UTurn^TV

If, like me, you are one of the 2.5 million viewers of the Channel 4 programme Undercover Boss I wonder how many of you reflect on this programme in relation to your own workplace?  I’m sure you do.  The comparisons will be really easy to make.

I love the fact that someone deserving gets something nice at the end of the programme.  I usually think  ‘oooh how lovely’ and have a bit of a cry.

However, if every CEO and Managing Director in the country really wanted to know what was happening on the ‘coal face’ in their organisation it’s extremely unlikely that they would be able to disguise themselves sufficiently with a new haircut and a pair of glasses if there were only 20 people in the company.

Good CEO’s and Managing Director’s recognise that without their people not a lot actually happens in their organisation and it’s in their interest to know how staff feel and what it’s really like to work for the company.  However, how do they find out if they can’t get an offer of a TV crew and some plastic surgery?

My experience tells me that the only sure way to know how your people are feeling is to ask them.  I don’t mean staff surveys that give people limited choices in what they’re allowed to answer or suggestion boxes that can be percieved as paying lip service to listening.  What I’m suggesting is that each person in the organisation is given the opportunity to express their views about how they feel and what they would like to see improved and what follows is an active exploration of those views with some clearly owned actions and some resulting activity.

Resulting action is critical to ensure, again, that you haven’t conducted a ‘lip service’ activity.  ‘Actions speak louder than words’ is a great maxim to live by.

There may be things that we don’t want to hear, that make us feel uncomfortable but we all know that a ‘clearing of the air’ is generally a good thing to do.  Obviously this needs to be done with respect, care and compassion but adopting this approach will pay huge dividends.  There may be issues raised where it’s just not possible to effect change but if you know about it you can at least provide an explanation of why it can’t be changed.

As your organisation expands and a few more layers of management structure become necessary it becomes even more essential that you, as the leader of your organisation, have fostered an open, honest and direct culture.

I have been working with a manager recently who told me about his team of ‘complainers and whiners’.  When I asked him to write down what they were complaining about the piece of paper I gave him stayed blank.  He explained that he didn’t know one thing they complained about because he had learned how to cut the conversation short assuming that all they were doing was complaining.  Further exploration revealed that there were actually some real, if fairly minor, business issues that needed to be addressed.  Even if the eventual outcome wasn’t what the individual was looking for they would at least be able to see that a genuine attempt at finding a resolution had been made.  This improved relationships dramatically.

One of the greatest gifts we can give another human being is to listen to them.  Really listen.  How often have you felt that you wanted to get a really important point across but you knew the person that could make a real difference wasn’t listening?  From a human perspective it’s soul destroying.  From business perspective it can build a culture of mistrust, demotivation and stress.

How does your organisation ensure that you know how your staff feel?  I would love to hear your views and hopefully you won’t have to go undercover to know how your people feel about working in your company.

Jules

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The following blog is taken from a Project Management website owned by a friend of mine.  He is the best Project Manager I have ever worked with and is the only one I know that can bring in an IT project on time and on budget.  Whilst Ian focuses on ensuring efficiency within the project management tasks it is great to see that he also recognises the need to ensure that the emotional needs of staff need to be taken into consideration too.

The constant focus on hard tasks, deadlines and outcomes above all else is often a recipe for creating unhappy staff.  The best managers take an holistic approach to their teams and make sure they check in on the ‘happiness monitor’ on a regular basis.

You can visit Ian’s site at P M Advice.  I hope you enjoy his blog as much as I did and as always I would love to hear your thoughts.

Push, Push … and SNAP!

I work with so many programmes and projects that run to tight deadlines and suffer from mistakes that cost the programme days even weeks of delays. Why is it so hard for managers to understand that constant over working of staff will result in mistakes, in re-work, in lost time due to having to fix the mistakes. Management must recognise that driving staff to do excessive hours only works for short a period, in my experience, about two weeks, then mistakes start happening that cost more time than that perceived to be saved by pushing on.

So, remember as a professional project manager, you are only as good as the team around you, so it is your job to manage their hours to avoid over working and the impact of mistakes. This month I have witnessed a massive push to hit a, made up, deadline that has resulted in mistakes and problems causing over 3 weeks worth of delays. Added to this is the personal impact on each individual that will last longer, as sickness lost further time and damaged personal relationships outside the office are also damaged.

Remember a happy team, works far more effectively than an unhappy worn out team.

Teams often spend too much time running around like headless chickens and call it work.  In the majority of cases someone avoided making the time to put some stabilising foundations in place which would ultimately save time and money.  Is your team like that?  Do you spend all day sticking Elastoplasts on broken arms?  This video might help.

