Management Craft

Focus and Fun Joined at the Hip?

Michael Bungay Stanier sent me the link to his site and this super fun online ode to 10 principles for having fun. He groups the principles into categories, one of which is FOCUS.

I found this very interesting. I totally agree that to focus, you need to enjoy your work and to enjoy your work you need to focus. I have a chapter about fun in my upcoming book, Focus Like a Laser Beam.

Think about the times when you have been most focused. How did you feel? Engaged? Energized? Successful? These are all aspects of what makes work fun, too. Many people lament that they do not enjoy their jobs and for some, the answer is to get focused.

Here are my six indicators of organizational focus:

• A shared perspective about the goals - everyone knows what’s important and they are on board
• A universally understood drumbeat - the desired speed/pace of work is understood and in alignment
• Relevance of tasks - people spend time on tasks that best support success
• Organization alignment - you are set up for success
• Self-correction - problems are solved quickly or prevented and opportunities are recognized and seized
• Results - the outcome is optimally successful

I have determined a leader's level of focus by looking at these things. I'll visit these and write more about them another day. How would you rate yourself, your team, your organization?

How does fun fit into this? Creating laser focus has a lot to do with creating an energized workplace. The way people feel about their jobs and their relationships impacts their energy and engagement.

This is business - the most important thing you can do to create a fun work environment is to ROCK at work. In other words, when people are engaged and doing their best, they are having a blast. Birthday cakes and Krispy Kremes are nice, but goofy, lite fun is just that. Serious business can be quite a rush in and of itself.

 

What should you do with your life?

As the new year approaches, it is time to reflect on your special talents and how you have chosen to express life. This post offers three ways to take a look at your life and goals.

First, I want to direct you to my 2 Weeks to a Breakthrough Blog. I am offering anyone a free copy of my short e-book, New Year's Resolutions for Leaders. It is just 19 pages and walks you through my process for establishing, fine tuning, and executing on goals.

Second, I recommend the new book by Dick Richards called, Is Your Genius At Work? Do you know what your special gift is? Do you know what you do better than most? The thrust in your life that gives LIFE to life? Check out the post I did on Dick's book at the ThirdAge blog here (lots of interesting comments, too). Also, Don, over at Leadership Now did a podcast with Dick - check it out.

Third, I want to share a great post on happiness by Dwayne over at Genuine Curiosity. He quotes the Happiness Manifesto, which is a great list of 10 habits that will improve your life. Here are #4 and #5:

4. Plant something. Even if it's a window box or pot. And, you must keep it alive!

5. Cut your TV viewing by half.

Simple things, but oh-so-powerful.

I think leadership is a vocation of constant reinvention and growth. I am committed to using this time of year to reflect and zoom in on my goals and desires. I am simplifying the shopping and refusing to get caught up in the holiday hype. Reflection, connection, and focus - that's my aim.

Won't you join me?

Your Favorite Business Conferences

Last week I put out a survey about conferences and said I would report the results today. Well, only a handful of people took the survey, likely due to bad timing on my part. But here are the results:

1. How many conferences will you attend next year?

One - One Person
Two - Four People
Three - Two People
Five or more - One Person (My comment: Wow, that's a lot of conferences.)

2. List the conferences you value most:

UPA, CHI, AYE

In my case I attend most of these as a speaker, and I have learned to ask for the privilege of attending their entire conference as part of my engagement, so the annual list varies. However I will tell you that I really miss the discontinued Fast Company Real Time Conference and wish they'd bring it back - it was definitely my favorite one in years past.

Maximum Impact with Maxwell and other speakers is fantastic. I also enjoy industry conferences.

Association for Manufacturing Excellence (www.ame.org) - in Dallas in October next year. Best by far for lean enterprise leadership (not just manufacturing anymore). 21 years old, sold out this year (Boston), for practitioners by practitioners... people who have been in the real world. Lean Accounting Summit (www.leanaccountingsummit.com). 2005 was the first conference, and it sold out.

WOMMA Wombat in Orlando PopTech in Maine

3. How do you choose a conference?

Speakers - Six votes
Location - One vote
Topic of Focus - Seven votes
Date - no votes
Length - no votes
People who attend - Three votes

4. How much of the conference do you ACTUALLY attend?

I attend the whole conference -  Four People
I skip out on 25% or so - Three People
I skip out of about 50% of the conference - None
I attend only 25% of the time - None
I don't really attend at all - None

5. What kind of contacts do you make at conferences?

I leave each conference with a stack of new contacts and business cards - Two People
I make several new contacts - Three People
I usually meet a couple new people - Two People
I often don't make any contacts at all - None

6. If you could go to any ONE conference, cost being no problem, which one would you attend and why?

AYE - most personal development, no pressure to network
Anything done by Gallup.
Catalyst conference with Maxwell's group would be AWESOME. Powerful, younger speakers with new ideas, and easiest to implement ideas.
Association for Manufacturing Excellence - ame.org
TED - They pull in great presenters on a wide variety of topics, I hear they is also put on a great production.

