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Category: Operations

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Growth Leadership Operations Personal Development

Deliver the Kind of Customer Service That Would Make Radar Proud!

Do you remember the hit TV show M*A*S*H, which played from 1972 to 1983, and was based on the novel and movie by the same name? While you might consider the show a sitcom, many critics viewed it as a “dramedy,” instead of a comedy, because of its heavy dramatic setting, which was a medical unit during the Korean War. Sure, the show created a lot of laughs, but the message behind the show was very serious. But what does M*A*S*H have to do with customer service?

One of the characters of the show, Corporal Walter “Radar” O’Reilly, played by Gary Burghoff, actually was the customer service department for the M*A*S*H unit. Radar worked for Colonel Potter, who led the unit. It always led to laughs whenever Colonel Potter barked out a request for a file, only to have Radar walking into his office with that file, even before the Colonel had finished making his request. It was as though he could read his leader’s mind, or as his nickname indicates, as though he had radar.

This frequently-played humorous incident from the show reminded me of another incident – an interview I had recently with a potential employee who was applying to be my assistant here at Shepard Presentations. During the interview, I asked her, “What makes a good assistant?” She simply replied, “Radar O’Reilly.” When I asked her to explain this unexpected, brief answer, she said, “Oh, that’s the kind of assistant I want to be – knowing what you want before you even ask for it.”

I thought it was an excellent response. Whether you are assisting an executive or assisting a customer, one of the many attributes of someone who delivers outstanding customer service is the ability to anticipate a customer’s needs – like Radar, knowing what he or she wants even before they ask.

This doesn’t take E.S.P., Extra Sensory Perception, which is the ability to read minds. Instead, it takes what I call E.A.P., or Extra Awareness Perception, which is the ability to know more, because you are simply more aware and are paying closer attention than the average employee. That’s it. Just pay close attention to your customers, their behaviors, and their habits. When you begin to study your customers, and get to know them and their habits, you’ll be able to anticipate or predict, with uncanny accuracy, what they will ask for next – sometimes even before they know they need to ask.

So, as we think about Radar O’Reilly’s uncanny ability to anticipate Colonel Potter needs, see if you can also determine what your customers are going to ask for next. If you try it, you may find that your guess is more accurate than you think. Take the initiative and deliver a standard of customer service that would make Radar proud. The result will be … customer amazement!

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Best Practices Growth Human Resources Management Personal Development Women In Business

How to Engage Listeners With the Surprising Pause

Power Speaking Skills: Strategies to Engage Listeners With the “Surprising” Pause:

In this video, Maria demonstrates how to engage your business listeners with the power of the Surprising Pause and make your delivery truly compelling.

The Successful Speaker, Inc. video series provides speaking strategies that will help you enhance your credibility and leadership presence during meetings, sales presentations, conversations with senior management, networking events, and even by phone.

The video series addresses every aspect of successful speaking, including how to sound authoritative, speak with credibility, master active listening, and engage your listeners. The videos also provide speaking strategies rooted in theatrical performance, providing tips on how to build belief and captivate your business listeners.

The Successful Speaker, Inc. videos will help you get more YES’s whenever you speak for business. Learn how to enhance your credibility and speak with passion, persuasion, and pizzazz.

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Entrepreneurship Human Resources Management Marketing Skills Women In Business

Homage to the Master Storyteller

Nope, it’s not Steven Spielberg, or even Dr. Seuss. It’s Hans Rosling.

Never heard of him? After today, you’ll not only have heard of him, but you’ll wish you’d done so years ago.

The late, great Dr. Hans Rosling passed away on February 9, 2017. A professor of public health, he was the master of taking arguably mundane data – and lots of it – and one of the most boring forms of visual presentation – the graph – and transforming them into a mesmerizing story that made you forget you were learning.

So for anyone out there who uses the excuse that the information you have to share “isn’t all that exciting” to defend why their presentations are uninspiring, after reading this post, that excuse no longer exists.

See for yourself in this BBC video where he analyzes the life-expectancy-to-income ratio of 200 countries over 200 years… in about four minutes. As you watch, you’ll be amazed at not only how much he accomplished in those four minutes, but at how much you actually learned… not to mention how much you enjoyed the experience in the process.

The key lesson for our purposes here is something he states in the first few seconds of the video: “I know that having the data isn’t enough. I have to show it in ways people both enjoy and understand.”

