Centralized or Decentralized Succession Planning?
One of the important strategic decisions you'll have to make when determining how to approach your succession planning is whether you want the execution of it to be centralized or decentralized.
Centralized
If you choose the centralized route, HR will be the hub of the succession planning. They will know who is in the pipeline, they will oversee or even prescribe the professional development that those people will need in order to be prepared, they will sign people up for classes, send them to conferences, hire them coaches, and make sure that they are progressing along a career path and/or a learning path.
Decentralized
In the decentralized approach, all of those responsibilities just listed will be taken on by every department head, whatever title you want to give that (manager, director, VP, etc.). In the decentralized approach, each individual department will plan their own succession pipeline and keep HR in the loop. HR will not have individual sightlines into each department’s or each individual’s succession plan. Instead, HR will be kept apprised of the plan and act as a consultant to the department head.
The role of HR is very different in the centralized versus decentralized approach. In the decentralized approach HR is more of an advisor to each individual department, as opposed to owning the process and making sure that the company, as a whole, has succession planning in place.
Example
If a department head says “I want my folks to have more industry knowledge,” HR would say, “OK, give me a week and I'll come back with a couple of options that might fit your goals.” What HR won't do is assess where people stand now, what development they need, or be involved in the development process in any way other than an advisory role.
HR’s Responsibility
The responsibility that HR has when the process is decentralized is that HR has to make sure that all department heads know what they're doing.
· Do they know how to plan a career trajectory?
· Do they know how to delegate?
· Do they know how to identify special projects or stretch assignments?
· Do they know how to coach?
· Do they know how to teach their people how to coach?
· Are they willing to let people go from their department in order to advance their career and make a more well-rounded contributor to the organization?
The centralized versus decentralized decision depends on how your organization prefers to manage the process and how much time and dedication you think your individual department heads will give to the process. Also, consider if a department head leaves, will the next leader be on board with this responsibility?
Warning: There is one glaring problem when succession planning is decentralized, and that is: if a particular department just drops the ball. HR may not be apprised of the fact that there may be a big gap in the succession pipeline of a particular department. In the centralized scenario, HR will make sure that every spoke in your company hub has a succession plan in place, and people are progressing through that plan.
The Importance of Clarifying Leadership Competencies and Skills
Are you a great communicator?
Do your employees trust you?
Are you able to inspire people to do more than they themselves thought they could?
These are all behaviors of a leader - yet most interviews for senior leaders never screen for these qualities.
In this issue of Succession Planning Tips we are going to focus on the critical differences between behavioral competencies and skills - because without understanding the difference, you cannot hire leaders who gel with your organization.
Why is it important to define the competencies and skills of a leader?
Differentiating between competencies and skills is important because a lot of organizations are finding themselves having to hire senior leaders from outside their organizations. The current senior leaders have been on the job for decades and companies have not had the foresight to prepare younger generations to step into senior roles. If you are looking to fill senior leadership (aka C-suite roles) roles you need to know what you're looking for in terms of cultural fit with the organization and its values - and 99% of that fit has nothing to do with what the potential new leader knows but rather with how they behave.
What’s the difference between competency and skills?
A competency encompasses various skills; skills that put a finer point on defining a leader.
For instance, one of the competencies you might want your senior leaders to possess is “excellent communication skills.” Who among us has not seen that on a job posting, right? But what does that look like in terms of actual behavior? Is “excellent communicator” one thing or many things? It might mean:
“In this organization, we speak respectfully to one another.”
“We welcome feedback and we act on it.”
“It's okay to speak truth to power in this organization.”
Here's a different way of looking at it: Say you have a child who needs a bit of behavior modification. Saying, “You need to be a good boy,” isn't very specific is it? But breaking down what “good boy” means in terms of skills or behaviors is something you can identify, he or she can comprehend, and you can recognize and reward in practice.
Back to the world of work:
A good rule of thumb is to identify 6-8 competencies and beneath them, 5 to 6 skills/behaviors that further define what that competency looks like in practice. So you might have potential competencies such as:
critical thinker
excellent communicator
thinks strategically
works collaboratively
team-first attitude
ethical
Then you’ll need to define the skills/behaviors that demonstrate those competencies - as the “excellent communicator” example does, above.
When you are interviewing for senior leadership roles your questions should be more about how the person fits within your definition of your company’s critical competencies and not about what they’ve accomplished in their previous roles (we can presume that if they made it to a senior executive interview they have conquered the requisite performance). Rather, ask clarifying and probing questions to determine if someone will be a fit with your organization and continue to promote the values and goals your company and your people work toward.
Get help crafting questions that get at behaviors and fit.
Defining competencies and the skills that make up those competencies puts a finer point on what you expect of a senior leader in your organization - both those who are already with you and those you are inviting to join the organization.
This article was originally published on LinkedIn
Why You'll Never Be Hired as a Manager
That headline was intended to get your attention.
But, truth of the matter, you will not get hired as a first-time manager.
No company is going to take a bet on your “potential.”
· I bet she’s great at communicating
· I bet she’s great at scheduling
· I bet he knows how to coach others to their full potential
If you wish to be a manager of others, you’ll first need to create a managerial role for yourself, where you currently are. Once you have “earned” the title of manager, you’ll be able to use that as leverage to move into other managerial roles, in other organizations.
Here are three tips to getting promoted into a managerial position:
1 Pick your head up from your desk / cubicle
You won’t get promoted if those who have the power to promote you don’t know your name or don’t know who you are by sight. You may be wonderful at your job, but being a manager involves working intimately with others, so if you don’t pick your head up from your work and demonstrate that you interact well with others, you won’t be seen as “management material.”
Anytime you are away from your desk (coming in to work, leaving a the end of the day, walking to the restroom) be sure to say hello to two or three people along the way. Smile. Make eye contact. Act like you own the place. Something as simple as this will translate to, “She’s a good communicator.”
