September, with its anniversary of the 9/11 crisis, always brings office safety to my mind. I am reminded that most of us - including me - don't think enough about proactively preparing to deal with safety at work. Some people are serious about safety. The Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) in Ontario have published a strategy they call the Road to Zero. They'd like zero workplace injuries, illness, and fatalities and are working toward a 35% reduction by 2010. Read more about it at their website at www.wsib.on.ca. Think it sounds too farfetched? The President of Volvo Cars of Canada Corp. said their team's goal is to have no one killed or injured in a Volvo vehicle in the year 2020. Whether or not you can imagine this, I'm sure you agree we should all do our part to keep ourselves and others safe. Here are some gentle reminders for leaders and their teams.
1. Ensure people know how to exit wherever they are. Most orientation training programs tell staff the protocol for responding to alarms, and how to exit from their workstations. Staff who've been around for longer may have moved offices and not been trained and you could remind them. Don't overlook those who are in a meeting room, or at another office building. If you chair or facilitate a meeting, make sure you know the safety and evacuation protocols. Even better, take a few minutes at the beginning of the meeting to tell people how to leave safely in an emergency.
2. Remind people to indicate if they need help. I've just learned the acronym PRA - persons requiring assistance. This designation isn't as obvious as it first appears, and who it designates can change daily. If you're training for a 5k run and you sprain your ankle on the weekend, you likely can't exit by the staircase in an emergency. Don't be shy. Tell your colleagues that, in an emergency, you are a PRA. Routinely invite others to declare their need for assistance. If you are PRA, take a moment to find out where you are to meet for extra assistance in the event of an emergency.
3. Post safety information in common places. I just saw, for the first time, a safety poster beside a photocopier. It reminds me that copiers are machines that get hot and also that I can hurt my eyes looking into the copier as it works. Familiarity breeds complacency - think about the common machines and areas that could be unsafe, and put up a notice. A small thing, like wiping up coffee or water spills, can make a huge difference. Don't assume everyone knows what you might consider common courtesy or housekeeping rules.
4. Take care of visitors. If you have a guest in your workplace, even for one meeting, pause and tell them what they need to know. Describe the alarm system sound and tell them if they wait for verbal instructions to exit. Explain special protocols for assisting others. If you have swiped them into the security on your card, ensure they know they'll need a staff person to exit.
5. Be courteous where health is concerned. Many individuals are suffering from allergies to scent. It's hard to avoid scented hair and body wash products, and I wouldn't suggest you give up grooming. Consider going without other scented perfumes during the work day. If no one on the team minds, a customer might. If you wear scents, apply them lightly and don't reapply during the work day.
6. Little things make a healthy workplace. At WSIB workstations, an automatic screensaver pops up to remind staff of important health and safety tips. It tells you to switch between the mouse and the keypad to rest your body. Get up and stretch every 20 minutes. Adjust your office chair often. Close your eyes for 20 seconds to rest them from the monitor. I'm sure some people find the screensaver annoying, but I find the corporate message encouraging. Take a break and rest a moment during the workday.
Jill Malleck has 20-plus years as a Human Resources Organization Development Consultant, meeting facilitator and Coach. Her work is to accelerate positive change and improve results.
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Anyone in management is aware of the recent spate of lawsuits regarding unpaid overtime. Some have attributed this to overzealous lawyers who are taking advantage of traditional employment practices that lag behind the fast-changing social landscape. Others are extrapolating the impact and worriedly looking at cell phone use, predicting that managers who call their employees while they are driving could be at risk if an accident occurs.
Underneath all the hyperbole and speculation, the heart of the issue is this: All work needs to be acknowledged, recognized and valued. Of course, leaders are expected to set reasonable work demands, and to ensure each person is fairly rewarded for what they do. Excuses and rationalizations about business pressures do not fool anyone. The idea of extra work indiscriminately added on, and then treated as voluntary and left unpaid, is offensive to everyone. Here are some ways not to offend.
1. Assess workloads regularly. It's amazing how quickly the workload can increase in many jobs. A sudden spike in demand for services isn't always predictable, nor is a decrease in resources. Even if you typically stay out of the details of what your team does, be close enough to recognize the warning signs of overload. Are reliable people missing deadlines? Did something important get missed? Don't assume that working harder is the result of personal ambition. Many people feel trapped by their work and unable to walk away from customers in need.
2. Have contingency plans. A leader's job is to ensure that resources meet current needs. When there is an imbalance, it's not ok to just let a high performing team pick up more work. Your job is to clearly identify what can be dropped, delayed or reassigned. Keep a list of contract resources that you can turn to in a crisis or for short term support. Decide what hands-on support you personally can offer. Anyone who has had to manage through a union strike knows how important it is to have contingency plans. Even if you are not unionized, you need a plan.
