I saw a sign in a bar that caught my attention. It read: "Never try to teach a pig to sing. It is a waste of your time, and it annoys the pig." Not any different from executive training and development. When you want to develop a great leadership team you need the right players with the right talent to be developed. So many managers want to create superstars out of also-rans, but you can't teach a pig to sing. Don't get me wrong, training and development is critical to leadership success, but you need good raw materials and talent to start with. Focus on what is there to be developed instead of trying to put in what isn’t there.
1. Don't waste time trying to put in what was left out
How many times have your played the "If only" game when talking about employees? Whenever you are dealing with employee or leader performance remember skills and knowledge can be taught and processed into results, while talent is something given. When your "if Only" comments revolve around, "If only she had a better understanding of how to follow up with her staff," or, "If only he knew the proper techniques for delivering a performance evaluation…" These are types of things that can be learned. But if you are wishing for such things as, "If only, he didn't have such a temper, if only he could handle the pressure better, if only he liked being around people", then you are trying to put in what was left out, and your returns are going to be below your expectations and your investment of time, energy and money.
2. Try to draw out what was left in
When developing leaders and employees it is best to find out where their strengths are and further develop what they do well. Obviously, not all leaders are created equal and there is no singular right way to manage and lead people. Analyze what your leaders are doing well, and figure out how to go deeper in the development of those things. The key is in figuring out what is keeping them from being a pinnacle performer. Is it like I mentioned previously, that they just don't have the talent for the position or is it in there and just need to be drawn our and better developed?
They say in basketball you can't teach height. Yet, All-American Tyler Hansbrough of the University of North Carolina was able to overcome his height disadvantage against most opponents by drawing on his strengths of tenacity and non-stop full speed ahead approach to the game. The coach knows he is better served by fueling the strengths Tyler has instead of wishing he would grow a few more inches!
Are you wishing your leaders would simply grow something they don't have or are you investing in developing what they already have in order to make them better? Evaluate your leadership team and note where they have talent that needs to be developed rather than trying to fill them with something they didn’t have, because sometimes teaching them to do what they are incapable of is a waste of your time, and annoys the manager.
Showing posts with label talent. Show all posts
Showing posts with label talent. Show all posts
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Charm School for the Steelworker
I worked with a fast growing company that had an ex-steelworker for a CFO. Growing up in the rust belt and working in the mills of the late 60's he developed his management style and approach to employees and life in general: Work hard, play hard and just deal with me being "rough around the edges".
It was the "rough around the edges" which caused his steel company employer to send him to sensitivity training because of the complaints with his approach. To this day the CFO refers to that as the time he was sent to charm school. When I was hired to work with this new company in developing leadership, I heard this story from him over lunch on the first day I was there. I asked him how charm school worked out. His reply was, "It didn’t do me a G'dam bit of good." Followed by a hearty laugh. He later confessed he did learn how to better understand how people see things differently and that he needed to have different approaches to managing a workforce, but he was still a man with his rough edges permanently in place, and proud of them.
Focus on Strengths
The old farmerism of "You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear" also applies to leadership development. You can't make someone be who they are not. People can modify behavior and learn new techniques and skills to becoming a better leader. The key is setting up the proper expectations and clearly defining the expected outcome. When I coach executives or work on leadership development programs with my clients I concentrate on this piece of leadership wisdom:
People can only change so much
Someone who is not a people person is not going to attend a class and suddenly feel the need to embrace the world and give everyone a hug at the end of the day. These type transformations only happen in the movies or over decades of therapy. Can someone that is xenophobic learn to appreciate differences in people and modify how to approach them for pinnacle performance results? Absolutely. Just don't expect it to be accomplished with a completely different personality than the one they currently have. The key is to focus on results and progress toward the desired outcomes.
It was the "rough around the edges" which caused his steel company employer to send him to sensitivity training because of the complaints with his approach. To this day the CFO refers to that as the time he was sent to charm school. When I was hired to work with this new company in developing leadership, I heard this story from him over lunch on the first day I was there. I asked him how charm school worked out. His reply was, "It didn’t do me a G'dam bit of good." Followed by a hearty laugh. He later confessed he did learn how to better understand how people see things differently and that he needed to have different approaches to managing a workforce, but he was still a man with his rough edges permanently in place, and proud of them.
