Compensation That Pays

I am working with several clients on compensation and thought it might be good to help you zero-in on how to create effective compensation. 

1.  What is the objective?  Compensation reinforces what you want employees to achieve.  The starting point is not the amount you are willing to pay, but rather defining what behavior are you trying to motivate. 

Be careful when paying to motivate a specific behavior.  For instance, if you pay commissions on gross revenues then your profit margins may suffer;  or if you pay billable resources a higher hourly rate when they go beyond a minimum number of hours then they may hoard work and other resources may become unhappy.

2.  What are you willing to pay?  There are two aspects to this:  The first is how much you pay the person to achieve your objectives for the job;  the second is are you willing to pay the person more if they help you make more money than you expect?

The second area is where most people fail.  Nucor Steel, Lincoln Electric and other companies that pay people based on their results prove that when you are willing to share the additional profits earned on greater results then people more often exceed your expectations.

3.  Simple versus detailed.  There are benefits to having a simple compensation plan, however you can motivate people to achieve more when you track more data to prove the results people are achieving, and then pay them based on those results.  Work to find a balance. Sometimes the tracking can be mastered in a reasonable amount of time in software.

4.  Let people control their destiny.  The best compensation plans let employees control how much they make based on the results they achieve.  You should not have to babysit or nag employees to perform.  Put the systems, processes and boundaries in place and then hold them accountable.  If they fail to perform then the system fires them.  If they perform then the system pays them what they are due. If they exceed expectations then they make more money.  Even a properly explained complicated tracking system sets clear expectations so the end-result confirms the value of the work performed.

5.  Pilot any new plan.  Introduce a new compensation plan as a pilot so you can make changes and to smooth the transition.  The objective is to give your people more opportunities to make more money based on the results they can achieve, but often this means moving them off total salaries.  During the pilot period work closely with them to achieve more and see how the new plan is in their best interest, but pay them whichever plan is more money during the pilot.  Adjust the plan if necessary, but if someone cannot deliver results then it may be time to find someone new.

MEETING IDEA

Simple meeting idea this week:  Figure out how to pay your people so 25-50% of their compensation is based on their performance.  Develop a draft in private and then share it confidentially with people your trust.  When you are confident you have a viable plan then pilot it.

If you need help, let me know.

Webinar With Robin Robins

JUST A HEADS UP!  We thought all our clients might benefit from this:

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If you want to know the absolute BEST way to secure more high-profit, managed services contracts, don't miss this session. During this presentation, Marketing Guru Robin Robins will talk about what's working right now for IT business owners to not only convert most of their clients to managed services, but also how to secure new contracts, quickly and easily. You'll learn:

• The biggest mistakes 97% all MSPs make when marketing managed services that is causing them to turn off new prospects and devalue what they are selling.

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• The absolute BEST marketing strategy for drawing in more qualified prospects than you ever thought possible; implement this and your competition doesn't stand a chance.

• What marketing works best for selling managed services, and which ones will drain your wallet and waste your time.

• Surprisingly inexpensive ways to get more appointments with new clients.

5 Sales Killing Mistakes MSPs Make and How to Avoid Them 

Date: Wednesday, June 16, 2010  DATE CHANGE (Used to be the 15th)

Time: 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM EST     REGISTER!!!

What’s the One Thing?

I often get asked what is the most important thing to do to engage an employee.  It is not one thing, but many.  However, the most important thing to do is to help them understand they are doing meaningful work.

But what about you? What is the most important thing you can do as a leader to be effective?

Be trustworthy.  When people trust you then they work harder, contribute better ideas, resolve differences, stay longer with your organization and contribute with more passion.

Consider what a friend of mine, Gary Black, said after his retirement dinner where everyone only talked about his consistent integrity rather than his accomplishments:

"...Results are what we produce.  Character is about how we go about producing the results.   In my case, I mistakenly spent a career thinking others were willing to follow me only because of accomplishments.  The sobering question is how many times did my character disappoint my staff and how much more could I have accomplished had I been aware of the importance of character.  Had I realized that, I certainly would have watched more carefully how I went about getting my results."

Do the Meeting Ideas exercise alone or with a group so you can be challenged to consider the implications of your behaviors and words.

MEETING IDEAS

If people trust you they may follow you anywhere and overcome any obstacle in your company's path.  If they do not trust you, then your success will be limited.

Obviously the issue of trust is so broad, books have been written about it.  I'm suggesting that rather than read a book, sit with a healthy smoothie or cup of coffee/tea, or go for a relaxing walk to mull this over.  Here are 7 aspects of being trustworthy to consider:

1.  Values.  Are my company's values clear and measurable, and do I consistently live by them?  (How can you expect people to live by your values if they are unclear, immeasurable or unwritten?)

2.  Be reliable.  Do I always do what I say I will do completely, on time and without excuses?  (Updating people in advance of unavoidable delays can be acceptable occasionally, but when it occurs more than 10% of the time it destroys trust.)

3.  Meet expectations.  Am I fully competent in vital skills and when making commitments clearly communicate the outcomes of my work so when it is complete the expectations of my "clients (other employees, your boss, customers, vendors...) are met or exceeded all the time?  (Some of the time does not indicate great leadership.)

4.  Delegation.  Do I demonstrate trust in others so there is a foundation for them to trust me?  (Trust goes both ways.)

5.  Sincerity.  Do I sincerely care about the people with whom I work?  (Almost everyone has something we can appreciate about them to if we are willing to identify it.)