2 Look for opportunities to do more than is expected.
If you do your job – even if you are extraordinary - you are no more extraordinary than anyone else who is also “just doing their job.” Managers show initiative, they plan, they forecast, they solve problems proactively. Show that you have initiative by thinking about something in your work (or the workplace) that irritates you or seems cumbersome, and how you might approach it differently. Offer to “fix” the problem. Approach your boss and say, “I’ve been thinking about XYZ and, with your permission, I want to try an experiment to … speed it up, reduce the errors, more easily fact-check,” etc.
You want your manager on your side, so that if a position opens up in another area and they are asked “do you have anyone in your department that you’d recommend?” they will think of you because you show initiative
And that brings us to my last tip -
3 Think laterally
You have a 70/30 chance of getting your boss’ job (30% in your favor). Unless your boss is promoted or leaves the company, don’t expect that you will move up in the ranks. In fact, if they think you are gunning for their job it may make them wary of being your “cheerleader.” Instead, be aware of what’s happening in your organization overall. If you see or hear about an upcoming opening, ask your manager if they would suggest your name for the role. Tell them how much you’d enjoy working side-by-side with them as a peer. Be willing to venture into the unknown (aka a new department) in order to get your first managerial role.
Finally, if you are hoping for an internal promotion but don’t get it for some reason, be congratulatory and supportive of the person who DID get it. Continue your good work as discussed in tips 1 and 2 and you’ll stand out as a team player of the organization, not as an individual who is out for his/her own self interests. When you demonstrate that you put the organization’s needs before your own, you stand out as managerial material.
The 3 C’s of Leadership Development
With record numbers of people quitting their jobs, the mass exodus of Baby Boomers, and the current report that more than 10% of all leadership positions in organizations are currently vacant, there is an urgent demand for leadership development in all kinds of industries.
From the kinds of inquiries we get each week, we’ve realized that most organizations are not approaching leadership development in a strategic way. They are looking for coaching or courses without a real plan for how they will roll them out, what they expect the benefit to be, or who is ultimately responsible for them.
Here are the three C’s of leadership development which are necessary BEFORE you actually begin any development approach:
1. Culture
2. Communication
3. Coaching
Note: It may take a year or more to get these things in place, but it is time well-spent if you want your leadership development efforts to be successful.
1. Culture
For decades organizations in the US have had a “top-down” culture. There are natural progressions from individual contributor, to manager of others, to leaders of departments, divisions and more. For organizations to be successful going forward, however, leadership is less of a position and more of a capability.
This is a significant change in thinking, in practice, and in organizational culture. And organization’s (and society for that matter) do not change their cultures quickly.
The leader’s role now is to develop others. The perspective must shift to “How far can this person go? What can I help him/her achieve?” rather than “What skills do they currently have and do they serve a specific purpose?”
The pandemic has brought this shift to light more quickly. With so many individuals working from home without direct “supervision,” everyone is essentially leading themselves; and for everyone to be successful (the individual and the organization as a whole) they need the ability to grow their capabilities in many ways, with their leader’s support.
Bottom line: Organizations need to shift their culture from control-and-command to guide-and-support.
2. Communication
The next critical practice is communicating - not only communicating the shift in culture but constantly, loudly, reinforcing it. The shift in thinking and practice must cascade from the top of the organization to the bottom. Not only do managers need to know what is expected of them, but employees need to know what to expect of their managers.
This is not a fast process. Much like in marketing, where the maxim is that someone needs to hear or see your ad at least 7 times before it even “registers,” you’ll need to keep communicating the role of the leader is to develop his/her employees.
Additionally, you’ll need to explain why this shift is happening. When everyone does better, the organization itself does better. Increased capabilities means increased creativity, productivity, and agility – all of which contribute to increased profitability. When individuals are supported to grow within a company, it is easier to retain (and recruit) employees. You pick the “positioning” which would work best for your organization and stick to it.
Bottom line: Expect to explain and reiterate your message over the course of a few years. There is a quote from (former) President Obama in which he stated his biggest surprise about being president was how much he had to repeat himself.
3. Coaching
Coaching is a skill that needs to be imbued in all managers because it is the only way that a culture of developing others will come to fruition. BUT FIRST the organization must commit to a culture of developing every employee to be able to do their best work (#1), then that commitment must be communicated and reinforced (#2), and finally, the skills to fulfill the commitment can be taught to the managers who will actually make it happen.
Coaching is a time-intensive approach to managing because it requires really getting to know one’s employees and investing time in regular 1:1 conversations with each individual. By developing deeper and more personal relationships with one’s employees, you begin to understand who is more analytical and who is more social…which leads you to be able to identify “perfect fit” roles and development opportunities for them. If you have children you get this concept – every child has a different personality, different skills, different passions, different things that make them “tick.” You only know this because you spend so much time with them. And, because you want the best for them, you help them to pursue and develop their capabilities.
Bottom line: It is the managers in your organization who will truly develop your future leaders – not classes or curriculums.
For companies to be successful in the fourth industrial revolution, it is imperative that “leadership capabilities” are present throughout the organization; this will only come to fruition through an intentional culture of developing others and a reskilling of today’s managers to be proficient in coaching.
Note: This article first appeared on LinkedIn 12/10/21
Career Paths are AMAZING Recruiting Tools
Last month we completed an analysis of exit interviews, spanning the last five years, for a client of ours. The good news is – their attrition rate isn’t that high. The bad news is – the people choosing to leave the organization have critical skills and nearly 90% of them stated as their reason for leaving, “there’s no where else for me to go in this company.” In fact, a Gallup survey conducted prior to the pandemic found that 93% of people advance their career by taking a position at another company.
What are Career Paths?
