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Author: Sharon Smith

You are a successful CEO, passionate about the continued growth and health of your organization.

Because you are responsible for the strategy and success of your organization you are losing sleep over the continual reports of security breaches, stolen data, and ransomware. It appears that no one is safe anymore.

But all the terminology and acronyms (i.e., cloud, IoT, BOD, APT, IAM, IDS, Pen Test, malware, ransomware, identity access management, patch management, change management...not to mention all the compliance regulations) is overwhelming. And that makes sense because security is not in your wheelhouse, but it’s in mine! And I can help you!

WHAT I DO
As a 12-year veteran of the information security, audit, and compliance industry, I understand the technology your organization works with and the challenges you face.

I translate cyber security into business terms for executives who want to implement security but don’t know how. I help create the proper internal messaging, education, and shape the organizational culture needed for sustainable success in security.

Too many people believe that security is an IT problem and and that simply throwing budget at the IT department equals security. Instead, I help you paint a full picture of your security posture, the risks associated with it, and the most effective strategy to help close the gaps.

Security is not insurance - it is force protection (think of the armed guards in front of a military base). Isn’t it time for you to put the proper protection in place for the long term health of your organization?

WHAT MAKES ME DIFFERENT
It is rare to find someone with a background that includes in-depth information security knowledge and hands-on experience who has a business degree, and is a Certified Coach. This mix of education and experience equips me to best serve you in creating a long term sustainable security culture.

NEXT STEPS
Email me at sharon@c-suiteresults.com or message me via LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/smithsharonj/|You are a successful CEO, passionate about the continued growth and health of your organization.

Because you are responsible for the strategy and success of your organization you are losing sleep over the continual reports of security breaches, stolen data, and ransomware. It appears that no one is safe anymore.

But all the terminology and acronyms (i.e., cloud, IoT, BOD, APT, IAM, IDS, Pen Test, malware, ransomware, identity access management, patch management, change management...not to mention all the compliance regulations) is overwhelming. And that makes sense because security is not in your wheelhouse, but it’s in mine! And I can help you!

WHAT I DO
As a 12-year veteran of the information security, audit, and compliance industry, I understand the technology your organization works with and the challenges you face.

I translate cyber security into business terms for executives who want to implement security but don’t know how. I help create the proper internal messaging, education, and shape the organizational culture needed for sustainable success in security.

Too many people believe that security is an IT problem and and that simply throwing budget at the IT department equals security. Instead, I help you paint a full picture of your security posture, the risks associated with it, and the most effective strategy to help close the gaps.

Security is not insurance - it is force protection (think of the armed guards in front of a military base). Isn’t it time for you to put the proper protection in place for the long term health of your organization?

WHAT MAKES ME DIFFERENT
It is rare to find someone with a background that includes in-depth information security knowledge and hands-on experience who has a business degree, and is a Certified Coach. This mix of education and experience equips me to best serve you in creating a long term sustainable security culture.

NEXT STEPS
Email me at sharon@c-suiteresults.com or message me via LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/smithsharonj/|You are a successful CEO, passionate about the continued growth and health of your organization.

Because you are responsible for the strategy and success of your organization you are losing sleep over the continual reports of security breaches, stolen data, and ransomware. It appears that no one is safe anymore.

But all the terminology and acronyms (i.e., cloud, IoT, BOD, APT, IAM, IDS, Pen Test, malware, ransomware, identity access management, patch management, change management...not to mention all the compliance regulations) is overwhelming. And that makes sense because security is not in your wheelhouse, but it’s in mine! And I can help you!

WHAT I DO
As a 12-year veteran of the information security, audit, and compliance industry, I understand the technology your organization works with and the challenges you face.

I translate cyber security into business terms for executives who want to implement security but don’t know how. I help create the proper internal messaging, education, and shape the organizational culture needed for sustainable success in security.

Too many people believe that security is an IT problem and and that simply throwing budget at the IT department equals security. Instead, I help you paint a full picture of your security posture, the risks associated with it, and the most effective strategy to help close the gaps.

Security is not insurance - it is force protection (think of the armed guards in front of a military base). Isn’t it time for you to put the proper protection in place for the long term health of your organization?

WHAT MAKES ME DIFFERENT
It is rare to find someone with a background that includes in-depth information security knowledge and hands-on experience who has a business degree, and is a Certified Coach. This mix of education and experience equips me to best serve you in creating a long term sustainable security culture.