Focus on Strengths
The old farmerism of "You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear" also applies to leadership development. You can't make someone be who they are not. People can modify behavior and learn new techniques and skills to becoming a better leader. The key is setting up the proper expectations and clearly defining the expected outcome. When I coach executives or work on leadership development programs with my clients I concentrate on this piece of leadership wisdom:
People can only change so much
Someone who is not a people person is not going to attend a class and suddenly feel the need to embrace the world and give everyone a hug at the end of the day. These type transformations only happen in the movies or over decades of therapy. Can someone that is xenophobic learn to appreciate differences in people and modify how to approach them for pinnacle performance results? Absolutely. Just don't expect it to be accomplished with a completely different personality than the one they currently have. The key is to focus on results and progress toward the desired outcomes.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
The Learning Trap
To hear executives, never has a budding workforce been so unprepared for work. How can this be? Today's high school graduates are more technologically savvy than any generation prior, they have the capacity to receive information faster than ever before and they can process that knowledge faster than ever before. The gap isn't in the preparedness of this generation; it's the unwillingness of business to work on bridging that gap.
Apprenticeship is an old school idea of preparing people for their careers by allowing them to work under the tutelage of a seasoned veteran of the trade. Giving them the time to grow in their skills and eventually assume the role of the retiring employee. In management we used to have such titles as assistant plant manager, assistant branch manager, and assistant vice president -- grooming positions for the long-term stability of the company.
Black Monday of 1987 dramatically shifted corporate focus on preparation. Suddenly business was more concerned with showing short-term profits than long-term stability and the word "downsizing" became a common loathsome term. No one was concerned with employee learning and all of those "soft" positions were eliminated. Survival mode occupied the corner offices and semi-panic rippled through businesses. How much can we get out of the people we have left was the concern. Who had the money for training? Who was even hiring new people? It was a time to hunker down and weather the storm.
The rebirth following that storm was a strong one. Add in the speed of emerging computer technology to the robust 90's economy where profit-taking was as easy as picking a peach from a tree, and companies were suddenly short-staffed and orders were piling up! Employees were overwhelmed with the expected work loads placed upon them. Who has time for learning and development? The motto was, "Teach the bare basics as fast as possible" and let the new employees learn on the fly, because we have orders to get out, profits to make, and shareholders to satisfy.
This is how business created the Learning Trap. Companies vacillated between not having enough money to teach and then not having enough time to teach. Business is now bipolar when it comes to employee development. We have stripped all of the learning slots from companies and now place people in positions where they have to learn on the go in order to succeed without an opportunity for failure. Any wonder why we have such a large number of obesity, diabetes, and other stress related illnesses. Businesses are placing everyone in high stress situations and telling them "Don’t screw up!" There is a better way.
Relax, breathe, and get a grip. It's time for executives to reclaim their work environments from the stockholders and the accountants and return it to the profit makers -- the employees and the customers.
1. Start by asking yourself: Who are the key people if lost tomorrow would cripple your success?
Key players are not always in the highest profile of positions. Everyone in touch with their organization can quickly name these individuals. Next ask yourself: Who are the successors with time, learning and development could step into those positions to not only maintain our progress but make it better? Creating learning opportunities or positions for these people isn't a needless expense as your CFO's are telling you; it's an investment in your organization's future. It's part of your legacy in creating a lasting company.
2. Identify your workhorses
Who are the key players in your organization that have their tongues hanging to the floor in near exhaustion trying to give you what you want even though you've not given them what they need? First of all, write each of them a hand written note thanking them for all they do. Secondly, ask them what skills they want to learn to improve and what training they want to give to their employees to achieve even greater success.
The reason 78% of the American workforce is unhappy is because they want to succeed but aren’t being given the opportunity. Job hoping today has less to do with chasing money than it does with chasing opportunity, chasing better work environments, and looking for belonging in a corporate setting.