6.  Accountability.  Do I and any others hold me accountable so that all of my decisions could be on the front page of our local newspaper today and I would not be embarrassed or ashamed?  (This is so simple, yet almost always violated.)

7.  Respect.  Do I speak respectfully of others even when we disagree?  (The way I communicate, or do not, significantly impacts the level of trust people have in you and your organization.)

They Lied To You Again

Blame the media.  Blame the self-help you can be a millionaire promoters.  You can blame anyone... but did they just tell us what we wanted to hear?

Verne Harnish of Gazelles suggested a Malcolm Gladwell article last week for a different reason than I am recommending it today.  I do not like to send you something that you may have already received, however this article is important.

THE LIE:  Successful entrepreneurs love risk and get funded after failures.

THE TRUTH:  Successful entrepreneurs avoid risk just as you avoid a dog mess on the sidewalk.  They go around it.  They take routes to avoid it.  And when a successful entrepreneur accidentally steps in it, risk disgusts them and they get rid of it quickly.

I apologize for the graphic representation of risk, but I have endured too much pain in my career because of thinking risk is acceptable.  I spend a lot of time now consulting with other companies to help them lower their risk with employees and in business decisions. 

Great entrepreneurs calculate the possible loss, downside or other risks rather than the upside. Possibly my favorite quote from the article is by Marty Gruss, who said:  "Watch the downside;  the upside will take care of itself."

MEETING IDEAS

THEY LIED TO YOU AGAIN is a reality check.  Stop fantasizing that everything will work out.  Do not go directly to ulcer-town, but be realistic about your debt load, business agreements and expectations with others.

This is one of the reasons a growing number of companies are hiring us.  I coach them through a 3-month S.W.O.T. analysis of their systems and processes for fully engaging their people.  Why?  Because IT LOWERS RISK (and increases your potential for long-term success).  The amazing thing is, we often identify something during implementing the program that more than pays for its cost - instant ROI.

Consider asking your people these questions with your senior management to evaluate your risk.  What is the worst-case scenario for your company, executives, employees, clients or vendors in the following areas:

1.  Employees.  Your processes to hire, manage, develop and retain people.  Employees are your biggest cost and determine the future of your organization.  Your processes for fully engaging them should almost eliminate the downside risk and create massive opportunities for upside benefits.

2.  Debt.  Debt kills.  Unfortunately I know this from experience.  Try to eliminate debt from your organization.

3.  Partnerships.  The most important part of any partnership agreement is the definition of how the partnership is terminated.  Be VERY careful with this wording.

Happy Life

I am flying back from doing a 4-hour workshop for TechSelect Canada members in Halifax, Nova Scotia.  What a great group of people!

Inc. Magazine, May 2010 starts with a quick interview of Tom Rath, a Gallup researcher (Happiness Begins at the Office).  Here are some key points to ponder as the economy heats-up and it becomes harder to hire and retain good people.

1.  Part of the secret to a happy life is based on your job, or more specifically your relationship with coworkers and your boss.  This is not news, but as a leader are you taking relationships with your people for granted?

2.  When your people feel you care about them then they want to spend time with you rather than avoid you.  Key areas to care about:  Them personally, without crossing any legal or ethical lines, and their career development.

3.  Make certain you are developing managers throughout your company, not just in the areas where you are most comfortable.  For instance, the sales group may not be full of people you thoroughly relate to, but if you lose them or key players it can really hurt.  Spread the professional love around.

4.  How do you define a good manager.  Tom and I can give you a list of attributes, but let me give you just one to work on:  Great managers develop their people.  Do you start each day first thinking about how you are going to develop your people today?  Think of the impact this one action would have if you planned and followed through each day on developing your people for one year.

5.  Employees are more loyal and productive when they have friends at work IF, and Tom did not mention this, IF they are managed well.  If not, then these friends tend to waste a lot of time in my experience.

MEETING IDEAS

HAPPY LIFE is about confirming - not assuming - your people are enjoying working for your company.  If they like working for you, then they are more likely to be productive and stay around for many years. 

Consider asking your people these questions at your next staff meeting to confirm their job satisfaction:

1.  Microsoft, HP, IBM and most of the top vendors in the industry do a confidential employee survey to determine how employees feel about their company.  They do this to improve trust, loyalty, productivity and retention of employees - could we be better in any of these areas?  They then learn from the results how to better engage their people based on coaching from the company providing the survey.

2.  Although you may consider all coworkers as friends, are there a few that you consider close friends?

3.  Specifically what has your boss done that makes you believe they are helping you develop your career towards a specific role in the company or skill level?

4.  In what areas could our managers improve?

5.  Describe how your manager celebrated a recent success of yours.

The Trick To Success

I followed-up with another potential client today.  They have more than 20 employees and run a technology managed services business.  They are typical of executives I serve in companies ranging in size from 3-100 employees.  They are not leading intentionally but rather responding to events.

We met in late March and I gave them a demo of MANAGEtoWIN about one week later.  They loved it and recognized how much they need our services and software.  At their request we set them up on our demo site so they could try out MANAGEtoWIN.  They want help establishing systems and processes to fully engage their employees so they can grow more rapidly and profitably.

Yet today they put off working on their leadership for another quarter (90 days!).  As a consultant who sees the positive effects of change on a daily basis, this concerns me.  Let's say their people could improve productivity by just 10 percent.  That means, roughly speaking, waiting 90 days costs them at least $10,000, and probably a lot more.

What is the problem?

