What’s your organization’s purpose?

Please tell me you didn’t just reach for your wallet to dig out the laminated card on which these sacred words have been printed. Words so important that you carry them everywhere you go. After all, one never knows when the need to read a mission statement might arise. And who can say what miracles might occur if one invokes those magic words.

Yeah, I know I should probably turn down the volume on my sarcasm, but sometimes I just can’t help myself. Organizations go through so much effort crafting purpose statements and then treat them like the end point. Once the words are written and the documents printed, the leadership team feels proud of its accomplishment and then checks that to-do off its collective list. Then it’s back to business as usual. The surprise comes later when these statements didn’t haven’t any meaningful impact.

Don’t get me wrong. I think having a clear mission is critically important within an organization. I also believe a compelling purpose or vision has the potential to provide powerful inspiration to the people who share it.

The power isn’t in the words. The power comes from the idea those words represent.

Mission and vision. What you do and why you do it. Answer those two questions well and your heart should beat just a little more quickly. We do something extremely cool and one day, if we keep at it and are are good at what we do, the world will be a better place. So why is what you do cool? And how will it make anything better?

Your employees don’t need to read your mission. To them it should be the obvious explanation for everything they do. Each and every employee has a role. The things they accomplish helps their departments meet their goals. The departments meeting their collective goals helps the whole organization fulfill its mission. Everyone is in perfect alignment all marching towards the same objectives.

And like the mission, your employees don’t need to read a vision statement. They need to feel it. Everyone wants to make a difference. If you’ve got the right vision, your employees know in their guts that what they are doing is making some small part of the world better. Because they care, they will work hard and do high quality work. They can close their eyes and clearly see the vision that they are working so hard to bring to life. They draw energy from it.

If you want to create a powerful sense of purpose for your organization, then I suggest you and your collaborators put the pens and markers down and shut the lid on your laptop. Your purpose as embodied in your vision and mission isn’t about the words but rather the ideas. When you and your leaders all share a common sense of these ideas, then you can work on ways to convey them to everyone else. My two cents? Forget the laminated cards.

Image credit: Alex E. Proimus

When your organization has decided to fill an auditorium or hotel ballroom for the better part of a day (or maybe two), you need to have your act together. The stakes are way too high to not put forth your very best effort.

Whether you’re calling it a conference, convention, annual meeting, symposium or forum; the secrets of success are a clear purpose, an efficient plan, helpful tools/techniques, and a skilled person running things from the podium. You want participants walking away with a sense that the meeting was a good use of their time. They’ll be more likely to think this if they learned something useful, had a chance to participate, and felt like the meeting moved along at a quick pace.

Help from the outside

Assisting with large meetings is one of my favorite things to do for clients. People who have never worked with a facilitator on a project like this usually wonder how I can help. It depends on how much help they want, but typically there are four main ways I add value:

1. Refine the purpose and goals for the meeting. It’s critical that they are clear, achievable and meaningful.
2. Develop an agenda. Usually the client has a rough idea about how the meeting should run. Together we work from that point to create the best plan for achieving the goals.
3. Provide recommendations for room setup, audience response tools, and other activities that will keep things moving.
4. Lead the meeting. The best plans in the world only work if you have an experienced person implementing them.

Success strategies

When I lead meetings I go by a variety of names: Chair, facilitator, emcee or master of ceremonies. Regardless of the name, the focus is the same. Meet the goals. I do this by using these key strategies:

• Keep the group focused on one specific task/question at a time.
• Use well-honed facilitation techniques to move quickly through each piece of work.
• Invite participation whenever possible, making sure attendees know that they are playing an important role in the meeting.
• Listen respectfully, helping people say what needs to be said.
• Keep things lively and fun by demonstrating high energy and a good sense of humor.

Large meeting do offer unique challenges. The trick is to understand what they are so that you can plan your way through them. The next time you are charged with bringing together a large group for an annual meeting or convention, I’d be happy to be your partner in making it a memorable success.