Mr. Executive, do you want to create an environment for success and profits as well as a satisfied motivated workforce? Lock the door on your CFO's office and create a work environment where knowledge is fresh and excitement abounds because people actually have the tools to work with they need. Make learning a cornerstone of your organization. You will attract the best a generation has to offer because they want to learn. You will attract the best customers because people buy from those like themselves, and you will create profits because your efficiency and ability to perform will far outgrow the investment you made in educating your employees.
Apprenticeship is an old school idea of preparing people for their careers by allowing them to work under the tutelage of a seasoned veteran of the trade. Giving them the time to grow in their skills and eventually assume the role of the retiring employee. In management we used to have such titles as assistant plant manager, assistant branch manager, and assistant vice president -- grooming positions for the long-term stability of the company.
Black Monday of 1987 dramatically shifted corporate focus on preparation. Suddenly business was more concerned with showing short-term profits than long-term stability and the word "downsizing" became a common loathsome term. No one was concerned with employee learning and all of those "soft" positions were eliminated. Survival mode occupied the corner offices and semi-panic rippled through businesses. How much can we get out of the people we have left was the concern. Who had the money for training? Who was even hiring new people? It was a time to hunker down and weather the storm.
The rebirth following that storm was a strong one. Add in the speed of emerging computer technology to the robust 90's economy where profit-taking was as easy as picking a peach from a tree, and companies were suddenly short-staffed and orders were piling up! Employees were overwhelmed with the expected work loads placed upon them. Who has time for learning and development? The motto was, "Teach the bare basics as fast as possible" and let the new employees learn on the fly, because we have orders to get out, profits to make, and shareholders to satisfy.
This is how business created the Learning Trap. Companies vacillated between not having enough money to teach and then not having enough time to teach. Business is now bipolar when it comes to employee development. We have stripped all of the learning slots from companies and now place people in positions where they have to learn on the go in order to succeed without an opportunity for failure. Any wonder why we have such a large number of obesity, diabetes, and other stress related illnesses. Businesses are placing everyone in high stress situations and telling them "Don’t screw up!" There is a better way.
Relax, breathe, and get a grip. It's time for executives to reclaim their work environments from the stockholders and the accountants and return it to the profit makers -- the employees and the customers.
1. Start by asking yourself: Who are the key people if lost tomorrow would cripple your success?
Key players are not always in the highest profile of positions. Everyone in touch with their organization can quickly name these individuals. Next ask yourself: Who are the successors with time, learning and development could step into those positions to not only maintain our progress but make it better? Creating learning opportunities or positions for these people isn't a needless expense as your CFO's are telling you; it's an investment in your organization's future. It's part of your legacy in creating a lasting company.
2. Identify your workhorses
Who are the key players in your organization that have their tongues hanging to the floor in near exhaustion trying to give you what you want even though you've not given them what they need? First of all, write each of them a hand written note thanking them for all they do. Secondly, ask them what skills they want to learn to improve and what training they want to give to their employees to achieve even greater success.
The reason 78% of the American workforce is unhappy is because they want to succeed but aren’t being given the opportunity. Job hoping today has less to do with chasing money than it does with chasing opportunity, chasing better work environments, and looking for belonging in a corporate setting.
Mr. Executive, do you want to create an environment for success and profits as well as a satisfied motivated workforce? Lock the door on your CFO's office and create a work environment where knowledge is fresh and excitement abounds because people actually have the tools to work with they need. Make learning a cornerstone of your organization. You will attract the best a generation has to offer because they want to learn. You will attract the best customers because people buy from those like themselves, and you will create profits because your efficiency and ability to perform will far outgrow the investment you made in educating your employees.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
5 Best Practices for Retaining Your Top Talent
Companies have a tradition of luring away top executive talent from the competition. Free agency has changed the entire landscape of professional athletics as teams constantly fight for talent. The talent wars are now reaching the trenches, and companies are taking off the gloves and aggressively going after top talent at all levels, regardless of who they are currently employed by.
Because employees now know they are potential free agents, they are looking for the best package, not just more money. Who are the people you would hate to lose? It's time to use these five best practices for retaining your top talent so they aren't as eager to see if the money is greener on the other side of the fence.