The problem is they are trying to add leadership to their list of things to do rather than choosing to lead first, and then taking care of other responsibilities.

Consider this analogy:  Most people spend their money first and then try to save what is left over.  The problem with this approach is most of the time there is nothing left over.  It works the same way with leadership. If you work on other activities first and try to fit leadership of people in when you have time, you rarely get to it and never fully develop your leadership abilities.

If you want to be a more effective leader, start each day by being a leader first and a follower of your activities second.  This means first schedule your leadership activities; work on them first; and only after that schedule time for other work.

Let me close with an example:  Colgate-Palmolive is ranked by FORTUNE Magazine as a best place to work.  More than 3,000 employees (THREE THOUSAND - almost 10% of the company) work solely on training and development.  Now, does your company look like that? Colgate-Palmolives leaders are focused on leading and developing people.  It is a key reason Colgate-Palmolive has been successful for decades instead of weeks or months.

Be an intentional leader.

MEETING IDEAS

THE TRICK TO SUCCESS is about deciding you want to change your life NOW.  You want to take control as a leader by first taking control of yourself.  Rather than blame others for their interruptions, failure to appreciate your company, lack of productivity, etc. focus on what you need to do as a leader first and employee issues will be fewer and less costly than before... IF you have the systems and processes in place to fully engage them.

Consider starting each day alone and planning for one month.  Walk through these steps and each week evaluate your progress.  When this works for you, then teach your direct reports how to do it and hold them accountable.  Then extend it beyond them to others in your firm.

1.  Determine the three most important activities you need to do as a leader to fully engage your people for the upcoming week.  This is not being "a leader" by closing a sale with a top account, completing a technical project, speaking at an event or another lead person activity versus LEADER activity.  These are three actions of a leader.

2.  Lay out your weekly Success Plan. Focus on no more than one Do It Now leadership activity a day.

3.  Start each day doing your people leadership tasks first and other work afterward.

4.  Assess your progress daily, weekly and repeat for 30 days.

5. Email me to let me know how it goes.

MANAGEtoWIN Dashboard For Best Practices

We have released a new dashboard real-time reporting landing page for the popular Best Practices section of MANAGEtoWIN.  This new functionality is now live on all accounts.

This new dashboard provides instant access to multiple saved reports, you can see the status of the best practice processes that have been assigned to you, multiple people or even by groups.  Then you can click directly through to the reports.  Users are very pleased to have this immediate access to the status of their best practices throughout their organization.

MANAGEtoWIN Best Practices enable clients to define processes that work best in their organization and then extend them out to an unlimited number of people.  Each task of a process can have a reminder to remind people to complete their tasks.  Tasks and milestones can also have automatic notifications to supervisors that work has been completed and an approval workflow to confirm work is being done to company standards.  Popular best practices are goals, career paths, onboarding for new employees, certification processes and management processes.

Was That Santa?

Last week I was at the Sheraton near the airport in Atlanta to speak at the MSP University Boot Camp.  During a quiet moment in the morning I was up in my room and heard the gardeners working below.  What I saw caught me by surprise.

One gardener was operating a lawn mower with a small trailer he could step on to ride behind it standing.  He was moving as fast as seemed humanly possible and not missing an inch.  High quality work in the least amount of time.  A short time later another gardener came through with a weed whacker to cut the edges.  He was walking almost as fast as he could to complete the work.  Then without any wasted time he reviewed his work, lifted the whacker onto his shoulder with one hand and with his other hand pushed a smaller mower to the next section of grass.

It was almost like watching Santa arrive, and with total focus, race comfortably through his work.

Later that day when an employee of the hotel drove me to the hotel I asked whether the gardeners were paid based on the job rather than by the hour.  He agreed they were paid by the job, so they were motivated to be done quickly.  He also mentioned they did great work because there was a lot of competition for the business.

So this begs the question for us as leaders:

1.  How do we pay people based on results instead of time?  If we do this well, it will help motivate people to focus on activities that deliver results rather than just putting in their time.

2.  How do we motivate people to hold themselves accountable?  When this happens then as managers we can work more on our business than for our business.

Take 15 minutes today to consider one job in your company that could be more productive.  What are the key tasks of that job and how could you pay the person based on results rather than time?  By the way, for this exercise to be successful you must want to pay your people more money when they deliver more results.  If you just want more results for the same money, then you may be wasting your time.

Help others self-motivate to make more money so that the rest of your life is the best of your life.

Be an intentional leader.

Meeting Ideas

Was That Santa is about appreciating great work and superb productivity with greater compensation.  It is a win-win.  Of course the process starts with hiring the right people and depends on your intentional leadership fully engaging people as members of your team. 

This is an exercise to do on your own.  If you feel there is an opportunity to pilot a new compensation program, then consider a similar process to discuss your opportunity at your next staff meeting:

1.  Identify one job that could be more productive.  What are the clear, measurable results of that job - today and in an ideal situation where the person is fully productive?  Not the activities, start with the results.

2.  What is difference in revenue or cost savings to your company if that person becomes fully productive?

3.  What type of simple compensation program could you put in place that rewards full productivity and deducts for poor productivity?

4.  Discuss your new pilot compensation program with three people who will tell you that you are wrong.  (Do not waste time with people not strong enough or willing to confront you.)

5.  Implement the plan as a six-month pilot with the employee(s) in question.  Pay them based on their existing plan or the pilot program, whichever is more.  Help them understand how they are making more money. 