Career paths give employees a “map” to ways that they can extend their career with your organization – either by moving vertically (up the ladder) or horizontally to other positions in the company that can utilize their skills. Career paths enable employees to pursue their interests and develop their skills without having to go outside the organization, as, unfortunately, the employees in our client’s organization felt they had to do.
93% of employees advance their career by taking a job at another company
For example, a call center job often begins with a position as a CSR (customer service representative) which is more difficult than you would think. CSRs can quickly burn out and leave organizations – often within the first year. But a career path that shows how their career might progress from CSR to team leader, to supervisor, and eventually to manager or trainer allows employees to envision a career with the organization, not just a job.
A possible CSR career path
Or say I’ve burned out in my CSR job after three years and one promotion to team leader… my customer service skills could also easily translate to a role in sales or procurement (a horizontal move) – so you don’t always need to think of a career path as a one-foot-in-front-of-the-other path. Sometimes it’s a swinging from the vine from tree-to-tree trajectory instead. Be flexible in thinking of career paths and encourage your managers to look at untapped potential that can be captured with the right training, coaching, and support.
How do career paths help in recruitment?
Not only do career paths help with attrition, as the above example illustrates, but they are a secret weapon in recruiting as well. Study after study in recent years have identified that younger generations prioritize professional development; that may mean having access to learning opportunities – going to training, having membership to a professional associations paid for, or tuition reimbursement - or it might mean having a defined process to continue to advance their career in your organization (which, by default, will include learning opportunities).
In today’s ultra-tight job market, you need a way to differentiate yourself and attract employees. Discussing potential career paths (and the purposeful development process that gets people there) and showing a simple diagram (you don’t want to overwhelm people during the interview process… to illustrate that there is room to grow over 3- 5- or 10-years’ time, will enable your company to stand out from the crowd.
Other benefits
Not only do career paths help you to attract employees, but they help you to retain employees as well (helping you to avoid the costs of advertising, interviewing, onboarding and training, not to mention the time it takes for a new hire to become comfortable and capable in their new job), AND often you’ll find they land you on the “Best Places to Work” lists because your employees are so pleased that you value them and are invested in their growth.
Person interviewing for job
Career paths and the public recognition of them (such as during performance reviews and in announcements of recently promoted employees) are also important for having a “supply” of mission critical employees. For example, if your organization only has one procurement officer and that person leaves for whatever reason… it could take months to fill that job. But having pre-planned (and executed) career paths means that you won’t panic because you’ll have someone waiting in the wings to step into the role. If you’re overwhelmed by the idea of creating career paths for all roles in your company – then focus on the roles that are essential for the business to continue its work uninterrupted.
The existence of career paths doesn’t mean that every employee will take advantage of them or will follow them to “the conclusion,” but it DOES show that you’re a professional organization that has applied critical thought to not only how your company will grow, but how you’ll grow your people with it.
The Difference Between Education, Training, and Learning
In our 30 years of consulting to organizations both big and small – it has become very apparent that most workplace training fails for one fundamental reason…
People don’t “get” the difference between education, training, and learning.
As an expert in the field, we often speak at industry conferences and always start with this distinction.
It is amazing to hear many people in the audience exclaim “ohhhh.”
Here is the distinction:
Education is something we’ve all experienced.
It is formal. It is typically done in large groups.
It is mostly a one-way flow of information.
It’s usually an expert imparting knowledge - which often takes the form of facts, rules, or underlying theories.
At the end of education we expect people to “know stuff.”
Training is more outcome based.
At the end of training you are expected to be able to do something or to behave in a certain way.
And training is dependent on education because you often cannot do new things without understanding certain facts or rules.
For instance, you can’t hit a golf ball with accuracy unless you understand how your body position changes the trajectory.
But above and beyond that – there are many different techniques for hitting a golf ball …which can be learned through training.
Finally, learning is achieved when you have internalized something.
It is the point where somebody says “how do you do that?” and you don’t even know.
You forget what it was like to be a beginner.
You forget what the steps are – you just do it.
So if we want to get to learning – which we do – how is that accomplished?
Three ways: experience, spaced learning, and reflection.
First Experience – not all learning is done in the classroom or in a formal, prescribed setting, right? Think of all the things you’ve learned in your life. A well-known example is teaching a child not to touch a hot stove. Rarely do any of us actually teach that. If we were to educate the child we’d say “don’t touch that stove, it’s hot!” or “be careful, you’ll get hurt” or the simple NO!
But none of those words mean anything.
Inevitably we all touch a hot stove and IMMEDIATELY learn what we’ve been “taught” but didn’t internalize.
So – if you truly want someone to learn something – they have to experience it.
Next, spaced learning or practice.
Think about when you learned to ride a bike or drive a car.
You didn’t take a class and then miraculously know how to do it.
You practiced over and over – repetition, yes, but also - you practiced over the course of many days or weeks - - spaced practice.
We simply do not learn something once, and change our behavior or our capabilities immediately.
And third: reflection.
Reflection is something only an adult human can do.
Have you ever punished your child by saying “go to your room and think about what you’ve done.” That is futile. They can’t do it.
But you know that internal monologue you have running in your head… as you drive or when you’re in the shower …where you’re constantly reflecting on what has happened and whether you were satisfied with the outcome or not? That’s reflection.
In order to learn - people need time to reflect.
Sadly, we rarely allow for that in the workplace.
We put people into 2 hour or 4 hour training classes and then release them back to their jobs where they get inundated with new and urgent things… and that’s the end of that.
And then we wonder why people don’t change their behavior … despite the fact that we provided them “training.”
So - to reiterate:
Education, training and learning are different.
When people get to the point of having learned – they have internalized the content.
They know what they are doing…
why they are doing it…
when they should do it…
and how their behavior might have to change based on changing circumstances.
Succession Planning? Start Here.
