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Will Obama fairness message stick?

January 24, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Note: Every four years I start following political communications strategies they way some people follow sports.  Like sports, political strategies can be focused, executed with creativity and discipline, and inspire the fans. Similarly they can be a train wreck. 

I think President Obama is onto a potentially powerful message strategy in his campaign speeches. Now, he needs to support that platform  with emotional stories, and convey the three essential messages more clearly and consistently.

The platform is essentially about fairness.

In America we’ve always been greater together than on our own. We succeed when we’re all rising. This  big, inclusive, generous, bold, ambitious vision of America is what’s at stake, is what we’re fighting for.

  1. Every American gets a fair shot if they’re willing to work hard to get ahead.
  2. Every American needs to do their fair share.
  3. Every American plays by the same set of rules.

Our brains react to five threats or rewards: status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness, and fairness. Choosing fairness is both an American value and connects with the 99 percent who are outraged at the inequities of the one percenters, which both Romney and Gingrich are.

Scientists have also found that fairness can be linked to achievement.  “Fairness between strangers at the individual level is what allows social organisms to thrive, and to out-compete more selfish societies, ” according to a Fast Co. article last year about a study done by evolutionary scientist Joe Henrich at the University of British Columbia.

While I think most voters want the “certainty” brain circuits lit in this election — more jobs, stable housing prices, assurances about no new taxes, withdrawal from Middle East — those are things that no politician should promise as he or she has so little control over those outcomes.

But fairness? Fairness provides an opportunity for all boats to rise. And who doesn’t want a better country for themselves AND their family, friends, neighbors and countrymen?

If I were running the Obama campaign I would support the platform by:

  • Share stories of Americans — famous and everyday — who have gotten a fair shot, succeeded, and give back.  Make the message real, emotional and aspirational through individuals’ stories.  Even the President’s own.
  • Highlight people who are doing their fair share — and then some. Social entrepreneurs. Small business owners committed to their employees and their communities. Community college teachers. Hospice nurses.  Tireless community volunteers.  Generous individual donors to vital non-profits. You can whine about how unfair life is, or you can do. Celebrate the doers.
  • Give concrete examples of distorted rules that need to be changed to level the playing field. Specifics make a message real.

During his first term President Obama has not emotionally connected as well as he could with Americans, and what he most believes in seems kind of vague to the average Joe and Jane. People don’t want wonk-ish  explanations. They want to be inspired.

While I am comforted to know that a leader has the intellectual chops to lead amid complexity, most people want a president who “gets them” — feels their pain, their hopes — and has the conviction to make things happen to address those pains and hopes.

Conviction is emotional, passionate, fierce and focused.

Obama potentially can deliver on this. Romney, not so much. Gingrich, potentially.

Let the election communications strategies begin in earnest!

Filed Under: Activating change, Communicating, Language, Leadership, Political communications Tagged With: ,

Open a can of worms

January 11, 2012 By 1 Comment

“How do you think the elephant got in the room?” my friend Maria DeCarvalho asked as we were talking about a messy corporate situation.  “Someone lets them in when they’re small.  Most of us see them but don’t have the courage to recognize a potential problem and get rid of it before it grows into an elephant.”

A  frank and generous executive coach, Maria believes that knowing how to have difficult conversations is an essential leadership skill — and one that few of us have ever been taught.

Rather than ignore signs of disagreement, negativity or skepticism, she encourages people to learn how to open  a can of worms. “You find that once the worms are out of the can and on the table they don’t hang around very long.”

Here’s Maria’s recent blog post explaining how to open up a can of worms. More of her sage advice can be found on her blog.

People are always communicating. Always.

I’m sure you’ve been in plenty of conversations or meetings in which you’ve noticed others roll their eyes, cross their arms, raise their eyebrows, press their lips together, pull out their smartphones, look down or away, exchange quick glances across a table, or just sit there and not say anything.

These messages are as clear and real as if they had been put into words.  In fact, they can be the most important part of the conversation because people are telegraphing how they actually feel.

The trouble, of course, is that it can be awkward and uncomfortable to acknowledge these signals because they seem negative and a little slippery.  They are often subtle, and sometimes they go by quickly.  Who wants to open up a can of worms?

