A simple action taken now can make a world of difference.
Two months ago, I launched a small study to learn more about how my clients and some former trusted colleagues were leading under pandemic conditions. I asked them specifically about what was working most effectively with their remote teams. The significant and common message in almost every one of their responses: actively demonstrate empathy, compassion and flexibility. These are some very commercial executives and they emphasized understanding and kindness as keys to getting results in the face of great stress on their businesses.
When asking executives, you might expect a high-minded and strategic response. In this case, they agreed on simple action: Just make time to listen.
That was July. Now factor in the difficulty for working parents as they try to navigate the safe return of their children to school. The situation is fluid and there are many approaches. Some schools in my area are meeting in-person (with precautions), others are still 100% remote for all students and there are many flavors of hybrid schemes to reduce the number of students and teachers on site at one time. It is not an easy situation for anyone involved and it is turning up the seemingly relentless stress level on families with working parents.
So, I emphasize the need for leaders of remote teams to take simple action:
Make dedicated time to listen to each of your team members and see how they are holding up (especially working parents).
Put it on your calendar this week to check in. Repeat periodically.
See where your understanding and flexibility can help. This may be just the right time.
You’ll need a healthy team for sustained performance.
Act.
If you are already doing it, good. Keep doing it. Don’t stop. Not yet, anyway….
I know that holding up sports figures as role models is fraught with peril, but you could do a whole lot worse than emulating my childhood sports hero, even (especially) in your career:
In my practice, I work with executives and companies that are seeking ways to improve their performance and effectiveness. The sources I use in my work can be found in my experiences, my post-graduate work, my training as an executive coach, and numerous research studies, articles and modern management books.
But honestly, Tom Seaver provided some simple and clear examples of professional behavior for all of us:
Intimately know your competitors’ strengths & weaknesses before taking the field.
Objectively evaluate your own performance and make adjustments.
Highlight the value in the contribution of your teammates.
Arrive early, rested and prepared for your days’ work.
Constantly evaluate / moderate your own emotional state during the game.
Grade yourself critically on consistency and form.
Focus on your game and your performance overall.
Talk about performance. Always.
Show respect for your competitors – especially the greats.
Be happy with your achievements, but really cut loose and celebrate when the whole team wins.
Yesterday we lost Tom Seaver at the age of 75. As a kid growing up in the early 70s in a NY suburb, Tom Seaver was everything to me and my friends. We read every article we could find about him in newspapers, magazines and books and fought for number 41 on every baseball team we played on (I only got it twice). When he pitched, we watched him on television, and on rare and very special occasions, saw him play in person.
It is clear that he had some God-given natural gifts (he often spoke of being grateful for his talent), but it was his focus, work-ethic and habits that turned him into one of the best and most consistent performers of all time.
I had a few friends who respected him but felt he was “aloof” in interviews and later as a commentator. I always looked at it differently. I like to think that Tom was always preoccupied with performance and with excellence.
Rest in Peace, Tom Seaver.
Thank you for being one of my best teachers growing up, even though neither of us knew it at the time.
On this July 4th, let’s recommit to the original idea of equality set forth 244 years ago and create more common ground in this country through action and kindness.
It may be the most recognizable sentence in the American English language: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Deep in our souls, this rings true. And, like the teachings of the great religions of the world it is deeply virtuous…but it is also aspirational. The men who conceived of these ideas were as imperfect as we are now, but we owe it to them and to all others who sacrificed to make this experiment work to keep pushing for the aspirational goal of equality that they set for us.
A common theme of our times is that we cannot move forward together because we are fundamentally divided. So we must fight to find common ground – and service is a very effective way to find that common ground. We generally do not see people deeply involved in performing a service engaged in partisan debate. They are too busy acting. They may be pushing a disabled car to safety, rescuing a child in deep water, feeding hungry people, giving directions, aiding the sick, caring for older people, counseling refugees, fundraising for charity, shoveling snow off the roof of their church or any number of organized (or ad hoc) gestures of kindness. It is through acts of kindness that we can find a way unite.
Leaders navigate a flood of information, learning constantly
and synthesizing all of it to guide and encourage people each day. Add the anxiety and emotion generated by recent,
rapidly-evolving national and global events and we have an extra measure of (personal
and professional) leadership challenges.
