Dealing With Accusations

Crucial Skills has a great post
on how to deal with accusations.

A manager,
years ago,
taught me this trick with facing
an emotional accuser…

I automatically repeat what she says.

I’ll say something like…
‘From what I understand,
you feel I did this and this and this,
is that correct?’

This does a few things…
I can respond initially
without thinking (or feeling).
It puts cooling down time
between the accusation
and addressing the situation.
The accuser usually,
after venting,
calms down.
Often when the accuser hears her own words,
she realizes she’s not being rational.
It also reassures me
that I’m hearing her correctly.

The key to handling accusations
is to take emotion out of it.

Don’t Worry About It

Before I went on vacation
(to attend the Consumer Electronics Show),
I asked about my coverage for the week.
I was told by my female boss
“Don’t worry about it.
Enjoy your time off.”

It was a flippant statement.
She is a nice lady
and wants to be liked.
She thought the nice thing
was to give me a worry-free vacation.

It sent the wrong message.

We worry about tasks
we’re responsible for.
By telling me not to worry,
she took that responsibility away.

For a couple of minutes,
I felt free and easy.
Why was I working until midnight
to finish up the year end?
It wasn’t my responsibility!

…Then I remembered
I was a professional.

If your employee is responsible
for a task,
don’t tell her not to worry about it.

The Level Of Commitment

In every meeting,
there are a couple head nodders.
Those are people
that nod their head
to every declaration
but don’t actually speak up.

Head nodding,
because it can mean a variety of things
from ‘I’m dozing off’
to ‘I hear you’
to ‘I agree and support you’,
means nothing.
Many phrases attendees use
mean nothing also.

Steve Roesler has a great post
on the levels of commitment
(or as he states… relationships).

Use of cliches and flippant phrases
illustrate a shallow commitment.
Using ‘I’ and expressing feelings
are indicators of a deep commitment.

No one ever said
listening well was easy.
One of the reasons
why good listeners are often rewarded.

What You See

In front of the building
I am currently posted at,
there’s a line up
of taxis waiting.

The official stance is
that it is a convenient place
for them to park.
The street widens there.
There isn’t that much traffic.

The company ‘legend’
is that they are waiting for layoffs.
Every morning
employees walk through those doors
and see those taxis waiting.

It isn’t a coincidence
that, in the company,
there’s a ‘live for today’ attitude.
Systems and routines
haven’t been put in place.
Employees don’t build for tomorrow
because they don’t think
they’ll be working for the company tomorrow.

That’s fine if this is the attitude
the management wants.
I don’t think it is.

Look around your office.
Is what you see
in line with what you believe?

Sacrifice And Leadership

One of my co-workers was seriously ill
last week.
The problem was…
it was year end.
Taking time off meant a clean year end
was an impossibility.
Staffing was so lean,
there was no one to do her job.

She felt like a fool
when she heard her boss
took the entire week off
due to a cough.

Why should she sacrifice for year end
when her boss was unwilling to?

Managers shouldn’t be martyrs.
They don’t have to sacrifice EVERYTHING.
But they,
if they expect their employees to sacrifice,
should sacrifice SOMETHING,
a token to show
that they are not asking their staff
to do something they are unwilling to do.

As a manager,
of course,
you have the luxury of choosing
the token sacrifices.
Work obscenely late on the day you wish to.
Come in with the sniffles
but keep the door shut
and the problems at bay.
Return phone calls at 2 am.
Those sorts of games.

Managing During Bad Times

Many of my placements
are in challenged companies.
These are companies going through changes.
There are layoffs and restructurings
and other stressful events.

One company communicated nothing.
Employees would hear of layoffs
only when they tried to contact co-workers.
Managers were there one day,
gone the next.
They were shifted to groups
without explanation or warning.
There was constant unease and worry.
Employees relied on gossip
and the gossip was always the most dramatic alternative.
Work didn’t get done.
The caring level was low.
Star performers left.