3. Have courage. It can be difficult to tell a senior leader or a valued client that you cannot meet expectations. Certainly, you don't want to wiggle out of commitments all the time. But if you have strong relationships in place, your credibility and conviction will support you. Everyone understands that unforeseen things happen. We've all been on the receiving end of mandated legislative change. Your team needs a leader who has the courage to say, "We can't deliver on this with our current resources." Or "I'm sorry, that will have to wait."
4. Have fair reward systems. Your staff are also counting on you to ensure they are fairly rewarded for all time and energy given to the job. Many Human Resources teams do a good job of checking for marketplace equity and pay fairness - doing annual salary surveys for example. However, falling short of the local job scene can quickly increase the risk of losing specialized skills and abilities from your team. It's up to you to tell HR when compensation and benefit systems are no longer motivating and retaining talented people. Don't make it up to each individual team member to beg for what they deserve. Some will just pick up and go where they will be appreciated. The same goes for jobs that grow - in responsibility and volume. Ensure they are re-evaluated and fairly paid.
5. Pay attention to the wider context. Pay attention to how other areas of your company and industry are operating. A casual conversation with a peer in another location can reveal a project or initiative that is in the works. This knowledge gives you a chance to calculate the ripple impact on your own team's workload. Many unpleasant workload surprises were merely communication oversights caused by workplace silos. If you are the leader, it's your job to hold the larger context and plan for the future. Your ability to manage work load extends far beyond the boundaries of your functional area, and even beyond the foreseeable future.
6. Simply show appreciation. Tell staff how much you value them, and use actions not just words. Provide the tools to do the job, reasonable work expectations, support in balancing work with personal commitments and rewards that fairly match the contributions made. And kind words - if you mean them. Finally, remember that "All talk no action" won't work. Sincere praise and kind words are nice, but they don't pay the bills.
Jill Malleck has 20-plus years as a workplace effectiveness Consultant, meeting Facilitator, and Coach. She works with groups and individuals to accelerate positive change and improve results.
by Jill Malleck, Coach and Organization Development Consultant
If you head toward the shoreline of Lake Huron in Bruce County this summer, you'll notice the quiet and graceful sweep of wind turbines now dotting the landscape. This newer form of energy generation has me thinking about the need for new ways to generate energy and original ideas in the work place.
Perhaps you have noticed that, at work and in general, most people start the day knowing what they know - and end the day the same way. Always in a rush to accomplish, we often short-circuit a group's ability to generate insights. We dump our completed thoughts on the meeting table and hope for collaborative agreement. Rarely do our agendas include time to open the space for something completely new to emerge.
If you are discouraged by the predictability of your meeting outcomes, do something to create a different kind of conversation. A generative conversation is one where participants listen as well as talk. Where half-formed ideas are shared and moulded in the company of others. Where no one can predict the outcome, but everyone wants to be a part of the collective learning. Here are some ideas to regenerate your face-to-face conversations.
1. Choose a fresh location. One of the reasons that group meetings are often lack-luster is because they are tightly scheduled between other more routine and frantic work activities. Rushing to the 2 p.m. brainstorming meeting and worrying about the 4 p.m. presentation you have right afterward is a problem. Most working professionals are so geared up to deliver results - and fast - that they can't really relax enough to let their unconscious, creative brain into the room. Try taking your brainstorming meeting away from the office. Change the scenery by booking time at a location far from the office. Make it a whole day or at the end of a day so work is left behind. Spend time upfront relaxing a little - perhaps with a meal - so everyone can let their guard down.
2. Ask simple questions. Simple and thought-provoking questions can take people's thinking in new directions. One of my favourite questions is from a Solutions Focus approach. It is: "If you woke up tomorrow and this problem was solved, how would you know it?" This works because it shifts the thinking from what has caused the problem or challenge, to what success looks like. When we can describe success we can also often see the path to get there - if not fully, than partially. Other good conversation starters are: "Why is this important right now?" and "What does this situation remind you of?"
3. Make enough time. Generative conversations take time. There is the time to listen to each other, and then the time to reflect and process, and then the time to form the right words to articulate what you're still discovering. Our usual rush to completion won't work. Introverted thinkers and those struggling with the spoken language are at a disadvantage. Better to set your agenda to accommodate all aspects of learning together. Pay particular attention to the need for reflective time. A practical solution is to schedule an overnight meeting. Share information on day one and give a free evening for reflection and processing before the second day of insightful conversation.
