Maximizing the Human Potential

Effective Communication

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andrew shaffer consulting effective communication

How well are you able to communicate your ideas to another person? Think about it. How many times have you argued with a spouse or significant other because of a communication problem, or lack of communication? What about your children? Have you ever asked a colleague or a member of your team to do something only to be totally disappointed because they did something completely different? The whole “bring me a rock” exercise. Most of the time ineffective communication is the cause of our disagreements and disappointments. This week I am going to share some takeaways from a recent workshop I participated in to learn effective communication.

Effective Communication

I recently had the opportunity to sit in a two-day workshop on communication. I am always willing to explore options for improving myself, and I understand the benefits of being a more effective communicator. However, as you can imagine, two full days seemed like a lot. I have participated in communication training, and by extension leadership communication training before.  Usually they were hours upon hours of hypothetical examples and role playing for scenarios that never actually happen.

To my surprise my expectations were completely wrong! We didn’t participate in role playing with over the top, unrealistic hypotheticals. Instead, during the two days we broke down and explored the causes of miscommunication, and how our own uniqueness contributes to it. It amazed me that just after day one, the workshop participants were sharing how they were taking what they learned and applied it at home that night! I cannot recreate the same impact in a blog that the workshop had over the two days, but I’d like to share some of the takeaways that might impact how you communicate.

How We Communicate

In today’s world there are almost an infinite number of ways to communicate with one another. We have email, text messaging, instant messaging, social media feeds, phones, video calls, pre-recorded videos, and good old-fashioned face to face conversation. Those are just the mediums we use for communication, that doesn’t even consider the message we are actually trying to convey!

When it comes to messaging it gets even more complicated. Have you ever said something (in any of the mediums above) and someone took offense, and you immediately had to clarify because your intent wasn’t understood? Yeah, me too.

Body language, tone of voice and other contextual clues add meaning to the words you’re saying. Most of us don’t put much thought and effort into the messaging and how we are communicating with others. We make assumptions based on our beliefs, what we think is commons sense, and our understanding of specific words. We have mental pictures or conclusions in our mind, and we assume others will have the same. This is far from the case.

When we communicate with others, we all need to be careful to make sure we are clear on what we are trying to communicate, and that our approach (message and medium) are appropriate and can be clearly understood by our audience.

 Language

“The United States and Great Britain are two countries separated by a common language.” – George Bernard Shaw

Did you know there are 645 meanings to the word run? I was surprised too, so I googled it. It’s no wonder why non-native English speakers say that English is the hardest language to learn! In this workshop we played a word association game. The facilitator gave us a word and we each wrote down the next ten things that came to mind. It was a relatively common word, and we all knew the definition of it, but in the entire group we didn’t have one word in common.

The language we use while communicating can, and likely will, conjure different understandings in different people. In the workshop, we had the opportunity to do some group work. We had to answer some simple questions individually then meet as a group and find common meanings. Even with these simple questions, we all interpreted them slightly differently and answered them differently. The questions were about communication, but many people would have different answers if they applied the question to work situations or personal situations. The questions didn’t specify, and we interpreted it based on our experiences.

Clarity

We don’t ask enough questions. I have read Jeffrey Gitomer’s Little Red Book of Selling probably close to a dozen times. In this book he dedicates a whole chapter on asking questions? Why? Because asking questions (he says smart questions) is the only way to get information. I once listened to a talk on successful interviewing. One of the most common mistakes interviewees have is they don’t ask questions. Ironically this was more common in men than women. Why? I suspect we believe by asking questions we admit we might not have all the answers. If we don’t have all the answers the other person might think we’re not qualified.

On the contrary, we must ask questions. Asking questions shows curiosity and a desire for understanding. I’ll never know what you are thinking, how I can help you, or who you are without asking questions. Earlier I alluded to the bring me a rock exercise. You know when your boss asks for a rock, you bring a rock only to find out it was the wrong rock. We’ve all been there I am sure. What would have happened if you took a few minutes to find out what rock your boss wanted in the first place? Would it have been time better invested than to have to go find another rock? I bet it would. Asking questions is an investment in getting the job done right the first time.

