As I watch our seasons slip in to Spring I am continually reminded of how something can appear completely dead and useless yet in a few months it can suddenly sprout new growth and flowers and be absolutely breathtaking.
I think people are a lot like that and it is our job as leaders to give the right amount of watering and fertilizer in order to create the environment for them to grow. With our long-term Leadership Program we have watched clients go from Engagement Metrics of only 36-55% of the employees saying they feel empowered, dedicated and valued by the company to within six months shifting that so the scores jump to 80-95% feeling empowered, dedicated and valued.
So what changed? We change the way the leaders think so the way they speak and execute is more of a C Suite level. In this way they are better able to guide employees and create the culture that they want.
Take time today to quickly assess your team’s culture. Is it what you want?
If you find any blame, gossiping or silos, start working on how to change how YOU interact with them in order to change the way THEY interact with each other. You will be amazed at how powerful and how swift those changes can be!
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Outcome Thinking® Solution
How to help employees handle company changes without meeting resistance
by Anne Warfield
SITUATION
We have been going through some massive changes. This has meant that people have shifted positions, we have added new management, we have changed processes and we are moving at a faster pace. This year our company did some phenomenal growth.
I know people are stretched with all the change yet I am finding that people are really digging their heels in with accepting new people. Even new co-workers are often shunned by workers who have been with the company for a while. I find that new managers often face resistance with people not doing what is asked of them. How do I change this?
Other Person’s Perspective:
When faced with a tremendous amount of change the brain starts to shut down and want to resort to the basics. It finds comfort and competence in being able to do things without having to overly think about them. Thus routine brings great comfort to the brain-routine of people you work with, routine of how you do your work, routine of a common day.
Right now you have completely disrupted any routine their brains can count on in order to feel competent. Therefore, their brain goes to the one thing they can control-who they do or don’t accept. In this way their brain tries to control their world by making it smaller and keeping out the “noise.”
Thinking it Through Using Outcome Thinking®:
Your job is to help them find relief points when they feel strapped, separate success from competence so they are willing to take risks and try new things and most importantly to find clear pathways for them to now follow so they CAN feel success.
Best Handled/Phrased:
Your problem solving skills and your ability to inspire are two traits that will need to be utilized over and over during this time period. Multiple talks on how we need to be one team and embrace change will be important. The way that mistakes are handled will determine if people embrace this period or become more protective.
If you handle mistakes by screaming at people or berating them, they learn to not try and implement any change. Thus they will become resistant. If you handle mistakes by doing a consistent debrief process that removes blame and focuses on long term solutions, you will gain trust. This trust will free their brain to take more risks. You absolutely should see yourself as the one responsible for creating a repeatable scalable new process for them to follow. This means if a mistake is made you need to first look at what in the process was broken, how could YOU have prevented it and what do you need to change to make it FOOLPROOF for them to follow.
Once the group feels you are solidly in their court trying to help them succeed they will let down their guard. The more you do this and the more you show how the new leaders are designed to help them get there, the more accepting they will be of the new leaders. Make sure you allow new leaders to build trust with their teams by sending you emails and notes on people who have made great strides or done something to align with the changes. Then you can reinforce the new pattern of behavior by complimenting that worker as well so they know the new leader is looking out for them.
Also as mistakes are made make sure the new leaders are following your same format of supporting the worker by finding the root cause of the mistake, helping to create a FOOLPROOF way to make sure the mistake doesn’t happen again, and then owning the mistake and not throwing the worker “under the bus” but instead stating how the worker is fixing it for the future.
Deal of the Month!
How To Get Your Messages to Cascade Down
For the last fifteen years, Anne Warfield has trained executives from around the world on “HOW TO” communicate, negotiate, and present so they are compelling, concise, and engaging.
This process has generated questions from our clients that have resulted in some of the most insightful, inspiring, and invigorating parts of the Outcome Focus Approach. What you hold in your hands is a compilation of those questions on how to understand and interact with your team in order to become MORE productive.
Click here to register for the “Successful Communication, Brain Style Analysis” Virtual Training, a 90 minute training session with a personalized Outcome Thinking® Communication Assessment included, that you can now watch anytime that is convenient for you.
Quoteable Quotes
“Emphasize a strong commitment to reinvention and self-renewal to keep the entrepreneurial spirit alive. It encourages innovation.”
~Howard Schultz
Would you hire yourself tomorrow?
Would you hire yourself today?
Watch Now as Anne shares how, no matter the position, we’re all leaders. She’ll share several key strengths you’ll need to exhibit
Take these signs with a grain of salt. You want to watch the gestures that accompany these signs or you will erroneously assume that everyone who scratches their nose is lying to you.
“In the past when I presented I would bore then loose the audience.
Now that I’ve learned Outcome Thinking® I have a concise presentation that is goal oriented and I am focusing on the key objects. Bringing Outcome Thinking® in to your company will provide an immediate benefit to meetings as well as all external communications.”
Bill Carroll, Senior Systems Engineer, The Davenport Group
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