You do.  You’re going to find that once the worms are out of the can and on the table they don’t hang around very long at all.

So, grab your can opener and use these two simple steps to increase the honesty and comfort of conversations in which these behaviors are occurring:

1.  Stop thinking about signals like arm-crossing and long silence as criticism or rudeness and start calling them information. The people who are giving you these signals are letting you know how they feel.

2. Do a quick, friendly check in, just as you do when you are using your listening skills:

  • Bob, you look a little skeptical. What are you thinking?
  • Ted and Sarah?  Is there something you’re worried about that it would help us to know?
  • Garry, I’m sensing there’s something about this that you don’t like.  Where are you on this idea?
  • Anna, I’m sitting here wondering if you’ve sort of checked out of the conversation.  Is there something that’s not working for you?

Notice that each one of my suggestions ends with a  NOW WHAT? request for something back from the person.  That reduces awkwardness and helps move the conversation along.

Filed Under: Activating change, Communicating, Language, Leadership, Organizational change Tagged With:

Effective corporate rebels turn to one another

January 4, 2012 By Leave a Comment

People who change the world in small and big ways, rebel FOR change they believe will make a difference.  They are also keen observers and want to work with others to make the possible real. Over the holidays I had the luxurious pleasure of re-reading author and leadership activist Margaret Wheatley’s book Turning To One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future.

Here’s an excerpt that captures the behaviors of those with a desire to lead.

Turning to one another

Ask “what’s possible?” not “What’s wrong?”  Keep asking. Notice what you care about. Assume that many others share your dreams.

Be brave enough to start a conversation that matters.

  • Talk to people you know.
  • Talk to people you don’t know.
  • Talk to people you never talk to.

Be intrigued by the differences you hear.

  • Expect to be surprised.
  • Treasure curiosity more than certainty.

Invite in everybody who cares to work on what’s possible.

  • Acknowledge that everyone is an expert about something.
  • Know that creative solutions come from new connections.

Remember, you don’t fear people whose story you know.  Real listening always brings people closer together.

Trust that meaningful conversations can change your world.

Rely on human goodness. Stay together.

– Margaret Wheatley

Filed Under: Activating change, Communicating, Corporate Rebels, Innovation, Language, Leadership, Organizational change, Problem solving Tagged With: , , , ,

Video: rethinking innovation, organization, leadership

December 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment

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Purpose = Profits

November 29, 2011 By 1 Comment

Check out this analysis by Morgan Stanley of some of the largest public tech companies in the world: Companies with “simple, focused” missions achieve the biggest gross margins.

Fascinating, yes?  Note that QlikView and Salesforce have the biggest gross margins AND more simple, focused missions than the other companies.

A clear mission is so valuable, but so many companies struggle with finding the courage and commitment for standing for something.  Or they fall into gobbledygook corporate speak that lacks inspiration and clarity. Or the “mission statement by consensus” process is so draining that people end up with “whatever” missions rather than something simple and great.

Big hint: If  the mission process gets painful, you have the wrong people involved.

(See the story that accompanied the chart over at Harvard Business Review, “Employee Values = Stakeholder Value” by Lars Bjork, CEO of QlikTech.)

Filed Under: Activating change, Communicating, Language, Leadership, Organizational change, Smart company stories Tagged With: , , ,

The most important role of a speaker

November 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Organizations pay big money to bring in professional speakers. Some are funny, others are inspirational, many are informative.

As a speaker my aim is to provide all those things. But what matters most to me is moving people in such a way that they have meaningful conversations following the speech. Conversations that matter about their lives, their work, their businesses.

It is through conversations that we learn.

A college student came to one of my recent speeches as part of her work-study program at a Boston college’s communications department and wrote this critique.  The second to last line makes me understand that the event was a success.

As for the speaker/author Lois Kelly – she was phenomenal! My grandmother is dying of cancer and my mother’s relationship directly parallels Lois’ relationship with her mother.

Lois Kelly was funny and interesting, while also respecting that she was discussing a heavy topic. She was serious when she needed to be, but followed those moments up with something positive and uplifting. I was tearing up at multiple parts of her talk, mostly because I could relate to what she was saying.

