credibility Score, as it is a “score” given to you by those who know you. But what you can do is be a credible person, the kind of person others trust and will follow. What kinds of traits are attributed to highly credible leaders? Characteristics such as honest, trustworthy, integrity, and kind make the list.

Who is credible in your eyes? Whom do you follow because you believe in them? What traits do they exhibit?

Credibility is the basis of influence and the ability to influence is the core of leadership.