This Week’s Challenge

Today’s article isn’t going to make you a better communicator all by itself. I wanted to share with you some of the takeaways that I took from this workshop. You may already know and understand these things. For this week’s challenge, I recommend you look at how you communicate and find ways to be more effective. A small investment in becoming a more effective communicator can help your productivity.

If you would like to discuss more ways to help your business grow or if you feel you have a specific problem that needs to be addressed, please reach out to me.

Strategies for Culture Change

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andrew shaffer consulting strategies for culture changeLast week, I was talking to a fellow consultant about change management in business. He actually thought most of his business would come when companies were in a state for turmoil, as opposed to steady consistent atmosphere. This week I decided to share with you some reasons why change is so difficult in a company and introduce a better way to implement a culture change.

Strategies for Culture Change

At every company I ever worked for, there was always a push for continuous improvement. Companies spent time and money looking for process improvements or new software that could streamline a process. How do we do it faster, cheaper, better? Great question! Who doesn’t want to do more with less?

The Hard Way

The trouble with new processes or software is they don’t always improve efficiency. People are creatures of habit. To understand this, we need to understand what a habit is. A habit is an automatic response to a trigger. It’s noon (trigger) –  time for lunch (response). My alarm is buzzing (trigger) – time to get up (response).

Companies spend a lot of money working on infrastructure updates, new tools, systems and processes, in order to achieve more efficiency. Then when a new system is in place, they spend even MORE money training employees to learn the new system. After all this money is spent, they don’t see the efficiencies they had hoped to see! WHY!?!

In the work place we are still humans, and still creatures of habit. We receive an email (trigger), we respond (response). And on it goes. When there is a change to a process, or a new piece of software is added to the mix, people are being asked to respond differently to the same trigger. This creates confusion and disrupts their habits. It is essentially the same as setting your alarm clock when it is time to go to sleep! You wouldn’t expect someone to have a completely different reaction to the sound of an alarm clock! Why expect them to change responses to the same trigger in the work place?

People will resist this kind of change, complain about the new software or process.  It may take longer to accept the change, or people may go back to doing it the old way.   That is more comfortable, and after all, it’s worked for so long already!

Process Improvements are Necessary

I know what you are thinking, process improvements are necessary. The new software is needed because the old stuff isn’t sustainable anymore. How do I get people to adopt to new processes?

The Better Way

Just like any change in habit, change the trigger. At one point in a former career, I was being reassigned.  It was requested that I train my replacement during a transition period. The reasoning behind this was that I could smoothly transition my tasks to my replacement. This caused some issues with the team, and the confusion slowed the transition.

As long as I was there, the team would look to me for answers and direction. This was what they had done since the project started. The team looked to me to run the staff meetings and a whole host of things I normally did. In this case, my presence was the trigger. They came to me with status and problems as the response. It wasn’t until I removed the trigger (stopped attending meetings) that the team started relying on my replacement and made the transition.

Accept that Failure is Possible

Process improvements can’t be about changing responses. That is ineffective. It just doesn’t work. If you really want to maximize the benefits of improved systems and processes the key is to identify and change the triggers. Replace an existing trigger with a new trigger, and then you’ll get people to have a different response without the struggle of changing habits.

This Week’s Challenge

Find one area where you know you can be more efficient. Identify the trigger to change the response, and see your efficiency improve!

The challenge this week is to find one process habit to change to your team more efficient.

If you would like to discuss more ways to help your business grow or if you feel you have a specific problem that needs to be addressed, please reach out to me.

Setting a Priority

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andrew shaffer consulting setting a priority for your businessI have a client that is hell bent on building a successful business. She is a relatively new business owner and is learning as much as she can to be successful. I have to admire her enthusiasm. But there is ONE problem. Actually, the problem is actually a lack of ONE problem. Because she is learning so much, she is trying to find ways to implement everything all at ONCE and ends up being overwhelmed. This situation can occur with large companies too, and if there are several layers of management, it can be worse. This week I am going to talk about the importance of setting a priority for your business and focusing on it until completion.

Setting a Priority

You are a great leader. You’re ambitious and pride yourself on getting things done. I mean that is how you’ve been successful throughout your career. Besides, you can do anything if you make it your #1 priority, right? The truth is how many #1 priorities can you have? Answer: 1.