NEXT STEPS
Email me at sharon@c-suiteresults.com or message me via LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/smithsharonj/

Categories
Growth Management Personal Development

Disrupting the Status Quo – Part 1

Disrupting the Status Quo

I hear the term status quo a lot, especially from thought leaders in terms of disrupting it. I agree with that sentiment so much so that disrupting the status quo was actually the tagline for my business a few years ago. So what is the status quo and why should it be disrupted? What does it really have to do with you and your business?

sta·tus quo (stādəs ˈkwō) – The current situation, the way things are now.  However in today’s context it also tends to imply a sub-optimal state of affairs. It’s the way things are in contrast to how much better things could be.

I find that most organizations can use a disruption of the status quo because things are not working as well as they could be. Whether it is improved employee engagement, increased productivity, more influence within your industry, better collaboration or improved communication, there is often at least one area that needs a good old-fashioned disruption.

A few years ago when I was consulting, I was in my last two weeks with a client that I had worked with for several years. I asked how I could best help in my last two weeks and the VP responded by saying just stick with the status quo. That was his way of telling me to just show up. He wasn’t saying it because I had not been contributing or working while there, but I read between the lines that he did not have any need for me to work on anything for him. That organization was actually the one that inspired the title of my book, The Corporate Detox.

Another status quo I’ve seen at clients over the years are meetings that start late with a majority showing up 10 minutes late and project managers recapping everything that had been missed. This was frustrating for those of us who were on time and a poor use of the organizations resources (time and money).

The status quo for an executive might be a lack of shared vision, the ball getting dropped, missed deadlines, lost opportunities, tension, lack of communication or at least meaningful communication, and/or high turnover.

Now I ask you, what is the status quo at your organization? I.e., where does your corporate culture passively settle for something you know is not as good as it should be? I want you to really think about what habits and situations are systemic within your organization. Take a minute, grab a pen, and a piece of scratch paper and write out your description of the status quo where you are right now.

The following are the high level steps it will take to disrupt the status quo:

One thing at a time

Disrupting the status quo is essentially creating change and change can be hard, especially changes to human behavior. Since you will find that most of your business problems are really people problems, the change that are you going to make is most likely around how people behave, think, and work. Since this is hard enough with one person (think of a change you tried to make for yourself,) it is that much tougher with lots of people. That is why you have to address one change or one disruption at a time. Focus time, energy and resources on one thing, do it well, then move on.

Get buy in

Have you ever tried to make a sweeping change by command? “This is how it will be from now on!” It never ends up working the way you thought it would, does it? That’s because even if you have a few amazing people who are going to follow your leadership without worrying about themselves, most people think in terms of “what’s in it for me?” and are scared of change, fearing that it will cause more trouble for them than it will solve. For people to make change they have to want to make the change. So if you want them to get on board, you have to get them to buy into the change.

Communicate status

Once you have the goal in mind, the change you are focused on and the buy-in from those involved it’s time to make sure everyone knows where they are and where they are going. This is going to take a culture of communication. This means that you as the leader are consistently communicating the progress of the change. Are things going as planned? Have you hit a roadblock? Where are you on the road? People will quickly revert back to their old ways and retract their buy in if they don’t know where they are going or where they are. It’s much easier to turn around and go back home than to continue down a dark road with no end in sight.

Stay tuned for more in this series where we will take each step highlighted above and dive deeper into the implementation of each one. If you can’t wait that long email me at sharon@c-suiteresults.com to talk more about this and start disrupting your status quo today.

 

 

 

Categories
Growth Management Personal Development

Don’t Believe Everything You Hear

We’ve all heard the expression “don’t believe everything you hear”? This is not just relevant to what other people say; what about all the inner talk you have going on inside your head?

We all have inner voices and all too often they are not voices of support. There are actually four inner voices that you have, which can hold you back from reaching your goals if you are listening to them. The key is to learn to recognize each voice; so you can stop believing everything you hear.

Plus, if you have these voices in your head, the chances are good that those you work with do also. An important leadership skill is being able to recognize when other people are listening to their inner voices, so you can help them combat these thought patterns that are keeping them from reaching their goals.

Let’s take a look at each.

The Doubting Tom

This is the voice that doubts you are capable of doing something. Here we are talking about things that others are capable of doing, but the doubting tom tells you that you are not capable of doing it. Others refer to these thoughts as limiting beliefs. The doubting Tom says I could never speak on stage, I can’t write a book, I can’t talk to him or her, I can’t speak up in the meeting, I can’t share that idea, I can’t start my own business, etc.

You get the point; the Doubting Tom doubts or is skeptical that what you say you want to do is possible for you. If the voice is getting personal like you are not good enough or smart enough that is actually your inner critic, which we will talk about shortly.