Talk about a one-two punch; let’s face it, most people are satisfied if they can get people to understand their data. The idea of combining that with having the audience actually enjoy hearing about it… that seems almost as likely as finding a unicorn.

There is huge differentiator that most people fail to grasp: the amount of information you present in no way naturally correlates to the amount of information the audience absorbs. That part is 100% up to you to make the information both comprehendible and ideally interesting, so it’s not just that the audience can understand what you’re saying, but they actively want to understand it, and then ask for more.

That’s why Professor Rosling was the master. For most of us, we’ll claim that of course global public health is important to us on a general level, but it’s not something we’ll go out of our way to learn about. But from the moment he starts talking, we are practically compelled to keep watching, genuinely curious to see where he goes next.

So what’s the secret sauce to being this good?

I’ve worked with a lot of people in this area, and there are some really important commonalities regarding the challenges that they face, and where Professor Rosling excels. Let’s break down the ingredients into three categories: Visual, Verbal and Vocal.

First: Visual. This one’s easy. As the adage says, “A picture is worth 1000 words.” When graphs or other visual aids are easy to see and understand, the audience just “gets it,” allowing you to share more information much more efficiently. His body language also flows with the picture, and matches his level of enthusiasm as he speaks, which makes it all feel very natural, and draws you in.

Second: Verbal. He’s a globally-renowned expert, but he doesn’t try to prove this by using lots of technical terms or speaking over the viewers’ heads. He uses language everyone can understand, and breaks his points down into distinct sentences with a clear beginning and end. It’s not a rambling stream of consciousness as he figures out what he wants to say. He is crystal-clear on what each point needs to be, and he delivers them on a silver platter, one by one, making it easily digestible for the audience.

Third: Vocal. Without looking at his script, how can you tell where sentences (and points) start and end? Because you can hear it. At the end of his sentences, you can hear where there is a period or exclamation point based on the intonation changes in his voice: there is a low drop for periods, and the sentence or last word may rise in pitch until the very last second and then quickly fall to indicate excitement, i.e. the exclamation point. Where a phrase is not the end of a sentence, his pitch often goes up to indicate a comma, and then the rest of the sentence follows, culminating in the voice-drop. And at the end of his sentences, there is a brief pause, which allows you to process what he just said, and prepares you for the next nugget to come.

(For those of you who need to hear/see some examples of these vocal concepts and the ones that follow, check this short little video here.)

Intonation contrasts – otherwise known as tonality, i.e. where you put the high and low pitch points in your speech – have an additional value beyond implying punctuation and grammar: they are chiefly responsible for conveying interest. He “punches” important key words with higher pitch and draws them out a bit in a way that sounds more enthusiastic. It captures the audience’s interest, and even makes it easier for them to cognitively process the key points, aiding in comprehension.

Plus, the audience will feed off the speaker’s energy before they process what they heard. Dr. Rosling genuinely loves his subject, and his passion for it comes through with each fact he shares, and it’s contagious.

As a point of contrast, reflect back on actor Ben Stein’s most infamous character, the economics teacher in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, who epitomized the world’s most boring teacher. While that was funny in the movie, the sad truth is that he more accurately reflects the typical speech style of people at your average office meeting or presentation than Professor Rosling.

The good news is that the typical standard of mediocrity in how people share data can be raised, and I challenge you to do it. While you may not have all the fancy computer graphics at your disposal, you can use these simple verbal, vocal and visual strategies to tell the story of your data rather than just plod through your statistics one by one.

Better yet, you can also use his software to bring your data to life if you so choose. At Dr. Rosling’s site, Gapminder.org, he gives it to you for free through open licensing, and even shows you how to use it.

So thanks, Dr. Rosling, for inspiring the world in two ways: with all that you have done in the world of public health, and for modeling how to make even the most “boring” data compelling through the art of storytelling.

********

Do you have questions or comments about the issues in today’s post, want to know how to apply them, or how to help others with them? If so, contact me at
laura@vocalimpactproductions.com or click here to schedule a 20-minute focus call to discuss them with me personally!