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The next time you are in need of a trainer or speaker to do a session for your organization, I’d suggest you consider these questions:

• What results are you hoping to affect, by what degree, and by when?
• What behaviors and processes have the greatest impact on those results?

Here’s the secret to your project’s success. Approach it as a process, not just a single event.

Behaviors don’t change easily. People need information, encouragement, coaching, practice, time, and incentives. It’s unlikely they will get most of these from a single event or as people in my line of work like to call it, intervention. There are a series of things that should be done to start making progress towards the goals.

Here’s an example. Imagine you’ve got employees engaging in malicious gossip that is hurting the team, and naturally you want it to stop. So what should be done? I can think of many things that collectively could help.

• You ought to tell the group what you’ve noticed and share with them the impact that it’s having.
• Someone should dig into what the gossip is about and try to make a determination about why it’s happening.
• The group ought to be let in on the findings of this investigatory work.
• The group can then engage around the question, “What should we do to change this behavior?”
• Maybe the group needs some skill development in the areas of assertiveness and listening.
• Maybe they need practice at working through conflicts.
• They could probably benefit from establishing group behavioral norms.
• Some individuals might need more hands-on coaching.
• A monitoring system should be established.
• Follow-up needs to happen.

And the list could go on and on. The point is that real change rarely happens with a single speech, workshop, or team building event. Change comes as a result of a purposeful process that addresses the true concerns and provides the support that people need to move from points A to B.

If you want to tweak people’s interest and get them thinking, a single intervention often will accomplish that goal. If you want to make major change, you’ll need a plan that includes a series of interventions to start moving people towards the goal. And in the perfect world, you take it one step further by creating a system that sustains the organizational culture you are working to create.

Photo by John-Morgan

If you want to lower your stress, then I’ve got a simple exercise for you. Right now I want you to identify three specific things you are grateful for that happened today. Once you have them in mind, go ahead and reflect on them for a few minutes. Think about what happened. Maybe you can figure out why it happened. Consider why you feel good about it.

And when you are finished reflecting, notice your stress level. Would you say it’s higher, lower, or about the same as it was just a few minutes ago? I’m betting it’s lower.

Our feelings follow our thoughts. And thoughts are influenced by where we choose to place our attention. Focus on problems and frustration, and you will feel worse. Focus on good things and you’re likely to feel better.

Here’s an example. One night an ice storm hit the Twin Cities. Scores of people were caught away from home with roads covered in glare ice. I was lucky to have gotten home less than an hour before it hit. If I would have been in it, I can imagine my thoughts turning quickly to not being able to get home or being hurt in an accident. The result of those thoughts would have been stress and fear. The next morning, I looked out the window to watch with interest as a paper boy was “skating” across the street. It was fun to watch a salt truck running in reverse to create traction for itself.

The point is that it’s not the event itself that creates the stress and bad feelings. Rather it’s our assessment of the situation and our thoughts that create good or bad feelings. It was the same ice storm for everyone, but we all used our specific situations and predispositions to interpret it. For some that generated stress. For others, delight.

Gratitude is a thought changer. Even in tough times, thinking about the goodness in our lives changes our focus from stress-inducing to stress-reducing thoughts. And there’s a multiplier effect that kicks in as well. Think of one thing you are grateful for and you’ll start to notice others as well. This multiplier works in reverse too. So it’s important to have it working for you, rather than against you.

Since you tried reflecting on gratitude today, you may as well think about it again tomorrow. Repeat each day this week. Then continue until it becomes a habit. You’ll be glad that you did.

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In the early 90′s I worked for a national computer services company that had a problem we needed to solve. Our usual approach would have been to pull together some of the honchos to develop a plan and then get the front-line employees to make it happen. This time we went a radically different direction, we decided to try to change the culture using an experiment we called MASH which stood for Making Alternative Solutions Happen. Here’s the story.

The problem

The beginning of the story was passed on to me from others since I was on vacation, but apparently it began with our largest customer sharing some serious complaints about our service. And when the honchos from our three major functional units attempted to go into emergency mode, they ran into scheduling problems. The delay in getting together to talk about the problem became the new problem. Having your biggest customer mad at you is bad. Not being able to get together to talk about your biggest customer being mad at you is worse.