So how do we stand up to this test? Not by trying to work longer or to cram more information into our heads.
Actually, we need a
little of the opposite.
Right now – we could do with the best leadership possible – for
our organizations, companies, units, congregations, teams, work groups, families
… and country. I mean people who can
evaluate inputs thoughtfully and make responsible determinations – not to
simply yield to ‘conventional thinking’ or what ‘everyone else is doing’. This is harder to do than ever when we are
constantly marinated in other peoples’ ideas with a 24/7 news cycle/feeds,
instant notifications, commentary shows and social media.
Today’s evolving situations may require a leader to focus on
an urgent issue without losing sight of the big picture. It may even demand the moral courage to
challenge conventional thinking and take calculated risks. This balance of perspective, imagination and
inner strength is simply not available to a busy, multi-tasking and distracted
leader.
If you are a leader who aspires to perform at a high level in a high stress environment, you must find time for solitude:
Alone
No head
phones, no interruptions.
To think
things through – really concentrate.
Long
enough to marshal the incoming data points, emotions and thoughts.
To filter
some
To form
ideas and turn them over in your mind, testing them, generating more.
Then imagining
the coming hours and days.
This could be 15 minutes a day, it could be an hour. But if you are leading in a crisis, you’ll
need to develop this discipline – to step away from the fray and be alone with
your thoughts.
Try it one time and
you will find yourself with a measure of perspective and composure that you
simply cannot access on days when you dive right in.
If you don’t think you have time for solitude and thinking,
look at it this way. If you are maxed
out on multitasking and tactical distractions, you simply will not have the mental
capacity to evaluate new challenges with detachment. You may even become a net negative – actually
harming the people that you mean to nurture. Or, best case, you will simply “just do
enough” and guide them in following the herd, doing what everyone else is
doing, because you will not have prepared yourself adequately to respond creatively
to disruptions.
You (We) Must Be Better.
Years ago, I stumbled upon something that worked for me. I was unexpectedly assigned to run a troubled
but talented technology organization. Replacing
a leader and founder who was dismissed in a controversial acquisition, I was
seen as an interloper of sorts. There
were serious business challenges from the first day. To make the situation more interesting, the
new role was an unpleasant two-hour drive from my house each day.
During the first week, I had a particularly bad commute one morning
and just sat in my car in silence for 15 minutes to cool down before entering
the building. At one point, I pulled out
a notepad and jotted a few things down. I
unexpectedly found that this helped me – a lot.
Eventually, sitting in silence each day with a notepad became
a crisis management ritual for me.
Every situation is different, but my time-in-silence exercise looks a little like this:
Remind myself of big picture leadership context – my larger objectives / longer term
Think about things that I may have been missing that I need to focus on
Ask the big question: Who do I need to be today? What is my best behavior?
Imagine situations that can go wrong today….and how will I respond?
Place myself in good humor. And get moving.
Later in my career, having read books like “Excellent Sheep” by William Deresiewicz (also look for the transcript of his outstanding West Point Lecture) and biographies of people like Franklin Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Abraham Lincoln and others, I came to see that some sort of solitude ‘ritual’ is a mainstay for many leaders in times of crisis.
Please give it a try.
The people you lead deserve your very best performance….and they need it
now.
Start with 15 minutes tomorrow. I really believe it will help. Good luck and let me know how it goes.
I love to hear from friends and former colleagues around the holiday season! But over the past decade, I have learned to hold my breath as I open emails and messages. I always want to hear news of career progress and growing families, but 2019 once again brought painful stories of holiday season layoffs in the New York area.
The Annual (holiday) Layoff: We know layoffs are bad. So why do some (usually large) firms, seem to do them annually?
Many firms have calendar year fiscal cycles and feel pressure to hit performance targets. For some, the method used to do this is to shed staff at the end of the year – often around Thanksgiving, Hanukah and the Christmas holidays. The traditional time of counting blessings and celebrating with family and friends, is turned into a time of stress, dread and sadness for the beleaguered employees of these “Annual RIF” firms.