Categories
Growth Human Resources Leadership Personal Development

“Don’t Say Anything But…” Four Reasons Why People Won’t Have Fearless Conversations

As a leader, has an employee ever come to you and said, “Don’t say anything but my co-worker isn’t doing his/her job.” Or, “My co-worker, is being disrespectful to us (the team).” Or, “Sarah is avoiding me and I need information from her.” Somehow, because you are the leader, you are supposed to magically solve these complex people interaction issues without any data other than hearsay comments.
What are the consequences of this lack of communication and/or the avoidance of challenging conversations? Certainly, there will be wasted time; possibly poor quality products or services; likely delays to customer services. It is nearly impossible to measure the negative impact of a lack of communication. Intuitively we know it increases costs, causes delays and damages relationships, and damages employee engagement.

In 2003 the Columbia Space shuttle reentered earth’s atmosphere at 18 times the speed of sound. The 7-person crew died seconds after the ship disintegrated. The left wing protective tiles had been damaged by a large piece of insulating foam that broke off during lift-off. The super-heated air entered the wing and then the cabin eventually destroying the Columbia and killing the crew.
This was the physical cause of the accident. Lost was human life, millions of dollars of government property, and untold knowledge from the 80 life-science experiments the crew had conducted. But, there was also a cultural cause. “Organizational barriers that prevented effective communication of critical safety information” contributed to the accident. (Howell, 2013) In most organizations, people will not die if communication is stunted. But, there will be waste and waste is always damaging.

Furthermore, why does this type of communication dysfunction happen in most organizations?

I have identified four root causes of the lack of willingness and lack of ability to have fearless challenging conversations.

Cause #1: The context is not safe for honesty. It is a leader’s job to make it safe for people to talk to one another. This unsafe context is deeply seated in how we learn to interact with each other during school and in our families. Unfortunately, the authoritarian structure in schools where the teacher is above the student, the administrator is above the teacher and the superintendent is above the administrator is a barrier to open and honest communication. The fear comes from the high probability of some form of retaliation for telling the truth when the communication involves bad-news.

Cause #2: There is no clear problem solving process. The leader and/or the employee knows something is wrong but there is no clear adopted problem solving process to address it and so the employee goes to the manager for a solution. What if a clear process was available so the employees could act on their own to address it? Why does the manager/leader need to resolve basic communication problems?

Cause #3: There is a lack of understanding of how to use process improvement tools. If the leader and/or the employee don’t have process improvement tools to address complex issues they fall back on guessing. They rely on quick action or a lack of action, which may in fact make things worse. This is exactly what happened with the Columbia.
Cause #4: The culture prevents a disciplined thoughtful approach to problem solving. The leader and/or the employee do not take disciplined time to address the real root causes but instead they continue to react and guess and/or blame. This is exactly the approach we are taught in school. The school system is dysfunctional but the children are the ones who get the grades. The teachers must teach to the test or face consequences. There is little time for introspection and innovative thought.

It is not easy to address these issues but being a leader is not easy either. One of the very first responsibilities of a leader is to create a culture which allows employees to solve their own problems. These four steps will help. Otherwise, be prepared for employees to come to you and say “Don’t say anything but…”

Howell, E. (2013, February 1). http://www.space.com/19436-columbia-disaster.html. Retrieved from www.space.com: http://www.space.com/19436-columbia-disaster.html

Wally Hauck, PhD has a cure for the “deadly disease” known as the typical performance appraisal. Wally holds a doctorate in organizational leadership from Warren National University, a Master of Business Administration in finance from Iona College, and a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania. Wally is a Certified Speaking Professional or CSP. Wally has a passion for helping leaders let go of the old and embrace new thinking to improve leadership skills, employee engagement, and performance.

OptimumLeadershipTV

Categories
Best Practices Marketing Skills Women In Business

How Strategic Pauses Will Engage Your Listeners

Power Speaking Skills: Strategies to Improve Pacing with the Power of the Pause:

Maria Guida, president of Successful Speaker, Inc. helps you speak with the poise, passion, and persuasive power of a Broadway actor. In this video, Maria tells you how to use the Power of the Pause when you speak. (This is Part 3 in the series called, “Engage Your Listeners by Allowing You Ideas to Land”).

The Successful Speaker, Inc. video series provides speaking strategies that will help you enhance your leadership presence when you give business presentations, speak with senior management, make sales calls, network, and more. The video series addresses every aspect of successful speaking, including how to sound authoritative, speak with credibility, master active listening, and engage your listeners. The videos also provide speaking strategies rooted in theatrical performance, because actors know how to move audiences. The result: you will become a more authoritative and successful speaker!

