So sticking with the goals problem and bearing in mind what I have said, what are the main reasons we fail in our mission and what are the common mistakes we have to watch out for in the goal aspect of our plan?

Problem one: Often we do not spend enough time working on our most focusing on audacious or difficult goal.  Why – easy more comfortable goals can seem more attractive as we get some form of payback in a much shorter timeframe with much less effort.

Problem two: No form of the “SMART” principle is used. SMART stands for “Specific Measurable Attainable Realistic Time-bound” If this formulae is not applied to both the activities supporting the attainment of the goal and the goal itself the plan will be nothing more than some wishful thinking or useless navel gazing.

Problem three: Not correctly defining our compelling reasons the goal and not gaining agreement of the implementers of the action plan that the goal is worthwhile for all stakeholders. The goal must clearly be understood and valued in terms of the accepted vision and mission. It is critical that the goal setter clearly defines the benefits so it inspires those take the actions to stay committed to their tasks. Of course not clearly defining the downside and consequence of not achieving the coal can be part of the problem. We must explain both sides of the coin.

Please come back for part two of  “Goal Setting is Just the Start of the Real Work”

Firstly often individuals don’t realise that what they are going through is a result of severe pressure that are creating dramatic periods of change in the organisation.

Secondly many implementers do not realise that change for the organisation means dramatic and often difficult periods of change for the individual (either at work or in their personal lives).

Thirdly there is often as a result of a ‘poor’ organisational culture a lack of clarity about the organisations goals and expectations.

Fourthly there is a central problem of poor communication by managers and the organisation.

Fifthly There is poorly planned and poorly implementation of the allocation of tasks usually for which staff are not trained.

Sixthly There is for all the reasons below a natural resistance even outright refusal to cooperate when individuals are being asked to do something very different from their normal tasks.

Of course residence is always an emotional response to the pressures of change!

So what are the reasons for resistance?

(Note regarding 10 points below: Original article is Copyright (c) 2003 A. J. Schuler, Psy. D. Permission is however granted to copy this article as long as the following information is included: Dr. A. J. Schuler is an expert in leadership and organizational change. To find out more about his programs and services,  call (703) 370-6545. or visit  homepahe of full article can be found at http://www.schulersolutions.com/resistance_to_change.html Please note I have edited the article and added some of my own thoughts on residence to change.)

1. THE CHANGE PROPOSED IS SEEN AS GREATER THAN THE RISK OF STAYING THE WAY WE ARE A basic fear of the unknown “Making a change requires a leap of faith” and particularly belief that you will reach a better state. “Making a change is all about managing risk” which is difficult if we are heading into the unknown.

2. WE NATURALLY FEEL CONNECTED TO OTHERS WHO ARE IDENTIFIED WITH THE OLD WAY
“We are a social species.”  “We feel a loyalty to those that guided us and worked with us in the past and we are hard wired that way in its ‘not a trivial’ matter to overcome that natural attribute.

3. PEOPLE HAVE NO ROLE MODELS FOR THE NEW ACTIVITY OR NEW WAYS OF OPERATING
Just communicating a vision is not enough. In the early stages of the change process you must get a core group of influencers on board with your idea, so that you or they can demonstrate how the new way can work.  For most people, seeing is believing.  Less rhetoric and more demonstration can go a long way toward overcoming resistance.

4. PEOPLE FEAR THEY LACK THE COMPETENCE TO CHANGE AND/OR THE ABILITIES  NEEDED TO GAIN THE SKILLS REQUIRED
This is a fear people will seldom admit however, change in organisations necessitates changes in skills and many will feel that they won’t be able to make the transition very well.  A successful change campaign must include effective new training programs.

5. PEOPLE FEEL OVERLOADED AND OVERWHELMED
A change effort, is usually accompanied by a fatigue factor that keeps people from moving forward, even if they are telling you they believe in the wisdom of your idea.  Upheaval is tiring and people may resist change just because they are tired and overwhelmed. The perceived risk in a changed scenario activates people’s fears and the basic fight-or-flight response we all possess will come into play and fear can produce its own fatigue. You’ve got to motivate and praise accomplishments as well, and be patient enough to let people vent (without getting too caught up in attending to unproductive negativity).