6.  Let me know how it goes.  Or contact me with any questions.  Have fun!

Validation

Today I flew to Atlanta to participate in the MSP University Boot Camp.  United Airlines upgraded me to Business Class on the first leg of my journey, from San Francisco to Chicago.  I was fortunate to sit next to Steve Hazard, Manager Surgical Support for Cochlear.  Cochlear enables deaf people to hear - it's revolutionary.

Consider three key desired results I recommend in my Success With People system that Steve validated:

1. Understand How You Make a Difference: The most important thing you need to do to fully engage employees is help them understand how they are doing meaningful work. Steve told the story of how his product enabled a deaf to regain his hearing. The man and his wife cried. The wife said, "Thank you for giving my husband's life back to him." You can bet Steve loves his work.

2. LOI: Live It - Observe It - Improve It: Steve brings people who manufacturer the Cochlear devices to watch surgeries and meet people with Cochlear implants. One patient was a deaf and blind man in his sixties. This patient visited Cochlear and Steve introduced him to a young technician. Steve encouraged the tech to ask the man a question, so he hesitantly asked, "So what do you think about it?" The patient immediately quipped back, "Well, what do you think about it?" He could hear that quickly and normally. The young tech has never forgotten it.

3. Compensation That Pays: I am a BIG believer in pay-for-performance, but it must relate to the individual. I am sure Steve gets paid well, but because his management is fully engaging him in other ways he does not work for the money. He loves the way he helps improve people's lives. He actually does not want to be paid heavily on his individual performance and would leave if that was mandatory.

It is not hard to be successful with people.  You just have to recognize leadership as your #1 priority and then be intentional about it.  Why not have the rest of your career be the best of your career.

Meeting Ideas

Validation is a reminder that they way to fully engage people has not changed.

Please consider asking your people these questions at your next staff meeting to test how engaged they are in the three desired results discussed above:

1. Tell me a story of a customer that was "wowed" by our company recently? (Maybe you need to ask this client for a testimonial.)

2. Why do you like to work here?

3. What would make your work more meaningful to you?

4. Describe the last time you observed a client using our products or services? What was the benefit to them? What could we have done better? Did we confirm without a doubt the client was happy?

5. What would you like to learn or experience on the job that would make your work more fulfilling?

Should You Merge?

Prior to the recession there was a serious war for talent.  It was really challenging to find great people and to keep them working for your company because you were too busy to fully engage them.

According to recent survey results in Workforce Management magazine, 87 percent of people surveyed plan to change jobs this year.  Now the economy is stronger, so whether you own your company or just work for a gargantuan enterprise like HP, should you make a job change?

Let me share my recent experience.  To make the most of the improvement in the economy I have talked with a number of companies about partnering together, merging or even being acquired.  I am like you.  I bring value to a company.  I like to be a catalyst for positive change based on my experience, knowledge, intellectual property and network of contacts. 

Before you jump to another company, first consider why you are here in the first place. 

Here is a quick list to consider. 

1.  What are the three aspects of your job that make your work meaningful to you? 

2.  Are you spending enough time on that work versus other activities?  If not, why not, and how can you get back to doing what you love without spending money from your budget?

3.  Specifically, list how your company benefits from you doing meaningful work.  How does it create higher productivity, higher profits, lower costs, happier customers, positive news or help your company in other ways?

4.  When you are working doing what you love to do, what is your career path at your existing company for the next 3-5 years?  Just write a simple outline if you do not already have a career path defined. 

Most people find it is not about new titles and higher compensation, but learning, growing, serving and making a bigger impact.

5.  If, like me, you have resurrected what is most important to you, then give yourself 30 days to write a one-page 2010 plan to refocus on what is most meaningful to you in a way that is clear and measurable.  Rather than make a career move outside of your company, consider making one inside of your company.

Again, my suggestion applies whether you are a part-time worker, an experienced manager or an executive with significant responsibilities.  Take the time to define how the balance of this year can be memorable in a positive way.  There will still be plenty of good jobs available going into 2011 if you still want to make a move (and the economy holds-up).

This may be a very important process for you to complete so that the rest of your life is the best of your life.

Be an intentional leader.

MEETING IDEAS

Should You Merge is about thinking carefully before leaving the security of your job for another opportunity.  Sometimes your employer is so broken that you have to make a move.  Other times the "broken" is with us and we need to move ourselves back into what energized us to peak performance in the past.

Rather than suggest group meeting ideas, I encourage you to do the following:

1.  If you are a boss, not only do the above exercise yourself, but also do a Listen More retention interview with your direct reports asking them these questions.  GET THE ANSWERS.  Anyone who cannot answer is a flight risk - they may be about to leave your company and they are not fully engaged. 

2.  Complete the exercise above on your own so by the end of April you have a plan for the balance of the year.  Since the economy is improving you have an ideal time to test a new or revitalized approach to achieving meaning in your work.  Before you make a move, first give your current employer everything you have got.  The odds are you may find leveraging your existing work environment, team and clients can get you where you want to be faster than making a career move.

Do You Have To Give Them Stock?

When I work with clients on developing pay-for-performance plans the question often comes up, "Do I have to give them (my employees) stock options?"

The answer is "no," but what you do instead is very important.

SAS was recently named FORTUNE Magazine's #1 Best Company to Work For.  You should do a similar survey at your company if you have more than 10 employees.  Next week, my consulting company Success With People is introducing Best Tech Workplace surveys for technology solution providers to participate in a survey similar to the FORTUNE Magazine competition - at a fraction of the price and against your peers.