The Storyteller

We all know someone who tells a great story; some of those stories are true and fascinating while others are made from great fiction. When the storyteller voice in your head starts talking, he or she is telling you a fictional story about a situation. “Sally does not like me because she doesn’t smile at me when I always see her smiling at Sam.” The storyteller is telling a story without having the facts.

My favorite example was when my inner storyteller told me that an organization I was doing business with didn’t take my email concern seriously because they had not responded. Granted the storyteller was telling that story within hours of sending the email. The truth was the person I sent the email to was actually working on it and had just not let me know yet. Other reasons could have been the person was out of the office, they were engaged on an important project, or any number of other situations, but my storyteller decided to tell a story that got me all worked up for no reason because this is what the storyteller does best.

The Cynic

This is the voice that says “that will never work” and it’s usually because you have tried something similar before and it did not work last time. The cynic says, “Remember, last time that did not work so why would you try it again?” The cynic uses the past to determine if something is a good idea now and will find reasons why it’s not a good idea.

Of course learning from the past is extremely important and looking at why something did not work before and seeing how you can do it differently this time is smart. But letting the cynic stop you from even considering an idea because something similar did not work last time is a sure-fire way to miss out on great ideas that can help you achieve great results.

The Inner Critic

As I alluded to when talking about the Doubting Tom, there are times that the voice is incident specific and says, “you can’t do that (fill in the blank)”; this is the Doubting Tom holding you back from even trying. However when the voice get’s more personal and starts to attack the essence of who you are by saying “you’re not good enough”, “you’re not smart enough”, “it’s not perfect enough for anyone to see”, etc. that is your Inner Critic. That is the voice that has the strongest hold on you and the one that can be the most paralyzing and devastating to your success.

And while the Inner Critic means well, at least that is what it is telling you, it does not have your best interest at heart. The Inner Critic thinks that it is protecting you from getting hurt, but what it is really doing is stopping you from getting to the next level of your success and growth.

Now you know what these voices sound like and how they are sabotaging you; next week we will dive into the strategies to overcome them, or as my friend Jeffrey Hayzlett said when I interviewed him on C-Suite Success Radio, to “stop inviting them to dinner.”

For more resources, articles, videos, and to listen to C-Suite Success Radio visit www.c-suiteresults.com and for comments or questions email sharon@c-suiteresults.com

 

Categories
Best Practices Growth Management Personal Development

Motivation and Feedback

I lied. In the last article, Motivation and Growth, I said that it was the final article in the motivation series. But in fact, this is the last article in the motivation series and also the shortest. To read all the articles in the series go to http://csnetworkadvis.staging.wpengine.com/advisor/sharon-smith/

Last and definitely not least when it comes to motivating those around you, is feedback and recognition. Do you realize that most people go through their day not getting feedback, praise, or recognition, not even at home or from those they love? Praise and recognition differentiates us from animals; it is something we crave and something that drives us to do more and do better. Feedback, both positive and critical is how we improve and grow.

Let’s first look at praise, recognition, and positive feedback. These are often overlooked because many leaders assume that their employees know when they have done a good job and as such don’t provide what’s actually a big piece of motivation.

This can be for something as small as a quieter employee speaking up at a meeting or a more talkative employee staying quiet while others share, as much as it can be for bigger accomplishments. This can be done in front of others or in private. That is best decided based on the individual and what they prefer. It’s about knowing your people because when you know the people you work with at their deepest level, you know who craves public attention and who prefers a quiet “thank you” or “job well done.”

Constructive critical feedback is also important and all to often saved for that dreaded annual appraisal or evaluation. In these one-time-a-year evaluations, feedback is often limited to what is remembered and often too late in the game to fix problems. If I don’t know that I have offended someone or I don’t know that my approach is not well received, how can I fix it?

Have you ever received feedback that sounds something like “people have been complaining about you for the last few months” or “that email you sent two months ago really ruffled a lot of feathers”? That feedback needs immediate action and you are doing your employees a disservice if you wait too long to provide it. If they are damaging their reputation through their approach they deserve to know it and have the opportunity to fix it as early as possible.

I know you might be thinking that giving critical feedback is difficult or uncomfortable. Yes, it definitely can be, so let me share a technique with you to help. It’s called “the sandwich method.” You start by setting time aside to have the conversation in a place that is private. The conversation starts with the good stuff, what they have done well, what you have enjoyed seeing them accomplish, what you are proud of. The positive feedback, praise, and recognition I was talking about.