I believe that her ability to relate to and engage the audience is what made her so great. She had a funny PowerPoint to go along with her talk and add a visual aid. I left feeling comfortable and uplifted. My mother left with a new perspective.

The event sparked a 2 hour long conversation between my mother and me about everything we had experienced. I would say it was a success!

 

 

Filed Under: Activating change, Communicating, Musings Tagged With: , ,

Five questions for finding the right boss

November 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Hi Lois,

I love your Foghound website and specifically your concept of rebels in the organization. Guess what, I identify with this and am the rebel. It has not always been with a positive outcome. I am wondering if you have any ideas on how to find the “protectors” within an organization for these people. Specifically, if one was to interview for a job, how would you know if this potential boss would give the rebel freedom and protection?

Any thoughts are appreciated. This is definitely something I think about.

 

Finding the right boss is crucial for corporate rebels. With the right “protector” you can feel safe in creating change and new ideas that will make a difference. Plus, a good boss can help guide you through the complexities of organizational politics and decision making.

Here are some job interview suggestions to help you figure out whether the person would be a good boss:

1. What is the organization trying to achieve?  This reveals whether a clear organizational purpose exists. When there is a clear purpose, rebels have a much easier time because they can link their  new ideas to how they support the big organizational goal or purpose.  When goals and purposes are fuzzy, rebels can get caught in an unproductive eddy of questioning the validity of the proposed idea.

2. What’s possible that hasn’t yet been done in this [field|company|organization) or  What are the greatest opportunities for the organization? This helps you see if the potential boss is a forward-thinking idea person. (Aside: A corporate rebel recently told me that her new CEO  told the top execs to stop thinking about new ideas and focus their energy on executing his strategy (which they disagreed with).  That no-possibilities boss is losing some of his best talent.)

3. What do you especially like about the organization’s culture and work environment? The response to this will uncover whether the person is positive and appreciative of the strengths of the organization, or a Debby Downer who defaults to problems and negativity.  From my observations, positive, optimistic bosses are more open to –and appreciative of — rebels.

4. What’s the best assignment/project you’ve ever been involved with?  What made it so fulfilling? Does the person  most value implementation or creating new things? This idea helps you understand what makes the person tick.  Rebels need a boss who veers more to the creating new things mindset.

5. How do you support people who question approaches that may no longer be effective and see alternative ways to do things?  How a person answers this will be more telling than the words themselves. Is the person comfortable with the question?  Does the answer flow easily and naturally — or does it take a bit  to find the words? Does it sound like the person truly values truth-telling idea people? Or do you detect some annoyance? Does the response indicate that people regularly bring up ideas and the boss has a genuine and comfortable way to support those people and ideas?

Lastly, look around the work environment.  Do you sense a lot of energy and positive buzz?  Or is there a hushed, disengaged feeling? I know this is a bit touchey-feely, but the environment speaks volumes about whether it’s a place rebels can thrive. After walking around the offices of a big ad agency last year, I instantly knew the company was not steeped in creativity.  It was too quiet. People were heads down in their cubicles. There were few fun things tacked around cubicles and common spaces. Sure enough, eight months later I heard the agency had lost three big clients.

Ask your potential boss good questions, and find time to walk around.

 

Filed Under: Communicating, Corporate Rebels, Language Tagged With: , ,

CEO Barbara DeBuono: Leading with questions

November 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Executives can lay out a goal and what they think needs to be done to achieve that goal.  People then (hopefully) follow orders and business moves ahead.

This traditional leadership approach cultivates a follower culture. Yet, follower cultures don’t cultivate creativity, innovation, transparency or engagement.

Barbara DeBuono, CEO of Orbis International, takes a different approach, one that more and more highly-effective leaders are adopting: she poses important, provocative questions and then facilitates and guides meaningful conversations. Conversations where people figure out together the ways they believe the organization can best achieve the goal.

She explained the approach to The New York times’ Adam Bryant in the “Corner Office” column:

I asked a group of people at Orbis, “Do you think we’re a high performing organization?” and then I shut my mouth. I wanted them to give me the answer.

I also asked them, “What do you think a high performing organization would look like?”

The next question I ask: “Do you want to be one? And if so, what is a high performing organization? Let’s discuss what it is.