The Successful Speaker, Inc. videos will help you project star quality and get more YES’s in the workplace and on the speaking platform. Learn how to enhance your credibility: speak with stage presence, confidence, authority, and authenticity. Discover ways to engage your listeners: use vocal dynamics with impact, to make your communication sing. You will learn how acting improvisation can help you develop the ability to think quickly on your feet. You will also discover how to rehearse strategically with techniques that focus the mind and help you appear completely spontaneous.

There are many other videos about communication, public speaking and presentation skills hosted by Maria Guida and Successful Speaker, Inc. All of these videos are available free of charge on YouTube at Youtube.com/SuccessfulSpeaker

and also at www.successfulspeakerinc.com/blog.
And if you’d like to learn more about how to speak successfully for business, log onto our website and join our mailing list, to download additional, free tips for successful speaking. Visit www.successfulspeakerinc.com.

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Best Practices Human Resources Management Marketing Personal Development Women In Business

Looking Confident – Even When You’re Not

Over the last several posts, I’ve been sharing strategies on delivering a great performance in front of the camera – and by extension, when in front of a live audience even without a camera. If you haven’t seen them yet, here’s the link to my series of video shorts, “Capturing Your Confidence on Camera.”

This time, I want to share a couple of other great resources for delivering a confident, compelling, engaging performance, as both demonstrated and explained in two of my favorite TED Talks.

The first is more likely to appeal to the part of your brain that likes to read inspiring self-help psychology related books that explain why you do what you do and how to control your own destiny.

It’s your friendly neighborhood Harvard psychologist, Dr. Amy Cuddy, in her TED talk, “Your Body Language Shapes Who You Are.”

This video had two big take-aways. First are the very-real effects that your posture has on your hormonal balance, which subsequently can influence your psyche and sense of self-efficacy and confidence. If you knew that taking two minutes to yourself to hold a certain pose before giving a presentation or speaking on camera could change the quality of your delivery, you’d do it, wouldn’t you?

Second, her story of needing to project confidence at a time when she didn’t feel it, suffering from what some might call “the imposter syndrome,” (long before she was “THE” Amy Cuddy,) is something everyone can relate to. The way she managed to perform despite that fear, until she had beaten it, is inspiring..

It’s also humbling. After realizing everything she was up against – including severe cognitive damage from a car accident – you have to admit: if she can overcome that, there’s no reason you shouldn’t be able to overcome your fears too, and learn to speak with true confidence.

In contrast, the second video will appeal to the other side of your brain. The part that doesn’t want to have think too hard. Actually, it kind of reminds me of a Seinfeld episode. Why? Because it’s a whole talk about nothing.

It’s a talk about what academics might call “meta-strategies”… but we won’t call it that, because that sort of sucks all the fun out of it, which shouldn’t be allowed to happen after a perfectly good Seinfeld nod.

In “How to sound smart in your TEDx Talk,” Will Stephen steals the show at TEDxNewYork. He paces the stage and talks as if giving a real talk on some specific topic, all the while really just pointing out all the of his own little gestures, mannerisms, and vocal modulations as he does them, explaining why they make his talk engaging… or at least why they would if his talk actually had a more specific point.

It’s six minutes you’ll need to watch twice. The first time you’ll follow along with each point nodding, smiling, and thinking “oh my gosh, that’s so true!” Then at the end, you’ll realize, “oh my gosh, that IS true… wait a minute, I need to look at that again…”

As he uses each little gesture, and explains its value and its likely effect on you right at that moment, take note. The strategies are so simple, but each one engages, endears, and compels. His talk is entertaining and semi-facetious, but every one of his points is relevant, and easily applicable in any presentation preparation and delivery.

Ultimately, just remember that in any situation, you have control over much more than you realize, including how confident you feel, and how confident you look. Strike your pose. Emulate the characteristics you wish you had (i.e. “fake it ‘til you make it”.) Consider the little gestures and vocal cues that connect with the audience in different ways, and deliver them like you mean it.

Once you put it all together, the confidence will flow outward, and when you see how the audience responds to it, you’ll feed off that response and the confidence will become genuine. And there’s no better feeling than that!

Categories
Growth Human Resources Leadership Personal Development

Can Diversity Go Too Far?

