A Lot, Too Late

Leaders are born with ears.  Most of them, anyway.  And you would think that they would use them for good instead of evil.  Well, not necessarily evil - just to do nothing.

Here is the story.....it's performance appraisal time.  A self-appraisal is requested by all team leaders to be submitted before the actual performance appraisal is conducted.  This is standard operating procedure in many organizations.  This self-appraisal helps individuals see their accomplishments and their performance gaps making it much easier on the manager delivering the actual appraisal - let's face it - we are usually harder on ourselves than our bosses are in these terms.

So the self- appraisal is handed in.  On the day of the appraisal, this leader asks his team member to attend the meeting.  And the meeting ensues...in this way...the leader takes out the self-appraisal and writes checkmarks where he agrees and 'x's' where he does not.  Little discussion, little dialogue, no inkling of what the employee can do to improve for next year.

But there's more...

The following year, the leader has moved on to a different position.  A new manager is in place and it is appraisal time.  She asks that the self-appraisal be brought to the appraisal meeting....not to be reviewed by her before.  She actually does not have an appraisal written for the meeting but states that there is no increase this year because targets have not been met.  It's discretionary, she says!

What do you do?  Ask the obvious question, what is this based on as you are a new manager and no objectives were in place to measure against anyway?  The answer is - take it up with the last manager, that is the answer they provided for me to give you.

Whoa!  All kinds of issues.  Where to begin.  This employee asked for clarification from senior leaders - none ever came.  Instead what came was a barrage of visitors to the area to see if things were up to snuff.  Needless to say, there are still no specific objectives except for 'reach the goals'.

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The Sound of Leadership

Do you have a tone?

Does your leader have a tone?
Is there a voice that your mom or dad used to use that would stop you in your tracks?
That's the one I am talking about.
The voice that is condescending, belittling or simply full of annoyance.

How do you handle the leader with this voice?

Well, people are simply blessed with the voices they have been given. They are influenced by their environment - where they grew up, the language and tone used in their homes, their experiences with others....what works or doesn't. So it is not really the voice, but more of the TONE and inflection.

Approaching the person with the 'voice' is not as easy as it seems. Although, the approach is a simple one - 'hey, this is how you said what you said', or 'you said this, this is how I heard it, is that really what you meant?' Let them know ...it's not easy from either end of the conversation but it will set ground rules for how you like to get your communication and you may be pointing out something that needs to be worked on by that individual...and they never knew it because of the fear they have mongered due to their tone.

Here is an exercise....listen to your tone. I have had mine pointed out to me before and while it is not fun, it is a new awareness that I now have that makes how I communicate different now than in the past.

Once you pay attention to your tone, you will automatically change the tone of the other person.

Control Freak

Have you met one of these?  Or are you one of these?

The Control Freak

Everything has to be done your way.

Everyone has to act the way you want them to act.

Everyone needs to follow your rules, even though sometimes they do not apply to you.

You manipulate with faces, feeling, outbursts, inattention even harsh words - you bully.

You want what you want and there is no changing your mind because you are right and there is no room for other opinions or ideas.

OK.

This is not you...but it is someone you work with/for or with whom you have a relationship.

Tough nut to crack.

What do you do?  Let them know, in no uncertain terms, that you will not change your beliefs simply because they want you to.  You will not put their bullying tactics, but continue to work (or live your life) in accordance with what works for you.  If that requires less time or interaction with them, then that is how it will be.



The Big Rollback

The big rollback...not really poor leadership, but could have been.

Morale is at an all time low I am told, due to the economy. This leader is beside themselves trying to figure out how to fix it. They want surveys, 360degree surveys, benchmarks for the industry, roundtable discussions with other industry leaders to see if they are experiencing the same thing. It's sheer madness he says, they cannot get out of the funk.


So, here comes the coach. My first question is....what is your mood? What is your attitude? Are you perpetuating the ' poor me' or are you pushing past it and asking...why not me? What can I do about it? What can I change?

The leader paused for a moment...well, longer than a moment, for which I give him great credit....and then he said..no one has ever asked me that before. No one has challenged me to change my perspective instead of finding excuses for the perspective I have.