Many organizations are facing an impending loss ofleadership as the last of the Boomers are getting ready to leave the workforce.With the start of a new decade upon us, now is the time to plan for the next generationof leaders. But where to start? If your company does not have a leadershipdevelopment program in place, or if you haven’t really given much thought to howyour company will make an orderly transfer of leadership responsibility, 2020is the year to focus on this critical planning.
Below, I’ve outlined the first three steps in successionplanning. So as not to get overwhelmed, address them slowly over the next sixto twelve months and your organization will be ready to smoothly transfer thereins of leadership as the Boomers in your company begin to retire.
Step 1 - Consider who is next in line for leadership
The outcome of this step is to determine where you want toconcentrate your leadership development efforts in order to achieve the most ROI.Do you want to concentrate your efforts on those who have been with yourorganization the longest and therefore understand its inner workings andculture? Or do you want to concentrate on younger generations who are lookingfor professional development as a primaryperk of employment and who may be with your organization longer, as aresult?
To gain better insight, take a look at who you presently employand what generational cohort they belong to. Currently there are fourgenerations in the workforce, the Boomers, Gen X, the Millennials and Gen Z whoare just entering the workforce. It is logical to assume that Gen X, being thenext generation after the Boomers, would be next in line to lead in yourorganization, but there aren’tenough of them. In addition, in a recent study conducted by TheConference Board, of data collected from over 25,000 leaders acrossindustries, it was determined that Gen X have been stymied from moving up thecorporate ladder by Boomers who have stayed on the job longer than previousgenerations. What this means is that there are a number of generations in yourworkforce who have not been indoctrinated into leadership development orleadership roles.
Determining where to apply development efforts is a criticalfirst step in determining your company’s leadership pipeline.
Step 2 - Determine What Skills Your Future Leaders Need
Once you determine who you’ll want to develop (as anaside, I advocate developing everyone as if they were going to be afuture leader; a rising tide lifts all boats, after all) you’ll need to identifywhat skills they will need to support your organization in the future.
To accomplish this, there are three sources of data you’llwant to collect and consider:
1 Look at the jobdescriptions of each of your current leadership roles to determine what skills areidentified as necessary in today’s environment. This is just a baseline, as weknow that today’s business environment is accelerating and changing at a pacenever experienced before and what your organization needs today may not be whatit needs tomorrow. Be sure to identify leadership skills and behaviors, such asmanaging a team of five or fiscal responsibility, and not job tasks such asmonthly reporting. If possible, “read between the lines.” For instance the taskof “standardize procedures to improve efficiency” really means having theleadership abilities of analyzing, forecasting, and planning.
2 Pay attention to what industry experts and yourprofessional association are doing in the realm of the “future of work” andwhat is predicted for your industry. Some of the current concerns includeartificial intelligence and robotics, consumer pressures (suchas related to the environment), and changing buying habits – all of whichwill require your company to adapt. What do you need to start training yourfuture leaders for, today?
3 Hold one-on-one interviews and ask your current leaderswhat prepared them for the role they hold today. Most often you’ll learn thatformal development is not credited as much as mentorship, on the job learning,and a wide array of experiences. Theseinsights will help you to decide the best course of leadership development, foryour organization, going forward. For example, you could put four future-leaders through an off-site leadership development program or you might chooseto institute a job rotation program for everyone at your company. The twooptions might cost the same amount, but will return vastly different results. You’ll want to thoughtfully consider howpeople truly learn leadership in your organization.
Note: Be very concerned if the majority of responsesare, “I learned it at my previous job,” because that means you are doingnothing to develop leaders in your organization and are instead relying onother companies to develop them and hoping you can then hire them away. That“strategy” puts your company in a very precarious position; the topic ofanother article entirely.
Step 3 – Consider How You Will Develop Leadership Skills
Once you have identified the skills that should be developedin your future leaders, you’ll need to determine how to get them those skills. Creating a formalized leadership developmentprogram is a time consuming and arduous process – which is why most companiesforego it and instead cross their fingers and hope their future leaders will“appear” when needed.
Sending people out for leadership development can be cost-prohibitive and because of that, the number of individuals that get developed is generally far fewer than is needed by any organization. A smart option for most companies is to mete leadership development out to everyone, through easy-to-implement activities such as reading groups or lunch-and-learns, and on-the-job projects such as a multi-discipline initiative. Over time, small and consistent development opportunities will build the leadership skills your organization needs and alleviate succession planning concerns.
Once you have considered and acted upon these first three steps in succession planning, you’ll be well on your way to ensuring that your company has a leadership pipeline capable of continuing excellent work despite a rapidly changing business environment.
Note: This article was first published by Training Industry Magazine.
3 Free Leadership Development Resources
Note: This article originally appeared on Forbes.com
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2019/09/26/how-to-develop-your-future-leaders-for-next-to-nothing/#69afc9ec2d11
Are you a business owner or managerwho knows you need to startdeveloping the future leaders of your organization, but you’re paralyzed by theidea of where to begin? No worries. This article will help you get started withno cost and minimal effort.
When people learn that The Training Doctor helps companies to develop their leadership strategy, we often hear, "Yeah, but we have no money.”
There are a LOT of organizations - big and small - in this same situation. And the good news is - leadership development does NOT have to be expensive or time-consuming. Here are three resources (and we have PLENTY more to share, if you are interested).
Reading and Discussion Groups
The best activity your company’s futureleaders can master is to be knowledgeable about business in general and yourindustry in particular. A businessleader needs to know how a business works, not how a job is done. Assist yourup-and-coming leaders by subscribing to industry journals and general-businesspublications such as Forbes, Harvard Business Review, or the Wall StreetJournal.
More importantly, form weekly orbi-weekly discussion groups around an article or two that you think isparticularly enlightening or that would be good for discussion. If you reallywant to go the extra mile, pre-formulate discussion questions that get awayfrom opinion (What do you think of that?) and lean toward critical thinking(Could that happen to us? What would we do, if that happened?). It’s important to have your future leadersthinking about “the big picture,” and your company in the context of yourindustry and business in general.
