The Buzz
RE: April 13 Show Early in our marriage, I used to get aggravated by my husband's habit of turning his socks inside out before putting them into the laundry basket. The result was that they always had to be turned right side out afterward. I thought he was just careless and not thinking about the useless work he was making for me (and him, but he didn't seem to care). Anyway, I was always annoyed about this. UNTIL, one day I asked him about it. He was doing this to avoid having lint on the outside of his socks. Go figure. I am glad I learned about him - that he usually has a really good reason for some of the things he does and I just need to ask to understand. !!!
To reinforce your statement of “always the negative” has an impact in business if you don’t follow through. If someone always raised questions or issues on why something doesn’t/can’t work, I valued that as long as they either had a solution, or were willing to lead/work with the team to a solution. For the people who only brought out the problems and not the solutions, you could read the faces of team members, i.e. “not him/her again” and people would not even hear what this person said much of the time. When they started talking it was perceived as negative by other team members. My responsibility was to coach/lead/direct these individuals to work towards solving the issues they raise, either individually or as part of the team. These are valuable team members, and I needed to ensure that they became contributing team members.
I have a great deal of experience with layoffs, on both sides. In my experience, the leaders who are straight forward and open all along have the trust of their people. When that same leader needs to eliminate someone’s job, if he or she continues in the same behavior and shares bad news with an open heart and with support of that person, it goes easier for all involved and you avoid the negative impact of survivor’s guilt. The loyalty for that leader grows because people know they will be taken care of no matter what.
On the other hand, if a leader hides information (even with the intent of protecting his or her people) and then has to lay someone off and uses the excuse it is “business not personal," the the negative spiral is perpetuated and that leader is put in a place of mistrust. It is true that some of the simplest things to understand are the hardest to execute. Examples include, among others: “…we can’t just have values on paper, we need to talk about them. You really emphasized this. I get the idea that in your work, you actually see this done. I for one, would welcome the opportunity for a thoughtful discussion on values in my work environment.”
“I really enjoyed your broadcast. I will be listening every Monday!...The language and examples you used were simple ones that could be understood and not in the normal corporate gobbledegook. Nice job and thanks!”
The central theme of “simple not easy” is just brilliant, and I’m sure everyone has experienced that concept if they think about it – I sure have!!!…..I remain an ardent fan!!!
“Very thought provoking program I appreciate that you are addressing the really important leadership qualities that will take us to a new level...this is the best time to be building a new model for the future. Thank you for blazing the trail!” As a result of the "house of cards" we've seen fall over the past several months, we've all been forced to become slower and more methodical about our decisions. I believe that pace of thoughtfulness will bring an opportunity for conversation about what our new organizations will look like and how we can live more authentically and purposefully. I think that when leaders are ready to listen, they will want teachers to guide them, and the work that you are doing is planting seeds and preparing the landscape. |