Barbara explains that taking this kind of honest, open conversational approach gets people to drop their defenses, opens up honest conversations about difficult issues, and creates a new energy level among people. “I definitely see a spring in people’s step,” she remarked.

I’m noticing that those who lead effectively:

  • Ask important questions
  • Make it safe for people to have real conversations about the issues
  • Listen intently
  • Trust that the group will discover how to move things forward

Filed Under: Activating change, Communicating, Leadership, Organizational change, Problem solving Tagged With: , ,

Bill Cunningham: passion, purpose, positivity abounds

November 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment

There’s nothing more contagious than a person who is so positive and so passionate about work, work that has a real purpose and meaning to them.

If you want to immerse yourself in that energy and creativity for 84 minutes, check out the documentary film about Bill Cunningham, the maverick and lovable New York Times fashion photographer, who has carved out a unique career capturing on-the-street fashion.

He’s such an optimist, such a perfectionist, and such a delight to see at his work.  I also like that he sees the best in people and life, surprising for one who has been in photo-journalism, New York and fashion for so many years. (Then again, he is originally from Boston and we Bostonians are a passionate tribe.)

PS — most 33 year-olds would have a hard time keeping up with this 83 year-old artist!

Here’s the trailer for the documentary:

Filed Under: Communicating, Corporate Rebels, Musings Tagged With: ,

Social IT revolution calling for new ways to lead

October 24, 2011 By 1 Comment

New York Times columnist and author Tom Friedman had a fascinating article in yesterday’s paper about the United States’ two current revolutions — Wall St. and Silicon Valley. In the article Friedman includes Marc Benioff’s description of the IT revolution, which he calls SOCIAL.

  • S = speed
  • O = open. “If you don’t have an open environment inside your company or country, these new tools will blow you wide open.”
  • C = collaboration. “This revolution enables people to organize themselves within companies and societies into loosely coupled teams to take on any kind of challenge — from designing a new product to taking down a government.”
  • I = individuals. “People are able to reach around the globe to start something or collaborate on something farther, faster, deeper, cheaper than ever before — as individuals.”
  • A = alignment. “The power of social media is that it is easier than ever to both articulate, and reinforce, the vision and values that create and inspire alignment.”
  • L = leadership. “In a SOCIAL world leadership has to be a mix of bottom-up and top-down. Leaders need to inspire, enable, and empower everything coming up from below in a company or a social movement and then edit and sculpt it into a vision from above into a final product.”

From my observation working with large organizations, the greatest opportunity — and challenge — for companies is the Land the A. The I’s seem to be quickly  adopting the S, O and C.

As companies plan to roll-out internal social collaboration platforms like Sharepoint, Newsgator and Jive, they worry a lot about putting rules and guidelines around what employees can and cannot do.  Many fear what might happen if employees can connect freely. How are we going to prevent “them” from saying or doing inappropriate things, they ponder.

The bigger question to me is how is social changing how we lead? 

  • How are we going to help and recognize managers to do and say more appropriate things that will make a difference to business outcomes?
  • What new competencies will help managers tap into the extraordinary potential value?
  • What traditional management practices are no longer as relevant — and what is emerging as more relevant?
  • What might be possible if leaders were more passionate, and less fearful about SOCIAL?

Filed Under: Activating change, Communicating, Innovation, Leadership, Organizational change, Social media strategy Tagged With: , , , ,

WE: How great leaders create an engaged workforce

October 11, 2011 By 2 Comments

Always fascinated by insights and research on how leaders inspire and engage people, I recently talked with Kevin Kruse, author of the best-selling book WE: How to Increase Performance and Profits Through Full Engagement.

Based on millions of employee surveys with organizations around the world, Kevin and his co-author Rudy Karsen found that the three most important drivers of engagement are:

  1. Growth: Team members need to feel they are growing in their careers and learning new things.
  2. Recognition: Team members need to feel that their ideas and accomplishments are appreciated.
  3. Trust: Team members need to trust senior leadership and feel confident about the future.

Here are highlights of our conversation: 

What attracted you to writing about engagement? Why does the world need this book, at this time?