According to the FORTUNE article, even Google uses SAS as a model for fully engaging employees.  So what do you offer employees to keep them around when you do not give them stock?  First of all, you have to be an intentional leader who is fully engaging your people, which is another newsletter.  Assuming you are leading intentionally, here are some ideas from SAS and my consulting.  Please note that perks differ by company and people's jobs.  Also you have to determine whether you pay for it, or the employee does. 

Perks are a way to demonstrate you care about your people.  All of these, except charitable hours, are on site at your company:

1.   Wish Lists - understand how they want to be rewarded

2.   Massage - monthly

3.   Car detailing - monthly (great for outside techs)

4.   Exercise room, walking groups...

5.   Dry-cleaning

6.   Food - make it healthy and not unlimited

7.   Day care for kids

8.   Credit for hours worked for charity

9.   Medical care

10. Flex hours

11. Profit sharing and the opportunity to make unlimited money based on results

12. Anything reasonable that save your people time, remove stress, supports a healthy work/life balance, and/or that your people enjoy doing together

The FORTUNE article provides more details and our consulting can help you develop an effective plan for your organization.  I hope this is helpful for you.

Be an intentional leader.

MEETING IDEAS

DO YOU HAVE TO GIVE THEM STOCK is about perks that help you fully engage your employees.  The reason Meeting Ideas are important is because you should not guess about the perks.  Ask your people.  They may not like what you come up with on your own.

Here are some ideas for discussion during your next staff meeting to consider how to develop cost effective perks that communicate you care about your people:

1.  What perks does our company offer today?

2.  We do not have an unlimited budget of money or time, but we do want to support you.  Is there anything we are missing or are we offering something that is not valued that should be dropped?

3.  Think about your typical week.  What could we do for you that would save you time and/or lower stress?

4.  Are there any group activities we?

5.  What can we learn from other companies that should be considered here?

MANAGEtoWIN Integrated With Autotask

We are now offering an integration of our talent management software into Autotask, the leading hosted business management software designed exclusively for technology solution providers.

"Autotask is the ‘business operating system’ that technology solution providers use to sell, implement, manage, and bill their IT products and services,” said Mark Crall, Executive Director of Business Development for Autotask.  “Now, with MANAGEtoWIN integrated they can also use the data captured by Autotask to improve the way they manage and motivate their employees to achieve meaningful results.

We are excited to partner with Autotask Corporation to help their customers to run their IT businesses better. Through the MANAGEtoWIN integration Autotask customers will be able to focus on motivating employee performance by setting and tracking automated goals, writing reviews in half the time, automating career paths and encouraging more pay-for-performance compensation.  This is a beautiful partnership because our product roadmap really compliments Autotask, so the benefits of this integration will continue to grow over time.

Be An Integrative Thinker

Recently I grabbed a book from my shelf, The Opposable Mind, to see if it was interesting enough to read. I bought it awhile back and I don't remember why. It was actually quite good.

The concept author Roger Martin teaches is one many of us learn in our work towards a Ph.D. from the School of Hard Knocks. (Please indulge my simple perspective for a moment.) Usually the best decision is between two extremes.

When we react to situations we often make conclusions based on one extreme or the other. Fire the person or keep them. Sign the contract or not. Marry the person or leave the relationship... When we respond wisely to situations we do so after doing what Martin calls,

"...considering two conflicting ideas in constructive tension."

Martin states the best leaders are those who

"...have a predisposition and the capacity to hold two diametrically opposing ideas in their heads. And then, without panicking or imply settling for one alternative or the other, they're able to produce a synthesis that is superior to either opposing idea.

Integrative thinking

is my term for this process - or more precisely the discipline of consideration and synthesis - that is the hallmark of exceptional businesses and the people who run them."

The challenge is to consider multiple options simultaneously, focusing on the important details and dismissing or categorizing the less threatening data for later review.

Martin's conclusion is: "The ability to face constructively the tension of opposing ideas and, instead of choosing one at the expense of the other, generate a creative resolution of the tension in the form of a new idea that contains elements of the opposing ideas but is superior to each."

How do you make it work?

James tells us in his book, chapter 1:19-20: "Let everyone be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger..." You make it work by:

1. Listening

2. Asking questions

3. Listening more

4. Taking the time to think

5. Getting counsel from people who are experienced in the subject matter

6. Considering the bias in their perspective, the facts and your intuition

7. Aiming for a solution between the extremes that captures the true benefit of the opposing ideas

It is not easy, but give it a try. You might find that you are a naturally integrated thinker if you just gave yourself the time.

Be an intentional leader.

MEETING IDEAS

ARE YOU AN INTEGRATIVE THINKER is about balance in life. This is an opportunity to consider stepping out of the fast lane to give yourself enough time to think so you can really do your best.

Here are some ideas for discussion during your next staff meeting, or just to do on your own, to consider how to develop your integrative thinking skills:

1. What is an important decision we have made recently that had two significantly opposing options?

2. What were the positive attributes of each option?

3. What were the positive attributes of our decision?

4. In retrospect, because hindsight is typically 20-20, could we have made a different decision that incorporated more of the positive attributes of the option we did not pursue?

5. What needs to change in our decision-making process so we become better integrative thinkers from this point forward?

OPTION: Repeat this exercise. Some people may want to discuss other decisions that have been made, particularly ones with which they disagreed.

Are You Really That Good?