What are we wanting to accomplish with our diversity programs? Do we want to simply reflect the proportion of races in our organization to match those in our culture? Do we want to avoid discrimination law suits? Are we wanting to generate innovative thought? Do we expect improved productivity? According to Harvard Business Review, most diversity programs fail to accomplish their stated objectives of increasing diversity. (Kalev, 2016)

Biodiversity boosts natural sustainability for all life forms. Each species, no matter how small, plays an important role in this goal. The greater the number of plant species means a greater variety of crops leading to robust sustainable survival of all. Isn’t this the main reason we want to have diversity in our organizations as well? We want sustainable survival in a high change environment.

How can an organization optimize sustainable productivity improvement and continuous innovation? One factor must be its ability to attract and retain employees with diverse skills, ideas, and methods of improvement. But diversity programs are often seen as a strategy avoid the appearance of bias and racism. In my opinion this seems unfortunate and unproductive. Is it fair to say all African American’s do not think alike? How about Caucasians? They don’t all think alike either, correct? For me this is what diversity programs can go too far astray and miss opportunities to contribute to sustainable healthy growth in profitability, revenue, and customer experience.

To avoid letting your diversity selection programs go too far, three key criteria should be keep in mind and implemented to create a culture which will contribute to healthy sustainability. First, clarify how everyone must behave to always be respectful. One pitfall with diversity is the danger of disrespect. A good example in nature is the destruction of many native species of plants caused by feral pigs in Hawaii. European domestic pigs bred with the smaller Polynesian pigs. The feral pigs today damage many indigenous plant life and require hunters to control the population. The pigs are a good example of diversity gone too far.

People from different backgrounds can have different definitions (demonstrations of respect) of respect and therefore different expectations. By clarifying how to achieve respect in every interaction and providing everyone with the right and obligation to give feedback, leaders can manage the variation in respectful behavior. This avoids unnecessary damage to the working environment in the form of negative emotional conflicts.

A second pitfall is a lack of appreciation of different communication styles. By adopting insights from a style instrument like DiSC and/or Meyers Briggs, showing how different styles can complement each other and showing how everyone can demonstrate an appreciation for different styles, employees can avoid interpreting differences in styles from demonstrations of disrespect.

A third pitfall is a lack of appreciation for why the organization exists. When the purpose of the organization (mission and/or vision) is clearly stated and reinforced, employees are willing to more easily work through differences in opinion and align on what is best for the organization. This is another reason to avoid rewards for individual performance and to instead reward team or total organization performance. When employees can see how everyone will benefit from cooperative effort (avoiding competitive behaviors) they are more willing to compromise and implement others’ ideas because they know rewards will be coming when the entire organization wins.

The embrace of the typical performance appraisal is a barrier to cooperation because it often rewards individual performance above organizational performance.

We all want sustainable performance, profitability and customer experience. Having diverse ideas, methods, and styles can help achieve a culture which can adapt quickly to change. However, managing the variation in respect, an understanding of why the organization exists, and rewarding team effort will help prevent a diversity program from getting of track.

Wally Hauck, PhD has a cure for the “deadly disease” known as the typical performance appraisal. Wally holds a doctorate in organizational leadership from Warren National University, a Master of Business Administration in finance from Iona College, and a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania. Wally is a Certified Speaking Professional or CSP. Wally has a passion for helping leaders let go of the old and embrace new thinking to improve leadership skills, employee engagement, and performance.

OptimumleadershipTV

Categories
Best Practices Growth Management Personal Development

Self-Confirm the Customer’s Choice to do Business with You

Just imagine zooming all over the world in a private jet. Jordan Zabel, the Director of Sales for Jet Linx, a private jet company that offers their services to corporate and private members, could make that a reality for you.

As you can also imagine, Zabel deals with high-end customers who expect high-end customer service everywhere they go, because anyone that can afford that kind of service has very discriminating taste … and often along with it, sky-high expectations.

But Zabel knows how to do his job well. He knows that he needs to deliver the highest possible level of customer service. Further, once the sale is made, he knows what it will take to keep those customers in their seats, which is to maintain that same level of stellar service he demonstrated through the sales process, while maybe even increasing the altitude a bit.

As you probably expect, high-priced service usually is accompanied by an outstanding customer experience. Just think of the level of customer care that exquisite hotels like the Four Seasons provide. So what is the challenge for people like Jordan Zabel who deal with these high-end clients?

