Sal's Blog

What is the purpose of this complimentary webinar on August 11th?

In just 57 minutes your senior leaders will learn specific ways to avoid or address some common, costly mistakes, and help them achieve a major shift in how their teams perform.

Senior leadership teams are the single most influential factor that impacts employee engagement, productivity, and retention.

But with so many challenges facing organizations today, senior leadership teams all too often look for solutions on how to be more competitive and efficient while forgetting to consider the people side of the equation. They look for technology and systems improvements to solve people-related problems that often result in common and costly mistakes.

What insights can you expect to gain?

During this program, we will explore the following 4 challenges impacting senior leadership teams.

1. Lack of Focus: The challenge in many organizations is that leaders get so busy spending time IN the business, focusing on the urgent day-to-day issues, instead of ON the business, focusing on creating alignment and a nurturing a healthy culture. Instead of being able to rapidly respond to new opportunities, unnecessary conflict, stress, and ambiguity of roles emerge.

2. Protecting and Hoarding Resources: Senior leaders often look to time management techniques and cost cutting initiatives to save time and money, but forget that improving efficiency might just be about getting people to work together better. The result - a focus on individual agendas and egos instead of on organizational objectives.

3. A Focus on Compliance instead of Commitment: With the economy beginning its recovery, top performers are increasingly at risk of being swept away by the competition. But, leaders that created a work culture based on compliance won’t lose everyone - their poor and mid-level performers will stay (because no one wants to hire them anyway). The way people are treated in the workplace matters and senior leaders set the tone.

4. A Patch-work Approach To Hiring: The challenge in many organizations is that they (1) do not have a clear and consistent hiring process, (2) people do not have the skills to properly conduct interviews and evaluate candidates, and (3) organizational values aren’t clear. All three of these factors are a perfect storm for hiring the wrong people.

Think about how much more productive the leadership teams in your organization could be. But, often times, they limit their productivity and effectiveness because they are making costly mistakes they may not know about.

We will also:

• Provide an overview of our Executive Team Development Program
• Share a copy of our article on The 5 Costliest Mistakes Teams Make

Who is this program for?

This informal, but fast moving program is for Directors and above and is based on Sal Silvester’s work over the past 9 years with teams who have been serious about being more productive and effective.

Your organization qualifies for this complimentary program if:

• You are a mid-sized to large organization - 150+ people, $50 million+ revenues
• You have an intact senior leadership team
• Improved team productivity and effectiveness is important

We are limiting this program to 50 people, so go here for more details and to register while seats last.

(Can’t make the date/time? No problem, sign up anyway and we’ll send you a link to the recorded version shortly after the webinar.)

Have you ever watched a 400-meter relay team work?
On a good team, their hand-offs are impeccable.

In fact, given two teams of equal quality runners, the team with the more efficient
hand-offs always wins. The same holds true in the work place.

Like many organizations, you probably have good people, products, and services. The differentiator, though, between you and your competitors, is often the hand-offs between teams - like Sales, Engineering, and Operations (or whatever departmental silos exist in your organization).

There’s another interesting thing about the 400-meter relay. According to Wikipedia, the world record is 37.10 seconds. The world record for the individual 400-meter race is 43.18 seconds. That’s over a six second difference!

Given the same quality of runners, a team that works well together is
always better than a “John Wayne” who works alone.

The challenge in many organizations is that individuals and departments get so focused on their own egos, agendas, and goals, and they lose sight of the larger organizational goals and put them second to their own priorities. As a result, individuals, departments, and business units end of hoarding resources without regard for the bigger picture.

So, given two organizations with equal capabilities, the competitive advantage is in the hand-offs.

What are the three keys to stop dropping the baton?

1. Get clear on the common purpose. At the end of the day, whether you work in Engineering, Sales, or Operations, you should all be working toward the same goals, and those goals supercede individual egos, agendas, and priorites.  Get clear on your common purpose and make sure it is over-communicated between departments. The common purpose is the glue that links the hand-offs together.

2. Get clear on roles and responsibilities. According to Wikipedia, transferring of the baton in the 400-meter relay is typically blind. The outgoing runner does not look backwards, and it is the responsibility of the incoming runner to thrust the baton into the outstretched hand, and not let go until the outgoing runner takes hold of it.

In the workplace, too often the baton is dropped because there are gaps in what people think they should be doing and what others think they should be doing. Close those gaps by clarifying (a) key task responsibility, (b) decision making authority, and (c) expectations between departments.

3. Get clear on team member strengths. Some people excel at project start-up while others thrive in project execution. Learn more about where the talents of your team members lie and share responsibilities accordingly.