Then you transition to what you want them to work on, improve on, and know about. This is the critical feedback that they need if they are going to improve and grow. You ask them for their input, ask them how they feel they can make the changes necessary, and get their buy-in. Then you end the conversation on another positive note, another piece of praise or even bringing up the first item again. You want them to leave the conversation on a positive note.

Remember: people cannot fix what they do not know about, and you are not tapping into their motivations when you don’t allow them to improve. They also crave praise and when you can combine a healthy dose of praise with the right amount of constructive critical feedback you will be known as the leader that everyone wants to work for and your employees will be motivated to do good work for the long run.

For more resources please visit www.c-suiteresults.com where you will find articles, video, and audio content to help you get better results and find the edge you are looking for. Questions and comments are always welcome at sharon@c-suiteresults.com

 

 

Categories
Growth Management Personal Development

Motivation and Growth

For the past four weeks I’ve been writing about motivation and your team. This is the fourth and last article in this series. If you have missed the first three you can find them here – In order of their release – How to Motivate Your Team, Motivation and Alignment, and Motivation and the Big Picture.

In this article we look at the third way to tap into intrinsic motivators through growth. I’ve never met anyone successful who said, “I’m good, I don’t want to grow,” and since you are looking to create a highly successful team one of your goals is to fill it with people who crave growth.

You want employees who bring value to your organization, who bring new ideas and innovation to their jobs, and who you want to stay with you for the long haul. That means you want employees who are not satisfied with the status quo.

Because turnover is expensive and losing talent that has tribal knowledge is irreplaceable, you need to tap into motivators that will also create employee loyalty. This means providing your employees educational opportunities and allowing them to step into new roles and take on new responsibilities over time, it’s about growth.

You may think that providing too much growth opportunity will mean that you will lose these employees in the long run and have to deal with the turnover anyway. It’s true that they may not work on your team or directly for you in the long run as their skills and value increases, but it means they stay within your organization, providing continued service that benefits everyone, including you.

Growth does not have to cost a lot either; it can be as small as having someone take a new leadership role in a meeting or having the opportunity to present to a more senior group. Of course, it can also be more involved such as including tuition reimbursement for college classes.  You can also provide coaching and mentoring that often can be done by someone else in your organization or by a third party on a more limited basis. It is about providing the opportunities they need to be set up for success.

Even providing a small budget for your employees to take a class that helps them grow personally will create loyalty. They may be interested in writing, cooking, gardening, computers, or public speaking. People want to be supported and often don’t have the support they need at home to improve themselves. When you are the one to provide that, they will in turn do more for you.

One of my favorite and inexpensive resources that you can provide is to pay for your employee’s membership in Toastmasters. My experience with this organization includes being a member, a club officer, and a district leader. In my time I have seen so many people grow in their confidence, leadership, and speaking skills, which will certainly provide benefit to you and your company in return.

Figure out your budget and sit down with your employees to find out how you can best help them grow. It’s not a one-size-fits-all solution and some people may need more than others. I can tell you from personal experience some of my most de-motivational times at work were the years that my employer told me there was no budget for training and I had to figure out free ways (or pay for it myself) to get the continuing education credits I needed for the required certifications I had to maintain.

If you have implemented this type of program and still have challenges with employee motivation, timely or high quality deliverables, or other unfavorable situations it could be the alignment issue that I discuss in the second article. When your employees are not aligned personally with the work they do it does not matter how much growth opportunities they have, they will most likely never be an A player. That can be easily fixed and I’m happy to discuss it with you just like I am happy to discuss any challenge you are having with motivation. Just send me an email to sharon@c-suiteresults.com.

Categories
Best Practices Growth Management Personal Development

Motivation and the Big Picture

In the first article on motivation we explored how to motivate your team and then we dug deeper on the topic of alignment. In this article we explore the second way to tap into your teams motivation with the big picture.

You’ve already heard me talk about internal and external motivation so let’s look at how the big picture can help your team internalize their motivation to enhance productivity and results.

The fact that most people are motivated by more than just money is even truer today because Millennials are more commonly driven by purpose. This is important because this diverse and well-educated group is expected to make up 36% of the U.S. workforce by 2018 and nearly half of all workers by 2020. For you to have the best of the best employees and stay competitive in this ever-changing marketplace, this is a group you want to take seriously, whether you have been running your organization for a long time or are an emerging leader.

Your workforce wants to know where they fit into the big picture, what the organizations goals and mission is, and that their work has purpose. Punching a clock or showing up to do a job with no meaning is not going to cut it anymore. Your most loyal, dedicated, and hard working employees will be the ones that understand and believe in the purpose of their role in the organization.