Job Rotations
Job rotations are traditionallythought of as an activity reserved for “hi-pos” (high potential individuals).Why?
It’s important that your futureleaders understand how your business works, what departments areinterdependent, and especially how you make money. They cannot learn thesethings if they are stuck in the silo of their own department or role.
A job rotation doesn’t have to beextensive or lengthy, but it should give the “visitor” a thorough understandingof another department’s work processes, priorities, and constraints. Imaginehaving a customer service representative work in the sales department for aweek. They could travel on sales calls, learn about your competition,understand better about contracts and pricing and the customer lifecycle, andon and on. Wouldn’t that make them a much more knowledgeable and helpfulcustomer service rep? Now imagine the reverse - a salesperson on the phones inthe customer service department for a week. Wow.
When people have a perspective onthe whole organization they do their own jobs better, have better collaborationskills, better communication skills, more empathy, a better understanding ofthe constraints or opportunities throughout the organization, and are not justfocused on the role that they do at their own desk.
Tuition Reimbursement
Finally, my third free leadershipdevelopment recommendation is to institute a tuition reimbursement program.Now, this isn’t exactly cost-free because it will take a bit of money to hire alawyer and/or accountant to set it up correctly (for instance, the rules aredifferent for C-corps vs. LLC’s) but once that process is done, the payback isextraordinary.
First, you have little to managebut the reimbursement process because participants are engaged more with the institutionwhere they are taking classes. Second, you are able to take advantage of a taxcredit of slightly over $5000 per participant. Third, courses often requireon-the-job projects, which means that your company reaps the rewards of betterproject management or a better HR communications strategy, for example.
And individuals often feel loyaltyto those companies that help them to further their career and their education, soan added benefit is that you’ll see increased retention (which mutes thosecynics who worry “What if I train them and they leave?”).
Bottom line: You CAN afford todevelop the future leaders of your organization with little cost and minimaleffort by starting reading and discussion groups, instituting job rotations,and offering tuition reimbursement, for everyone, not just for those employeesyou think are “high potential.”
For more great suggestions for leadership development follow The Training Doctor on Twitter or LinkedIn.
How are we preparing our future workforce?
Young people don't want jobs... apprenticeships aren't a "thing" anymore... and EDUCATION is not enough to create a skilled workforce. We need to change the system and the handoff from school to work.
Encourage Contrarian Thinking
Very often leaders are emboldened by people who are in agreement with their ideas.
That sounds great! I'll get right on it.
Brilliant idea! No way we can lose this one.
This will really knock the competition on their arse.
The employee you REALLY want on your team is the one that says, "Hold up! I see three ways this can go sideways. Did we think this through? Did we ask for input from customers (nod to New Coke), vendors (hello State of NC), or our employees (here's looking at you, Google).
As a consultant, I believe that part of what you pay me for is my ability to "see the other side;" to bring questions and alternative perspectives to your organization. When I worked as an employee my approach was always to ask, "How can I break this?" much like testing a new software... what if I did this? or this? or this pressure is applied?
Contrarian thinkers - and similarly, devil's advocates - aren't negative for the sake of being negative; they are thinking ahead to the future and to ramifications of your, or your company's, actions.
If you are a leader and a developer of future leaders, here are three ways to encourage contrarian thinkers:
Always have two meetings: Don't make decisions at the first discussion of a new idea. Simply have an open discussion about the idea (new product, new process, new hire) and allow a few days for people to think about it. You might even want to charge your attendees with coming to meeting #2 with at least one "argument" against the idea. This process will prevent ideas from becoming run-away before they've been thoroughly vetted. Yes, it will take more time to make decisions, but they will be good (or at least better) decisions.
When addressing your followers, always ask, "What am I missing?" This is especially important to ask of people on the front-line. They are the ones who are actually doing the work and have a pulse on what customers, vendors, and fellow employees are thinking and feeling.
Praise those who come forward with their opposing views. When you ask the "what am I missing?" question, always thank the person who offers their negative outlook. Your job is not to argue the opposing view, but to give it consideration. You might even ask open-ended questions to gather more information, such as "do you have an example you could share?" or ask of the group, "have others seen this same phenomenon?"
By engaging in a conversation, purposefully asking for opposing views, and thanking the contrarian for offering their insight, you are encouraging others to do so in the future; which means you are building a stronger company and a community of forward-thinking employees which helps your organization to foresee and mitigate potential risk.
NOTE: This article was originally published on LinkedIn.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/future-risk-part-3-nanette-miner-ed-d-/
You Need a Leadership Development Program that Starts at Day 1 - and here's why
We wait too long to start leadership development. A 2016 meta-analysis of leadership development programs determined that most leadership development begins at age 46 AND leadership development almost always begins after someone is appointed to a leadership role. That makes little sense. Wouldn't you rather have an employee that learns feedback skills or problem-solving or strategy at the start of their career, rather than at the end?
There are a number of other approaches to as-we-do-it-today leadership development that are illogical - here is a sampling, with the rationale for a "better way."
- Leadership development programs are generally short-term (one week, 10 months) and generic - leaving the individual to figure out how their new knowledge and skills apply to the work that they are doing.
- You want a development strategy that integrates work with learning and outputs.
- To be cost-effective, companies generally are selective about whom they will send through leadership development - sacrificing hundreds of capable individuals for the development of a few. Do you really want only a few people in your organization to be fully capable in their roles?
- When leadership skills are integrated with regular activities and duties – starting on day 1 – the costs are minimal and absorbed daily, you don't need a "special event."
- As leadership development is currently administered...ROI is iffy. If your organization has 15 individuals, in 10 different disciplines, who have gone through leadership development this year - how do you associate their output with the learning?