4. Help people to listen deeply. The ability to listen deeply to what is said by others is the basis of understanding and new learning. One way to do this is to slow down the conversation by taking time to draw parallels and pictures as a summary of what someone has said. By offering up metaphors you can imagine the deeper meanings others hold. A skilled facilitator can provide this service. As people talk, s/he creates visuals and re-frames what is being said. The speaker then has a model to work with, and can sculpt and reshape their words to truly reflect their meaning. This additional shading allows others to deeply understand and draw closer.
5. Practice dialogue. Don't wait until you have a problem that requires great learning and generative thinking. Implement the formal use of dialogue (as described by David Bohm and others) within your organization. In dialogue, the emphasis is on collective learning rather than on problem solving. It is exploratory conversation that is engaged in for the pleasure of creative thinking and deeper understanding with peers. You can host forums for the sole purpose of speaking together about the work, the industry, the business or the world. But don't capture the output in any way, thus removing the temptation to make it a "who's smarter" competition. Just get together in a relaxed setting and chat about the work. Have no preconceived agenda or predetermined purpose. Allow people to open their minds and their hearts to others.
Jill Malleck is a facilitator, coach and consultant who works with groups and individuals to accelerate positive change. She provides tools and techniques to create the space and process for generative conversations.
by Jill Malleck, Coach and Organization Development Consultant
Anyone who travels the agricultural concessions of Southwestern Ontario is familiar with the honour system for buying corn, tomatoes, maple syrup and firewood. It isn't often that we experience such trust in larger businesses. Can you imagine a national corporation trusting its customers to voluntarily pay what they owe? Well Canada Post does. Try sending a letter with inadequate postage. What you get is a delivered letter - and a postcard trusting you to attach the missing postage and return it to Canada Post.
Trust is essential to good customer relationships, and it is also essential to good employee and employer relationships. During rapid change, it is common to hear employees say: "You can't trust management". Trust is something that is built or destroyed one person at a time. Leaders, when they speak and act, are assumed to be operating from a mandated agenda. And that's why, when a manager isn't trusted, the whole company's reputation is spoiled.
Trust is what makes people follow you, even when they have some questions about the direction you're going in. Trust is what gives people the security to tell the truth about a situation when they are tempted to hide the ugly details. Trust is what counter-balances the natural fear of taking a risk and trying something new. Trust is something that effective leaders and high-performing teams have in common. Here are some ways to increase trust.
1.Don't assume mistrust is personal.Some people trust everyone they meet, and others trust no one until they prove trustworthy. Likely your team is a mix of both types. Best to concentrate on earning their trust, since those who trust the fastest can be extremely unforgiving when their initial trust is broken. Determine to be trustworthy - and know that you have to earn trust every day in every interaction.
2.Be trustworthy in small things. If you make even a small promise, i.e. to get back to someone right away, or to forward some information, be sure to do it. Use your mobile device or a notepad to write a reminder to yourself. Have a pending file and check it regularly. One lapse in memory can be overlooked, but if you regularly break promises you will not be trusted.
3.Avoid gossiping. As a leader, you may not think to call it gossiping when you search out information. You may honestly be trying to learn about how someone is working by asking others.Watch how you gather your data. Anytime you casually pry for information, or secretly talk about someone, you position yourself as a gossip. Many employees will think to themselves, "She's doing the same thing when I'm not in the office - talking about me behind my back." If you expect team members to evaluate each other on some aspects of workplace performance, make that expectation crystal clear. Then institute a fair feedback process (surveys, interviews) to make it happen. The irony is that as you become more trustworthy you will be given more data than you need, and it will be accurate and timely.
4.Delegate important tasks. Nothing makes a person feel more trusted than to be asked to do something important. Is there a meeting with an important client, or a presentation to senior management that you can give away? When you do, show trust by giving away the whole accountability, not just the drudgery tasks. Be prepared to offer coaching beforehand, and to be supportive afterward. When it's done, applaud what worked and the initiative shown. Choose words of criticism carefully. If you don't, it can feel like you sent a person out on a tree limb, and then sawed off the branch. No one will trust you the next time you come looking for a delegate.
5.Share more about yourself. It's not necessary for everyone to be treated as your best friend, or for your entire personal life to be displayed publicly. But studies show that the more we disclose about ourselves, the more trusted we are. This is especially true when we share information that makes us vulnerable. Everyone relaxes around a boss that is human. Tell stories about your past foolishness. Admit that you are working on some aspects of your own development. Apologize when you make a mistake. Every time you do so, you open the door to reciprocal trust. As trust increases and the conversation becomes more honest, you'll learn more about your staff and peers, which will help you to better communicate to them.