The message on purpose starts with you helping to ensure everyone understands the big picture, the purpose of the organization; what the organization set out to accomplish and why. What is the reason the organization was founded in the first place, who did the founders want to serve, and why? If you, as a leader of your organization cannot articulate this it may be time to re-visit the mission and vision. These statements should be more than just plaques you hang in the lobby or around the office; they need to be beliefs that people can understand and be part of. But they have to be easy to articulate and understand for everyone in your organization for them to be meaningful.

Once the big picture is communicated, it needs to be included in conversations on a regular basis so that your employees will start to work towards that mission, because they are part of something bigger than themselves. However, for this to be true they need to continue to hear the mission, its importance, and how they are helping make this happen. There are many times when an employee does not understand the direct link between his or her job and the bigger picture. With each role, each task, each project, continue to communicate and teach others to communicate why the work is important to the big picture, why it has purpose.

Encourage these types of conversations among the ranks; it should become a viral conversation that anyone can have at any time about the purpose, mission, and vision of the organization. The more people truly feel the connection to something bigger, something important, the more they will dedicate themselves to serving that purpose. And once they start to internalize this purpose you have made the important shift from external motivation to internal, which is the most important type of motivation to move people forward.

For more resources visit www.c-suiteresults.com where you can find articles, videos, assessment tools, books, and the C-Suite Success Radio show. To discuss purpose and motivation in more detail reach out to sharon@c-suiteresults.com

Categories
Best Practices Growth Management Skills

Motivation and Alignment

 

In the previous article on motivation we explored how to motivate your team. This article takes you deeper on the topic of alignment, which is aligning the people on your team with their gifts, contributions, and brilliance.

We have discussed internal vs. external motivators and how people are motivated in the long-term intrinsically, from within. In this article we are going to look at how you can help your employees tap into their intrinsic motivations for better results and higher performance.

To do this you will start by learning who your team members are so you can help them contribute in a way that is meaningful for them. One of the topics I discuss with clients is identifying your unique brilliance and the brilliance of each person on your team. When you know your brilliance and theirs it becomes much easier to align each team member with the tasks and projects where they will have the most impact and provide the best results.

For example (a simple example), do you have a team member who loves working on complex problems? Don’t ask them to do simple spreadsheet work or have them finalize the PowerPoint deck or at least don’t ask them to do it for very long. You want to find the team member who thrives on repetitive tasks and processes to pick up the phone and make cold calls or format the spreadsheet.

Of course it goes much deeper than that and there are lots of ways to learn about who your people are. The easiest way to start is to spend time talking to people and asking them what lights them up, but there are also some terrific assessments you can use. I use the Core Values Index (CVI) Assessment by Taylor Protocols with my clients in addition to discussing their unique brilliance with them through an exercise I’ve developed on this topic, creatively named the Unique Brilliance tool.

The reason I also use the CVI assessment is because it easy to use, quick to take, and the insights each individual receives along with the discussion on what lights them up provides invaluable information on how they prefer to contribute.

If you want a copy of the Unique Brilliance tool you can find it along with other resources at www.c-suiteresults.com and you can also email me at sharon@c-suiteresults.com and ask for a copy. It’s important for you to not only understand your gifts and brilliance, but also help your team understand theirs. You can also take the CVI for free from the C-Suite Results Website to get a glimpse of the type of information it provides.

Once you truly know who is on your team and how they are motivated to contribute you can align more of their tasks and responsibilities with the way they are wired to contribute. Of course no one can always do the fun tasks and avoid the boring or difficult ones, but the more you can provide your team with opportunities to truly contribute in a meaningful way, the more they will go above and beyond and really show you how they shine.

This is a key step in creating high performance teams, reducing turnover, and getting better results.  I encourage you to start exploring this idea on your own or with help from others. If I can be of assistance you can reach me via email at sharon@c-suiteresults.com

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Categories
Best Practices Entrepreneurship Leadership Personal Development

How to Motivate Your Team

Have you ever felt that if you could just motivate your team everything would be better? Why aren’t they motivated? Why don’t they want to do what needs to be done?

One of the reasons your team might not be as motivated as you would like is because people are not completely motivated by external factors, or at least they are not motivated by them for very long. A leader can inspire someone to action, but true, long-lasting motivation can only come from within the individual.

Think about something you have done that did not come from you, but had external forces behind it. Maybe it was where you went to school, what you majored in, a project at work, chores around the house, exercise, etc.

Now don’t get me wrong there are lots of projects and chores that come from external sources, but what I’m talking about for these has to do with being told what to do, when to do it, and how to do it.