I’ve fallen into this trap before. I’ve sat in staff meetings, telling my team that solving this problem has to be our #1 priority. Then, I am reminded that last week we had a different #1 priority. It wasn’t that my team didn’t want to work both, or both problems weren’t important. My team knew that they only had so much energy and wanted to get the most productivity out of their time.

Proactive leadership is about looking to the future and creating a responsive vs reactive culture. Here are some common barriers to proactive leadership.

Symptoms

When working with large companies, I have noticed that every time there was a change in leadership a new initiative was introduced. This makes sense, the new executive wants to solve a problem and have an impact. So, the logical thing to do is to create a new initiative for improvement. But, what happens when two or three new initiatives are introduced by different executives? Or even worse, what happens when an aspiring manager is positioning themselves for an executive leadership. It can be overwhelming the number of new initiatives or priorities that can come down in a large organization.

Too many initiatives, or priorities will turn proactive leadership into reactive leadership. Your employees are busy enough with their “day jobs” and now they have to focus on half dozen new ideas? I have been in a meeting where my boss actually said, “Let’s wait and see if this sticks before taking action.” My boss decided to be reactive. He decided to wait until his lack of effort caused a problem, then he’d react to it at that point. Not only did it kill this initiative, but it killed every initiative that came afterword.

Solution

The solution is simple: Don’t overload your employees. There will always be another great idea, another market to capture, service to provide, or way to be successful. But what will kill any initiative is a start and stop momentum. When people are asked to focus on too many things, they don’t do any of them well. Choose one initiative or priority and focus until it is complete. I mean your people have enough to work on just doing their jobs. How much more can they handle?

Benefit

So, the benefit of setting a priority and completing it is that you get things accomplished. You create a culture of success. Your employees know what is important today will still be important tomorrow. They, and you, will develop a habit of completing projects. There is nothing more frustrating than focusing on a project and not seeing it through to completion. Or even worse, by the time you finish something it is obsolete because it took too long because of your other priorities.

Managers and leaders in your organization can be proactive when focusing on fewer things. They know what is important and they can concentrate on completion.

This Week’s Challenge

Limit your initiatives and priorities to one or two at the most, and clearly understand which is number one and number two. Make them your focus for your weekly meetings. Avoid the temptation of chasing the next good idea. I promise when you’re done with this idea another will be waiting for you to execute.

If you would like to discuss more ways to help your business grow or if you feel you have a specific problem that needs to be addressed, please reach out to me.

How to Avoid Having Dissatisfied Employees

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how to avoid hearing i quit andrew shaffer consultingI’ve had some serious writers block today, so I scrolled through some social media to see what inspiring things people are posting, or articles that are being shared. I thought I’d write about something that seems to be on the minds of other people. I found it quite surprising, that there were a lot of articles and statistics about people quitting their jobs to find new work. One article went so far as to state 60% of all employees have quit or are considering quitting right now! Do you have dissatisfied employees? Are your employees looking for a new job? How would you know?

How to Avoid Hearing “I Quit!”

As a business owner or a team leader you know how costly turnover can be to your bottom line. Retention is especially important when you have highly skilled workers that are in demand. I recently wrote a blog on the key to retention. In today’s economy there are more jobs available than people to fill them, and highly skilled workers are in high demand.

To be completely honest, I have quit more than one job and it took my boss by surprise. When I give an honest assessment of my performance leading up to deciding it was time to move on, the signs were obvious. If your employees are displaying any of the following traits, it’s a good idea to talk with them about their future.

Engagement

For the weeks, and months prior to ever leaving a job, there was almost always a lack of engagement in my work. I was doing my work, but I’d have a tendency to procrastinate, or let a task take longer than was necessary. During this time, I would participate less in meetings, and was reluctant to volunteer for any “extra” assignments. I didn’t necessarily do this on purpose, but most of the time, my mind was elsewhere. Sometimes, I was thinking about where I wanted to work next, or other things I’d rather be doing. I would easily be distracted by non-work-related things which resulted in a lack of concentrated focus on my current job.

