Do you recall the classic nursery rhyme The Itsy, Bitsy Spider?
The itsy, bitsy spider went up the water spout. Down came the rain and washed the spider out. Out came the sun and dried up all the rain and the spider went up the spout again.
The spider adapted to its changing environment and whether we realize it or not, we too are constantly adapting in an ever changing environment. At times the change may be simple and we won’t give it a second thought. Other times, it can seem like an unattainable feat, even painful causing us to resist with all we have. However, if we learn to see the big picture, strategically adjust and adapt to our environment, the change may benefit us more than we know.
In September 2011, extreme flooding in Pakistan destroyed or damaged 1.2 million houses and covered 4.5 million acres (1.8 million hectares) leaving 300,000 people homeless. This flood coupled with one of Pakistan’s worst flooding disasters in 2010 left 800,000 Pakistani families without permanent shelter. These floods not only displaced people but forced other creatures to look for safety elsewhere.
When the ground dwelling spiders could no longer survive in the ground, they moved above the flood waters into the neighboring trees. By adapting to and subsisting in trees, the anthropoid not only saved its own species but improved the environment for other inhabitants as well. Because of the excessive stagnant water, there were concerns about Malaria-carrying mosquitoes. However, many of these Malaria-carrying mosquitoes were caught in the spider webs that covered the trees, reducing the number of expected cases of illness.
What can we learn from these spiders and the trees they cocooned? As I see it, at least three things.
1. It is a given that our world will change, sometimes drastically. Prepare for change by being strategically aware of the changing environments and conditions around you. You never know where or when you will need to find another course of action.
2. Don’t resist and become a victim of change. Everyone has the ability to change and adapt. The spiders simply moved up into the trees and began building.
3. Finally, look for the benefits to change. If we move past the stage of denial and resistance, we can begin see the silver lining and positive sign of change.
As Charles Darwin once said, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”
Pictures courtesy of Department of International Development:
Being a step ahead of your competitors is a great place to be and gaining that extra step requires that you focus on the future. General Motors understands that better than most and it shows. GM operates in a highly competitive market where the ability to think ahead and strategize accordingly are vital to the company’s continued prosperity.
Every year, General Motors invites top college students to intern in their design center where behind tight security the auto maker develops its future models. This year the discovery channel has gotten involved, creating a reality-TV series called “Future Cars” that will showcase the interns’ bright ideas. Their task was to envision the year 2030 and design personal transportation for the needs of GM’s customers 20 years from now.
The interns were told to dream big and think of the possibilities that the future might hold. They talked about designing the car for “Generation I”, those born after the integration of the internet. As they designed the cars, they had to imagine how new technology, materials, and social situations would affect how cars would need to be designed in the future.
Leaders at GM viewed this experience as a reverse mentoring process. Larry Burns, VP of Strategic Planning for GM, said, “I think we ended up with a lot of great ideas, and it’s going to help the business leaders of General Motors stretch their thinking about how far we need to be pushing innovation into the future.”
Most businesses today may not be thinking 20 years into the future, but if you are not thinking strategically about what the future may hold, your competitors will. Similar to the concepts the interns were exploring; future technology, new materials, and social situations, to name a few – companies across all industries need to be considering these ideas as well. Gathering and understanding information on what the future could hold can help company stakeholders make smart strategic decisions – and propel these companies to the top of their industry.
Greg Page, CEO for Cargill, once quoted in one of our strategic learning events, “You have to be more effective and strategically minded than the person in the same role who is working for our competitors.” To gain the step ahead, employees at all levels of the organization need to spend time thinking strategically about their position, their job responsibilities, and how to improve efficiency, and where they might find strategic opportunities.
All it takes is one strategic idea to get a step ahead.
The support functions in your operations are critical to the success of business yet it is often tougher to measure their contribution than those in production or sales. Too often we look at support functions, from HR to project management, as a cost center only incidentally connected to our focus on increased profit margins and improved efficiency. We treat them as necessary functions which we justify from the neck up, but starve budgetarily because it’s hard to draw a straight line from what they do to the P&L statement.
Just yesterday we received this e-mail from a frustrated senior executive:
“(The president of our company) has been on an absolute rampage about expenses lately & specifically complained last week that “education” on our P&L is up considerably this year. Coaching & counseling is largely seen as a negative. I’d like to turn it somehow to a positive.”
Making The Business Case For The Resources You Need The ability to measure the contribution of support functions is essential for many reasons. High on the list is the ability to know when to celebrate the best efforts and direct resources to these critical components that ultimately grow the people and improve the processes that drive our operation. Making the business case to justify resources or additional resources can be more difficult if the outcomes of your effort are distant. This can be the case if you’re responsible for long project cycles, when the outcomes are changes in human behavior or skill development, or in the case of health care, for instance, we are talking about the emotional and qualitative well-being of a patient.