I bet you can come up with several situations where you excelled at tasks that you were given control over doing a way that felt good for you and other situations where you dreaded what you had to do because the motivation was not from within. When you get to create the path you are going to take it is much more motivating than when someone else tries to create it for you.

Since long lasting motivation must come from within you probably want to know how to create motivation in others, like your team or your employees. The following are three ways you can tap into key motivators to create engagement, which is one of the pieces of a high performance team.

 

First – Alignment

You want to align people with the work they do in a way that allows them to contribute who they are to a task. That means if someone loves creating systems and complex problems don’t ask them to do simple spreadsheet work and if someone else loves working in a group and brainstorming don’t put them at a desk where they have to work for hours alone with no input from others.

These of course are simplified examples, but the point I’m getting at is that when people are able to contribute in a way that lights them up there is little they won’t do to contribute. They will work with more focus, more dedication, more consistency, and they will go above and beyond.

 

Second – The Big Picture

People want to know how they fit into the big picture. How does their work help the organizations goals? What is it that they do that helps the corporate mission? People are truly motivated by purpose and in many cases more motivated by purpose than money. But they have to know the purpose and they have to also believe in it. This is especially true if you want to tap into the powerful energy that Millennials will bring to your workforce.

 

Third – Continued Growth

Once you have people in the right role who understand and believe in the team’s purpose, you must encourage their development. Learning new things that interest them and continued growth motivates people. They want to know they have opportunities within the team or organization to move up and grow. I don’t know very many people who say, “I’m good where I am, and I don’t want to do anything more, learn anything new, or make more money.” While the initial driver may or may not be long-term financial growth, people want to know they have somewhere to go with you or they will go somewhere else.

Take some time to reflect on what motivates you and start to look at what motivates those around you. Remember, just because something motivates you does not mean it will do the same for the rest of your team. If you want to learn more about the tools I use to help individuals and teams clarify their direction and understand who they are better visit www.c-suiteresults.com and check out the Core Value Index.

One of your jobs as a leader is to inspire those around you so that they are motivated to contribute fully, which will result in improved engagement, higher employee retention, and better overall results for them and of course for you. See how you can use these tips to amplify their motivation and help create better results for everyone on your team.

Categories
Best Practices Growth Leadership Skills

Quickly Increase your Performance

You have likely lost sleep at some point in your career trying to figure out what you could do to increase your performance at work or the performance of your team. If you are a leader with high ambition and big goals, it makes sense that you have given this a lot of thought.

I want to talk about one key skill that you can apply immediately to increase your own performance or help your team apply it for maximum results. You don’t need to buy anything, log onto anything, or spend time reading technical manuals. All you need to do is listen.

That’s right I’m talking about improving your listening skill as a way to increase your performance.

Ineffective listening is the cause of many breakdowns between co-workers, teams, and companies as well as the cause of many accidents. With ineffective listening instructions get missed, production decreases, sales and customers are lost, and personality clashes create poor morale.

When you are in a conversation are you more focused on talking or listening? We often forget that there are two parts of communicating, one is talking and the other is listening and in all actuality listening is the more important of the two components.

Poor listening habits can often be attributed to a lack of training and like any skill, listening can be learned, practiced, and mastered.

When you communicate through focused listening you build better relationships that will help take you personally and professionally to the next level of your success. When you want to make an important sale you have to know your client or customer, what their problems are and then communicate how you can solve their problem. Without listening you are going to miss out on the key facts you need to build that relationship and make the sale. Your client does not want to hear you talk about you and how great you are, they want you to listen to them and tell them how you can fix their problems.

The same is true for listening to your co-workers and team members; you have to know who they are in order to help motivate them to work the long hours on the priority project or to go above and beyond for the client. When you listen to those you work with you understand what drives them and that allows you to create stronger teams and more loyal employees. You know that turnover is very costly and this is one aspect of retaining employees, letting them know you are listening and that you care about them through your actions, which start with listening.

When your intent in communicating is all about what you are going to say next, you are not truly listening. I know you are conscious of how rude it is to interrupt another person while having a conversation and if you are thinking to yourself during the same conversation “what am I going to say next,” you are in effect doing the same thing. You did interrupt them because you were not listening, so what they just said may as well not been said since you didn’t hear it.

This makes listening the key step to a good conversation and even more importantly a tough conversation. You want to listen to understand, listen to gather information, and listen with no interruption (audibly or in your head.)

Once you have listened and heard what the other person is telling you, then you have the opportunity to talk. But your turn to talk means clarifying what they have said, making sure they know you heard them, and confirming what they want and need.