Well as a business leader I always cared a lot about trying to create an empowering culture for employees, and I had won a Best Place to Work in PA award and things like that. But one night, during our annual holiday party, the wife of someone who worked for me came up and said she wanted to thank me for making her marriage better. I really had no idea what she was talking about. She went on to explain that her husband used to be so grumpy when he came home from work, but since he started working for me he went back to being the man she married.

That was pretty powerful. It was long before I understood how our emotions at work spill over to our personal lives and cross over to those around us. But that was when I got the idea that I really wanted to dig into “engagement” and figure out ways we could make it more accessible to everyday managers. As it turns out, job satisfaction is at a record low according to the Conference Board so I think the timing is really good for a book on the subject.

What are the qualities of employees who are especially engaged with their work? What makes them that way?

People who are engaged at work are highly satisfied with their jobs, but they also exhibit more pride and advocacy about the company they work for, and stay with the company longer. All this leads to higher levels of service and productivity, which of course drives higher levels of sales and profit.

In terms of what drives engagement, it’s of course situational. But based on Kenexa surveys of over 10 million workers in 150 countries and on my own experience as an entrepreneur, it usually comes down to three things. Employees want an environment that fosters growth, recognition and trust. Those are the three keys.

If you were on a board interviewing potential CEOs, what qualities would you look for — and why?

Funny you should ask! I am on the Board of a community bank and we just hired a new CEO. Whenever I’m hiring a leader for one of my businesses I always look for high energy–someone who talks and acts like they’re on a deadline, who is driven by growth. And they need to be able to succinctly state the challenge and action steps ahead. I’ve never had a business plan that was longer than one page. We don’t need to make things more complex than they are. All businesses have three constituents: investors, employees and customers. What must we do, right now, to improve metrics in each area. That’s it.

What questions should people ask during job interviews to assess whether the corporate culture is positive, collaborative and flourishing?

Well, it’s always best to talk to people on the inside. Like Kevin Bacon, everyone should be only a few degrees of separation from someone on the inside and having a healthy LinkedIn network is one way to do that. But in the interview itself you should ask what happened to the person who held the position before it was open. You should ask about which decisions are made as a team, which are made by a single individual. Make sure to get a tour of the office you’ll be working in so you can sense the vibe. Is it quiet like a library or mausoleum — or are people working together and making a buzz? Do people have a lot of fun personal effects in their cube — or just bare walls? Tall cube walls — or open space? There is no one right answer, but just make sure it fits your own work personality.

There’s so much written about employee engagement today. What are the three most important things for leaders to understand about this topic? Conversely, what do people obsess about when it comes to engagement that doesn’t matter all that much?

Engagement is all the rage both because it’s important to growth and profits, and it’s also really low in most organizations. Business leaders first need to realize that they need to care about it. Second they need to act like they care. I mean, they need to measure it, reward to it, make sure it’s not a fad. When Doug Conant took over Campbell Soup to turn it around he focused on two metrics: shareholder return against comparable companies, and the number of engaged versus disengaged employees.

The biggest misconception is that employee engagement takes a lot of time and money. It doesn’t. It means using your existing time differently. Managers meet with their direct reports all the time, but they need to make sure to spend some of that time talking about the career goals of team members. Managers have a hundred interactions with their team each day…but how many of them are to say “thanks” or “good job” in a sincere way. CEOs routinely hold “town hall” meetings or send company wide announcements, but how often are they repeating their big hairy audacious goal like a broken record. These are things that count.

What could the United States be if more citizens were engaged?

Let me answer this two ways. Our emotions at work impact all areas of our life. So if more of us were engaged at work, we all would be healthier, have stronger marriages, our kids would do better in schools and incidentally we’d gain about $350 billion in productivity according to Gallup. When it comes to engagement with our country, while I don’t know what our nation would “be”, I can tell you that the reason why we are so disengaged with government and our leaders in Washington is because we don’t feel like we’re growing or advancing and we absolutely don’t trust our leaders to take us to a better place.

Filed Under: Activating change, Books, Communicating, Leadership, Organizational change Tagged With: , , ,

Unexpected finding: what leaders really want

October 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment

A Fortune 50 company recently completed a comprehensive two-year talent development program for high-potential leaders.

