One of the most powerful things a leader can do to build a strong organizational culture is to just be himself. For us lucky Double-Take employees, we have a great example at the top of our organization.

Four or five times a year, Double-Take Software CEO Dean Goodermote makes a drastic wardrobe change to entertain his clients. His necktie is replaced with love beads. His suit is replaced with a tight, sleeveless T-shirt, capri pants and bright orange-and-blue sneakers – an homage to the company colors.

Cluster-Funk at Tech Ed from DBTK on Vimeo.

I was just blogging on my personal site about this topic, and thought it was applicable to work, as well.

Often, we sign up for various activities, groups, classes, etc. and eventually begin to feel annoyed that we have to go attend yet another meeting, or wonder why we aren't getting as much out of it as we used to. We wonder if fellow participants enjoy wasting our time, and our minds wander as we figure out who to talk to in order to get out of this ridiculous training.

Well, here's why you have that toxic attitude:

MindfulMoment
By: Andrea Moore, CIASTD 2009 President

“You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings.” — Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

Recently, I found myself feeling disconnected from a group I meet with one evening each week. I found myself placing blame on the group participants and thinking about aspects of their personalities that were not allowing me to connect.

Knowing, however, that I am responsible for creating the experiences of my life, I took a step back and reminded myself of the part I am playing with this group. I asked myself, “What am I doing to connect with these people?”—and what I realized is that I was not fully showing up with this group. Once I put myself out there and shared what I was feeling, the connection returned.

In what way are you participating in your life?
How can you take more responsibility for what you are creating?

Andrea is a senior consultant at FlashPoint, a multidiscipline HR consulting firm in Indianapolis. As a certified professional in learning and performance and a certified empowerment coach, she focuses on the growth and development of individuals, work teams, and leaders.

We all do it. It's a curse of being human and unfortunately no matter how hard we try be perfect, hardworking, efficient workerbees who come in to do the job and then go home...

Our emotions get the best of us. At some point or another, life takes it toll and we react. We blow steam in the office, go off on a rant during lunch, mutter under our breath. It happens. We're human. I get that.

But are our reactions appropriate? Justified? ...Expected? Even better: are your reactions INTENTIONAL? Do they further your position?

Consider the last time your emotions got away from you and you reacted in a way that didn't serve you or the organization best:

• What was the trigger that set you off?
• What was the emotion that was expressed? What was the emotional trigger behind the emotion? (hint: the trigger may not be the same as the emotion was expressed. Fear may be expressed as anger)?
• Where did you feel that emotion (may be anywhere in the body. There is a reason we use the term "gut reaction" for example)?
• How did you really want to react to the situation?

Next time you have to react, press PAUSE. If not PAUSE, hit the 5-SECOND DELAY. Give yourself some time to let the rational thinking section of your brain dissect how you feel vs. how you're going to react.

This type of emotional control takes practice. A lot of it. Start by asking these questions in real time as you feel your emotions getting the better of you, before you react. With practice and a few deep breaths, you may be able to hit the pause button and become more intentional with the emotions you use in the workplace -- they'll push your agenda much further than flying off the handle ever will.

During tough economic times, you'll hear rumblings about "employee engagement" from various levels of an organization. Employee engagement is the hot buzz word that just won't go away, primarily because it does have an impact on how well (or poor) a company comes out of a downturn.

However, while everyone is buzzin' about employee engagement, how many of you actually know what drives, creates, and sustains it?? If you can name at least 3 *without peeking*, you get an A for the day.

Get a little deeper on what drives employee engagement:

• Trust and integrity – how well managers communicate and 'walk the talk'.
  
  
• Nature of the job –Is it mentally stimulating day-to-day?
  
  
• Strategic Direction between employee performance and company performance – Does the employee understand how their work contributes to the company's performance?
  
  
• Growth opportunities –Are there future opportunities for growth?
  
  
• Pride about the company – How much self-esteem does the employee feel by being associated with their company?
  
  
• Coworkers/team members – significantly influence one's level of engagement
  
  
• Employee development opportunities – Is the company making an effort to develop the employee's skills?
  
  
• Relationship with one's manager – Does the employee value his or her relationship with his or her manager?

Now, more than ever, your team, organization and peers need you to be positive and forward-looking. The best way to begin looking ahead is to begin with yourself.