So, what happens when Layoffs become Annual Events? (You probably already know):
A low-grade, persistent fear slowly sets into the culture.
Every day is a mini battle for job
survival.
Self-preservation begins to eclipse
individual or team performance
CYA wins the day
Innovation slows down.
Real innovation requires experimentation
and a willingness to fail during the discovery process. People are increasingly afraid to fail and abandon
experimentation in favor of the relative safety of the “tried and true”.
All Projects in Green Status.
At certain times of the year, it is
personally risky to report bad news…so people find ways to hide or defer it.
Small ‘fires’ go unreported…. until
they are too big to hide.
People back away from complex
problems instead of attacking them.
Performance management goes out the window.
Annual ‘rank and yank’ at layoff time means that keeping bad performers until the year-end “reaping” becomes the norm. Day to day performance management skills atrophy as managers are no longer trusted / required to improve or manage out bad performers during the year.
It becomes a discouraging environment for conscientious managers and strong performers, but a fertile ground for mediocre performers who can “work” the annual system.
A growing cynical malaise.
Looking good for the annual
evaluation trumps actual performance.
It becomes about playing the annual
‘game’.
Human Resources loses traction.
They gradually become the annual grim reaper
People may even avoid confiding in them
Breaking the Cycle is Not Easy:
How do
executives of large firms avoid the temptation of Annual Layoffs and still get
the ‘Benefits’ of meeting financial and transformational expectations in
challenging years?
Answer: It is
good old-fashioned, Druckerian, hands-on management.
There is no hack for this – we must create an environment where overall performance and operational discipline combine to reduce the likelihood of layoffs.
Leaders just do the job:
Constantly talk about Firm and Departmental performance at ALL levels:
Relentlessly align people to strategy
Make everyone responsible for knowing the market you are in
Be seen – be relentlessly visible in the organization
Train, evaluate and demand performance from your managers – at all levels:
Understanding the market and aligning teams to the firm’s strategy
Communication at all levels (especially listening) and striving to create clarity
Constant feedback and performance management
Delegation and asking for more – always building depth and successors
Evaluating and attracting talent
Understanding financials and fiscal responsibility
Recognizing people for good performance, mutual support, teamwork and innovation
Create Systemic Transparency:
Adopt a system to ensure the accurate reporting of progress at all levels
Balance the value of honesty vs. delivering positive news
Discourage unnecessary protocol – encourage open doors
Relentlessly focus, measure progress and demand top performance on your strategic imperatives. Every day. Every damned day.
Let’s resolve
now to do this!
Demonstrate and expect real performance management all year
Demonstrate and expect real financial control all year
Evaluate every month (or at least quarterly) and course correct all year
At the end of the year, no surprises or need for reductions
Here’s to a new ethical and prosperous decade – the 2020s.
Some last thoughts:
First off, let’s face it – there are likely no firms that do Annual Layoffs as a practice. There are a number of firms that have had layoffs in various divisions in the last few years in a row. My point here is this: It does not matter what the whole firm actually does: If people THINK layoffs have become Annual at your company, then you have this problem…and the clock is running on you.
And I think it gets better! I am optimistic that the number of firms that have Annual (or near-Annual) Layoffs will dwindle to near zero by the end of the ’20s. Transformational technology and the need to innovate will require these firms to re-think their practices in order to attract and retain talent, or they will be eaten.
Reflection Questions:
As a leader at a firm doing frequent annual layoffs, how can you effectively start a dialog to change?
What actions are within your power as a leader to mitigate damage to your organization’s performance?
They are a corporate reality that can be caused by many things.
It could be an under-performing product line,
a department that does not hit sales targets, the impact from a merger, a company that falls behind
the technology curve or did not anticipate market events or it could even result from large-scale economic downturn.
So many reasons.
These
things happen… a lot. They just do.
A staff reduction is something that a firm does with extreme reluctance – a sacrifice made to head off a major problem at the firm – a last resort… a failure of the firm’s leadership to anticipate something important.