BusinessWeek came out with their listing of Customer Service Champs this month.  Here are some quick thoughts to ponder as they relate to being an intentional leader rather than assuming your people deliver great service:

1. Do not feel bad that you are not on the BusinessWeek list. You may actually be better than their winners. They just are larger and/or have a better PR firm.

2. How do you REALLY know your people are doing a great job servicing clients? ACE Hardware doubled its mystery shopper program last year as competitor True Value worked harder at its customer feedback program. You need to know. In 1980 Robert Redford starred in a movie titled, Brubaker. It is based on a true story. The guy was taking over as the warden of a troubled prison. To fully comprehend what he was getting into, Brubaker first entered the prison as a new inmate with only one person on the inside knowing that he would enter that way, but not when. As a result, Brubaker knew what to do from the beginning and transformed the prison before political problems removed him. You have to know first-hand. Find a way to test your people and learn your company's reputation without people knowing who you are.

3. Great customer service companies invest heavily in training their people. Wegmens, a supermarket chain increased their training budget 13% last year during the recession. USAA trains call center reps up to six months before they are allowed to answer a phone on their own. How do you find the time or the budget to train? You decide it is more important than the customers you are losing, then you make the time and find the money.

To be an intentional leader you must be committed to deliver superior customer service.  You do not have to make a BusinessWeek or other list.  You just have to be a winner on your clients' list.  Do not assume your people are doing a great job.  Find out first-hand.  Lastly, invest time and money in your people, then watch sales soar!

Meeting Ideas

ARE YOU REALLY THAT GOOD is encouragement to stop assuming your company gives great service and really, intentionally finding out just how great your people are with clients.

Here are some ideas for discussion during your next staff meeting, or just to do yourself, to consider how to become a champion in customer service so your company can grow faster:

1. What are the three most important aspects of customer service we should test?

2. Can we call into our support people and pose common problems to see how well they respond? If so, when should it be done, who is doing it, what questions will be asked and shall we mix it up between calm, upset and illogical customers?

3. What other areas of our business should we test? Sales? Accounts Receivable? Accounts Payable? Shipping or Receiving? Marketing? Reception? HR? ...?

4. How can we test vendors who represent us? How often should we test them?

5. Based on what we learn how will we train, reinforce and hold people accountable to our standard of quality customer satisfaction?

Make a Memory

There are people in your office waiting room, people on your team, clients, vendors and potential new hires.  What do they all have in common?

You. 

Make a memory... create a scrapbook of photos and text explaining the successes of your relationships to help people understand why working with you makes their life more meaningful.  Consider each group one at a time.

1.  People in the office waiting room:  Use your memory book to introduce them to the success stories of your team, such as big projects, happy customer letters, office parties (in good taste), product innovations, awards...

2.  People on your team:  Photos and commentary with tasteful humor of team meetings, big wins, new products, travel, client meetings, trainings, team trips...

3.  Clients:  Tell a story of how you have helped them through a project (send them a copy at the end of the project).  Have lots of pictures of their people and some photos of your people.  Document milestones.  Highlight how wonderful they are. 

Say thank you...

4.  Vendors:  Recap campaigns, their new products, training, vendor events, your first purchase order...

5.  Potential New Hires:  They want to see why they should work for your company, so it can be parts of any of the above plus stories from other new hires about how much they LOVE your company.  Engage people to help you tell the story of why working for your company is so much fun and fulfilling.

What do you need? 

1.  Photos from phones and cameras - Smiles and fun are the objective.  Do not post anything that might be embarrassing to an individual or your company.

2.  Scrapbook software - my favorite is www.Picaboo.com and they have a two-for-one sale this month.  Create one and get double the ROI on your investment!  They also have fun templates. 

3.  Time - Assign the production to someone else, encourage a team of people to participate, or have a contest for entries.

Be an intentional leader.

MEETING IDEAS

MAKE A MEMORY is about touching people's hearts as you remind them why working with you and/or your company is helping them achieve their business and life objectives.

Here are some ideas for discussion during your next staff meeting to consider how to become more memorable with all of these people:

1.   Look at www.picaboo.com for ideas.

2.  Discuss the idea with your team, or work on it on your own as a surprise. 

3.  Commit to do one book, but if it "works" then how often and how many more will you do?

4.  Outline the content areas of the scrapbook.

5.  Discuss how to gather photos and copy.  Assign responsibilities.  Have a contest.  Whatever gets the job done.  PLEASE NOTE:  Often the more people that participate, the better.  Particularly if you allow them to show their own style on one or more pages.

6.  Hit your deadlines.  Finish the book.

7.  Celebrate and share the book.  Have fun!

Do What You Love

Something was missing in my work. My typical schedule is up at 5:00 a.m. and leisurely read two chapters of Psalms, one chapter of Proverbs (matches the day of the month) and one chapter somewhere else in the Bible. A little prayer time... on to email to see if there is anything urgent... take a breakfast break... and then the day goes non-stop.

I love my work, but I have not found time to write. I am not the best writer, but when I have a topic that really interests me it is a deep passion that gives me great joy.

So this week I changed two things:

1. I get up at 4:30 a.m. instead of 5:00 a.m. (I am going to bed 30 minutes earlier too.)

2. After the study/prayer time, I spend one hour writing. Then I move faster through the rest of my morning so the net result is a loss of 15 minutes of less of my day, BUT I was able to write for one hour!