Balance Scorecards – Only The Beginning The Balanced Scorecard methodology initially attempted to capture metrics to measure the effectiveness of those that support the operations. The original four sections were a first attempt at broadening traditional financial metrics by adding Customer, Learning and Growth, and Internal Business Process as categories. The second wave of Balanced Scorecard methodology focused on the linkage of the strategic parts. This cause and effect approach gave both context and connectivity to the overall strategic plan. In addition, the more altruistic, or ‘soft’ components were added as well.
If You Can’t Measure It You Can’t Demonstrate Your Value Added Yet the most common response to creating metrics for quality, hard to count results or long cycle R&D projects remains “You can’t measure what I do”, “I can see how that would work in the manufacturing side but it won’t work around here”. ‘We tried that last year, didn’t work”.
Demonstrating The Quantitative Value Of Quality A few simple steps can guide the process of discovering quantitative metrics for quality improvement efforts. If we consider and take ownership in the outcomes of our qualitative effort we go a long way to capturing a measure of our effectiveness. For instance, if we develop the skills of our leaders, and they impact the motivation and skills of our rank-and-file, what will change? The connection between people development and the resulting performance improvement can be clouded by many factors but, overtime, we must prove our efforts. Just a few examples of comparisons include:
1. Close rate of those that completed a sales training module vs. those that did not. 2. Average annual performance review scores of those leaving the company vs. those that stay. Obviously those staying are more likely our winners. But taken over time, as an average, what is the trend? Is it getting better or worse? Why? 3. Enrollment in company benefit programs as a measure of engagement, commitment and loyalty 4. Break down retention rate by department, supervisor, job description, tenure
Demonstrating the outcomes of your effort is obvious when your outcomes are quantitative in nature. Failing to own and communicate the results when the outcomes are more qualitative or long term is failing to make the business case for the critical contribution of your efforts.
The only constant in life is change. Change may happen slowly or quickly, may be visible or hidden, and can be self initiated or thrust upon us. Some people are motivated by change—change agents. Others are more cautious and too fragmented “reactive,” but eventually respond. Still others fight it. Change may create fear when it causes people to move out of their familiar and efficient “comfort zone.” This leads to resistance.
Resistance to change is normal. Don’t think of resistance as something to be eliminated, rather look at resistance as something people need to work through with a coach or someone they can talk to. On the positive side, resistance protects us from mistakes, bad decisions, or things we don’t what to happen. On the negative side, it can paralyze us, cause us to miss opportunities, and create irrational perspectives about change. The best way to address it is to surface the resistance, explore it, see possibilities, and work through it intermittently with a controlled pace.
Frequently change is perceived as unpleasant and disruptive, and therefore avoided. However, change is neither good nor bad. It is both a neutral and a completely natural process. People can choose to focus on the benefits of change and accept the work to achieve them (positive outlook); or focus on the losses, complain, and worry (the negative outlook).
There are four basic emotional experiences associated with change:
(1) Contentment: a lack of urgency or felt need to change, (2) Denial: renouncing, reject and delaying the inevitable, (3) Chaos: confusion and inability to adapt, (4) Renewal: committing to something new and seeing the payoffs.
When change unfolds, we have different levels of control over. The first level is sometimes referred to as our sphere of control (we are in the driver’s seat). The second is called our sphere of influence (we only have enough power to possibly modify the situation). The third level is where we have little control (only be able to control our outlook, emotions, attitudes, or learning).
Change will occur at many levels. It can appear within ourselves, in our relationships with others, in our work processes or operations, in the way we organize, and in our strategy, direction or goals. All of this change affects people in different ways. It can be both exciting and frightening at the same time. As an individual leader of yourself or others, awareness is the key, how people are managing change. Keep an open mind and accept others who may be feeling stuck, trapped, or hurt by change. Open up a dialogue and gain an accurate perspective of change.
With companies merge, employees leave one company for another, and new members of the workforce land their first jobs, many individuals are trying to form new teams. Regardless of the situation, most organizations encourage open and candid discussions between staff members among employees throughout the organization. These differences in perspective can elevate teams to a higher level of performance. Differences in opinion and/or outright conflict is natural, and it can be very productive. The key is how to use conflict to our benefit so we can reach these higher levels of performance.
So how does one operate on a conflicted team? We still need to be able to create a win-win solution for the team and the organization. How do we use conflict to our advantage?