1. Give them a quality team.
Top talent wants to work with other top talent. The best talent wants to be part of a team awash in great talent. Why? Because they know they will be challenged to improve, they know the best coworkers understand how to pull their own weight, and they will respect those they work with.
Your top talent is looking for more top talent, and so should you be, if you want to keep what you currently have.
2. Provide perks they value.
The best expect to be treated that way. Top talent expects to be treated like they matter to an organization. Google is on the fast track, and they know without top talent they can't stay the course. They offer their employees free car washes and oil changes in the parking lot while they are working. Other top talent organizations frequently offer exercise facilities free for use during working hours. They know it keeps the employees alert and fresh and demonstrates that employee health is important.
One executive in one of my audiences told me he provides a break room for his employees. In fact, he proudly offered, "It is a profit center for my company!" I challenged him to consider offering break room contents for free so more profits could appear on the bottom line and not the break room line item. Take care of the people taking care of you!
When I work with Duke University and stay at their R. David Thomas Business Center, I know at the end of the hall is a break room filled with snacks ranging from coffee, to granola bars, to Dove bars in the freezer -- free of charge. It is not abused or raided, but it is appreciated and almost expected. When you are the best, you expect to be treated as such.
3. Keep the job exciting.
This is the biggest challenge for business leaders because it has never been as important to keeping good talent as it is now. Not only are competitors better at making job opportunities sound fantastic, but we are becoming a society where everyone is A.D.D. We constantly are looking for the excitement, the adrenaline rush, or the thrill in our entertainment and our personal lives. Television programs shift the camera angle every 3.4 seconds, on average. Cruise lines now offer constant activities such as rock wall climbing rather than just lounging by the pool. Sporting events fill breaks in the action at stadiums with music, cheerleader routines or on field-entertainment. If every part of our lives is filled with this stimulation, why should work be any different?
Leaders need to share their excitement for work. If the manager is downtrodden, the workforce will reflect that and the top talent will be looking for the exit door. Exciting leaders encourage excitement in others and create work environments that buzz with excitement. Top talent thrives in top working environments. Great sales people love the excitement of "fresh meat." Give them new clients to work with, new elephant prospects to try to land, keep them in the field and out of meetings. Ask your best people: What adds excitement to your work day? They will let you know how to create a work environment that will keep them.
4. Challenge them regularly.
When I talk about creating challenges I am not referring to constantly giving them higher quotas, or being a manager who is very "challenging" to work with. In fact, those two ways are sure to drive off top talent.
To challenge your top talent, get them involved with problem solving. Not reaching the market share you desired? Ask them what they are seeing in the field. Not maximizing your line efficiency? Don’t ask the engineers to study it -- ask your top operators how to achieve that maximization. Your best people enjoy the challenge of finding answers and want the opportunity to offer ideas and suggestions. When their input is used for innovations, they take ownership and pride and become more linked to your organization as a result.
Another way to challenge your best talent is let them play on pet projects with pay. Top talent is usually thinking many steps ahead, so why not let them do that for you. 3M allows some of their employs to play on projects that are different from their day to day assignments. PostIt Notes, a result of a pet project, became the company’s top selling product. What could your talent be doing for your organization this way?
5. Morph jobs.
Once upon a time people tried to hire employees to fit a pre-molded job description. Today you need to be molding the job to the talent, and let your talent run free!
In front of an audience full of sales people, I asked them what was the worst part of their jobs. Almost as if rehearsed in unison, I heard: Paperwork!
Why do top sales people hate paperwork? Because sales people are people-oriented people, not task-oriented people, and they don't like sitting in a cube. They would rather be in the field bringing down big game than sitting in the office on Fridays pushing papers. Companies are essentially benching their best talent for 20 percent of the week! Hire paper pushers so your top talent goes out and do what they do best -- sell. Morph the job so the company and the employee get the best from their day.
Retaining top talent is critically important in these predatory times. Be sure you are doing what it takes to have them hang up on those trying to poach your people.