The goal of most communication should be to have the other person do more of the talking while you guide the conversation with open-ended questions that are meant to be clarifying and compassionate. When you have clarified everything you can then ask them “do you mind if I share with you my thoughts on this situation?” Most likely they are ready to hear your thoughts because you took the time to listen and they felt heard. At this point they really do want to know what you think.

You can also let them feel heard by saying “I hear that this is stressful for you and that makes sense based on what you told me…..” Get their confirmation that you hard them correctly and ask if you can share some ideas that might help. They are ready to hear what you have to share because they appreciate the time you took to really hear them even if what you have to share is not good news.

The other thing to remember is that what you say is important, but how you say it is just as important if not more important. People will remember how you made them feel long after they have forgotten what you actually said. If you can remain calm and compassionate they are going to feel it and appreciate you.

Next time someone comes to you with a problem or an idea make sure you are ready to fully listen and if it’s not a time where you can give them your undivided attention tell them that. Say “now is not a good time for me to be fully present, can we schedule some time later today or tomorrow?” Let them know what they have to say is important and you want to be sure you are fully present to hear them. Remember people want to be heard and they will appreciate this, which goes a long way with clients and employees.

Not only will this help improve your performance as you start to hear more ideas around you, it will create bonds with those who need and want your services.

 

For more resources visit www.c-suiteresults.com

Categories
Growth Leadership Personal Development

Creating a Safety Zone

What happens when employees don’t feel safe telling you or other leaders in your organization that there are problems? I mean real problems like the project that is already a million dollars over budget still has no solution in sight or the new manager that seems great on the surface is a bully and people are thinking of leaving because of him.

 

In my 10 years as a consultant I have seen too many employees complain to each other, talk about the problems amongst themselves, and then recoil at the idea of taking that information to management, the people who could actually do something about the situation.

 

I would like to think that senior management wants to know what is really happening in their organizations and departments so they can solve problems, but it does not seem that most people feel the same way I do and would rather keep this stuff a secret. I’m pretty sure the crux of the issue is that this type of feedback is scary unless the environment has created a safety zone. Getting and giving honest feedback can be hard if the culture isn’t set up for it to be done right.

 

If you are running an organization or a department, don’t you want to solve problems that lead to decreased productivity and morale? Doesn’t increased employee engagement and satisfaction result in increased profitability? If this type of problem keeps you up at night let’s get down to brass tacks so you can turn this around.

 

You need to create a safe environment, a safety zone in your office and it also means creating that same environment during team and project meetings, where anyone can air their concerns, provide suggestions, or ask questions. It is two-fold: an environment that allows people to come one-on-one and share feedback, and an environment where teams can work together in a safe space, where mistakes are discussed, changes are allowed, and no one hides the truth in fear of looking stupid or worse, being yelled at or asked to leave.

 

The question then becomes, how do you create an environment where it is not only OK to air grievances and highlight problems, but also where it is encouraged? How do you do this so no one feels like they are throwing others under the bus or being hung out to dry? How do you do it so that it is part of a culture of productivity and positivity?

 

Start with authenticity and transparency

If you want others to be honest and transparent with you and with each other you have to set an example. As a leader you start with authentic communication. You tell everyone that you know how difficult it can be to share the truth when it hurts. You admit that it is hard for you too, but that you know it’s important. You get real, you talk from the heart, and you show them the way. If you are asking for feedback and honest communication you want to make sure your people know they will get the same from you.

 

Be honest about honesty

If you really want this open honest communication you have to mean it. That may be easier said than done. It can be hard to hear the truth so be sure you are ready for it and be sure you have set up a non-retribution feedback loop. The only way to get honest feedback is to ensure that the people coming to you are not going to be reprimanded for their honesty.

 

Be clear on what you want to know

If you want people to come to you and let you know what they are observing in terms of productivity, then tell them you want to know that. If you want to hear the truth about failing projects, let them know that it’s OK to tell you. If there are certain things you do not feel are your place to get involved in, let them know if HR or another manager is a better feedback loop. Make sure they know who to go to with what challenges.

 

Require Respect

There are three ways to provide feedback, one that is blunt and hurtful, one that sugarcoats the real problem to avoid conflict, and one that provides for constructive criticism and feedback in a respectful way. Set the tone to ensure that all feedback provided to you, amongst team members, and from you are from the last category. Let everyone know that you will not tolerate rude or hurtful feedback and that sugarcoating the problem is not the answer either. Let them know that you require respect, but expect honesty.