I could not tell at the moment if he was happy or grateful for the challenge or not. Time will tell if he picks it up and moves forward with it. By the end of our session he was willing to consider that he could be the game changer by moving forward instead of looking for excuses for everyone.

What could have turned into a complete business debacle ( a poor leadership adventure spiralling out of control) turned into a good coaching session, where my client learned a skill to take back to his team.

Changing perspectives is not easy, sometimes you need the prompt.

Benefits and Employee Morale

So here is the story.  Just had surgery - unexpected -  and I let my boss know this.  They said "Don't worry about it"....meaning, that my pay would stay in place as my salary would just continue.  OK.  I'm good with that!  I can work from my laptop at home while I recover, not as many hours, but still able to contribute - great!  I'll stay in the loop and it won't be so hard to get back into the swing of things when I am fully recovered. Heck, I even sent the weekly report from my hospital bed.

Two days later, by UPS, an envelope arrives. Inside the envelope are application documents for Short Term Disability - meaning that, my pay will be 70%.  After communicating with my boss and our HR Manager, I was told that for sure, that would be the case.  I made sure at this point that my boss understood that I would not be responding to any emails and focusing instead on recovery.  She agreed with that.

Working with the Benefits Team in the Home Office was quite laughable. (In fact, I am still waiting for a return phone call from a voicemail that I left 2 weeks ago - the message stated that they would return my call 'at their convenience'. I guess it has not yet been convenient to call  - we'll talk about this more in another post.)  Needless to say, the stress involved with dealing with this office would be enough to cause a nervous breakdown or set back my recovery.  I finally got all the paperwork - 2 sets of forms - filled out, signed by the doctor, faxed over (because they don't take emails!!!! (even hospitals have WI-FI)) and found someone to tell me they received everything. Whew! 

Now, just because I like to understand everything - especially how and when I will be paid because my family likes to eat dinner everyday, I contacted the Payroll Department.  They pulled up my information quite quickly and immediately told me that I was covered for 100% pay for 13 weeks!!!!  I was surprised - to say the least. Now, she did tell me that it would show up on the pay stub as 70% + a 30% top up. When asked why, she stated it was because I was senior management.

NO ON KNEW THIS!

Can you imagine that?  After all the stress and worry.  After going back and forth with HR and my boss, no one took the time to find out the exact details and relay the information to me.  You would have thought they would know their own benefits package...if simply for the sake of recruiting top talent. 

Lesson:  if you are the leader, know the benefits or at least find out as you go along and make the life of your team members easier when going through hardships.

Lesson:  if you are the HR Manager, know the benefits and differences at every level. Period. That is your JOB!

Your Health at Work

What does your health mean to your leader?
Is your health an extension of your work?
Or is your health what it is because of your work?

Most leaders should understand that a healthy employee can actually focus and concentrate better, can be more productive and creative in problem-solving and even spend more time working than when they are ill. Makes sense right?

Well, not to this leader. They would prefer that you take a 2 hour conference call from your sick bed even if you feel so ill that you do not remember the call later. Or even worse, host a meeting that makes you miss your long-awaited specialist appointment without any regard for the ongoing health issue you are facing.


Talk about eliminating positive morale, and making you want to work only the hours that are stated on the paycheque.

What to do? Let the leader know about your appointments as soon as they are made and book the time off. This way, the leader will have the note on their calendar as well, and hopefully they will not book a meeting at the same time.


Also,when you are ill, delegate calls and appointments (if needed) to someone on your team to take care of them. This will provide your team members with an opportunity to grow and your leader with someone to take that conference call.

Eat the Elephant

Wow! The big project is here. It has so many steps that you cannot see the top rung. It is so big that it looks like it is the size of an elephant. How do you manage? How do you get your head around it? How do you get your team through this? One step at a time. Just like eating an elephant – one bite at a time.


What does that mean exactly? Well, don’t....

• Push the project onto one person without providing detailed expectations – give instructions and review each step of the project regularly

• Set unrealistic expectations for completion – determine the timeline that makes sense by including key stakeholders in the planning process

• Take away resources to complete each part – payroll, time, people – it’s work, plan in advance to spend the resources

• Put too many pieces of the project in motion – there should be an order or process to follow.

Eat the elephant one bite at a time. It really is the only way.