The following management tips will help improve your managment style and take it to a higher and more human level:

Be More Compassionate

The next time you feel a flash of irritation at something one of your team has done incorrectly try to stop yourself from reacting and imagine that the person in question is a very dear friend or family member.  Imagine how you would deal with the issue if they were someone that you cared about deeply.  By adopting a more compassionate attitude towards them you will begin to build bridges and better relationships.

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.  If you want to be happy, practice compassion.  Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama

Separate the Issue from the Emotion

When things go wrong and teams are not functioning, too much time is spent dealing with the emotional effects of a business issue that needs to be resolved.  Phone slamming, crying in the toilets, bitching about the boss (you!) are all symptomatic of underlying issues that are not being addressed.  Try asking your team members why they are behaving that way instead of telling them their behaviour is inappropriate.  Whilst it is important to acknowledge the emotion and accept that it is valid it is wasteful management spending time trying to train someone not to behave inappropriately – you are not their parent.  Understand the cause and a solution can very quickly be found.

“In the last decade or so, science has discovered a tremendous amount about the role emotions play in our lives. Researchers have found that even more than IQ, your emotional awareness and abilities to handle feelings will determine your success and happiness in all walks of life, including family relationships.” – John Gottman, Ph.D.

Empathise

Make it part of your management strategy to spend time truly understanding the stresses and strains of your teams’ work.  I’ve never believed that you should be able to do everyone’s job in your team to be a good manager but I do know that being able to empathise with their perspective will instantly make you a better manager.  Ask them how they feel about their job, their environment, their colleagues, the team as a whole and as they answer your questions imagine you’re in front of a mirror and it’s you saying it.  Spend time afterwards checking in on how you felt.

Empathy is full presence to what’s alive in the other person at this moment. John Cunningham

Be Authentic

When you are operating every day as the authentic you it allows you to show your team (and your senior managers) the best of you.  The real you will make decisions that are for the benefit of all: you, your team, your senior managment and your organisation.  If you hide the real you with  a mask of insecurity or artifice I believe that those you work with will see it, even if it’s not consciously understood, they will always have that niggling feeling that ‘something isn’t right’ and will never trust you.

“To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.” – William Shakespeare

Be Straight and Honest – Always

You always know when someone is lying to you, or being nice rather than hurt your feelings.  Even if you are never 100% sure what the lie was, something in you will walk away from the conversation with a ‘feeling’ that something wasn’t quite right.  If you acknowledge this to be true then it follows that it will be the same for the people you work with.  We often fear the consequences of giving someone a piece of news that we feel would hurt or anger them.  This does not give the person you are talking to any credit for being able to deal with the absolute truth.  Practice in front of a mirror a difficult conversation you need to have without dressing it up, masking it or adding your personal view and edge to it.  Then practice it on a trusted friend who will give you feedback on how you came across.  Even if you need to deliver distressing news, human beings all deserve to be respected by giving them the truth so that they can have an opportunity to react appropriately.  To deny them this opportunity is wasteful and creates unnecessary emotional reactions which make your job twice as difficult.

Where is there dignity unless there is honesty? Cicero (106 BC – 43 BC)

Be Genuinely Kind

A genuine act of kindness will always be seen as just that.  Your ability to be genuinely kind will dramatically improve your relationships with your staff.  Perhaps one of your team would really appreciate the chance to leave 10 minutes earlier this week to help with a particular childcare problem, or perhaps you can offer a non-judgemental listening ear to someone who is having relationship problems?  Even the smallest act of kindness such as making the tea will be appreciated, even by the most cynical.  If you can do this without any expectation of compensation or return your team will be loyal to you and go the extra mile when you need them to.

Kindness is in our power, even when fondness is not.  ~ Samuel Johnson

Challenge your perceptions

Always remember that even if you are all in the same room, everyone will have a different view of it.  We all have our own particular viewpoint on any issue presented to us but rarely take the time to check what others see or feel.  When you ask someone their perspective you can often be surprised by their take on an issue.  Remember that no-one’s view is right or wrong we all just have different perspectives on things.  Asking your team their views and, wherever possible, incorporating them into your solutions will make your team feel valued and respected.

Many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our point of view. – Obi-Wan Kenobi

Many thanks to Brian Johnson at www.philosophersnotes.com for providing a wonderful quotes resource.

Jules challenges all the men out there to have open and honest conversations with the women they work with about PMT!  Aaarrrgghhh – NO WAY I hear you say?  You can be a better manager by tackling this subject in a caring way.  Jules would love to hear from you…..

Jules poses the question – Do you love your staff? Please leave your comments below.

It’s so easy when we are frustrated, angry or just plain hacked off to deliver a message to colleagues and have our words completely miss their target.  People rarely clearly understand our message if we add a layer of emotion to what we say.  Getting to the heart of an issue in business can increase productivity, team cohesiveness and communication.

Jules chews on satsuma skin to show you how to peel off the emotional layers of workplace dialogue to help you focus on the real issue to gain the clarity you need.