6. PEOPLE HAVE A HEALTHY SKEPTICISM AND WANT TO BE SURE NEW IDEAS ARE SOUND
It’s important to remember that few worthwhile changes are conceived in their final, best form at the outset.  Listen to your skeptics, pay attention, because some percentage of what they have to say will prompt genuine improvements to your change idea.

7. PEOPLE FEAR HIDDEN AGENDAS AMONG WOULD-BE REFORMERS
Let’s face it, reformers can be a motley lot.  Not all are to be trusted.  Perhaps even more frightening, some of the worst atrocities modern history has known were begun by earnest people who really believed they knew what was best for everyone else. Many reformers have created chaos in the past.

8. PEOPLE FEEL THE PROPOSED CHANGE THREATENS THEIR NOTIONS OF THEMSELVES
Sometimes change on the job gets right to a person’s sense of identity and even attacks their sense of self worth. As a result, people may feel that the intrinsic rewards that brought them to a particular line of work will be lost with the change.  When resistance springs from these identity-related roots, it is deep and powerful, and to minimize its force, change leaders must be able to understand it and then address it, acknowledging that change does have costs, or conversely (hopefully) larger benefits.

9. PEOPLE ANTICIPATE A LOSS OF STATUS OR QUALITY OF LIFE
Real change reshuffles the deck a bit.  Reshuffling the deck can bring winners . . . and losers.  Some people, most likely, will gain in status, job security, quality of life, etc. with the proposed change, and some will likely lose a bit.Some people will, in part, be aligned against change because they will clearly, and in some cases correctly, view the change as being contrary to their interests.

10.  PEOPLE GENUINELY BELIEVE THAT THE PROPOSED CHANGE IS A BAD IDEA
The truth is, sometimes someone’s idea of change is just not a good idea.  Sometimes people are not being recalcitrant, nasty, or foolish when they resist.  They just see that we’re wrong. ?It pays to be mindful that a failure to listen to and respond to people’s rational objections and beliefs is ultimately disrespectful to them, and to assume arrogantly that we innovative, change agent types really do know best.

CONCLUSION

I am currently involved with a charity organisation that is trying to implement a change process based on a more positive vision of the future. This change process is being undertaken at the behest of the organisation’s international headquarters which has seen a decline in world wide membership numbers. A large number of the ageing members of the club are of course resisting as they want things to stay as they are and have always been. The process has in my estimation been badly managed principally due to a poor level of communication and a perceived lack of transparency. The truth is (as I see it) that a lot of the objectors have been too tired or lazy to get involved in the process and don’t understand the why, let lone the how of the process. Additionally due to the large amount of documentation many just can’t be bothered to keep up with developments. This organisation is in danger of imploding due to a core group of individuals that fall either partly or wholly into one or many of the groups above.

It will be interesting to watch the outcome.

p.s. If all this change is too much you may need this… resume example

From this incident I developed a number of ‘LESSONS’ that I posted on Google+

Lesson 1: Respect regardless of position cannot be demanded it must be earned!

Lesson 2: Transparency of the process, particularly during times of change, is paramount.

Lesson 3: If you are in command of an aircraft carrier don’t try to turn as if it were a fighter jet.

Lesson 4: Ensure that ALL key players required for the change are fully engaged in the process.

Lesson 5: Change will always create a level of animosity and fear due to a natural tendency in all of us to wonder… whats it going to mean to me.

A number of people commented and here is an edited selection.

JS – You have to adapt to the rhythm of the team first [ before implanting any changes] and then change their pace from within.

RB – Good point, JS I think it’s necessary to start making changes where you can in such a situation, meetings, small procedures and get people used to being a little surprised.

BB – Better to slow and involve everyone who matters along the way.

TSH – The core rules with any type of change management: understanding the current environment, listening to the cultural noise and getting the requisite feedback before making any decisions. The masses really do have the final word.

BY – What was his level of commitment, really, if he wasn’t willing to stick it out for more than three weeks (confrontation comes with the territory)? Did he present his concepts in a manner for phase by phase changes or, was it an aggressive strategy?

ZK – It’s best to bring change by taking everyone on board. Show them how the new processes would make their jobs easier and transparent.

My interest in the topic increased and during further research I found a great resource in an article by Andrew O’Keeffe of “The Boss” and “Hardwired Humans” fame.