Zabel explains, “Too many times a company’s marketing propaganda just doesn’t match the customers’ experiences after the sale. It’s all just hype. Hot air. At Jet Linx, I always want my customers to know their decision to do business with us was a good one, anytime they think of us.”

To put it another way, Zabel wants to deliver the promises and meet the expectations that were initially promised in the marketing materials he handed his prospects-turned-customers. After the sale, he wants his customers to keep telling themselves that they made the right decision to choose him and Jet Linx in the first place.

As the customer goes through this process of self-confirmation, ask yourself, “What am I doing before, during and after the sale that continuously reinforces the customer’s initial choice to do business with me?”

If you have good sales skills, sure, that can get some people to come through the door. But what about getting those customers to re-enter that door, again and again? What happens after the customer’s buying decision is made is what really counts. That’s the key to continual success and a steady cash flow. You can help to guarantee that success by delivering consistent, amazing customer service after the sale.

Customer experience design speaker and trainer Joey Coleman talks about a concept he calls The First 100 Days. What happens during the first 100 days after the sale can confirm that the customer made a good decision to work with you. We want our customers, at any time, to always be self-confirming their initial buying decision. When they do, it will lead to the next sale, and the next. It will build a stronger relationship. It can potentially lead to customer loyalty and maybe, if we are lucky, even evangelism, where your customers share their positive experiences about you with their family, friends and colleagues. That’s the power of delivering a level of customer service that self-confirms a customer’s choice to do business with you!

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Best Practices Management Marketing Personal Development Women In Business

Navigating the On-Camera Interview

You’ve been invited to be interviewed on camera for TV, a video podcast or other virtual event. Does the voice inside your head say:

A: “Woohoo, this is a great chance to get some major publicity, I can’t wait!”

B: “I think I’m going to throw up.”

Most people get nervous when being interviewed, and even more people get nervous at the idea of being on camera. Put the two together and you have a combo that makes the fight-or-flight reflex kick into overdrive.

Aside from checking to make sure there’s no spinach between your teeth, you need to have a strategy to get the result you want. Check out this quick video for some proactive measures you can take in advance to direct the interview where YOU want it to go.

On the one hand, there are all of the delivery details I’ve discussed in other videos in this series like body language, voice, and how to calm your nerves when on camera.

But for interviews, it’s all about having a game plan.

Creating Your Interview Game Plan

First, who is conducting the interview, and what is their agenda? Do they showcase leaders whose story will serve as an inspiration for others? Or are they more likely to try to shoot holes in your theory?

There’s a huge difference between being a guest on a weekday morning television talk show and an evening television news program. The daytime interviews tend to be friendly and just want an interesting story that their listeners will enjoy. Evening news programs are more interested in getting “the scoop.” They enjoy conflict and putting people on the spot, particularly if you espouse a principle that their following tends to disagree with economically or politically.

Knowing what their intention is in advance can help you determine your own goal.

• Do you want people to pull out their smartphones and order your product or sign a petition right then and there?
• Do you want to educate more people about a growing problem – and solutions?
• Do you need to debunk some myths?

Depending on your desired outcome, you will decide in advance what stories to tell, what evidence to share, and how explicitly or implicitly you want to invite others to act.

If the interviewer is more likely to play a little hardball and ask a few tough questions, prepare your answers in advance. At this point in your career, you know what objections and challenges people tend to raise, so be prepared with how you want to respond.

Most importantly, remember that an interview is a conversation.
• DON’T just go on a monologue of statistics.

• DO take a conversational approach

• DO engage the interviewer by using his or her name once in a while, and

• DO give short, clear answers to allow the interviewer to volley back and forth with you without having to cut you off to get a word in edgewise.

Of course, that’s only half the battle.

It’s Not (Just) What You Say…

Once you have a sense of what information you want to share, you need to practice how you say it. I strongly recommend writing down a few questions – tough ones and lob balls – and practice answering them, but video record yourself while you do it!

The recording serves several purposes. First it lets you see how you look when you’re answering it. Are you squirming or poised? Do you smile at appropriate times, laugh nervously, or never even crack a smile?

Second, it lets you see how you sound when answering the questions. When you listen to the recording, you’ll realize when you’re rambling, when you’ve left out an important detail, or when you’ve given a great, laser-focused answer. Do you say “Actually” in every sentence (what I call the educated person’s “um”), stutter your way through an answer when you aren’t sure what to say, or mumble so quietly that you have to turn the volume all the way up on your ear buds to even hear what you’re saying?