It's spring. The time of growth, rejuvenation, and excitement for the future. Let's start fresh - today! Consider where you are at in your leadership journey at this moment with these questions:

Here & Now

1. What are you doing well in your leadership?
2. What can you improve in your leadership?

1. If things were as great as you'd like them to be, what would they look and feel like?
2. What is your role in creating a great future?
   
3. What are others saying about you in the future?
4. What immediate action can you take to move toward a great future?

Some managers wonder why so much planning, questioning, testing, and evaluating has to go into training our people. Some may even believe there isn't value to dedicating someone to this role, or that it's even necessary to work this hard to "just share information".

Well, here's why it IS important:

How Do Humans Learn? I'd venture to say that 90% of managers think that sharing information is the same as training. Sorry to tell you folks, TELLING AIN'T TRAINING. In a sense, learning is like an ecosystem. We’re continually influenced by information, our social interactions, and experiences. These shape who we are and what we know. And this ultimately determines how we act. Tell me and I'll forget. Show me and I may remember. Involve me, and I'll knock your socks off!

When Do Humans Learn? I get this question occasionally, and most of the time managers are trying to determine the best time to hold a training session, or whether offering eLearning can be taken anytime will really be effective for retaining information. Somewhere out there is the belief that people learn the best between the hours of 9a-11a, Tues-Thurs. But that's not the case!! As humans, we’re always in learning mode. We don’t turn learning on or off.

My Training Philosophy: We don’t learn just because someone gives us information or tells us that we’re in a training course. We learn because that’s how we’re wired. So when we do take a course, we fold it into our learning ecosystem and make it part of how we understand the world around us.

Photo Credit: The Rapid eLearning Blog

Curious to know what goes on day-to-day? Get real-time updates on what Double-Take's learning folks are doing by following us on Twitter.

www.twitter.com/DBTK_Learning

Self-Confidence for Leaders, By Marshall Goldsmith

I was recently teaching in a seminar for MBA students at the University of California at Berkeley's Haas School of Business. A young second-year student seemed anxious to talk with me. He finally asked: "I have read your book, What Got You Here Won't Get You There. In the book you talk about classic challenges faced by your clients. I noticed that you never discuss self-confidence problems. How do you deal with your client's self-confidence problems?"

This was a great question. It made me realize that I rarely encounter self-confidence problems in my work with CEOs and potential CEOs. It is almost impossible to make it to the top level in a multibillion-dollar corporation if you do not believe in yourself. On the other hand, I am frequently asked to speak at business schools (in fact five this month), and I have noticed that students in my seminars often want to talk about it.

We live in a world of dramatic, tumultuous, and unpredictable change—change that is wiping out time-honored businesses and long-standing institutions and ushering in unprecedented opportunities for creative individuals and entrepreneurial organizations. So pervasive is change today that it has redefined our first task: The job is no longer figuring out how to win at the game of work and life; the job is figuring out the new rules of the game.

Watch this entertaining video from Seth Godin and ask yourself the same question, "Is it broken?" If it is, whatever "it" is then see what YOU can do to fix it.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/04/this-is-broken.html

Think you have what it takes to become a manager? If you think a management role is in your future, even the distant future, you need to check out this article by Dan McCarthy: 7 Myths about Management.

I bet you would all agree with me that loud, rude, and/or negative people in the workplace are not the reason you show up everyday. Most of you would probably agree the rude and mouthy people can be really damaging to your outlook and mood. For instance, how do you feel after hearing someone fly off the handle, yell, and curse over something as small as a rescheduled meeting or unexpected phone call from a sales person?

For the grand majority of us, the instinct to take flight (aka: lay low) takes over. And even if the outburst wasn't aimed at you, guess what happens: your focus, engagement, productivity and creativity are out the window.

This article highlights some research that confirms our intuition about these folks in the workplace. The study shows that rude behavior has an effect on productivity and creativity. And I guess if we're noticing a decline in productivity, creativity, engagement, innovation, etc... we could safely assume it's having an impact on the bottom line, as well.

“We found that even when the rude behavior is pretty mild, it impairs a person’s cognitive functioning and has spillover effects in how they treat their co-workers,” said Amir Erez, a University of Florida management professor.

The unusual study, by Erez and Christine Porath, a management professor at the University of Southern California, appears in the October issue of the Academy of Management Journal.

This well-crafted research shows that when organizations allow rude employees to run roughshod over others, it not only creates uncivilized workplaces, it is just plain bad business.

Take note, and don't let your temper tantrum run roughshod over your employees.