Upon my return from vacation, my boss told me to pack my cube because we were moving to the other building. Can’t say I was crazy about the idea because this move would add 10-15 minutes to my commute. Also, I was moving from the headquarters building out to what I thought of as our support building. It seemed like I was moving away from where the action was, and that didn’t strike me as a good career move. Little did I know how wrong I would be.

First impressions

On the day of the move, I arrived at our new location and could immediately see I was in for something different. Instead of the usual sea of cubes, I saw a large room with a big open space in the middle. In that space were several conference tables. The space was surrounded by cube pods each containing 4 work spaces without walls. Not only was I losing privacy and space, I was mixed in with people from the other functions who I didn’t know. The most interesting thing I noticed was that while there were some private offices beyond the cubes, they were empty. The honchos would be sitting in the pods.

While I wasn’t crazy about the physical layout, my interest and excitement ramped up quickly when I heard the vision for what we were trying to accomplish with this experiment. We were taking people who normally worked independently in pursuit of their own goals and putting them together to work on common goals. We were going to win together or lose together. We were no longer going to point fingers and blame others for problems. As the co-leaders responsible for MASH introduced their ideas, we all had a chance to start making the room our own.

Operating principles

Over time, the key operating principles began to emerge.

1. We were all going to focus on just three key metrics, those most important to our customer and those related to the health of the business.
2. We were all going to play an equal role in taking great care of this customer, symbolized by everyone sharing the same (extremely small) work spaces.
3. The room was equipped with two stop lights. If anyone saw a serious problem they were told they had the power to change the light and call a “Red light meeting.” We were making problems extremely visible.
4. Meetings were going to be held in the center of the room, where even those not in the meeting could easily overhear the conversation. Secrecy was out. Candor and transparency were in.
5. We would all meet every Friday morning to report progress and problems. It would also be a time to celebrate our successes together. And if customers were visiting, we would let them see this meeting, even if we had warts to expose.

Hindsight

I remember feeling proud to be part of this new group and this new way of doing business. It was fresh and exciting. We had some big wins around process and service. A reporter stopped by to hear the story. We also had plenty of challenges, some of which we just couldn’t solve.

MASH wasn’t some sort of organizational nirvana, but it was very different. And that was the point, doing something different to generate different results. Sometimes incremental changes just aren’t going to cut it. You need to get people’s attention. Interestingly after about a year, it all started feeling normal and routine. It had become the new business as usual. Maybe another change was in order. It was for me, as I moved to another job within the company.

Your turn

What constraints are keeping your organization stuck in place? How might you do something radically different to break free and create a new set of results? The only limits we have are the ones we have put on ourselves. Maybe it’s time to release ourselves from those limitations and try a new approach.

Image credit: © Can Stock Photo

Many times I have warned people against the danger of using email. Usually the warning goes something like this, “Email is missing both visual and audio cues that people need to accurately interpret what you are trying to say. Without this information, your message is likely to be misinterpreted, and that can cause big problems for you as well as your intended recipient.”

Today I’m going to add one more reason to the list of why you should remove your hands from your keyboard and pick up the phone. It will save you time.

How it usually works

Think about it. You’re cruising through your inbox when you get to one from a co-worker who wants your feedback on a proposal. You read the proposal and decide that yes you have some feedback. You start typing. You want to make sure you provide all the feedback. You also want to write carefully so as to not offend your co-worker. You hammer out your thoughts in about fifteen minutes, but then spend another fifteen polishing before you are ready to send. Your feedback generates a clarifying question from the other person and back and forth you go with a few more notes. In the end, you invested nearly an hour conveying your thoughts regarding this one email.

How it could work

Want to get through the email inbox faster? Pick out anything you believe requires a “well-crafted” response, and call the person with your answer. You’ll save time and maybe even prevent carpel tunnel.

Oh, and let’s not forget, be better understood. A triple win!