In the 400-meter relay, perfect hand-offs often compensate for slower runners. In the workplace, perfect hand-offs result in better product quality, faster delivery times, reduced engineering defects, and ultimately higher levels of customer engagement and retention.

The People-first Bottom Line: If you want to gain a competitive advantage, don’t forget the people side of the equation - smooth out the hand-offs in your organization.

Inscape Publishing just launched the Everything DiSC 363 for Leaders, and my clients love it.

They love it for three reasons.

(1) It combines the best of a 360 degree assessment and the power of DiSC.

(2) It does away with the often useless, open-ended responses raters can give, and instead gives raters a set of choices to select for open-ended questions - making the feedback behavioral based and more valuable for the leader.

(3) It provides the leader with not only feedback on their leadership behaviors, but also three strategies for improving effectiveness.

Interested in a test run?

Schedule a DiSC Strategy Session with me. During this complimentary 45 minute discussion, we’ll discuss your business objectives and challenges, talk about your organization’s leadership capabilities, and see if the Everything DiSC 363 for Leaders is a fit in your organization.

Email me with three dates/times when you are available.

In my previous blog post, I talked about the 4 reasons why team building fails and how it is important to be aware of those common pitfalls so that you can design a program that makes a positive impact on your team.

Team building can have a profound effect on the way teams collaborate, but to achieve that level of success you must incorporate The 4 P’s of Strategic Team Building.

1. Personalization: The program must be based on clear objectives and desired outcomes. Information should be gathered through a “needs analysis” process, and you should have a clear answer to the question - “why do we have a need for this?”

2. Programming: The team building should be integrated into a broader professional development plan and should include follow-up to reinforce the desired behavioral changes. You should also clearly understand the level of impact your event may have. Programs that are 1-2 hours in duration may be fun and break down some barriers, but are only “energizers.”  Programs 3-8 hours in duration may enable “discovery” if well facilitated. Programs 1+ day may actually generate skill development and behavioral change.

3. Participation: For the program to be successful, key leaders must actively support the program, participate in the program, and provide coaching after the program.

4. Practicality: The best team building programs provide tools that team members can bring back into the workplace and use to be more effective as they collaborate and communicate with each other. A day on the challenge course generally doesn’t provide this. Rich content with easy to use tools (minimize the fluff and theory) is essential.

So there you have it. It’s pretty simple really. Avoid the pitfalls and follow the 4 Ps and you’ll have a program that helps, not hinders, your team.

The concept of “team building” means different things to different people. Over the past 9 years I have spent a ton of time with hundreds of clients and thousands of people creating successful team building programs. Our shorter programs may span only four to eight hours in duration, and our programs focused on helping teams make a significant shift in how they collaborate may last over 9 months.

Regardless of how long the program is, I have always defined team building in three ways:

1. It is a tool to help accelerate team formation.

2. It is strategic in nature.

3. It is focused on skill development and behavioral change.

If you want to create a team building program that will have a positive impact on your team, it is important to pay attention to the pitfalls you may encounter.

Here are 4 common reasons why team building fails.

1. It is irrelevant.

- there are no clear objectives
- the facilitator never spoke to the “decision maker” prior to the event

2. It is ambiguous.

- there are no clear “tools” to take back to the workplace to help team members be more effective

3. There is a lack of commitment

- the program isn’t linked to broader professional development efforts
- there is no follow-up scheduled as part of the program

4. Inexperience

- the facilitator has no real business experience and never spent time in the boardroom
- the facilitator has limited knowledge about business or your industry

If you see symptoms such as these within your team building programs, it is likely you won’t see a change in how your team collaborates.

So, what are the keys to making team building effective?

Stay tuned for this Thursday’s blog post and I will share with you the 4 P’s of Strategic Team Building.

I have written quite a bit in the past about the importance of providing feedback to team members. In fact, in a recent blog post, I termed feedback as “the glue that holds alignment together.”

But what happens when feedback just doesn’t work?

When performance isn’t meeting expectations, and a team member has been provided with consistent and transparent feedback, the next step in trying to help a team member make behavioral change is constructive discipline.

Like feedback, discipline is intended to help a team member change so that they can turn performance problems into performance positives. There are a few key principles to constructively disciplining a team member.

1. Conduct the process in a way that doesn’t embarrass or undermine the team member.

2. Involve the team member in the process.

3. Follow organizational policies.

But how should a discipline interaction be handled between a manager/supervisor and team member?

Here is a simple 6-step process to follow. This process is covered in detail in our Vital Learning workshop on Effective Discipline.

Step 1: State the performance problem.

Step 2: Ask the team member for his/her view of the situation.

Step 3: Ask the team member for a solution to the performance problem.

Step 4: Agree on a plan.