Another company was in an even tighter spot.
They were heading to bankruptcy.
The employees knew the situation was dire
because their managers held weekly, sometimes daily, meetings.
Whenever there was a change,
managers would call their group together
for a quick huddle.
Employees weren’t told everything
but they were told a lot.
This surprisingly built more loyalty to the company,
not less.
A division knew they were being closed down
yet the night before,
they put in extra hours
to ensure customers weren’t inconvenienced.

Employee morale is not about external factors.
It is about management.

Hiring For A Bridge Position

I’ve been in quite a few bridge positions.
During the interviews,
I always tell the managers
that I do NOT want a full time job
and that they would do better to hire
someone who may be interested in one.

The managers all insisted
that they didn’t want to hire the contractor (me).
The managers also all ended up
offering me the full time job
(and being unhappy because I wasn’t interested).

People (including yourself) are lazy.
Once you find a great employee,
you’ll want to hire them.
Use this opportunity
to try out a prospective employee
on contract.

Don’t promise a full time position
but
do ensure that they WOULD consider one.
Keep that possibility open.

Bridge Positions Management Opportunities

I’ve talked about bridge positions
from a contractor’s point of view.
I thought I’d now talk about them
from a manager’s point of view.

There are two ways to handle
a vacant position.

The first is to hire a contractor
for the vacant position.
This contractor will learn the job,
document the duties,
and then train the new person.

The upside of this
is that no other positions are affected.
There is only one problem spot.
You’ll have a set of fresh eyes
evaluating the role
and suggesting changes.
Also, if the position is suddenly vacant,
an outside person may have the skills
to figure out what the hell
the original employee did.

The downside is
that, if there is some overlap,
the original employee is transferring her knowledge
to an outside person
(one solution to this
is to have another employee sit in
on the training).
The outside person (who may or may not care)
is given the responsibility to transfer
that knowledge to the new employee.

In a happy, happy world,
that transfer would be smooth
and the new employee would stay
for a long time.

The harsh reality is
that the contractor could be bitter
about being replaced
and/or the new employee doesn’t work out.
If the new employee leaves,
you’re left with no one knowing the position.

The second option
is to move another employee into the vacant role
temporarily (or full time)
and have the contractor fill that employee’s position.

The upside to this option
is that the knowledge stays within the group.
You can hire a lower level (i.e. less expensive) contractor.
You don’t have to oversee this contractor.
Your employee can do that
(given her some management experience).
You have expanded the skill base
of one of your employees.
This employee is more likely to have continued access
to the wisdom of the departing employee.

The downside is
you may not have an employee
with the necessary skills or desires
and you’re disrupting two positions.

I prefer, as both a manager and a contractor,
the second option.

The Gift Of Time

33% of all Canadians,
50% of all Canadian men
wait until the last minute
to buy Christmas presents.

I haven’t opened all my presents yet
but I can guarantee
that nothing will top what my husband gave me.

He gave me the gift of his time.

After work,
he picked me up.
We went to a restaurant,
just the two of us,
no cellphones, no blackberries.
We ate dinner
and then we went to the movies.

I had his undivided attention
for the entire evening.

When was the last time
you gave a loved one
your undivided attention?

Wouldn’t that make a wonderful gift?

5 Types Of Words To Avoid

Terry Starbucker has a great post
on the 5 types of words to avoid.

They are…

Negation Words
Half-heart Words
Run to the Dictionary Words
Absolute words
and
Bad Emphasis words

I’ve covered many of these
in past posts
(Terry adds some additional examples).

All except for absolute words.
This is a no-brainer.
There is no such thing as can’t, always, or never.

Anything is possible
if you throw enough resources at it.
You CAN do it.
It simply may take more energy
than it is worth.

Use always or never
and the person you’re speaking to
will come up with an exception.
Your credibility is immediately blown.

Craft your language
to exclude these five types of words.