Truly engaged employees are committed employees. To get yourself to become committed to an organization involves truly believing in what the organization's purpose, what it's doing, and the people who are leading it.

Getting commitment takes more than the employee making the choice to be loyal and committed. It involves YOU leading them to the choice of being committed and engaged. To maximize your chances of getting long-term commitment from your people during trying economic times, be real and use Engaging Leadership. Here's how:

1. Tell people what you want to accomplish.
2. Tell them what led you to believe it's important to them and to you.
3. Tell them your own struggles along the way.
4. Tell them how long you've been thinking about "it".
5. Tell them you are committed to it.
6. Tell them your plan for helping them be able to do "it."

A BNet Video Still

I subscribe to RSS feeds for an unknown number of employee development and leadership blogs. It's my connection to what's going on in the field, who's who, what's changing, and what is staying the same because it's tried and true.

During on of my quick scans thru the feeds, I found this Leadership Communication Kit from the All Things Workplace blog. I couldn't have preached this any better:

Nothing Happens Until People Talk

How often have you heard someone in authority ask, "Hmm. Do you think I should tell them about this?" Well, only if you want something important to happen. Because nothing happens until people talk.

Add these four thoughts to your leadership communication kit:

• Never assume that anyone knows anything.

• The larger the group, the more attention needs to be given to communicating.

• When left in the dark, people will fantasize their own reality. Do you want their fantasy to trump your reality?

• Effective leaders are obsessed with accurate, frequent communication.
  

Go tell someone what you've been thinking about!

The 7th installment of Coaching Staff from the Brilliant Leadership Blog. What else do you want to learn about? Tell me! ~Kristin

Coaching Staff -- Part VII
The Brilliant Leadership Blog

Having looked previously in this series at the application of the coaching cycle and how a manager/leader can find time to coach, this final installment is aimed at the relationship between coaching and other learning solutions, in particular, training courses.

There are a variety of learning solutions or tools available for helping staff to learn. The most common is to send staff on a relevant training course but there is also the option of using tools such as eLearning, procedural documentation, technical documentation, team briefings, formal education programs, educational books and online articles, forums and blogs. Critically, all of these tools are predominantly knowledge based and they do not, in the main, develop skills, behaviours or attitudes – all of which are required for a staff member to become fully capable in the relevant area.

For example, is it possible to send a staff member on a relevant training course and as a result, for them to become completely competent in that area without any additional intervention?

The answer is – possibly. But only if they are able to practice what they have learned and develop in that specific task or skill area through self evaluation. From a leadership perspective, it will be completely hit and miss as to whether the individual is able to apply what they have learned and become fully competent.

The chances of a staff member becoming fully competent are significantly enhanced if the leader is able to make regular coaching interventions alongside the alternative learning tool. By all means use training, eLearning or any of the other learning and development tools to kick start or support the learning process but they should always be used in conjunction with one-to-one coaching – not instead of it.

One of the common traps managers fall into is to identify a training need (often as a result of the appraisal process) and to arrange for the staff member to attend a relevant training course and then to simply tick the box – job done! Whereas a smart leader will possibly utilise a training course to kick start the process but they will then work with the staff member upon their return to work to develop opportunities for practice, supported by regular feedback interventions.

In short, training courses, eLearning modules, procedural or technical documentation predominantly fulfil the first stage of the coaching cycle – instruction. They simple do not and cannot replace the following four stages of the coaching cycle – demonstration, practice, observation and feedback. These stages can only be achieved by actively coaching staff on the job.

I hope this series on coaching staff has been useful. Becoming an effective coach is a pre-requisite of becoming an effective manager of people – a workplace leader. If you or your company would like any guidance in developing a coaching culture and improving the leadership capability in this area, please contact me via the ELC website to discuss how we can help you move forward.


Simon Cooper is chief executive of the Experiential Learning Centre, author of the exciting new book, Brilliant Leader and architect of the Brilliant Leadership workshops.

Here's the 6th Installment of Coaching Staff from the Brilliant Leadership Blog. Let me know what else you'd like to hear about! ~Kristin

Coaching Staff -- Part VI
The Brilliant Leadership Blog
Previously in this series we have looked at the five stages of the coaching cycle; instruction, demonstration, practice, observation and feedback. But knowing how to coach is only half of the equation. Perhaps one of the greatest barriers to staff receiving the coaching they need is that the leader struggles to find time to coach – it is one of the most common objections that I encounter.