- When the learning process is integrated with every worker's role and responsibilities, you can easily connect output to increased knowledge and skill through various measure of productivity.
100% ROI
Whenever I ask business owners and managers this question they are always a bit dumbfounded at the logic of it: Would you rather increase the capabilities and competencies of 15% of your employees? Or raise 100% of your employee's skills by 15%?
If every employee made better decisions, took responsibility for problem-solving, communicated better with their colleagues and other departments, understood who their stakeholders were... and more "leadership skills"... the efficiency and productivity of your company would be boundless.
But that "training" needs to begin on the first day they walk in the door. Your company should have a 3- or 5- or 10-year plan for the development of every employee. It should include skills building in the role they were hired for as well as broader, more business-acumen topics like risk, finance, and strategy.
And most importantly - it should include exposure to all areas of the business. Too many poor decisions are made because HR doesn't understand Ops, or Marketing doesn't understand Finance. When individuals understand the "big picture" of how your company operates - and they make relationships with people in other functions - companies run more smoothly, efficiently, and profitably. But they need to develop those skills at the start of their career, not the end.
The Importance of Teaching Debate
Arguments can be deadly; debate notsomuch
Remember the Debate Club in high school? It was an excellent tool to help young people to start thinking critically about various issues and honing their communication skills to be able to intelligently articulate issues.
Debate requires someone to construct an argument. That argument can be pro or against, but it must incorporate research, analysis, reasoning, and sometimes synthesis and evaluation in order to establish and substantiate one's position.
Debate also requires the debater to master their content, to practice both listening and speaking skills in order to counter the opposing side, and to not only be able to verbalize but also to speak persuasively about their position. These skills are known on Bloom's Taxonomy as higher order thinking skills. Debate takes one beyond the ability to research and "know" information to the ability to construct something and do something with that information.
One of the reasons that I like to utilize debate in my training designs is because it helps people to understand how to deal with conflict in a constructive and measured way. Countering an opposing argument does not mean name calling, introducing distracting or off-topic issues, or simply blustering louder than one's opponent. That is an argument. Arguments are rarely constructive and lead to hurt feelings and opposing sides. I can't think of any appropriate situation - in the business world - where opposing sides is a good thing - especially if those two sides are within the same company.
Debate can be taught in a "learning experience," such as a classroom. This approach is often fabricated, however; for instance the instructor provides a topic or asks for one from the audience and it often is a topic that is already deemed to be controversial. Another approach would be to teach debate in the regular course of our workplace meetings. Rather than rushing to a conclusion about a topic, stop and ask the group "What are the opposing arguments for this idea / decision?" Encourage attendees to voice their concerns and their arguments in support of those concerns. This will teach your employees that debating is a normal and expected conversational process. Priming your employees to be accustomed to debating ensures they will be more comfortable voicing opposing viewpoints when decisions really matter.
Activities to Boost Creative Thinking
Creative thinking is something we usually squash down in corporate America – you get more done if you keep your head down and follow the established path.
But creative thinking is how we come up with new and better ways of doing our work. Here are 3 exercises to enable you to think in more creative ways. You can use them alone or with your team.
✔ 21 What Ifs
Writing is something I do on a daily basis, so writer’s block comes with the territory. When you find yourself blocked or at an impasse in your work, let go of “rules” or “outcomes” and brainstorm 21 What Ifs? It will get your creative juices flowing again and often you’ll find the “answer” you were looking for.
✔ 21 What Ifs?
For example: I am trying to find a descriptive and compelling title for my podcast…
What if it were for children?
What if it were for aliens?
What if it was something grown / farmed?
What if it were a color?
What if people said it to invite someone else to marry them?
What if it were something you could buy at a store?
What if it had a taste?
✔ Explore Analogous Fields
On your way home from work tonight, look at the businesses along your drive / route and just pick one randomly – fast food, nursery, car repair, gym, florist – then go home and write a list of 10 ways this company is just like yours. Then do the reverse - 10 ways it is entirely different from yours. (In a thinking curriculum [with a group], we’d do this in a different way, but this is a great solo activity that gets largely the same results.) We tend to think we are so special, so specialized, that we miss out on great opportunities by NOT looking beyond the end of our nose.
Alternatives of the exercise include:
10 ways your skills could improve the (observed) company
10 ways your skills could put the (observed) company out of business
10 one-to-one comparisons of your skills and the (observed) business, such as: my skill in making cold calls is like a growing plant in that…
✔ Stop Being so Literal
There are many objects in our daily life which we know the function of and that saves us a lot of time and has a lot of utility. We don’t pick up a pen each day and ask “What the heck is this? What does it do?” BUT that focus on the literal can also be a hindrance to our seeing possibilities.
A pen can also be a lever, an easel, a plug for a hole, used as a utensil, and so much more.
As a way to get creative juices going, alone or with your team, randomly choose an object from your desk or surroundings and imagine other uses for it. If you’re working on a new project, stop and ask, “Why are we going down this path? Is there another, alternative, path? Are there dual paths? Once we get to the end, is there more than one way to monetize or utilize that end?”
Examples:
Post it notes were invented as a byproduct of trying to develop a stronger industrial glue.
Slinkys (the toy) were invented as a byproduct of developing industrial springs.
So stop being so literal and look for the possibilities.
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Originally published on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/activities-boost-creative-thinking-nanette-miner-ed-d-/?published=t
Thinking Skills and Teaming Skills go Hand-in-Hand
The sheer complexity of business today means that no one person can know it all or be in command of it all. With the global marketplace, the importance and reliance on technology, and the imperative for innovation, cross-functional teams are the only way to develop viable business solutions. Learning to be a contributing member of a team is so critical that Carter Cast, former CEO of Walmart.com, deems it one of only two reasons for career derailment - the other being a lack of self-awareness.
There is a misguided assumption that teaming comes naturally.