7. Who pays for your conference costs?

I pay my own costs - One Person
My company pays - Five People
I get in free (by being a speaker or volunteer) - One Person

I would love to hear from a few more of you about what your favorite conferences are and why, so leave a comment telling us the conferences you are attending next year.

I have three on my calender so far:
The ASTD International Conference (doing book signings/talk)
The Global Institute for Leadership Development (possible speaker, TBD)
A writer's conference with my mother, who is also a writer (summer, exact conference TBD)
And I am working on adding a couple more......

Thanks to those of you who participated!!

The Thanksgiving Leadership recharge

I will be taking the long holiday off. Yes, OFF. It is weird even hearing myself think this, because, as a self-employed person (and one who took on too many projects recently), I have not taken enough time off.

I bet many of you are in the same boat.

If you have the thanksgiving holiday off, take the opportunity to recharge. Even if you don't observe Thanksgiving, take the time you have available to recharge. Here are a few of my personal goals for this recharge:

1. I won't do anything I don't want to do. When it comes to chores, I adopt a mindset that it is a joy to have the time to do this upkeep and enjoy it.

2. I play every day. I do something creative. Today I started things off by making a nice wreath for the front of the house using aromatic cedar, juniper berries, and pine cones.

3. I get active every day. I want to feel good.

4. I allow myself small indulgences. And I see them as wonderful indulgences. I am not talking a shopping spree here, it could be a big cup of fancy tea, or small piece of exquisite chocolate, or an obscure foreign film.

5. I talk - real conversations - with my husband and others I encounter.

6. I hug my pets and see them for the wonderful partners they are.

7. I improve something - a room, the look of the table, my space to relax.

8. I take time to read, perhaps light a fire in the fireplace, and be still.

9. I take stock in my life and adopt an abundance mentality. If feelings of worry, concern, or scarcity creep in, quickly get rid of them.

10. I think about my hopes and dreams and allow myself to get recommitted to and excited about them.

That's my agenda for the weekend. Perhaps my list will give you a few ideas? Thanks for reading my blog and I will see you again on Monday.

Joining the Rant About 360 Degree Surveys

You gotta read this post by Don over at Leadership Now about the how stupid we can become when we worry more about process than results. In this case it is a botched 360 degree survey process. There are lots of meaty comments, too.

Regina over at HR's Brand New Experience gets in on it, too.

And people wonder why front page articles like "Why We Hate HR," appear.

This kind of stuff makes me ill. What a waste, what a waste, what a waste.

A waste of time.
A waste of resources.
A waste of trust.
A waste of talent.
Wasted opportunities to really care about developing people.

Why do we do this? I use the term "WE" because I, too, got caught in this cycle of dumbness in the early days of my career. Not now, though, I would refuse to waste the company's time, energy, and resources this way.

Most of the HR people I know are very smart and care deeply. But many lack the courage to put a stop to the madness that is:

Doing dumb stuff or good stuff the wrong way.

When you have leaders who are just going through the motions and doing whatever it takes to complete the forms (rendering them useless) this is a tragedy.

We need to be better than this. We need to be more competitive than this. We Americans are quick to point to offshoring to India and foreign manufacturing plants as causes for our corporate ills. These changes have an impact, but I also think that we WASTE so much energy, passion, and resources doing stupid stuff.

I would love to work with a company who was willing to say, "OK, no more. We are not going to do things that don't make sense and we won't try to implement processes in such a way that ruins any potential returns."

360 degree processes are expensive. Yes, they offer some benefits when done well, but I can come up with dozens of ways to put that time, money, and effort to better use.

Start the new year off by defenestrating the stupid processes you are doing. What a gift that would be to your leaders and your employees.

 

Best Management and Leadership Conferences

It's time to start planning next year's development. Many people will take classes and go to conferences. I'd like to hear from you about which conferences you have been to, plan on going to next year, and why you selected these events.

Is it the speakers?
Is it the focus of information?
Is it the location?
Is it the networking opportunities?
Do you really attend the conference or do you skip out and have fun?

To allow for optimal annonimity, I have put together this quick 7 question survey. It will take just 2 minutes. Come on, it will be fun. I will post the results next Monday.

Click here to take survey.

The Many Looks of Ownership

While in Bangkok, I was talking to a local consultant about how ownership might look different for a middle manager in the Thai government than it does for a middle manager in a fast paced start-up in the US. My high impact middle management model emphasizes the importance if ownership. Like the scene in this picture, leaders in many organizations need find ways to combine traditional views with new ways of working to produce the best long term results.

I would hate for people to dismiss the need to take ownership because they work in an environment where they have seemingly little control and the chain of command is reinforced (like many government environments).