Most people would agree that coaching and developing staff is an important leadership activity but it is rarely urgent – nobody (apart from the staff member involved) is going to notice if you skip a coaching session today but all hell is going to break loose if you miss that project deadline! As a result, coaching doesn’t happen as often as it should and frequently managers will absolve themselves of coaching responsibility by sending people on training courses. We’ll look at the relationship between coaching and training courses in the next part of this series but for now, let’s just focus on how you can find the time to coach your staff.

Firstly, let’s be perfectly clear about one thing. If you are responsible for managing and developing staff, coaching is a core part of your job. No ifs. No ands. No buts. It is part of what you are being paid to do and the main way you can get your staff to perform at a higher level is to help them to become more capable. So, the bottom line is this – you simply have to find time to coach your staff. And here are some suggestions that I hope will help you find that time.

1. Schedule – Build it into your schedule (diarise it if you have to) in order to make a clear commitment to coaching your staff.

2. Delegate – Are you doing things right now that your staff could be doing just as effectively? Is it quicker to do it yourself? Are you hanging on to jobs you like doing? The more you coach, the more you can delegate – trust your staff and learn to let go.

3. Good Enough – Are you a bit of a perfectionist? Do you spend more time than you should on tasks to make them perfect? Can you do them quicker and to a standard that is still good enough? Well here’s the thing – good enough IS perfect!

4. Enjoyability – Are you spending more time than you should on some tasks because you enjoy doing them? Are prioritising these tasks ahead of coaching for the same reason? You don’t need me to tell you that more personal discipline might be required then.

5. Automate – Are there some tasks and functions that could be automated? What are you waiting for?

6. Negotiate – When you ask others to do things for you, do you build in some flexibility to the deadline ‘just in case’? Most of us do. So what does that tell you about some of the deadlines you are working to? Yep, there is often scope to negotiate the deadline and/or the work content in order to buy yourself some more time.

7. Innovate – Use your resources wisely. What tools have you got to help you coach? Are there are other people who could help out with some of the coaching activities. You don’t have to do all the coaching yourself but you do have to make sure it gets done.

There are few things in the leadership role that are more important than coaching and developing staff – yes there are some, but not many. You need to find the time to coach, see it as a core part of your job and prioritise accordingly.

In the next and final part of this series we’ll be looking at how you can combine coaching with training courses in order to make developing staff more effective and more efficient.


Simon Cooper is chief executive of the Experiential Learning Centre, author of the exciting new book, Brilliant Leader and architect of the Brilliant Leadership workshops.

The last few lines of this post from the Leading Effectively Blog really resonated with me and the current situation many of us face: do more, work harder, produce more results... but with non-existent budgets and smaller numbers on your pay stub.

“You do what you’ve got to do. If only challenging times can draw out our best, we are blessed to live in times that refuse to let us rest on our laurels."

The Drive-Thru Pharmacy and Innovation
The Leading Effectively Blog, Center for Creative Leadership
Posted: April 8, 2009 by Doug Riddle

Damien jumped out of the cab and opened the doors for my dinner companions to enter. I cruised around to the front passenger side and got in the door. As he drove us back to our hotels on the edge of the French Quarter I asked how long he’d been driving a cab. “Six years.” Business was up and down. He didn’t really light up until I asked about his day job: “I’m a barber. I’ve been cutting hair since I was 12. Got my license when I was 17. I just thought it was fascinating.”

“I have two chairs...over on the East side of New Orleans. We were flooded out in The Storm and I went to Atlanta...came back about 6 months ago. You do what you got to do.”

I thought about a comment the Chairman of our Board of Governors had made earlier in the evening. “I’m not worried about America.” He explained that the entrepreneurial spirit that yielded drive-through pharmacies would bring us back. He echoed a conviction shared by many of us in the field of leadership: that we will have to innovate our way out of the present recession.

While I’m not persuaded that drive-through pharmacies are the height of innovation, I think they do illustrate our compulsion to find solutions to problems, big and small. When you’re sick, you don’t really want to get out of the car to get your prescription. On the other hand, I tend to think we need to find creative ways to reduce our dependence on the auto in the long run.

Either way, Damien said it: “You do what you’ve got to do.” If only challenging times can draw out our best, we are blessed to live in times that refuse to let us rest on our laurels. Too early for gratitude, I suppose, but perhaps useful to keep our eyes lifted to a far-off light.

Stay innovative,

Doug