Damage
from Layoffs:
Layoffs may
address a potential problem, but
they also damage the
Fabric of an
Organization:
The flow of information is interrupted, impacting productivity
Projects are impacted and so is quality
Customer service may suffer
It breaks the unspoken trust that employees have with their employer (I will trade you my best work and my time for employment and support for me and my family)
People lose friends and colleagues
Just the rumor
of a layoff createsfear, which can drive survivalist behavior and impact teamwork.
“Benefits” of Layoffs:
What!? Benefits?
Layoffs can quickly help address pressing financial problems by closing expense gaps. They are a tactic to drop the bottom line to meet or exceed the margin expectations of shareholders, investors or analysts. They can also help expedite an organizational transition like a large relocation or outsourcing plan which can improve financial targets. In times of stress, a layoff can take some pressure off senior executives by tactically addressing the financial picture. In extreme and rare situations, they may save a troubled company.
Here’s where
it can get ugly:
In some larger firms, there is immense pressure on executives and boards of directors to meet company performance expectations. Due to large company complexity, these execs may not directly ‘feel’ the employee culture in global or even regional locations. In the executive suite of a large company, they may be closer to the tactical benefits of layoffs than are with the cultural damage that is caused by them. In some of these firms, they can be tempted by the annual boost they can get to their financials – and layoffs can become annual events.
Reflection
Questions:
When a layoff is the only option, what are some
ways for firms to mitigate the cultural damage?
Once a layoff is over, what are some steps
for firms to take to ensure that an event like this is not repeated?
The recipe for today’s popular cable “makeover” project
shows is to have attractive hosts make us feel good by presenting and solving
problems in a single episode. This
Old House features a group of average-looking professionals renovating a single
house per season. Even cast
members did not expect this show to survive beyond its first year. How are they doing this?
Last weekend I watched the 40th Anniversary special for This Old House on PBS. I always enjoyed this show. Each season, their journey includes the history of the area, the home, and the plans for the renovation with the homeowners’ objectives. Each project takes the entire season and highlights the technique, materials and technology used to execute the plan and solve the problems that inevitably arise along the way.
Why is their formula still drawing an audience in the era
of instant gratification? I like to think
it is simply Competence and Respect.
Competence: The core cast of the show consists of the
host and a small group of seasoned professionals. The latter are masters of their respective trades;
carpenters, contractors, plumbers, electricians and landscapers. The cast professionals know their stuff and
we observe old-school methodical craftmanship while they embrace (and explain) modern
technological technique. The host ties
it all together, providing the viewer a light narrative with good humor, clarity
and context.
Respect:
The cast members respect the work they do, respect one another and treat
the homeowners and the local professionals they work with on each project with decency. They explain things clearly and with
care. They approach problems and
mistakes with patience and curiosity.
They have fun, using gentle pranks and self-deprecating humor to
break the tension that mounts in the face of obstacles.
Why I watch:
I see sound motivation technique; a clear view
of the conditions and parameters of the project, so all involved – including the
viewers – have a stake and realistic expectations.
Camaraderie, technical skills and resourcefulness
in action are just compelling to me. Heck, this is why people watch Seal
Team (though the action factor is a bit different).
What I take away:
When working with a firm, I will come upon the occasional group
that has a reputation for good results and positive culture over time. I sometimes call them Anchor Teams.
When I ask about their success, they often give good fortune and one another
the credit, but it is always more than this.
Anchor Teams can be hidden drivers of intellectual curiosity,
harmony and high standards in an organization. People on these teams can be observed
encouraging one another and kidding one another, but always asking one
another for more. For a leader,
there is always something valuable to learn from these special teams, but
only leaders who really engage with their organization get to see this.
As for This Old House – Sure, I think it might be uglier
when the cameras are off. Every home project
is messy, and these people are performers in addition to being skilled
builders. There will be competition,
friction and disagreement. But, at This
Old House, the producers, directors and cast members do their jobs well. I can’t see the drama on Sunday evenings – I
see their core Anchor Team at work, and I see Competence and Respect. I am grateful for this.
Once a week, I can enjoy being part of their project and
imagine (and hope) that their behavior and standards are still held in high
regard.
Congratulations to This Old House on 40 years of
success!
Discussion:
Where do you see Anchor Teams (with a reputation
for good results and positive culture) in your organization?
How do you expand their value without damaging
their successful formula?