Ideally, you should record your practice several times until you have figured out what information you want to include or leave out, and can answer the easy AND the hard questions smoothly and confidently.

When you are a good conversationalist with engaging examples and confident delivery, that’s when the wider audience will give you points for acing the interview and taking home the win.

Categories
Growth Leadership Operations Personal Development

Creating Dysfunction, Instead of Engagement, in Three Easy Steps

What if your leadership strategies were damaging performance of your team and you didn’t even know it?

Samuel Johnson once said, fraud dreads examination but truth invites it. In 2010, the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority was dreading the next steps in the investigation on safety inspections. In a Wall Street Journal report, the MTA admitted that their workers often failed to do the required tests and maintenance on its subway signals. Furthermore, managers failed to properly manage the workers and failed to put processes in place to prevent them from filing the false reports.

Although the officials could not identify any accidents that may have resulted from the lack of inspection, this dysfunction is serious. Proper functioning signals will prevent delays and PREVENT ACCIDENTS. Proper functioning signals will stop a train if an operator misses a red light.

More recently, Wells Fargo fired over 5,000 employees because of a sales scandal. The bank leadership has claimed that the employees acted alone in opening 1.5 million false bank accounts and 565,000 fraudulent credit cards on behalf of its customers. The truth is the bank leadership created an environment which encouraged the fraud. (Lindzon, 2016)

What would cause a worker to commit fraud on something so important and avoiding accidents or to sell customers false accounts? Workers submitting false reports put passengers, the MTA, and themselves in danger. What would cause workers to be so dysfunctional? Three simple steps can easily do it:

1. Set stretch numerical goals beyond capabilities
2. Hold people accountable to those goals
3. Rely on inspection to catch errors

Many organizations set stretch numerical goals that are often beyond employee capabilities. This causes employees to take short-cuts. This is exactly what the MTA workers and the Wells Fargo sales people did. For the MTA, most of the problems occurred on the highest traffic areas because high traffic makes it much more difficult to do maintenance. Workers needing to dodge trains to ensure their own safety during the inspection tasks. Furthermore, the tasks of inspection and maintenance are arduous and complex.

For the Wells Fargo employees, the pressure to meet unrealistic goals was unbearable. There were constant conference calls and meetings to find out the status of the goals. Employees were told, “I don’t care how you reach the goals, just do it.”

Many organizations attempt to hold people accountable to overly challenging tasks or goals without knowing what the outcome will be. This is exactly what the MTA did. This creates dysfunction because it forces workers to either make short-cuts or to choose nefarious actions. They are often willing to do anything to relieve the pressure. They must achieve what management expects or risk being criticized for not doing their job, receive a lower performance evaluation rating, or worse. This is not the only place where this dysfunction plays out. Our high school (and college) students admit succumbing pressure to perform by cheating. Depending upon the study, 80-95% of students admit to surrendering to the cheating option.

Inspection is important but not as a way to ensure compliance. Inspection should be used to uncover important knowledge about how to improve the processes. It should not be used as a club to threaten employees with punishment. According to the article, the MTA’s inspector general looked for those individuals responsible for falsifying the reports. I wonder how much truth he/she will get with that approach.

Why not develop engagement instead? What should the MTA and Wells Fargo management teams do to improve safety, reduce costs and improve maintenance quality, and increase sales? The short answer is to engage the workers in creating the solutions and stop trying to catch them doing things wrong. Here are a few basic steps:

• Engage the workers to help improve the processes while helping them to feel safe and helping improve their productivity. Make it safe for them to tell the truth without fear of reprisal.
• Take their recommendations and fix their processes.
• Stop using inspection as a club and start using it to increase the knowledge to improve the processes again.
Are you creating dysfunction and then looking for the offenders so you can hit them with the inspection club? Stop. It’s hurting everyone. It is not leadership. It is dysfunction in three easy steps.

Wally Hauck, PhD has a cure for the “deadly disease” known as the typical performance appraisal. Wally holds a doctorate in organizational leadership from Warren National University, a Master of Business Administration in finance from Iona College, and a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania. Wally is a Certified Speaking Professional or CSP. Wally has a passion for helping leaders let go of the old and embrace new thinking to improve leadership skills, employee engagement, and performance.

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