The article:

“PEOPLE ARE OPEN TO CHANGE, AS LONG AS IT IS APPROACHED IN THE RIGHT WAY. UNDERSTANDING INSTINCTS IS A USEFUL STARTING POINT”

Some of the points he makes regarding change are:

“Organisational life is harder than it needs to be. We make it harder because, mostly, our leadership practices are contrary to human instincts. Change is a good example. There is a saying that people resist change. While this might be conventional wisdom, it just isn’t true. If people were hardwired to resist change, we’d still be living in caves.”

“People are fine with change, provided it meets one criterion: that it does not involve loss. Humans are hardwired for loss aversion. This is one of nine instincts we have.”

His article goes on to list the nine hardwired characteristic we have and here is a summary:

1. LOSS AVERSION
Humans are significantly more motivated by the avoidance of loss than the opportunity to gain.

2. EMOTION BEFORE REASON
This filtering for loss is performed instantly, emotionally and often subconsciously. This is because we screen information first based on emotion (how it makes me feel) and only later (sometimes delayed by only a millisecond) on logic.

3. FIRST IMPRESSIONS TO CLASSIFY
People make instant judgments about people and situations as a way to quickly classify their experiences. People readily classify information into categories such as “good or bad”, “harmful not harmful”, “like me or not like me” and “loss or gain”.

4. GOSSIP
If a leader leaves the first impression to chance, then you are probably leaving the communication to the grapevine. People are hardwired to gossip.

5. CONFIDENCE BEFORE REALISM
Humans are hardwired to deny reality – to emphasise what is possible and to underestimate what is practical. This is the instinct that causes business leaders to plan optimistically and disregard implementation.

6. EMPATHY AND MIND READING
Humans are mind readers. We detect how others are thinking and feeling by what’s written on their face. The implication for leaders managing change is that staff will most likely accurately read your intentions.

7. CONTEST AND DISPLAY
Humans spend time, money and energy making ourselves look good. In times of change, we can fall into a primitive trap. The trap is that your actions might be, at an unconscious level, about looking good.

8. COMMUNITY
Humans are social animals. We are hardwired to connect strongest to our family-sized group of around seven people in our “village” of up to one hundred and fifty people.

9. HIERARCHY AND STATUS
Human groups function through hierarchy. When hierarchy and power are unclear, groups become dysfunctional.

If you would like to download a pdf of the full article it can be found at “hardwiredhumans” dot com in the articles-and-media section.

With the amount and pace of change that the world and of course organizations are being forced to deal with at the moment if you are serious about thriving (rather than just surviving) into the future, much of your attention as a leader will need to be focused on the issue of change and how to implement it.

I have read that the ideal problem-solving individual would look something like this:

‘This person will be an effective team worker, original thinker, someone who can work independently, a flexible person and a divergent and convergent thinker who can effectively verbally elaborate and who possesses clarity of written expression. This person also needs to be able to concentrate, be persistent, be willing to be held accountable, posses an innate ability to understand cause and effect relationships, be able to evaluate the quality of ideas and have an appreciation of complexity. He or she must also be able to conduct research, organize and focus on the tasks at hand whilst respecting the limitations on the abilities of others and be highly convincing when presenting his or her point of view or offering up arguments.’

Lets be honest this theoretical individual is unlikely to exist so how do we creatively find and utilize the prerequisite attributes required for effective problem solving?

Before we answer this consider the following “current state of play”:

As business by worldwide technology advances to evolve quickly from locally efficiently managing ‘things, processes and money’, to effectively utilizing innovation and change based on better ‘relationships, knowledge and more flexible systems’, problem solving takes on a whole new dimension. Sure problem solving has always been a major task for business and managers however if we look at the above list of the attributes required for a modern problem solver it becomes obvious that problems will need to be addressed, even on a basic level, by teams selected from mere mortals rather than impossible to find “super individuals”.

The following basic team problem solving process (can’t remember where it came from) can perhaps give us a place to start.

Problem Solving For Teams – Basic Process

1. Define and document the problem. Check that the understanding of the problem is complete and shared by the team. Don’t look for a solution at this stage. Laborious perhaps however if the problem is only verbalized true understanding may be missed i.e. we work like lightening can mean fast to some and inaccurate (never strikes twice in the same place) to others. Leverage on each members perspectives to effectively decide what the key factors are in the situation. Allocate individuals to actively search for the information necessary to really understand the problem.