1. Acknowledge Conflict
Acknowledging conflict can be uncomfortable, yet once the conflict is recognized and discussed the team will feel a sense of relief. People tend to be more effective when they can agree to work together and find mutually satisfactory solutions to common problems.
2. Gain Common Ground
Is there common ground between the parties involved in the conflict? Put the conflict in perspective based on the team’s goals. If everyone is committed to a common purpose, they should be willing to address any issue that may affect the team’s final outcome.
3. Understand Each Point of View
Gaining an understanding of difference perspectives does not necessarily mean gaining agreement on all sides. Here we must take the time both to understand and be understood as we gain information from all sides.
4. Attack the Issue(s), Not Each Other Bickering or fighting with someone on the team is an unwanted stress, yet the issue needs to be addressed in order for the team to maximize its potential. The goal is to reach a solution that allows everyone to achieve individual/team goals without violating anyone’s values.
5. Develop an Action Plan
a. The team will outline specific steps that each person on the team will take in order to reach the team’s goal. Each person will be accountable for his/her role in the action plan, and the plan will be written on paper so that each person is aware of his/her responsibilities to the team.
As team members utilizes this five-step process to address issues and conflicts, they will see more win-win situations and the team will increase their levels of productivity.
There is a type of caterpillar called a processionary caterpillar, so named because one will establish a direction and all the others will fall in very closely behind and move in the same path. As a matter of fact, the followers’ behaviors becomes so automatic that their eyes become half-closed as they shut out the world around them and let the leader do all the thinking and decision making about which direction to pursue. Their behavior is rote and automatic.
An experiment by the French naturalist Jean-Henri Fabre demonstrated the rigidity of the processionary caterpillars’ behavior when he enticed the leader to start circling the edge of the large flower pot. The other caterpillars followed suit in a tight process, forming a closed circle in which the distinctions between leader and follower became totally blurred, and the path had no beginning and no ending. Instead of soon getting bored with the nonproductive activity, the caterpillars kept up their mindless search for several days and nights until they dropped off the edge of the flowerpot from exhaustion and starvation. Relying totally on instinct, past experience, custom, and tradition, the caterpillars achieve nothing because they mistook activity for achievement.
I believe that employees can fall into the trap of blindly following their leader easily. Innovation and creativity, risk taking, and strategy is lost when they act like a drone rather than an individual leader of themselves and an example to others. While the business may not suffer if an individual contributor’s behaviors are automatic and without direction, the business may see drastic performance improvement if they have their “eyes wide open.”
If you find your employees are “circling the pot,” here are a few helpful tips for leaders to increase their motivation and hold them accountable for higher performance.
Delegate assignments that are especially interesting to an employee and empower them to take the lead and own the assignment.
Recognize and reward good displays of individual leadership (innovation and creativity, risk taking, strategy).
Teach team members about being accountable. Help them understand what it means to be accountable and the power and freedom that comes from doing your best.
When a team member fails to act as an individual leader, debrief the experience and discuss better behaviors, attitudes, and actions for future situations.
Talk openly about the importance of fulfilling responsibilities, as well as exceeding expectations.
The helm or steering mechanism of a ship adjusts the angle of the rudder, in turn, changes the direction of the ship. In the 18th century as technology increased ships began to increase in size. While this growth was advantageous, at the same time the ships became increasingly difficult to control. Thus a shipmaster needed an invention to foster technical growth but at the same time keep the ship on course. Today’s steering wheel was designed to connect to the tiller of the boat, with a block and tackle. This addition provided a considerable increase in the ship’s mechanical capabilities and resulted in smoother operations with less effort.
I relate this story of the steering wheel because the national and world economy is going through some stormy waters. Although the changes going may turn out to be good in the long run, it is still difficult to stay the course in the middle of these “troubled water”. More than ever we need strong leaders to step up and take the “helm”, provide guidance, and “steer” their teams in the right direction.
A strong leader will effectively partner with each employee and provide direction, guidance, and coaching. He or she can help team member adjust their personal courses and move into “smooth water”.
Providing constant support takes a lot of effort but it will be worth it in the long run. Consider the following points when helping your team stay afloat:
Communicating frequently with each team member
- Will reduce or eliminate fear of the unknown
- Encourages confidence in individual performance
Building understanding within your team
- Instills ownership in the tasks to ensure success
- Keeps each person focused on the goal
Encouraging respect between members.
- Promotes synergy
- Supports a relaxed and engaging environment
Maintaining your integrity
- Retains trust in you and the organization high
- Inspires integrity from team members
“It is not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what is required.”