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Welcome to a new year. Now what? Well you could start by reading your email and going through that big pile of paper on your desk. Then you could check your calendar and figure out which meeting is first for the day. After a couple hours it’s time to step out for a little lunch. Back to your desk, more email, more piles to work on, more meetings to attend. End of the first day, whew! You’re outta there and heading for home. Tomorrow you’ll be back and do it all again.

That’s certainly one scenario that might play out for you. We’ll label it the “Business as usual” scenario. The question I have for you is whether that’s what you want. Do you want to show up each day and simply respond to what is thrown your way, going through the motions as you have on so many days that have come before this one? It’s easy to do. You’re good at it. Routine is comfortable. Autopilot takes less energy.

Let’s consider at least one other scenario. In this one you’ve shown up to work on the first day of the year with a vision of how things could be. You’ve got a goal that made you leap out of bed with excitement. When you arrive, the first order of business is to begin developing your plan for how to meet this goal. You take care of the stuff that needs tending, but your focus is clearly on the goal and what it will take to achieve it.

It’s a new year. You are in charge of your own life. What’s your vision? What will it take to bring it to life? Now go get it.

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Fiery statements contain multiple pieces of information. Some of it is useful. Some of it is not. Imagine that Sue has just proposed a project deadline for two weeks from today. Jerry reacts by saying, “Some people may be able to dedicate all their time to this project, but my area has real work to do.”

Jerry may have meant to convey that he couldn’t meet the deadline and possibly that he didn’t think this project was as important as the day-to-day activities. Sue will likely take away a different message. She probably heard that Jerry doesn’t think her stuff is important, and that he doesn’t think she is as busy as he is. Her natural reaction will be to defend herself, and the fight will begin.

It would be great if Sue could respond in a non-defensive way, but it will be difficult in this situation. This is where another meeting participant could help de-escalate what is certain to be a tense situation. The goal would be to reframe Jerry’s comment in a way that puts the useful parts on the table for discussion and leaves out the rest.

Here’s how to do it. Instead of waiting for Sue to defend herself, jump in with a response that reframes Jerry’s statement. Say something like, “Jerry, it sounds like you believe the deadline is going to be difficult for you to meet because of the current workload in your area. Is that right?” Another option that focuses on the other possible piece of information Jerry may have been trying to convey would be, “Jerry seems to be raising a concern about where this project falls into our overall work priorities. Maybe we should spend a few minutes discussing that.”

Fiery statements almost always have the potential to add to the discussion if somebody can cool them down a bit. Reframing the comment is the way to do it.

Organizations are still in the early stages of developing policies about bullying. I’ve written an eight part series on the topic. It is located at my other site, LaForce Teamwork Services. Here they are in order.

1. Defining the problem
2. Understanding the problem
3. Response options
4. Change your thinking
5. Confront the bully
6. Report the problem
7. Leave the situation
8. Defend your co-workers

If you know of bullying in your workplace and want some ideas about how to address it, start with #1 and work your way through the series. Also, I have a three-hour bullying prevention workshop that I can present to your employees if you want to up their knowledge on this subject.

Image credit: © Can Stock Photo

We often think of leaders as the people who are officially in charge.  A boss, a CEO, and a project manager are a few of the leadership positions that easily come to mind.  We would expect that people in formal management positions have skills and personal qualities necessary for making them an effective leader.  Many do, but not all.

Just because you don’t have the title doesn’t mean you’re not a leader.  Some of the coolest examples of leadership come from people who take charge in situations when a leader has not been appointed.  These are people that simply start doing and saying things that others in the group want to support.  These actions move the group forward and help them succeed.

Sometimes there is a person officially in charge, but isn’t able to effectively lead the group.  These are situations that call for the most talented leaders of all.  Someone steps up and helps the group succeed AND manages to do it in a way that doesn’t embarrass the person who was supposed to be leading the group.

Leaders can be found in any situation.  If you are the boss, being an effective leader is critical to your success.  If you aren’t the boss, great leadership skills will likely one day make you one.