2. Write down everything known about the situation. Begin with the information contained in the problem scenario (developed in 1 above) and add knowledge that individual members bring. A list of ‘unknowns’ or ‘maybes’ can also be helpful here. The fact that you prepare a list stops any over assertive self-appointed ‘expert’ taking over and dominating the exploration’s direction.

Click below for page… 2

Here they are:

“Excellence is an attitude.”

“No title or position in the world makes you right 100% of the time.”

“Success requires action. Where there is no action, there will be no success.”

“Some people see problems with every solution but successful people see solutions for every problem.”

“Authentic leaders apply the rules equally to everyone.”

“When you lose your credibility you lose your opportunity to lead along with it.”

“Long-term success requires continuous continuous improvement.”

“Life your life in such a way as to make certain ‘what if’ will never apply to you.”

“We don’t have to change friends if we understand that friends change.” (unknown)

“Your greatest power is your power to give.”

” Nothing will improve a person’s hearing more than sincere praise.”

“Authentic leaders are proud but not arrogant.”

“Always treat yourself with the utmost respect – if you don’t, why should anyone else.”

“If you’re not willing to fight for your core values then they probably aren’t really core values after all.”

“It takes much more than winning every time to be a true success.”

“Authentic leaders give as much or even more than they get.”

“Do something. It may be wrong, but I’d rather be wrong doing something than be wrong doing nothing.”

“Good leaders follow the rules. Great leaders change them.”

“It’s not what you are that holds you back, it’s what you think you are not.” Denis Waitley

“Much of our success will be determined by what we STOP doing in the next 12 months.”

“Successful people learn from their own mistakes, the most successful people learn from the mistakes of others.”

“A leader who develops others, adds; a leader who develops leaders, multiplies.”

“You’re making history today & it’s your own so be sure to make it a history you’ll be proud of.”

With business crying out for better managers and leaders perhaps these quotes from Steve will inspire you to become one of those sought after individuals.

Steve Keating tweets at @LeadToday and this blog post was not done without his prior knowledge and is not a pre-arranged plug for him. I jut like the stuff he tweets and thought you may find some value in this small list of his recent musings on leadership and success.

I also tweet and my Twitter handles are: rictownsend with selected tweets on career success at orglearn and on resumes at resume_form.

Tip one: When you use “and” in a sentence don’t use a comma next to it, it is redundant as “and” is a conjunction. I realize there are occasions where it can be correct however, in general terms it is best avoided.

Tip two: Never use the word “but” in your writing, for many, particularly older readers, it is just not considered a good writing habit. Had a copywriter/author friend on his retirement once say to me that he was proud of the fact that in his career he had never used “but” in his writing. As an alternative he did however use “however”, a much better choice.

Tip three: Don’t start a sentence with either “and” (or “but”), this alone will put you out in front of many less professional writers.

Tip four: Try to limit your sentences to a maximum of twenty five words. Long sentences can be confusing to many readers.

Tip five: Do not use capital letters for common nouns. The school, the company, or the city may be ours however none of these nouns need a capital. Even if you are talking about say, your “supervisor”, or company “director”, no capital is required unless you are writing in a situation where you are announcing his or her formal title.

Tip six: If you are going to use and acronym it must be explained the first time it is mentioned in your piece. An example could be; The company is undertaking a TQM project. The first mention should be …“Total Quality Management (TQM)” project.

Tip seven: Avoid jargon at all costs, it is arrogant and more importantly can be so confusing to the reader that the piece you are writing will lose all value.

Tip eight: Avoid clichés such as the one I used above, “at all costs”. These hackneyed old phrases are boring to your reader and smack of laziness on the part of the writer.

Tip nine: Don’t use a big word (three syllables) when a small one will do. It is worth doing some research on the web to understand the value of reducing your “smog index”. If you write as you speak you stand a better chance of being understood.

Tip ten: Present only one idea per paragraph and try to limit your paragraphs to four sentences.

Tip eleven: Put yourself last. You should not use the form, “me and the team”, it should always be; “the team and I”

Tip twelve: Now I am aware that my writing to some English purists is not perfect and in all likelihood neither will yours be. In the hurry to get information out we all take shortcuts and make mistakes. If you want more in depth information this site is a good start: www.alexcommunications.com/style_guide.htm.

I think it is mistake to take it all too seriously however, there are times you will need to write well to maintain your reputation.

Bonus tip: Capitalization in headings can be a problem and the rules and traditions of different countries vary greatly. To be on the safe side you should not use capitals for: articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, nor, so) or the word ‘to’.