-Winston Churchill
Several years ago I was invited to participate on an industry association panel, discussing “offshoring,” (which means outsourcing globally). Having been a senior leader in a global company for many years, I asked the first very obvious question — Which shore? I proceeded to have some fun in addressing the subject by noting that virtually all developed countries (and of late some not so developed countries) are having similar discussions.
While many educated people can discuss the economic and social impacts on countries of the movement of goods and services around the globe, I would like to address some principles of building and operating a company that spans multiple continents.
Let’s begin by getting some of our vocabulary aligned. There is a difference between being an International” company versus a “Global” company. A lot of companies have out-of-country activities that may include sales and procurement – this is an international company, even if it includes a few regional offices. A global company truly operates in various countries providing goods/services both in the native country as well as moving goods/services between countries. A fully functioning global company has a culture and perspective that transcends the locale where it is registered or where its stock is listed.
For those companies desiring to be truly global, the development of an appropriate company culture cannot be left to chance – building the desired culture is a full-time job. A global company is not just a series of regional companies strung together under common ownership. Quickly one can see the need for tailored products/services and the delivery of these to satisfy the local or regional market expectations. But here is the bigger question: How do you build a team of people who recognize the need to serve the local market and effectively operate their assigned area while also being part of the bigger team where they can exchange ideas, get inspiration, and contribute to the advancement of the entire company?
Commitment
Building an effective global culture is not inexpensive, nor is it a one-shot deal. It is a concept to which all senior leadership must commit and make a part of their daily actions. Human Resources can help with well planned global talent assessments, succession planning, and leadership skills development, including expatriate assignments. Cultural sensitivity training and facilitated mixed culture forums can start the process.
Vision
There has to be a Global Vision/Mission statement that is an anchor point for your leaders, irrespective of their home country. It must have longevity, addressing the business purpose and corporate values.
Acceptance
Perhaps the most powerful force in building a global company is the basic human trait to accept and bond with those we have come to know on a more personal basis. Audio/video conferencing is a nice tool once a relationship is established, but it is ineffective for establishing the relationship. To establish the bonds between people and break down inherent nationalistic, cultural and personal biases, people need to travel and partake in the cultures of their colleagues.
Share
Forming a global team to implement a global or regional project (contrasted to a local team doing a global project) brings the best ideas forward and builds strong bonds that benefit the company well beyond the specific project. Functional leadership forums and best-practice sharing sessions break down barriers and drive the best ideas forward. Promoting those individuals that best demonstrate the desired culture will send powerful messages throughout the organization.
Diversity
There is a large WATCH OUT. In the drive for a corporate global culture it is easy to inadvertently paint a picture that the “desired culture” is, for example, American or German or Chinese. To be most effective, a company’s global corporate culture must reflect a mix of the best qualities its participants have to offer.
One way to measure your success in building an effective global company culture is to monitor your recruitment results. Are you able to equally attract and retain talented people from all the countries you serve?
It has been interesting, if not disheartening, to watch businesses close, thousands of people losing jobs, and bailouts to keep some companies upright. As a survivor of one such company, I can relate to the frustration, fear, and fury many of these people are feeling. At the time I experienced this, I was with a company that had been in business for over 80 years. I really thought that if I did my job well, my position was secure. Nevertheless, the company went through some tough times and finally was forced to file bankruptcy. It was devastating to the 30,000 employees nationwide who were terminated and worst yet those who put all of their 401k monies into the stock of that company.
Reminiscing, I can think of five areas, other than financial ethical practices, I feel had a major effect on this company’s failure. Consider these points, as they might help salvage your department, team, or organization.
1. View all employees as having a stake in the future of the company. This seems elementary, but you would be surprised at how many managers look at their people as simply a resource, commodity if you will. However, a successful leader knows that each team member can contribute greatly to the success of the team. When a team is working at 100%, processes are streamlined, costs are reduced, and creative solutions are the norm.
2. Keep the communication lines open. I don’t know how many times a boss has told me, “I have an open door policy” and then been surprised later by something that affects my tasks or position. People will be more receptive to change and will respond more positively if they know of an impending opportunity or crises. Realize that most people already have an acute sense of the organization climate and will know when you are keeping things from them. This creates fear.
3. Hold yourself and others on your team accountable for their commitments. You will accomplish two things by sticking to this concept. First by being an example, your team will know they can count on you and in return you will be able to count on them to be committed to the task or goal. Second, it sets the parameters for excellence. The title of the book by Dr. Steven Stowell and Stephanie Mead says it all, With Teamwork Anything is Possible.