6.Highlight commonalities. We tend to have higher trust for people who share our goals in a situation. Leaders can elevate team conversation to common goals and the higher purposes of the organization. When it's obvious that we want the same outcomes, it becomes easier to trust each other on implementation details. Trust is also built on having non-work things in common, such as cultural background, hobbies, interests, values and beliefs. That's because if I see that you have a deep understanding of significant elements of me, I can relax and trust you. Take time to find out what you and others at work have in common.
7.Consciously change people's experience.Sometimes you follow a previous leader who broke promises, spread rumours and outright lied. You will need to make extra effort to prove you are different. Find ways to discuss unhealed hurts. Remind people of your integrity. Take accountability for fixing what's wrong.Ask your staff to trust you and to tell you immediately if they perceive you to be acting distrustfully. It might help to document your promises, even informally in text messages and emails. This is a great way to firm up your commitment and remind yourself not to let things slide.
Jill Malleck is a Coach and Organization Development consultant whose company Epiphany at Work provides development solutions that accelerate positive change for individuals and work groups.
by Jill Malleck, Organization Development consultant
Year-end is typically performance management time in many workplaces. Leaders who are too busy to be in their offices, or those who lead geographically remote teams, often ask me: "How do I know if my team is productive enough?" This is an especially tough question to answer when you aren't around to observe. Don't rely on your own ability to estimate how long a job will take - leaders are notorious for setting unrealistic expectations and assigning a 3-day job with a tomorrow deadline. Short of hovering for a few days (and the productivity of whomever you're spying on will undoubtedly go up) how can you know if all employees are working at their highest capacity? Here are some tips:
1.Comedian Jerry Seinfeld said, "It's amazing that the amount of news that happens in the world every day just exactly fits the newspaper." Think about the work you are assigning. Is it exactly the right amount - amazingly? If everything is getting done well, and you think perhaps your team is not busy enough, you are probably right. Rare is the employee who will come and ask for more work. One way to increase productivity is to increase expectations. Ask for more and you'll often get it.
2.Suspect the yes person. If every time you unexpectedly ask for something the same team member says, "I'll get right on it" you need to wonder how they are managing. Do you ever hear the words, "I don't have time to do that." Or "What would you like me to defer?" If not, you're either a completely unapproachable taskmaster, or your team has the capacity to take on more work.
3.Teach your team to keep you informed. When you are busy you must rely on them to keep you up-to-date. Make it easy for them - whether it's a weekly email, a one-page project summary, or a Friday afternoon voicemail that you retrieve when you have time. If someone is annoyed at having to report regularly, ask them why. Don't be distracted by complaints of low trust and disempowerment. Empower them to do the work, but remember that people who are legitimately using bank ATMs usually have no objection to be videotaped by the security camera while doing so. Even your most senior and reliable people will understand the need to keep you informed.
4.Are you the team's goalie?In other words, are you there for the save - no matter what? Examine how often you find yourself working behind the scenes to save your team members from the consequences of failure. Think about how often your team members give just 80% - knowing that you are going to fine tune and polish the last bit. Decide if it's time to let them do it all.
5.Pay attention to team dynamics. Resentment is usually high in a team where the workload is uneven, or someone is not pulling their weight. You often don't have to look hard to see it. Customers and others will make a bee-line for your most productive team members, and avoid those who are unreliable. You won't help team collaboration and spirit by secretly grilling team members about their coworkers, but you can encourage a culture where people publicly thank their peers - and see who never gets thanked. You can tell the team that you want to discuss business process improvements at the next meeting, and that means everyone.
6.Who is the team gossip? Idle time leads to idle chatter. Some people always know what is going on, not just in their own department, but everywhere. Unless networking is a key part of their role, you need to wonder how they find time to do it. Longer lunches, chatty emails and texting all can be signs of boredom. Does the same person volunteer for the United Way and other social event planning? Perhaps they really are very socially responsible, but it could be that they have too much extra time at work.
7.When you are in the office, watch what happens on computers. If the screen drops down or quickly changes as you walk into an office or cubicle, it may be that the person was surfing the net, Facebooking, emailing or writing a letter home. Technology and most company policies allow you to see what's been happening on any particular PC that is company-owned. If you don't have a policy, put one in place. Limit the amount of personal use and ensure everyone knows that there is no such thing as a private use of company equipment and time.
Jill Malleck is an Organization Development coach and consultant who helps individuals and work teams to be the best they can be. Epiphany at Work has been offering training and other interventions for more than six years.
