|
|
|
Reader Question: I'm
relatively new in my leadership role and confess that in the midst of
these unusually difficult times, I sometimes feel a conflict in my
leadership responsibilities by being pulled in different
directions. I work to inspire and motivate my people, yet at the
same time, there's much to be done if we are to make it through this
turbulence. I don't want to come across as only bottom line
oriented, yet at the same time, I'm responsible for achieving some
pretty difficult results. What's your suggestion?
Terri's Response: During tough times, leaders must focus on executing
rather than inspiring. Inspiration and motivation will come when
people are confident that where they are going and what they are doing
is bringing results. That's when they acquire trust in
management.
What I call
"Incremental Leadership" is the key to leadership during
turbulent times. It's okay for leaders not to have a definite
path during these times. As long as they are transparent and say
they will lead by observing, watching, and listening to what is
happening around them and the world - then they build trust.
Here's an example from a long time ago. I have used this example
many times to drive home the point of incremental leadership:
Years ago,
riverboat captains certainly did not have GPS, or any navigation
tools. They simply relied on their eyes and the path of the
rivers they navigated. When their riverboat came to a bend in the
river, the captain simply looked ahead, observed, listened, watched the
currents and the skies, and then determined the appropriate
course. They continued this at every river bend they encountered
until they safely reached their destination.
In today's tough
times, leaders can learn from these old practices. Incremental
leadership requires incremental
managerial skills - practices that continually adjust and flex -
sometimes on a daily basis. These are not the exclusive domain of
senior executives. To the contrary. Leadership in adverse
times demands involvement and participation from line managers as well
as department leaders. It's a time when management at all levels
needs to integrate managerial and leadership skills to keep everyone on
course.
|
|
|
"I Quit, But Forgot to Tell
You"
DVD Coming Soon!
Watch your e-mail
inbox soon for an exciting announcement! Our DVD/CD learning system
will be offered to you at a very special introductory price and you won't
want to miss this opportunity. Details will be in your inbox soon,
so please watch for them!
|
|
|
|
"Truth is a torch that gleams through the fog without
dispelling
it."
---
Claude Adrien Helvetius
|
Tough Times Tantamount to
Disengagement without Trust and Transparency
By Terri
Kabachnick
"If you were in my shoes during these tough times,
what would be the most important message you would send to all your
managers?" That's the question a CEO asked me
recently. My answer? During turbulent times, people have
only one thing they can rely on: "Trust." And,
the one thing that builds and cements trust is
"Transparency."
Without question, businesses are being challenged by the
consistently weakening economy and the flurry of changing decisions as
a result. In many cases these decisions change daily, many
impacting everyone's lives. Thus, the questions being asked in
leader circles are:
- How much do we tell people?
- When do we tell them?
- How do we tell them?
The answer to these questions becomes
more significant knowing that our TKG research bears out the
unfortunate fact that most employees do not trust management.
Therefore, transparency becomes even harder for management to
fulfill. That said, the above questions can be answered in these
three words: Lots, Now, and Directly.
Tough times
require tough decisions. Tough decisions require tough
conversations. Each requires tough parameters. Now is the
time to challenge your managers to think, innovate, create, and find
new solutions. Creative thinking becomes more necessary during
tough times. Be open to new, creative thinking and you will find
talent you may not even know you have will stand out.
There's an old
saying, "Ride your horse hard when the road is smooth; when the
road is rough, ease up." Well, the road is rough right now
and you need to ease up on your people without allowing slack to set
in. Employees are worried about their jobs and can therefore
become busy being busy and simply existing - coming to work every day
without a plan. Give them direction.
Don't focus on
the amount of hours a person is working or the amount of work they are
seemingly doing. Instead, move employees away from the mindless
tasks that merely occupy time, yet provide little value. This
includes unnecessary meetings that are held because they've always
been held and time consuming reports that may no longer be significant,
if even needed. Focus instead on individual
accountabilities. What is it that each person is doing to
contribute to the big picture? But, to do this, it's imperative
that all employees know what the big picture looks
like. Have you explained their role in the overall picture?
Do they understand that they are working for the future, not just
today? Remember, maintaining transparency in the business takes
on new dimensions - both human and economic so your people need to know
that their human involvement contributes to the economic outcome.
Another area to
explore is, do employees have a trusted someone to go to and talk
to? This is a great opportunity to build your objective listening
skills. Often during stressful times, people simply want to talk
which helps ease their stress. It also provides an opportunity
for the employee to create a bond with the person willing to take time
to listen. Can you fill that role? If not, who?
Figure this out and help guide your people to a trusted insider with
whom they can freely talk. This is an immense builder of trust.
Yes, keeping
employees engaged during these turbulent times can be hard; especially
since managers themselves may be worried about their own futures and
their own lives. However, now is also the time when natural leaders
will be noticed by the way they handle their people; the tactics they
use to keep people motivated, retained and productive and the way they
communicate all information with trust, built through transparency.
TPP Followers
Please Note:
(Although we
promised in the last issue to continue in this issue the six most
hated managerial tasks, I felt that due to the current economic
climate, and its implications on life in general, I wanted to address
an issue more related that I am repeatedly encountering in my business
dealings worldwide.)
|
|
|
Terri's
best-seller, "I Quit, But Forgot to Tell You" is still on
the SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management) top 10 best
sellers! To order your very own copy, please visit SHRM's
website by clicking here.
|
Thanks to readers like you, "The People
Prophet"
has increased
the number of people we reach through sharing our newsletter. And
since the holiday season is all about sharing, why keep this issue
of "The People Prophet" all to yourself? Please forward
our newsletter to anyone you wish and encourage them to sign up to
receive their own issues by clicking on the "Join Our Mailing
List" tab on the left hand side of this newsletter.
|
The Kabachnick Group, Inc.
 10810 72nd Street
|
|
|
|
|