Step 5: Give the team member a verbal or written warning (depending on organizational policy).

Step 6: Setup a time for review.

Don’t ignore Step 6 in the process. This structured reinforcement is the key to making behavioral change stick.

The People-first Bottom Line: Having the difficult conversations is never easy, but avoiding them does a disservice to the team member, your team, and the organization as a whole. Use the simple process above and plan the interaction ahead of time.

I moved this past weekend into a new home with my wonderful fiance. I couldn’t bear to ask my friends for help as I know that by this point in time in our lives we have just helped others move way too many times. So, I decided to hire 4 college students from the University of Colorado in Boulder. Three showed-up and here’s what I got.

Student Number 1: The Excuse Maker

The Excuse Maker was full of the excuses that you’d expect to hear from an irresponsible teenager. Not only did he take more breaks than anyone else (including my 9 year-old nephew), but the “buddy” he was supposed to bring didn’t show because he “wasn’t feeling well.”

Student Number 2: Johnny Come Lately

Do you remember the movie Johnny Dangerously? If so, you’ll recognize this quote during the prison scene escape, “I missed the bus, you missed the bus, we all missed the bus.”  As you can guess by this student’s name he literally missed the bus and was over 30 minutes late. Enough said when you are trying to move a household.

Student Number 3: The Rock Star

It’s not hard to stand out when you are working with The Excuse Maker and Johnny Come Lately, but this guy was good. He showed up on time, worked hard, took control of situations when he needed to, and was respectful. It’s not hard to believe that this kid is working full-time as an intern during the week and just picking up extra work on the weekends.

The People-first Bottom Line: Being professional isn’t that hard, and it always sets you apart from those who aren’t.

Interested in learning more about the latest and greatest Everything DiSC Application Library Programs? Then join me for an upcoming virtual showcase led by publisher Inscape Publishing.

The showcases involve taking the profile (Everything DiSC Sales, Everything DiSC Management, or Everything DiSC Workplace) as pre-work, and then participating in an interactive 90-minute webinar.

Here are some upcoming showcases:

• Everything DiSC^® Management - August 25, 2010; 10:00am - 11:30am mountain time
• Everything DiSC^® Sales - July 21, 2010; 10:00am - 11:30am mountain time
• Everything DiSC^® Workplace - July 14, 2010; 10:00am - 11:30am mountain time

And there are more scheduled for later in the summer and early fall too. So, email me if you are interested in attending, or we can arrange for a different date if those above do not work for you.

best,

Sal

I am going through two major transitions in my personal life right now - (1) getting married in October 2010, and (2) selling and buying a new home.

Both are amazing changes that will have a significant and profound impact on who I am as a person. And as I reflect on these changes, I am constantly reminded that change itself is inevitable in this life, but how we handle it is a choice.

I believe this concept applies to all of us - as individuals, management teams, or even organizations as a whole. Here are a few ideas that can help you and others ride through the roller coaster of change.

1. Reflect on how you have coped positively and benefited from changes in your past. Apply those lessons to the changes you are currently navigating.
2. Change is often the catalyst for doing something new, creating something different, and moving in an alternate direction. Use that momentum instead of resisting it. Actions always create reactions. So take action now.
3. Figure out what your specific goals are for the change. Create a vision around those goals. Get people aligned with those goals. Ask those who you lead for input on how to best deal with challenges.
4. Identify your support system and create a structure for you, your management team, and the organization as a whole to stay on track. It’s always easier to navigate change with the help of others.
5. Share what you know, and share what you don’t know.

The People-first bottom line: How you (your management team, your organization) respond to change is a choice, and that choice is a reflection of who you are.

This is a book that is having a profound impact on my life. I referred to The Work in a recent email newsletter entitled Overcoming Overwhelm.

This book will challenge you to “Notice When Your Thoughts Argue with Reality”

“The only time we suffer is when we believe a thought that argues with what is. When the mind is perfectly clear, what is is what we want.”

This book will challenge you to “Stay In Your Own Business”

“I can find only three kinds of business in the universe: mine, yours, and God’s (God means reality). Much of our stress comes from mentally living out of your own business. When you think, ‘You need to get a job, I want you to be happy, you should be on time, you need to take better care of yourself,’ I am in your business.”

This book will challenge you to inquire about your thoughts.

“A thought is harmless unless we believe it. It’s not our thoughts, but the attachment to our thoughts, that causes suffering. Attachment to a thought means believing that it’s true, without inquiring.”

The application of The Work is endless. I am starting to use it in team building and leadership development programs, along with my executive and management retreats. I am using it in both my personal and professional work, and I think you will be fascinated by what you read in this book.

Enjoy.