Ownership looks different depending on your circumstances. The question is: What can you impact? How can you have influence? Given the environment, what can you do to move the work forward?

This was an interesting conversation for me and one that will help me with my writing in the future. I want to be clearer about how every leader can own their job and results, even if there are significant constraints in the environment.

In the case of the Thai middle managers, they have a couple challenges. First, like many government organizations they suffer from some resistance to change and feel tension between programs and available resources. The organization slows down due to numerous approvals and protocol. In addition, the Thai culture is one where many people do not feel comfortable voicing their opinions and concerns.

The people I met were talented and dedicated. Their challenge to improve ownership and middle management is going to be a bit more difficult and look different than the same initiative would look in a typical US Company. They seem dedicated to the change and know it will reap great rewards.

 

Blog Experimentation

Don't mind the formatting changes on the blog. I am experimenting with a few things as I prepare to integrate and tie all my sites together and update the content....I want to go into 2006 with a cleaner and more helpful online presence...

Thailand - Swelling Head and Aching Back!

Wow, what a trip this is! I have been in Bangkok since Sunday. Just a couple hours after I got checked into my hotel, I put my back out. My schedule was packed, so I have been grinning and bearing it - a test on how to focus!

That's the aching back part...Now for the swelling head...

The government of Thailand has been a wonderful host. The hotel, food, and company have all been outstanding.

On Monday, I met with the Prime Minister who said that my book, High Impact Middle Management, was one of only four he is currently recommending his managers and leaders read. Wow - what an honor. I then heard the Prime Minister give a speech on the importance of strong middle management to about 5,000 government middle managers (they have 80,000 middle managers in the Thai government). The speech was also televised live. During the speech, the Prime Minister mentioned me and my book and asked me to stand up to be recognized. It was a bit surreal, but in a wonderful way.

On Tuesday morning, I spoke to 600 Thai middle managers and senior leaders in the UN Building. They created this wonderful backdrop just for my speech (see below) and gave me a wonderful piece of art (an elephant) as a token of appreciation. On Tuesday afternoon, I met with a committee that is leading the effort to improve middle management effectiveness.

On Wednesday, I spent the day with about 40 government and university folks who may be trained to be trainers. I shared my High Impact Middle Management model in greater detail. What a fine group! I also did a TV interview that will be shown state-wide.

And this evening (it is Wed evening right now) they took me to participate in the Loy Krathong celebration. At the end of Buddhist Lent, Thais celebrate the festival of Loy Krathong. They launch small banana leaf boats (krathong) on rivers and waterways to ask forgiveness from the Goddess of Waters. Thais also believe they float away past sins on their krathongs.

Here is my krathong before releasing it into the river.

 

 

And there is goes, along with all my sins and bad luck.

My official duties are done and tomorrow I will enjoy an insider's tour of the Grand Palace and do some shopping. I will be back in Seattle on Friday. I may not post again until Monday.

The Thais I met have been so warm and generous, and as you can tell, they have treated me very, very, well. They did so many little things to make me feel special and appreciated. Every meal was attended by several high ranking leaders who were interested in how to improve middle management.

I find it interesting to learn about different work cultures and think about how the work I do translates.

As I write this, I am watching amazing fireworks from my hotel window - better than any July 4th display I have seen - more energetic, noisy, and creative. Ahh, life is tough......I promise my swelled head will return to normal next week.

De-Hassling

You've read and heard the recent reports that last year one million people switched from PC to MAC. This is not a post about PC versus Mac. But that news got me thinking, because I switched from PC to Mac about a year ago. What drove me to do that, when the vast majority of people I communicate with are still using PCs?

One word - Hassle. For me, using Dell and Microsoft had become such a hassle that I switched.

Hassle is a powerful force of change and not in the way you want.

Companies lose employees and customers every day because dealing with the company is too much of a hassle. Want a competitive edge in aobtaining and keeping talent and customers? Take the hassle ou!

Way back in the TQM days, Phil Crosby used the term de-hassling in his book Quality Without Tears: Teh Art of Hassle-Free Management. I don't know if he was the first, but that's where I first heard the term and it stuck with me.

In what ways do you make work a hassle? What small but annoying and dumb  roadblocks do you impose? I have written about hassled before:

Hassles related to applying for a job.
Hassles related to rules.
Hassles related to meetings.
Hassles called mucky muck.

As we head into the holidays and the new year, take some time to de-hassle the organization. Here's a suggestion: At your next staff meeting, ask everyone to come prepared with a list of the top ten hassles they face at work. Collect all the hassles and obliterate all that you can.

Then, look at your customer's expereince and try to determine the ways in which you make doing business with you a hassle. Obliterate the hassles.

"It's not that simple," you say.

Yes, yes, I know. Obliterate all that you can and challenge yourself when you say it can't be done.