These better business writing tips will not make you a perfect writer however, they will go some way if adopted, to making your written pieces more legible and look more professional.

I found this five stage model some time ago however cannot find the original reference. If you read this article and know where the model comes from I would greatly appreciate a comment on this post. It is not my intention to go into a long drawn-out thesis on this topic rather to add a quick guide to the steps required to implement an empowerment program and some discussion of the pitfalls.

The Model

motivation
motivation, support
motivation, support, authority
motivation, support, authority, responsibility
motivation, support, authority, responsibility, competence

Motivation

I have said in many articles and blog posts that it is impossible for one person to motivate another as all people are motivated and depending on what is required by their leader they will constantly move either towards or away from a proposed courses of action. Motivation comes from within and is related to tension created by the need to satisfy a craving for an imagined future state or outcome that is seen as desirable to the motivated individual. What most refer to as motivating others is more correctly “inspiring others”. So what does this mean for empowerment programs? If the staff you want to empower can see no personal benefit in being empowered no empowerment can occur. I once saw a hotel chain try to implement an empowerment program in a resort located on a small island in Asia and it failed as the staff were not motivated to be empowered. Their cultural heritage  was one of “the chief tells me what and how to do things and I just follow the orders and all responsibility for the outcome is the boss’s”.

The first step in any empowerment process therefore needs to be to ask the workforce if they want to have more authority and responsibility regarding their work. This inquiry must be closely linked to what the likely effect will be on both the organization’s goals, mission and vision and on the perception of the staff as to the increased chances of success or failure of that individual in his or her role. At this point in the process it would perhaps be a good time to consider a range of motivational theories and if working across cultures of course Geert Hofstede’s cultural influence model. (see previous posts and orglearn site) Theories and models can’t give definitive answers as each individual is different however they can give a framework to start to explore the possible motivation issues that may arise.

Support

Assuming the motivation issue has been correctly addressed the next question becomes how much support does the empowering individual need to give. I think the best way to look at this issue is to use the Blanchard and Herschey Situational Leadership model where the leaders style changes with the relevant competences of the follower. For example if you are empowering someone to say, make decisions on an entire process, they are likely to have varying degrees of competence (skills and knowledge when applied to a particular problem) regarding various parts of the process. Obviously if the individual being empowered understands the technical aspects of the process little or no support in that area will be needed. If however an individual has little experience in say, the computer skills, associated paperwork, human relationship area or management requirements then you have a two pronged problem. If you give to this individual ‘too much’ technical support you will cause frustration and obviously too little support in the other relevant areas will also cause difficulty and the empowerment program to fail.

Authority

The process of handing authority over is where many attempts to empower have most difficulty. Even with simple delegation most managers are willing to share responsibility however they are reluctant to hand over their ‘legitimate’ authority. With authority comes power and all that goes with it. Regardless of what many will say those that are in a position to empower others are usually very protective of their own power base. When delegating authority we must work to each person’s strengths and avoid conflicts of interest. I will talk about the “strengths” issue further in competence. Regarding the conflicts of interest, suffice to say anyone who puts as an example a sales manager, who is paid commission, in charge of product costing is heading for disaster. I personally saw this “conflict of interests” situation destroy a small company that had operated successfully for eight years that was then destroyed in six months. Not only was the costing sloppy and inaccurate the sales manager didn’t care too much about the profit on each sale as it was easier for him to sell if he could cut the price. Short term thinking perhaps on the sales managers part however when the situation became difficult he just moved on to the next company. A similar conflict situation it appears has arisen in the worldwide banking and investment industry over more recent times.

There is also the question of how much authority to grant. A good basis to make this decision is that you should ensure that  enough authority is given to allow relevant persons to:

Get the work done in a timely and efficient manner
Allow the authorized employees to take initiative if improvements in effectiveness can be achieved and
To keep things operating at least in a normal manner particularly in your absence from the work unit

Responsibility

Remembering that empowerment is not to be confused with regular delegation it is important that those being empowered understand and accept that if they agree to being empowered they also accept responsibility for outcomes. This again is where I believe many empowerment programs fail. Staff will often seek authority however many are unwilling to take on the consequences of their decisions. Empowerment seems to me often to be seen by staff as the right to do things as they see fit, however if it all goes belly up then the stance is, it must be the company’s fault or the bosses fault or someone else’s fault. Typical responses to personal failures can be; the guidelines weren’t correct or another department didn’t do it right or a colleague let them down. If staff are to be empowered they have to understand that they have to make sure that the guidelines suit the tasks they are assigned, that they have to manage inter-department co-operation /operations and that they must through effective teamwork and communication enlist the support of their co-workers.