What is your passion about your work? Are other requirements crowding out your passion? If the answer is "yes," then I recommend you build Sanctuary time into your days (plural) to pursue your passion. (No outside communication or interruptions. Just focus on a meaningful activity.) This morning I got up earlier after a poor night's sleep, BUT I was wide awake all day - particularly as I was writing early in the morning!

Do not let your life get so busy that you leave out the best, whether your best is time with your family, a hike to see the waterfalls this time of year or maybe a project that you have delayed two years (like my writing)!

OVERWORKED / UNDERJOYED is about making certain at least part of your work is doing what you love the most. This not only makes work more fulfilling, but will make you more productive throughout your day.

Here are some ideas for discussion during your next staff meeting to consider how to be more overjoyed than overworked?

1. If you could be doing any type of work today, what would it be?

2. Why would that work be meaningful to you?

3. How could this work benefit our company?

4. What work activities are you doing that do not significantly contribute to your achieving the desired results you have set with your boss and/or team?

5. Can you stop doing that work, or delegate it to someone else with your boss' permission?

6. How much time each day would you need to do this work? Can it be done by working more effectively for the same or less hours than you do today?

7. What needs to happen so we can try a pilot for one week, then one month and then one quarter to try you pursuing this passion and then evaluate how it is affecting your overall performance?

3 Ideas

Dan and Chip Heath recently gave four pieces of advice in a TIME magazine column titled, Getting Your Way. 

Need to crack the whip at work?  Persuading people to do things differently is difficult.  How to change the way you approach change.

Three of them sparked ideas for me... please see if my spark starts your fire of creativity.

Their Lesson #1:  Tell people what you want them to do in a way that will make intuitive sense to them. 

COOL EXAMPLE:  Drink 1% milk because a glass of whole milk has as much fat as five strips of bacon.

CHALLENGE:  What message are you trying to get across that could benefit from this type of comparison?  Why not have a contest among your employees?  Give the winners a prize from their

Wish List

 (earlier column - email me if you need details).

Their Lesson #2:  Engage with emotions, not just brains.  (This is one I teach consistently - your people must understand why they are doing Meaningful Work .)

COOL EXAMPLE:  A well-meaning accountant cuts off funds for Massachusetts Dept. of Youth Services partners.  They send him out to visit the nonprofits he is antagonizing and then he works with them instead of making their lives difficult.

CHALLENGE:  Do your people really understand how your solutions change people's lives for the better?  One of the best things you can do is send an unmotivated employee on a field trip to clients that love you.  Make certain to send him/her with someone from your firm who can help them focus on the positive.

Their Lesson #3:  Remember that environment helps lead people to act the way they do.

COOL EXAMPLE:  San Francisco hospital admin wants to reduce the number of mistakes made by nurses administering medicine.  Solution:  Dress nurses in bright orange medication vests when they are administering medicine so others will not disturb them.  True, the vests are ugly, but the nurses interruptions dropped significantly and medication errors dropped 47%.

CHALLENGE:  Think of how interruptions ruin your people's productivity.  Think about how interruptions damage your productivity.  What is a simple, low-cost or no-cost action you could take to remove interruptions when you are doing key tasks?  I teach this as

Sanctuary time.

Be an intentional leader.

MEETING IDEAS

3 IDEAS is a fun way to engage your people in a creative exercise to improve communication of your company or solutions; increase productivity or eliminate mistakes.  Each of these improvements can contribute to substantial profits.

Here are some ideas for discussion during your next staff meeting to consider these three ideas?

1.  What are the most significant positive and negative attributes of buying from our company?

2.  What facts can we provide that would help people better understand the significance of these positive or negative attributes?

3.  What are the three biggest problems we have with customers?

4.  When was the last time any of you spent a few hours, a day or week with our customers to better understand the problems they are having with our solutions - from their perspective?  (If not recently, then immediately schedule it.  If recently, then what was learned?) 

5.  What "pops as awesome" in your mind when you think of the positive impact we are having on our customers' lives?  (If the answer is unenthusiastic, then take action.  If the answers are correct and filled with passion, then how do you take that positive impact to the next level?)

5.  What is one activity where interruptions are negatively affecting your productivity?

6.  What steps could you take to eliminate those interruptions?

What Do You Do?

We all get asked the question, "What do you do?"  People typically respond with a brief description of their job.

Think deeper.  This question is really asking one or two more significant questions:

1. What do you have for me?

2. Why are you significant?

The first question is seeking a point of relationship.  Do we have something in common?  What type of person are you?  Are you someone I would enjoy speaking with?

The second question is trying to justify why the person should spend time getting to know you.  Everyone only has so much time, so often they focus on relationship or significance - in business or personal life.

In business it is important to respond in a way that engages the other person.  Geoffrey James, a sales consultant, wrote a BNET column on how to create an opportunity in ten seconds.  I suggest you give this some thought.

What if you had a great response?

For instance, someone asks me about what I do in my consulting.  First I give them our mission statement:  We help leaders systematically engage people to be more productive, profitable and personally fulfilled in their careers.

Then I stop.  Geoffrey makes a great point.  I need one more sentence that begins with "Our customers..."

So maybe I should add, "Our customers often earn $10,000 for every $1,000 they invest in our consulting to help them become better leaders."

Try it.  I think mine can be better. The more specific you can quantify the impact on your customers, the better.  Try not to give a lot of specifics on you or your products.  Just focus on the results for them or people they know. 

Be an intentional leader.

MEETING IDEAS

What Do You Do? is meant to stimulate conversation among your team to focus your message on the value you bring to others.