The company invested heavily — creating innovative games and technologies to help people understand the business, bringing in big ticket leadership speakers, and investing in expensive  development methodologies by some of the world’s best-known leadership gurus.

When asked what they found most valuable about the program, these high-potential leaders said they loved having unstructured time to talk with one another.  Despite the millions invested in the program, what they found most helpful is something that costs little.

Having time to talk with one another was the best part of the program. We had some great conversations during those unstructured 20-minute walks and over meals. We hardly ever get the chance to talk with peers from other divisions. And we hardly ever get the chance to talk without a formal agenda.  Getting to know one another — and know we can talk with one another about issues — was invaluable.

We’re under more pressure than ever before in business, with seemingly every minute booked in meetings and conference calls.

Yet carving out occasional, unhurried time to think out loud with colleagues we rarely spend time with — without an agenda or dreaded PowerPoint presentations –  may be one of the best uses of our most limited resources: time.

 

Filed Under: Communicating, Leadership, Organizational change, Problem solving Tagged With: , ,

Keep asking political leaders this one question?

August 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I have an idea about how we regular citizens might be able to focus our political leaders on want we want and need — vs. what they need to get re-elected.

What if every time a political leader sponsored a bill, gave a campaign speech, or pronounced a campaign pledge/message, we asked them this question:

How does this do the most good for the most people?

I’m weary of how politicians of every party cater to special interests and the issues that rile people up — or at least get them the most media sound bytes.  I’m disgusted with the blame game. I’m embarrassed that leaders and potential leaders manipulate people around issues that have little to do with governing, but a lot to do with garnering support to be (re) elected.

I want clear answers to this one question so that I can understand what I’m voting for. Or shouldn’t vote for, as the case may be.

Our country, our states, our cities and towns have limited resources, and are likely to become far more limited as we reduce the rate of government spending. So given these resources, how do we make decisions and support programs and policies that do the most good for the most people?

I’m fairly educated, but man oh man, I can hardly make sense of what I hear and read from our government leaders. Isn’t it time we demanded clarity so more of us can understand what’s what? So that more of us can actively take a role in helping our elected leaders serve us — the big collective us, not fringe and special interest groups.

Asking this question is a small action, but maybe if we all get behind it (or something like it) we can make a difference.

Please take this idea and make it yours. If you think there’s a more powerful way to phrase the question, please share that.

I intend to use this question often and with discipline — during my senator and congressman’s town hall teleconferences, adding comments to politician’s blogs and sites and on general media sites, Tweeting after watching campaign stump speeches, writing personal emails and letters to officials while they are debating on potential legislation.

What do you think?

 

Filed Under: Activating change, Communicating, Language, Leadership, Political communications Tagged With:

Courage to lead: Providence Mayor Angel Taveras

June 15, 2011 By 2 Comments

True leaders are rare. Especially among  elected government officials, who tend to make tough decisions based on how it will affect their re-election chances.

One of those rare leaders is Providence Mayor Angel Taveras,  guiding the city and its people through some exceedingly painful yet necessary decisions in order to fill a $110 million  deficit.  And Providence isn’t just any city. It’s been historically  fraught with corruption, closed-door wheeling and dealing, and an unhealthy influence of self-serving insiders.

I often hear people excuse leaders’ inability to lead, saying things like, “Well he’s got a complicated situation to deal with.” Or, “It will take years for anyone to be able to change this place.”

Yet Taveras is deftly guiding the city through difficult change in order to get on firm financial footing. Imagine being a first-time urban city mayor and having to make tough decisions like closing schools and laying off community teachers, firefighters and police?

Despite these always unpopular decisions, Traveras is earning respect and collaboration from his constituents. The reason? He’s focused on doing what’s right, and working WITH diverse constituents. He isn’t dictating how to get to financial stability; he is collaborating in the true sense of the word with the people in the city who best know how to make changes on a tactical level.

