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♦ Employee Engagement: Walking your Talk is Accountable Behavior

By on May 18, 2012 in Uncategorized

When I was growing up my father used to say, “Don’t do as I do, do as I say.” He and my mother smoked, but they didn’t want their children to smoke.  Monkey see, monkey do. The MINUTE I got old enough, what did I do? You got it. I started smoking, but of course I HID my cigarettes because MY smoking wasn’t ok with the authorities in the house. The telling moment was when my mother asked me if she could bum a cigarette.

I have not smoked for many, MANY years but the story makes my point.  Everyone is a leader SOMEWHERE in their lives, and this blog is directed at leaders.  Everyone, young and old, has leadership roles.   Walking your talk applies everywhere.  It is rather fun to reach down into the core elements of leadership that apply EVERYWHERE, to people of all ages, and delves into basic areas of life.

Walking your talk applies to upholding principles, such as always tell the truth even when it is unpleasant, treat everyone with respect, listen to people when they are talking.. I mean really hear what they are saying without our opinion about it.

It also applies to some very basic rules of cleanliness.  If you want a clean work or home environment, you too must wash your hands after going to the restroom and I don’t mean just run your fingertips under the water.  I mean soap and sufficient warm water to remove bacteria.  Not when it is convenient, but every time you use the restroom.

Research in the UK revealed that more than nine in ten mobile phones are coated with some kind of bacteria, including E.coli, which was responsible for a number of deaths in Germany in June last year, and Staphylococcus aureus, one strain of which is better known as MRSA.

I belong to a Rotary club of 500 members, and every time I greet, a role of shaking hands with members coming into the meeting, someone whispers in my ear, “After you are done and before lunch, go wash your hands.”  Last week the greeters were all wearing white gloves!

My mother always used to say, “Cleanliness before Godliness,” whatever that meant, but she ingrained in us an adherence to the basics.  Not so much with smoking, but when it came to cleanliness, she definitely walked her talk, and so did

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Accountability is Access to Vitality. Really?

By on April 20, 2012 in Culture, Employee Engagement, Executive Excellence, Perspectives, Trust, Uncategorized, Values

How do you have conversations for accountability inside your organization?

Personally, I got appointed the babysitter when I was the oldest of 4 children.  It has taken me YEARS of committed introspection into the topic of accountability and what is available out of being accountable, to bring any lightness to this topic.  I did name my company “Accountability Pays,” so I do see a light at the end of the tunnel. Unless we want to suffer the consequences, we are accountable at work and at home, however we define it.

What if we could bring fun, play and ease to the conversations we have about being accountable?  The conversations I’ve usually had were focused on making someone wrong.  And if you’ve gotten to adulthood, you already know how that plays out!  It is not pretty for either party, when being made wrong or making another wrong.  It is the blame game, sound and fury signifying nothing, some version of “If you were different, if you were responsible, if you did things like I do them then all would be fine.”  That conversation does not usually go well UNLESS you are committed to coming out the other side with both people whole and complete, no kidding.  One of my fellow thinkers on this topic said it this way;  “The relationship is committed to workability for everyone.”

If being accountable — all of us being accountable — were fun, playful, easy what would be available?

Some of you think I’ve been smoking some illegal substance.  No, I have not.  What I know from my own experience, and sharing experiences with others, is that when everyone is accountable (clear, focused, results oriented) then the entity (relationship, organization) exudes vitality.

Think about a time when everyone did what they were supposed to do and you experienced what some call “flow.”  Stuff just got done!  People supported the whole with whatever was required, without being asked, even if it didn’t fit neatly into their job description.  Almost every one can think of one experience like that, and it was memorable, but seemingly not repeatable.  Why is that?  What I just described is the experience of being accountable with fun, play, and ease.

Here are a few quick rules that I’ve found work to bring fun, play, ease — and therefore vitality — to conversations for accountability.

  1. Don’t make people feel that they are wrong for doing it the way they are currently doing things, even if you don’t think they are right.
  2. Engage them in a discussion of what is possible if all pull on the oars of the boat headed in the same direction.
  3. ASK for their impression of what could be done, and LISTEN.
  4. Assume that if they do not understand you, it is because you did not communicate fully, not because they were stupid/not listening/whatever you made up about them.
  5. Remind them of how great it will be when celebration time comes around.
  6. Make them feel part of something bigger than themselves, something that is important.
  7. Watch them come alive.  Watch them dip into their inner reserves.  Watch them perform beyond your expectations, as a valued and valuable team member.
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Clarity. When Missing, all Hell Breaks Loose. When Present, Results Occur.

By on April 13, 2012 in Business, Employee Engagement, Executive Excellence, Perspectives, Uncategorized

Why do I say all hell breaks loose?  Because any organization cannot move together in syncopation without clarity of a common future view, and people cannot do their jobs if there isn’t clarity of their required contribution.

When clarity is present, people have the freedom that is created by clear boundaries.  Employees are freed up to do their work, not protect themselves from attacks by others with different expectations.

Clarity is influenced by the amount of confidence one has in one’s opinion, which is all we really have regarding our view of the world.  Research into successful people in the workplace by Dr. Dan Harrison* showed a paradoxical relationship between two independent variables:  confidence in one’s opinions (certainty), and the tendency to reflect on many different viewpoints (open/reflective).

As a leader desiring to provide a clear vision of the future, or clear boundaries around the responsibilities of a particular role you would want enough certainty to have clarity.  Caveat:  an excess of certainty is dogmatic, when others hear the underlying message, “I’m right, I’m right, I’m right, and I am not changing my opinion.  Ever.”

Conversely, too much open/reflective is inconclusive.  The line outside the door of an inconclusive decision maker who is taking input on a decision favors the last guy in line!  Those in between will hear, “that’s a great idea,” “that’s a great idea,” “that’s a great idea too!”

The optimal relationship between these paradoxical positions is high certainty AND high open/reflective; the tendency to explore different viewpoints and formulate conclusions without becoming fixed in one’s opinions.

My friend Mary Lore wrote a book called Managing Thought.  In addition to selling the book, she delivers it for free one page a day.  http://www.managingthought.com.

Managing our thoughts and clarity go hand in hand.  Can you see this connection?  Your thinking clearly precedes providing clarity for anyone else?  Clear thinking comes from managing thoughts by asking the right questions, by engaging in thinking deeply and long-term about the impact of your words, your actions, and the potential responses from others.  For instance, being reactive (what Mary calls the “faithful-dog brain” and our reticular activation system) will focus on making us right.  The problem is, when stuck in that thinking, you risk becoming dogmatic.

*Evaluation of the impact of paradoxical relationships is unique to the Harrison Assessment which is a hiring assessment.  Dr. Harrison is coming to San Diego June 29th and will present a workshop in the morning on this topic.

If you would like to know more about this event, let me know!

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