Competence

I have written a lot about competence over the years and have lead a competence modeling team for a major organization. If you would like to read some of the articles you will find them in past blogs and on the main website.

The technical issues of competence modeling and competence development aside, this final step in the empowerment process is often overlooked. To my way of thinking a mismatch between competence levels and level of empowerment to be granted is a road to disaster. Before you can empower anyone you must closely look at the desired outcomes for the empowerment program you are implementing, analyze the skills and knowledge required and then asses the level of those skills and knowledge in the individuals you are to place your trust in. Detailed instruction and training must then be undertaken to overcome any shortfalls in competence levels before any empowerment can be implemented. The definition I use for competence is “knowledge and skill applied to a particular problem”. It is always a mistake to assume that a person is fully competent. For example if you wanted to empower staff to approve payment terms/loans for your customers you may find that a staff member has a great understanding for wholesalers however little competence in approving terms for small retailers. You would therefore need to give different levels of authority for each market segment. It would also be wise to set up a cross checking system with perhaps another staff member also having to sign off on the retail accounts.

Conclusion: The benefits of empowering staff are well documented and highly desirable. The implementation of empowerment programs however is often fraught with pain and frustration so hopefully the few words above will at least give some readers a skeleton to work with.

Ingrained “meeting rituals” have existed in every organization I have ever worked for. Many meetings through habit or even plain bad practice become nothing more than “disguised working” or even ritualized “social events”.

Often, if we think clearly about it, desired work outcomes from both a time and effort perspective can be achieved through a simple face to face discussion between two individuals, a telephone call or even an email exchange. One good meeting value test is to think about how long has it been since anyone asked “why do we have this meeting”. Because of the obvious politics of organizations this querying regarding value should be instigated by the individual who calls the meeting. To maintain the value of meetings it is wise to periodically go through your meeting schedule and review their effectiveness or whether they are really necessary at all. One indicator that a regularly scheduled meeting has lost its value is that decision makers are no longer attending attending and or if substitutes are regularly sitting in. If this type of behavior is occurring we need to seriously question the validity of the meeting.

Second major meeting issue – is the meeting adding value or just sucking energy?

Before we do anything else we must set a concrete objective for the meeting. If the objective is valid we must review our meetings by asking… is there an agenda and are minutes distributed? Do we make decisions and has anything happen as a result of the last meeting? If there is a negative response to any of these issues the likelihood is that our meetings are merely ineffective energy suckers.

Point: Without an agenda a meeting is nothing more than a “talk-fest”. When the agenda is prepared it must to include a description of the meeting objectives, a list of the topics to be covered, notification as to who will address each topic and strict timing set for each discussion or presentation. It almost goes without saying that the agenda must be strictly followed during the meeting. Make sure as part of the agenda there is time allocated to assess what took place in the meeting and a plan to improve the next meeting.

Third major meeting issue – conducting the meeting.

Quick checklist: Be sure that all input required is actually delivered and do not finish any discussion without deciding how to act on decisions made. Ensure that minutes are kept and are accurate. Ensure your meeting has a timekeeper to keep things flowing and a gatekeeper to deter intruders. If the meeting decides on actions to be taken make sure that there is an agreed measurement of success for each action and a deadline set for completion.

Other meeting issues – danger signs, ask these questions

Is one person often late? One latecomer that keeps six other highly paid executives waiting ten minutes loses one hour of productive and expensive time. Insist on punctuality, start and end on time.

Are arguments usually won by the loudest and most persistent participant rather than the individual with the most logical points to offer?

Are decisions are usually taken based on the perceived status or power, or on suggestions made by the highest ranking position in the room?

Are meetings are often highjacked by those with a secret or personal agenda? This practice must be squashed as soon as it appears.

Is it common for individuals to answer mobile phones or send text messages during meetings?

Has the meeting become a forum for show-offs and corporate politicians?