Six critical leadership competencies that Taveras brings as mayor:

  1. Focus on a clear, shared goal: restoring the city to a sound fiscal foundation. Taveras’ message is clear about the urgent need to solve the deficit crisis.  Period.
  2. Honesty: revealing the city’s dire financial situation right after his election. No spinning bad news. No taking time to socialize ideas and tend to politics. Taveras has been a straight shooter, presenting the reality, and calling for people to come together to figure out solutions.
  3. Transparency, sharing: sharing the data to help everyone make better decisions.  Fire union president Paul Dougherty recently said that previous mayoral administrations would withhold financial information and often say, “Find it yourself.”  Taveras’ negotiators, however,  have “been straightforward, and they give you information when you ask for it.”
  4. Admitting missteps: acknowledging mistakes and learning from them. “They’re right,” said Taveras of crticism from the teachers union on how the city revealed teacher layoffs. “We certainly could have done a better job with our teachers and I learned from it.”
  5. Not having the answers: great leaders set goals and ask people with a stake in the outcome to create the best way to achieve those goals.  This approach speeds change. The solution isn’t dictated from above, it’s created by the people closest to the issues who know the issues, and will  be responsible for executing them. Taveras doesn’t claim to have the answers, and believes that Providence’s leaders have the ability to create the “how” now that the why is so vitally clear.
  6. Belief and fortitude: Taveras has a steadfast belief that the city will solve its problems, and he’s steadfast in his belief and his values. “He’s showing me intestinal fortitude that I didn’t think he had,” says Joseph Rodio, a lawyer for the police union. “Most politicians, in their first 60 days in office, become somebody different. He hasn’t.”

Quite simply, Mayor Taveras seems to have the courage to govern for the people and with the people.  That’s the type of leader — not politician — we should be supporting if we really want to make our cities, states and country a better place to live.

 

Filed Under: Activating change, Communicating, Leadership, Political communications, Problem solving, Smart company stories Tagged With: , ,

Extreme frustration = compliance or dissent

June 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment

What happens when frustrations in an organization reach a boiling point?

People either check out and say, “Just tell me what I need to do.”

Or they get angry and act out, “We’re mad as hell and aren’t going take this crap any more.”

Compliance or dissent. Both  suck the life out of people and an organization.  At least the vocal dissenters are engaged enough to care and want to do something to improve things. The compliant auto-pilots are much more checked out.

Yet my new research on corporate rebels, to be released in two weeks, finds that executives are far more annoyed with the dissenters who challenge the status quo.  They’re even more annoyed when their leadership decisions are questioned.

Last week I heard a story about a well-regarded, passionate physician at a major teaching hospital who questioned his executives’ decisions in a public forum. Her intention was well meaning. But she was shown the door two days later after years of service. Guess how many talented, frustrated people at that institution are likely to slide right into compliance.

Compliance at a time when heath care desperately needs creative solutions.

What’s a leader of a frustrated organization to do?

  • Open your mindset. People are not challenging you personally. They see problems they want to solve. They aspire to do work that means something more than just putting out today’s fires.
  • Articulate a purpose. Yours as a leader (See this great post from Harvard’s Bill George, “Why Leaders Lose Their Way.”)  Yours as an organization. Why do we exist — beyond the generic  “delivering a profit to our shareholders” or “delivering quality health care.”
  • Change how your organization runs meetings so that everyone has a say. Open by going around the table and asking each individual to share his or her observations and insights.  Try it. You’ll begin to accomplish more and people will feel more valued.
  • Involve people in creating the tactics to achieve the big goals and strategy.  People don’t resist change. They want change. They resist acting on plans that they don’t think are the best way to achieve the goals. This is a different, more collaborative way of creating plans. It might take longer than a few people hunkered in a conference room to bang out the plan in three days. BUT if you tap into people’s collective brilliance, they will come up with tremendous ideas and then MAKE THOSE IDEAS HAPPEN.
  • Know that you don’t have to have all the answers. Your job is to inspire people around a simple but powerful vision of what you’re aiming to accomplish, Your job is to ask new questions. To listen.  To provide more ways for more people to have a voice and know that what they do, think and say matters. To let people vent when their intentions are good. (Angry, destructive people should be booted out, of course.)

People want their work to matter. Let their voices be heard. Involve them in creating better ways.  It may be the only way to succeed in a world of  such seismic change.

Filed Under: Activating change, Communicating, Corporate Rebels, Innovation, Leadership Tagged With: , ,
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