4. Set policies that everyone adheres to – not just certain groups. For example, if a policy is that no one accepts gifts from vendors, the President or Chief Financial Officer should also adhere to that rule. Simply put, leadership should walk the talk.
5. Finally, be open to the other people’s opinions and accept that they may not carry-out the task the way you would do it. If you do allow others to take the ball, don’t undermine their efforts. Give them room to excel. People are going to make mistakes, but don’t bully them or attack their character. Coach, rather than chastise. People become defensive when they feel attacked, creating resentment and lower performance. Coaching more often creates a willingness to change for the betterment of the group. General George Patton was correct when he said, “Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.”
These may seem basic and you may be committed to practicing these already. Just remember, under the increasing pressures of daily tasks, and especially in a crisis, it is very easy to forget these areas. Unfortunately your employees won’t and some may become hurt or even angry. Either way, productivity will go down.
Luckily, I have discovered that when these points are followed, people will support you and your organization in ways you would never imagine.
Recently, I spent a wonderful day teaching team concepts to individuals from various teams for an organization on the East Coast of the US. During our group discussions, one participant shared that her team had been struggling for many months. In fact, there were so many problems with this team that it had been reorganized on four different occasions. She was frustrated, unhappy, and discouraged. When she described the team, I could see how difficult this experience had been for her. She wanted some answers to these problems and solicited ideas from the class as to what to do.Tips and suggestions came quickly and easy from the class members. As a group we talked about disciplinary action to team members for poor performance. Others suggested a team retreat, while others pointed out that another reorganization of the team might be needed.
I listened intently to the discussion and even offered a few suggestions myself. Although the leader of this team had tried to fix the structure of the team, in an effort to get them on track, to me, structure was not the problem. In this situation, the problem was a lack in other key elements of effective teams. One of the areas clearly missing with this team was clarity of purpose. This team lacked direction and had too many members feeling vague about the team’s mission, goals, and ultimate objectives for working together. Teams without clear direction are easy to spot.
Some of the symptoms of a team without direction include:
1. Team members who struggle with change.
2. Team members with competing priorities.
3. A lack of communication within the team that causes ambiguity.
4. Lack of accountability for missteps toward the team’s goals and objectives.If we look closely at world class teams, we see that they understand to the nth degree their mission.
Team members with clear direction know where they are going, and what they are doing to help the team reach its objective. I find that high performing teams can easily answer these questions:
1. What is our team’s singular reason for existence?
2. What are our strategic priorities?
3. What are the shared values that will guide behavior and actions of each team member?
Teams performing below standard often try to fix the wrong thing. In many cases it isn’t who is on the team, but more about the direction and clarity of the team’s mission. I believe that the first step in achieving effective teamwork is to create a clear direction for the team members need to give their full commitment to the team’s performance.
Without direction and accountability, teams will have varying degrees of performance and failure. So if your team is performing less than up to par, ask yourself if the team understands its direction.
Being a step ahead of your competitors is a great place to be and gaining that extra step requires that you focus on the future. General Motors understands that better than most and it shows. GM operates in a highly competitive market where the ability to think ahead and strategize accordingly are vital to the company’s continued prosperity.
Making The Business Case For The Resources You Need
An experiment by the French naturalist Jean-Henri Fabre demonstrated the rigidity of the processionary caterpillars’ behavior when he enticed the leader to start circling the edge of the large flower pot. The other caterpillars followed suit in a tight process, forming a closed circle in which the distinctions between leader and follower became totally blurred, and the path had no beginning and no ending. Instead of soon getting bored with the nonproductive activity, the caterpillars kept up their mindless search for several days and nights until they dropped off the edge of the flowerpot from exhaustion and starvation. Relying totally on instinct, past experience, custom, and tradition, the caterpillars achieve nothing because they mistook activity for achievement.
Let’s begin by getting some of our vocabulary aligned. There is a difference between being an International” company versus a “Global” company. A lot of companies have out-of-country activities that may include sales and procurement – this is an international company, even if it includes a few regional offices. A global company truly operates in various countries providing goods/services both in the native country as well as moving goods/services between countries. A fully functioning global company has a culture and perspective that transcends the locale where it is registered or where its stock is listed.
It has been interesting, if not disheartening, to watch businesses close, thousands of people losing jobs, and bailouts to keep some companies upright. As a survivor of one such company, I can relate to the frustration, fear, and fury many of these people are feeling. At the time I experienced this, I was with a company that had been in business for over 80 years. I really thought that if I did my job well, my position was secure. Nevertheless, the company went through some tough times and finally was forced to file bankruptcy. It was devastating to the 30,000 employees nationwide who were terminated and worst yet those who put all of their 401k monies into the stock of that company.