If any of the above is occurring best remember  Douglas McGregor’s ‘rules’ for effective meetings

Effective Meetings only occur if they have…no tension, no boredom, everyone counts and contributes, no undue deference nor domination by the leader, understanding the goal with commitment by all, relevance is maintained, disagreements are aired without ill feeling, criticism is constructive and freely given, consensus is sought, feelings are expressed as well as ideas and clear assignments are made.

Some more basic ground rules for effective meetings

Ground rules should establish:

An insistence that all participate in a business like manner and be willing to offer opinions or suggestions.

What issues to focus on and that “red-herrings” and or wandering off into side issues will not be tolerated.

That momentum must be maintained and that getting bogged down in issues that can be decided on, or reseached outside the meeting, are not allowed to soak up valuable time.

Decisions must be taken and topics closed when neccessary.

Confidentiality of topics being decided must be respected and meeting activities should not be discussed outside the meeting with others not involved in the process.

At the end of a meeting always review actions and assignments and set the time for the next meeting.

Not a full list however if you can overcome the common shortcoming mentioned and implement the practices suggested you will have meetings of far greater value. Lets face it, most managers will tell you that many of the meetings they attend are just a waste of time.

Wasting your career in useless meetings? Time to meet a new challenge? This resume example may help you to meet a better future.

If you are controlling your work group, rarely leave your department, constantly micro manage all processes to check what the staff are up to, constantly defining what a ‘good’ job looks like, stipulating standards, insisting on a rigorous regime of task methodology or requirements and allocating authority based on tiles and seniority then you are managing.

If however you are freely encouraging a culture of finding ways to develop and implement new ideas, fostering creativity and initiative by letting ‘followers’ participate in a flexible situation where authority is shared and allowing some percentage mistakes for the sake of overall improvement then you are leading.

If you are overseeing the survival of your organization by merely dealing with short-term operational needs and processes whilst strictly controlling costs and watching a budget set by others you are managing.

If you are on the other hand constantly looking for growth through identifying new and possibly risky ventures that could be the basis for future income or if not turning out as you would wish possibly losses you are leading.

Management is about… instructing, allocating, delegating, following up, organizing, overseeing activities, processes & individual tasks, control & supervision and directing whereas leadership is about… inspiring, helping, encouraging teamwork, coaching, supporting,  aligning with your workforce, planning, seeking process improvement, implementing change, agreeing goals and empowering followers.

The concepts of leading versus managing are really quite different however in most organizations managers are expected to play both roles at once. This challenge of almost needing a dual personality is one, that if you wish to gain greater authority in your organization, you will need to deal with for your entire career.

Now if you cannot see the chance for advancement in your current organization that your desire perhaps its time to move on to another. Here is a resume example that may assist in your quest to find a challenging role as a leader manager. resume example

Remember by taking on a management role you will need to accept that with authority comes responsibility. The responsibly you will need to live with is not just to see that the organization’s rules and procedures are followed, you must be able to take responsibility for outcomes, both now and in the future. Bearing responsibility of course is where the real money can be earnt.

Not a silly question, many think they know and don’t. Delegation of a task or activity to someone in our team or department, even though it is a central function of management, is often a greatly misunderstood process. Recently I read a paper by a gentleman with a PhD who stated that delegation was basically the act of “sharing the responsibility for a project’s outcomes”. This is a typical, however incorrect, assumption about delegation.

In a course I facilitated in the past the definition we used was, “delegation is the granting of all or part of your authority to decide or act where you the delegator always retains responsibility for the outcomes”. This delegation definition exposes one of the problems managers have with delegation, as obviously many managers are happy to pass on responsibility, however most them/us want to retain or protect our authority.

The big issue here for many managers I have trained is the issue of having, or developing, the trust in the person to whom they are delegating.

The reasons for delegating are obvious: efficiency, effectiveness, staff training and preparation for succession. The ultimate benefit of delegating is that the delegator, through developing efficient and effective staff will eventually release themselves from their current position so they can move to higher positions. If advancement is a goal it follows that effective delegation is probably the most important competence a manager can develop.

Practical aspects of delegation

Bearing in mind what I have said above the first issue to address is that a manager must be prepared to let go of the desire to undertake the tasks or the implement the actual project him/herself. Secondly, the staff member must be prepared to accept the delegated tasks. Issues of ‘I’m the best at this job’ from the manager’s perspective and ‘why should I do extra’ from the staff member need to be addressed at the outset.