Because employees now know they are potential free agents, they are looking for the best package, not just more money. Who are the people you would hate to lose? It's time to use these five best practices for retaining your top talent so they aren't as eager to see if the money is greener on the other side of the fence.
1. Give them a quality team.
Top talent wants to work with other top talent. The best talent wants to be part of a team awash in great talent. Why? Because they know they will be challenged to improve, they know the best coworkers understand how to pull their own weight, and they will respect those they work with.
Your top talent is looking for more top talent, and so should you be, if you want to keep what you currently have.
2. Provide perks they value.
The best expect to be treated that way. Top talent expects to be treated like they matter to an organization. Google is on the fast track, and they know without top talent they can't stay the course. They offer their employees free car washes and oil changes in the parking lot while they are working. Other top talent organizations frequently offer exercise facilities free for use during working hours. They know it keeps the employees alert and fresh and demonstrates that employee health is important.
One executive in one of my audiences told me he provides a break room for his employees. In fact, he proudly offered, "It is a profit center for my company!" I challenged him to consider offering break room contents for free so more profits could appear on the bottom line and not the break room line item. Take care of the people taking care of you!
When I work with Duke University and stay at their R. David Thomas Business Center, I know at the end of the hall is a break room filled with snacks ranging from coffee, to granola bars, to Dove bars in the freezer -- free of charge. It is not abused or raided, but it is appreciated and almost expected. When you are the best, you expect to be treated as such.
3. Keep the job exciting.
This is the biggest challenge for business leaders because it has never been as important to keeping good talent as it is now. Not only are competitors better at making job opportunities sound fantastic, but we are becoming a society where everyone is A.D.D. We constantly are looking for the excitement, the adrenaline rush, or the thrill in our entertainment and our personal lives. Television programs shift the camera angle every 3.4 seconds, on average. Cruise lines now offer constant activities such as rock wall climbing rather than just lounging by the pool. Sporting events fill breaks in the action at stadiums with music, cheerleader routines or on field-entertainment. If every part of our lives is filled with this stimulation, why should work be any different?
Leaders need to share their excitement for work. If the manager is downtrodden, the workforce will reflect that and the top talent will be looking for the exit door. Exciting leaders encourage excitement in others and create work environments that buzz with excitement. Top talent thrives in top working environments. Great sales people love the excitement of "fresh meat." Give them new clients to work with, new elephant prospects to try to land, keep them in the field and out of meetings. Ask your best people: What adds excitement to your work day? They will let you know how to create a work environment that will keep them.
4. Challenge them regularly.
When I talk about creating challenges I am not referring to constantly giving them higher quotas, or being a manager who is very "challenging" to work with. In fact, those two ways are sure to drive off top talent.
To challenge your top talent, get them involved with problem solving. Not reaching the market share you desired? Ask them what they are seeing in the field. Not maximizing your line efficiency? Don’t ask the engineers to study it -- ask your top operators how to achieve that maximization. Your best people enjoy the challenge of finding answers and want the opportunity to offer ideas and suggestions. When their input is used for innovations, they take ownership and pride and become more linked to your organization as a result.
Another way to challenge your best talent is let them play on pet projects with pay. Top talent is usually thinking many steps ahead, so why not let them do that for you. 3M allows some of their employs to play on projects that are different from their day to day assignments. PostIt Notes, a result of a pet project, became the company’s top selling product. What could your talent be doing for your organization this way?
5. Morph jobs.
Once upon a time people tried to hire employees to fit a pre-molded job description. Today you need to be molding the job to the talent, and let your talent run free!
In front of an audience full of sales people, I asked them what was the worst part of their jobs. Almost as if rehearsed in unison, I heard: Paperwork!
Why do top sales people hate paperwork? Because sales people are people-oriented people, not task-oriented people, and they don't like sitting in a cube. They would rather be in the field bringing down big game than sitting in the office on Fridays pushing papers. Companies are essentially benching their best talent for 20 percent of the week! Hire paper pushers so your top talent goes out and do what they do best -- sell. Morph the job so the company and the employee get the best from their day.
Retaining top talent is critically important in these predatory times. Be sure you are doing what it takes to have them hang up on those trying to poach your people.
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