Here are some ideas for discussion during your next staff meeting to consider how to shorten and strengthen your answer to the question, what do you do?

First decide whether you want to test your people's answers before working on a better answer.  If this is your approach, then do not let your people know this topic will be discussed.  Be encouraging as your people answer less strongly than you would like.  REMEMBER:  They learned their answer from their boss (you?).

Or you can let people know this is a discussion topic of the meeting.  Challenge them to prepare in advance and offer prizes for the top three answers, top answer per division of your company and/or maybe participation prizes for everyone who offers a suggested response.

1.  Go around the room asking the question, "What do you do?"

2.  Explain what you are trying to achieve;  the importance of starting with "Our customers..." (or an alternative of your own);  and the importance of focusing on the results of your work on others.

3.  Let your people discuss or politely debate the suggestions.  Organize the list of responses.  Identify the parts of responses that seem to have the most impact.  Encourage respect for all suggestions.

4.  Role play to test the responses.  Encourage people to politely question the facts or claims.

5.  Ask your people to test the winning response for 1-2 weeks and then reconvene to agree upon a final version.  There is power internally at your company and externally to prospects, clients, vendors and your community when everyone passionately, convincingly answers this question.  

Your Boss is a Screamer

Recently Hal Johnson of LeadershipOnesent me something by Ichak Adizes which talked about good versus bad managers.  He offered brief examples of bosses that:

• Shout at employees

• Fire people on a moment's notice

• Curse

• Insult people

• Expect the impossible

Before we go further, does this sound like your "dream boss?"  Is this someone you want to work for?  Virtually everyone answers "NO."

But because we are intentional leaders rather than assumptive types... let's get more information.

1.     Do we know any leaders who behave this way and succeed long-term?  Not many, unless they are professional or collegiate coaches.

2.     Is this behavior against the law?  Maybe.  Depends on the facts, but it certainly increases the potential of a lawsuit.  (This is not my point.)

3.     Does it work?  That depends on your definition of success.  Let's change the question to, do people continue work for these types of leaders?

THE ANSWER:  In many cases, yes, people do work for them long-term.  They work hard.  They do not want to be fired.  And in certain situations, they even love their boss or coach.

4.     Why?  Because in those "certain situations" the screamer boss is fair.  Everyone gets treated the same.  All are held to the same standards.  It is that person's version of tough love.  Too often we confuse nice with fair.

Now before you go out and yell at an employee, please understand a screamer will always be more effective when they learn how to be motivational without raising their voice.  I am NOT recommending you become or continue to be a ruthless dictator.  I am suggesting you confirm your treatment of your employees is fair and encouraging.

I love the way Adizes closes his column:  "Most problems in companies are not about the numbers. They are problems with people; the numbers are merely the manifestations of the problem."

Keep that in mind the next time someone misses their numbers. 

The problem is people, and no one is more influential at your company than you.

Be an intentional leader.

MEETING IDEAS

We as leaders must be equally fair to all employees in our firm.  Screaming can achieve results, but it is not the best way.

Here are some ideas for discussion during your next staff meeting to consider whether you are being fair as a leader.  Consider asking the staff to have a meeting without you and report back the staff answers to these questions.  Comments should be confidential unless the employee wants their thoughts to be known.  Do not waste time trying to figure out who said what.  If that is going to be your approach then do not do this exercise.

1. Explain specifically how you believe the company does not treat all employees the same.

2. Explain how your direct boss treats you or someone else differently than other employees.

3. When was the last time your boss complimented you?  What was it about?

4. When was the last time you were really motivated by a conversation with your boss?  What was said that was so inspirational?

How could the company or your boss better recognize you for achieving results?  Give specific examples, such as:  When I complete a project the company (or my boss) should send me to France for a week.  (In your dreams!  But you get the idea...)

Remember to Take Regular Breaks

In my book I encourage readers to take regular breaks which I call "Sanctuary."  I suggest a short walk, stretching, exercise and a healthy snack.  Just get away from your desk for awhile!

Well, USA Today on Monday of this week had a column that confirms we all need Sanctuary and possibly even more physical activity each day.  Based on a study of 8,800 Australians over a period of six years:

"People who watch TV (or sit in front of a computer?) for at least four hours a day are 80% more likely to die of heart disease than those who watch less than two hours a day."

This is important!  A Canadian study of 17,000 adults confirmed similar results, even if you are slim and exercise.  Apparently our bodies are meant to be in motion.  When we stop moving for long periods of time our muscles go silent, like they are dead.

What can you do?

1. Practice Sanctuary - take breaks every two hours to stretch and walk.

2. Get up and pace a bit when on the phone.

3. Have stand-up meetings with people (this also encourages shorter meetings).

Check out the USA Today article if you want more details.  Another added benefit of regular physical activity is you will be more focused and energetic during the day.  You actually get MORE WORK DONE when you take regular, short breaks! 

Meeting Ideas

Is Your Job Killing You? is a reminder that we cannot just sit for hours at a time and pound away on our computers.  It is unhealthy and there are alternatives - for instance, just get up!

Here are some ideas for discussion during your next staff meeting to consider how your people can develop a healthier lifestyle simply by building habits of movement at their desks and office.

1. How long do you typically sit at your desk without getting up?

2. What kind of stiffness do you have when you get up after a long time of sitting?

3. What stretching do you do regularly at the office?

4. How do your snacks or lunch provide energy instead of just sugar, calories or caffeine?

5. What are three things you can do NOW to regularly move your body more during your workday?