Delegation is not simply asking somebody to perform an activity to help the delegator get his or her work done or finish a project. True and effective delegation requires that the manager explain the purpose of the delegation and conduct the necessary skills assessment or training to ensure the receiver can perform the tasks adequately. The key as I said is to hand over the necessary authority to get what is required done to a fully competent staff member.

The keys to successful delegation are: planning and prioritizing tasks, effective time management, setting of proper agreed deadlines, follow-up at half and three quarter time, giving up favourite tasks particularly after you have been promoted and ensuring the appropriate skills are present in the person being delegated to.

Developing Willing Employees

Effective management requires an ongoing process selecting people that can be trained to take on more stretching tasks. If you are familiar with Blanchard’s Situational Leadership II the method by which you do this will become obvious. By first giving small amounts of authority to complete basic tasks and then by monitoring their progress and making corrections where necessary, is a great way to start.

It is also important to look your group’s workload as a whole. The delegation of tasks will affect the whole group and it is wise to find out how work is now allocated and how much time is available for each member to do new, developmental tasks. It’s a good idea to involve your entire group in the process. All of us are somewhat motivated by a sense of equity and an equitable distribution of both workload and learning opportunities is essential.

For delegation to meet both work and development goals managers need to:

1. Delegate assignments that a team member needs to strengthen areas of weakness.
2. Delegate a variety of activities broaden and add interest to the recipient’s job.
3. Delegate activities that will, if carried out effectively, lead to advancement of the individual/s being delegated to.
4. Remember you may need to delegate in a chain effect. What I mean here is A takes over say two or three of your tasks and B takes over two or three of A’s task’s. You will need to keep a watchful eye on both A and B.

The Four Stages of Delegating

The Blanchard Situational Leadership (or Hershey & Blanchard) model is I believe the best approach. Although the model is used as a “Leadership Model” it still provides a great basis for assessing “what and how much” to delegate to employees. The categories they use are often misconstrued as generalizations about an individuals overall competence. It must be remembered that the categories need to be task specific. This means that employees can be at development level 1 (D1) in one task and perhaps D4 in another. I have changed the level descriptions below from the original model to better reflect the delegation discussion.

1. D1:  Staff member is both unwilling and unable to take responsibility for performing a task.
2. D2:  Staff member is unable however they are willing to do a job task.
3. D3:  Staff member is able however unwilling to perform a task.
4. D4:  Staff member is willing and fully competent to do what is asked of them.

Responsibility of the Delegator for each level is to follow the delegation approach (referred to in the model’s original form “Leadership Style”)

1.      (S1) Telling or directing, characterized by one-way communication in which the delegator defines the task of the person being delegated to and tells them how, when, and where to do it. To gain more commitment and motivation from your employee, then you should of course use a participative style.

2.      (S2) Selling/Coaching for D2 tasks is required as while providing clear direction as to responsibilities, the delegator needs to employ effective two-way communication and emotional support, to get the individual to “buy into decisions that have to be made.”

3.     (S3) Participating (high relationship/low task behavior). Here decision-making and task management is shared between the delegator and the person nominated to do the task – the main role of the delegator is to “facilitate and communicate” and to ensure the approach is based on “high support and low direction”. Low direction is used because the person being delegated to is competent in the task.

4.     (S4) Style 4 – is referred to in the original model as “The Delegating/Trusting Leader” With a task being delegated to someone whose is both competent and willing the delegator just needs to hand over the task. The problem here is that if the delegator is not trusting of the employee taking in the task he or she will tend to over control the situation and frustrate the person doing the job.

If the manager uses the approaches (S1 to S4 above) and remembers to praise people for doing a ‘good’ job, rather than just correcting them when they fall short, great improvements in delegation practices and performance can be achieved.

Another key to effective delegation is to ensure that the individual you have delegated to understands the overall purpose of the project or task being delegated and where it fits into the overall process or operation. Always provide picture of what a successful outcome or output will look like including measurements to be used regardless of the level of delegation or style being applied.

A final point: Keep The Task or Assignment Delegated!

One of the most common reasons for the delegation process to fail is that the manager takes the work back! Do not do this… as an effective delegator a manager must fix the problems not avoid them by taking back the task.

If you delegate effectively remember you will need to evaluate the improvement (or otherwise) on an ongoing basis and… be patient… as successful change and improvement through delegation can take some time.