 

Creating this culture might feel difficult because change is not often easy. Sometimes you need to bring people in to help make cultural changes, to coach individuals on communication, or just to support you in your efforts. If you have a coach, mentor, or change expert you should consult with them to see how they can help. If you don’t have a right-hand person to call upon you can always reach out to C-Suite Results to discuss your needs and bounce ideas around. Where I can’t help I have a vast resource list of those who can. Visit www.c-suiteresults.com for more information and resources.

 

Categories
Growth Personal Development

A New Twist on Employee Engagement

 

I recently heard a speaker put a twist on employee engagement. She said that it isn’t engaged employees who are productive, but rather it is productive employees that are engaged. While at first I thought this sounded like a novel way to look at an age-old dilemma of employee engagement, upon further thought I have to disagree. Just because someone is productive, busy getting stuff done, meeting deadlines, checking things off the to-do list, does not mean they are contributing fully or really engaged. Just because they are productive does not mean they are not looking or willing to leave for the next great opportunity that comes knocking.

I was productive when I was an information security consultant. I spent my days working with clients, reviewing documentation, writing reports, and solving problems and my deliverables were always on time. But I was not satisfied or truly engaged and I was always trying to figure what I should do next. Now as an executive coach, trainer, and speaker I am fully engaged and productive.

Assuming a productive employee is engaged is a huge mistake for an employer. If my boss assumed that I was engaged because I was productive they were obviously mistaken and that can be costly when a good employee leaves, especially the ones you did not expect to lose or did not want to lose. We all know the cost of turnover is high, especially if you are employing specialists or are in a specialty field.

This article is not a “how to” on creating productive and engaged employees, there will be more on those topics in the future. This is meant to get you thinking and challenge your assumptions. If you think that just because you have productive employees that means you also have engaged employees this article is meant to challenge that paradigm. If you want to keep your talent and create a more powerful workforce you need to ensure they are truly engaged regardless of how productive you think they are.

Let’s dive in a little deeper here. Everyone wants to contribute in a certain way and there is no right or wrong way for this to happen. The challenge is that most people have not given it much thought as it relates to the work they chose to do and employers have not seen it as their responsibility to help their employees figure this out. The reason it actually is an organizational responsibility is because everyone is different, but many organizations and managers want to put everyone in the same box and tell them how to do their work instead of giving individuals the opportunity to work the way that makes sense for them.

Some people work very well in groups doing brainstorming sessions to come up with ideas and potential solutions while others really want to solve problems more independently. There are those who like creating systems and those who like creating relationships. Some of your employees want to make decisions through action while others want to make decisions through complex analysis. You have some sales people who are great at cold calls and are actually engaged in the process and others who want to be in the field, face-to-face with their prospects having conversations. Put the person who likes cold calls in the field or vice versa and you have just killed the engagement and productivity of those people who are actually great talent when able to contribute in the way that honors them.

Instead of putting people in positions based on a preconceived notion about what someone with a specific skill set should do, stop and ask critical questions: Who are you? How do you learn? How do you want to work? What is it that drives you to contribute fully? Of course this is just scratching the surface on how to best engage your employees by putting them in roles they will naturally want to contribute to with their full effort. The tool I use is called the Core Values Index (CVI) by Taylor Protocols and I use it with clients to do this very thing among others. You can take it for free by visiting www.c-suiteresults.com

When you find people productive and engaged I bet you big dollars that they are doing work that is truly aligned with who they are. They are doing work that actually lights them up, that they look forward to, and that they have control over. Why do you think so many people leave corporate America to start a business? It’s not because being an entrepreneur is easy or carefree. It is because they can do the work that they believe they are meant to be doing in the way they feel that they are meant to do it, which they did not experience in their corporate job. If more people were able to contribute at work the way they are meant to contribute I bet more good employees would stay employees.

If you are ready examine this in more detail then I recommend bringing in a professional. Someone who can help you examine your current situation, help you create a change plan where it’s needed, and support you along the way. Of course you can start looking at this on your own, but often when you are too close to the problem it can be very hard to see the gaps and even harder to come up with the solutions. Remember specialists are here to help you, they are not a sign of weakness. Just like you see a specialist to look at a medical issue, a coach to help your golf game, and an accountant to take care of the books, specialists have their place in your life and in your business. Change specialists, coaches, and management consultants are here for a reason.

Ask around, do your homework, and find someone that understands you and that you feel comfortable with. If you want a free consult with an executive coach, I am available to discuss your situation. You can reach me at sharon@c-suiteresults.com and learn more at www.c-suiteresults.com.