Oftentimes organizations provide team building events, such as experiential activities (rope climbing) or retreats (three days off-site) which are designed to enhance interpersonal relationships. But these types of events are not related to the work itself.
Teaching individuals how to work together as a team is a different outcome (see Team Capabilities, below) and requires learning team skills in the context of conducting team work. Being a contributing member of a team is as much about the personal contribution of one's role, as the functional role.
The capabilities listed below don't come together overnight. They require multiple exposures to team assignments and projects, and to be truly successful they require an understanding of the various functions of a business and how each contributes to the overall organization. This is just a short list - you can find the full list in the Future-Proofing book. Collaboration and Cooperation - knowing how your work fits in to the larger-whole means you make decisions based on the impact to others / the organization.
Communication - expressing ideas as well as feelings AND being open to receiving communication demonstrates the ability to "make sense" of information and people.
Sharing credit - being able to share credit demonstrates an ability to see one's role in perspective and demonstrates leadership.
Promoting understanding - being open to new or conflicting ideas, asking for more information, allowing "unpopular" sentiment to be heard and valued all stretch one's thinking abilities,
Appreciating diversity - well-developed thinkers appreciate that almost everything can be seen from multiple angles and that more diverse ideas bring about better outcomes.
Moderating conflict - the ability to resolve conflict without anger or resentment demonstrates a mature thought process and commitment to the greater good.
Putting a group of people together does not make them "a team." Teaming skills are developed through the give and take of team-related work over the course of months and sometimes years.
Mentoring as a Leadership Development Tool
Too often companies see mentoring as a “program” that takes away from the “business” of making money. It’s another thing “to do” on one’s already packed list of action items. BUT when done as a normal course of business, it’s not onerous and pays back exponentially.
In fact, a recent study found that 58% of new-hires who had been assigned mentors felt valued by their immediate manager and 68% felt more valued by the organization.
It’s natural to assume that the mentee gains the most benefit from the mentoring relationship since they are the recipient of new knowledge and skills, but in fact benefits abound - to the mentee, the mentor, and the organization itself.
Mentees
Mentees benefit immediately from higher performance and productivity, increased job satisfaction, higher morale, increased visibility with people in higher levels and more insight into a career path. In the long-term, the mentee benefits from having a non-judgmental and unbiased champion in their corner. They get candid feedback without repercussions, insight in to the workings of the organization, and personalized guidance regarding the skills they should develop or the choices they could make to further their career.
Mentors
Mentors also report increased job satisfaction because they feel valued and are able to give back to their organization. Additionally a mentor benefits from fresh perspectives due to new relationships and develops their own leadership skills.
The Organization
Benefits to the organization include enhanced teamwork, communication across vertical and horizontal boundaries, an efficient transmission of knowledge and skills, stronger organizational culture, and being seen as an employer of choice.
Here is an idea for establishing an
absolutely free
mentoring program at your company:
A mentor asks high-gain questions, gives constructive feedback, and helps the more junior associate to recognize and capitalize on their strengths and weaknesses - that's a pretty simple “task” to accomplish over lunch.
Why not monthly mentor lunches? Instead of sitting with one’s normal group of friends at lunch, at least once a month a junior person and more senior person meet up in the cafeteria for lunch. (Twice a month would be ideal.)
Maybe once a year the company can buy the lunch as a reward for those pairs that have continued their relationship throughout the year. A public “mentor appreciation day” will get attention from those not participating - and encourage more participation!
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By building relationships and networks within the organization, mentoring strongly impacts retention. An organization that utilizes mentoring is preparing for the future of its people as well as the organization as a whole.
FREE Developmental Assessments
Self Management is Key to Leadership Development
One of the hallmarks of a good leader is the ability to "manage" oneself. In other words - stay grounded, communicate well, use emotion in a positive way, etc. Unfortunately most folks learn self management skills through trial and error - sometimes through life changing and career ending moves, such as Carter Cast's. But it doesn't have to be that way. Developing self awareness can be achieved through various assessments to help one to identify their values, their tendencies and their strengths - in order to mitigate or improve upon them. Here are a few FREE assessments to get you started.
Managing Stress and Burnout
Gretchen Rubin researches what makes people tick, and is a prolific author of her findings. Her assessment The 4 Tendencies helps individuals to understand how they respond to expectations. It explains why we act and why we don't act; and is helpful in managing stress and burnout.
Capitalize on Your Strengths
The High5Test is part Clifton Strengths (formerly Strengths Finder) and part Values in Action. Both assessments, as well as the High5, seek to determine what one is good at and then lead individuals to capitalize on and develop what it is they do well, rather than struggle trying to improve in areas they are weak.
What are your Character Strengths?
Developed by Christopher Peterson and Martin Seligman in 2004, the Values in Action assessment (VIA) seeks to identify one's character strengths. You'll see results in domains such as Wisdom, Tenacity, Courage, Temperance, and more.It is one of the most well-researched personality assessments holding validity over time, cultures and scientific peer review. The website offers two assessments - one personal, to develop self-knowledge and introspection, and one professional, to help you to bring out the best in others.
Core Values / How You View the World
The Core Values Index (CVI) from Taylor Protocols helps individuals to understand the unique perspective from which they view the world. From that they are able to extrapolate how they will respond to life's challenges. Directed inward, the CVI helps an individual to make choices that align with their core values - leading to a sense of mission, purpose, and self-confidence.
Who "Gets" Leadership Development?
Why Not Everyone?
A question we are frequently asked - and frequently wrestle with in conjunction with new clients is - who "gets" to attend thinking skills / leadership development? It's a tough question to answer because on the one hand, the logical answer is "everyone." Why wouldn't you want everyone in the organization to work smarter, make good decisions, understand the vision and mission of your organization, etc.? On the other hand, unless you are a small company of 150 people or less, that would be a prohibitively expensive endeavor. So the tough question is - how do we make the cut? Who makes the cut? Here are some "arguments" - none is "the best."
Argument #1
As stated in the headline - why not everyone? Simple things - not full blown curriculums - could be enmeshed in everyday work responsibilities (much like Google's now defunct 20% time). Sending a business / industry article out each week via email, or leaving copies of it on the lunch tables, can help to ensure everyone has the same industry knowledge. By leaving articles on the lunch tables, spontaneous discussions can begin about the content and merits of the article. Managers can hold short, 20 minute, meetings two days after the articles are issued asking for feedback or questions about the article.
To help managers, the department that issues the article can include 3 or 4 discussion questions they'd like the employees to focus on. This article sharing can be rotated throughout the organization. Much like "it's your week for carpool," it could be "your week for article sharing."
Let's say your company works in manufacturing or healthcare - while there are plenty of articles about the industry itself, there are department-specific articles as well - manufacturing operations, healthcare marketing, etc.
This is just one small and easily do-able activity that can be rolled out throughout the organization. Why not increase the knowledge and capabilities of all your employees?
Argument #2
Focus on leaders in the organization. We've spent so many years making individuals experts (through training) in their fields that they often don't have a big picture view of their organization or their role. Sales Managers often don't appreciate the need for profitability which is a finance-department focus. Charge nurses often don't appreciate customer service which is an operations (and accreditation) focus. By directly impacting the thinking skills and thereby the leadership skills of leaders in an organization there will be an immediate and beneficial impact on the departments that they run and the individuals that they manage.
Argument #3
Include all new hires - starting now. If everyone who joins your organization is indoctrinated into a thinking curriculum from day one, they will grow in to your (smartest) future leaders. Over a planned development process of 3 years, 5 years, or 20 years, you will have an organization chock-full of individuals who not only understand how the organization is run (because they will have had linear exposure to the organization), but they will also be knowledgeable and skilled in critical business topics such as communication, teamwork, risk management, continuous improvement, fiscal management and much, much more.
Because they have been brought-up in cohorts (The Training Doctor's branded design), they will have relationships and the ability to communicate with other departments and individuals in other disciplines.
The choice for every individual company will be different. Increase everyone's skills just a little bit? Deep dive for leaders who will return the most immediate ROI? Or plan a long-tail approach to enmesh employees in "lifetime" development to create a leadership pipeline?
Mea Culpa - Is it really better to ask for forgiveness?
The number of “apology ads” I’ve seen on TV in the last month is astounding. It’s caused me to wonder – as a company, is it really better to ask for forgiveness from your customers than to do the right thing, or behave the right way, to begin with? Is the message we are learning “do your own thing, until you get caught, and then apologize and carry on as usual?”
Wells Fargo is apologizing for violating our trust by opening over 2 million fake accounts in order to hit their sales goals. One of their ads (seen here) begins by saying “We know the value of trust…” later in the commercial they promise they are “holding ourselves accountable to find and fix issues proactively…” Finally, they declare that they are halting the business process (sales goals for branches) that caused the bad-behavior in the first place.
Facebook apologized for unknowingly allowing the personal information of tens of millions of users to be leaked and/or manipulated by advertising; possibly impacting the 2016 US elections. In their apology ads the company says it will do “more” to make you feel safe and protect your privacy.”
In Uber’s apology ad, the new CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi , looks straight in to the camera and says “we have new leadership and a new culture.” He states that as a company, “one of our values is to always do the right thing.” Is that a new thing, which started with you, Dara? Or was that always in place but now you’ll take it seriously?
Apologies that Miss the Mark
Wells Fargo stating it has ended the business process that caused the “problem” is simply addressing the symptom – what is the root cause of an organization that is unethical, views cheating as necessary to maintain one’s job, and has little regard for its customers?
In the case of Facebook and Uber, their ads don’t even really claim responsibility; they simply say “Oops, something went south. We’ll fix it.” And Uber’s “responsible CEO” made no appearance at all – they sent out the new guy to apologize for past transgressions.
Here’s Rolling Stone’s take on the limp apologies:
Hi, America. We were awesome for a long time. Here are some culturally representative shots of people like you smiling and enjoying our services. After repeated denials, we recently had to admit to violating your trust, but the unelucidated bad thing doesn’t have to come between us. We promise: we fixed [all] that. You will now wake up feeling refreshed in 3,2,1…
The Burning Question
What role did leadership play in creating these damages in the first place? And what role could leadership development play to get these companies back on track? Teaching individuals to be better leaders after the fact is not the best approach; what about the future leaders of these companies? When does their development begin? And more broadly, of course, the future leaders of any company, because a scandal or business transgression could indeed happen to any company.
Go Forward
A multi-faceted leadership development curriculum – offered over the long-term, to everyone in the organization – would benefit from a groundswell of workers who understand ethics, risk, team work, communication, self-management and more. If companies are not solely reliant on leaders to set the course, then everyone is a leader. That’s what we need going forward.
Developing the Solid 70
When your organization decides who gets training – who gets chosen? In terms of performance, employees can be classified as A players, B players and C players.
A players are your superstars – and make up only 20% of the typical staff. C players – those whose performance is passable but not great – make up another 10%.
The bulk of employees are B players – the solid 70. B players are the heart and soul of organizations. They do consistently good work. They represent your company – and your success. When a customer has an interaction with your company there is a 70% chance they are dealing with a B player. You want your B players to be the best they can be. Too often companies have such limited availability of training that it goes to the A players.
If you’d like to develop your solid 70, you can find a number of suggestions in this earlier posting. But it doesn’t have to be your responsibility to figure it out! During the next round of performance reviews (assuming your company still does them) ask individuals what they are interested in, what they would like to attempt or test, and what skills they would like to develop.
No matter how good your A players are, they will never make up for the “solid citizen” B players. And the more you can incrementally increase the B player’s skills, the more your organization will benefit.