High performers generally have a high level of engagement. They bring excitement and enthusiasm to their work which drives them to be top performers. As a leader, it is important to monitor and observe changes in behavior in your employees. Changes in behavior, and engagement, are symptoms of an underlying issue. When you observe these symptoms, it is in your best interest to identify issues quickly and resolve them if you can.

Absenteeism

Employees looking for new work tend to miss work more often. If they are less engaged and can be doing something else, they are more likely to do so. Also, if your employees are looking for work, they are likely to take time off to attend job fairs, networking events, or even interview for another job. Unplanned or one day time off can be an indicator that someone is looking for another job.

Absenteeism isn’t always manifested in unplanned time off or time off with short notice. Often times, it is strolling in just a few minutes later than normal. Nothing completely unusual, but a sign that getting to the office wasn’t a priority. Leaving promptly and taking longer than usual lunch breaks are also signs of absenteeism. If you notice a high performer taking more time off than usual, or longer breaks than they are accustomed to, this could be a sign someone is looking for another job.

Productivity

Your high performers are high performers because they are productive. I mean these are the people you count on when things absolutely have to get done, right? Productivity decreases as engagement decreases. This can sometimes be difficult to spot, but the signs are there. High performers, engaged or not, will still be productive. They are wired that way, and really don’t know how to not be productive. However, there will be signs of slowed productivity. Maybe they are completing tasks on time, instead of beating deadlines. Another symptom could be turning acceptable work quality instead of the exceptional work they typically provide.

This Week’s Challenge

Dissatisfied employees always leave signals of their dissatisfaction. Attentive leaders are tuned into changes in behavior and are willing to take action. In an economy where the employer is at a disadvantage, and qualified highly skilled employees are in demand, ensure your leaders are watching for signs that your best talent is looking for another job. Being proactive with your employees can help you retain your best performers and keep your competitive edge.

If you would like to discuss more ways to help your business grow or if you feel you have a specific problem that needs to be addressed, please reach out to me.

Accountability

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andrew shaffer consulting accountabilityOver the last week, many people have discussed with me the need for accountability. This might be because the year is still fresh and people know that accountability is necessary to be successful. Whatever the reason, people seem to be looking for guidance on how to hold themselves accountable and how to hold others accountable. This week, I thought I’d share some thoughts on accountability to help you become more successful in business and in life for 2019!

Accountability

We all know that accountability is an important factor to success. Accountability is typically introduced through school. We were held accountable for doing our homework, and if we didn’t do it there was typically some form of consequence. As we move into adulthood, we enter the workforce and there is some accountability there to perform to a certain standard, or lose our job.

I have also found that as people enter adulthood, some people struggle with accountability. Either with holding themselves accountable, or even holding others accountable. Being accountable requires discipline, which can be a struggle for some people. This article is going to explore three aspects of accountability and how YOU can become more successful.

To Yourself

The first person you have to be accountable to is yourself. Now this is probably the hardest of the three categories. I know, from my own experience, once I was on my own certain aspects of accountability went out the window. I no longer had anyone telling me when to come home, when to get up or what to eat. Over time, I had to develop a system of holding myself accountable because the consequences were catching up to me.

Holding yourself accountable requires self-discipline and integrity. You have to be able to do the right thing, even if nobody is watching. This is the most important aspect of accountability and makes it possible to hold others accountable. This is leading by example. You will struggle to hold others accountable, if they see that you cannot hold yourself accountable. To be successful create a system of holding yourself accountable. Maybe an accountability partner, or support group can be beneficial. No matter what you choose to do to hold yourself accountable, DO NOT LET YOURSELF OFF THE HOOK when you slip.

To Your Company

Make a habit of accountability at your company. This applies to supervisors, peers and direct reports. You’d be surprised how much people actually appreciate being held accountable, and how much more you’ll be respected. In the workplace, this can be as simple as a follow up. When you assign tasks to direct reports, follow up to make sure they are done, and done to the level you expect.

When working with peers, follow the same advice. If you need support from your marketing department, or the leader of another team, be sure to follow up. When your boss promises she’ll get you the help you need, follow up with her. I realize holding your boss accountable might take a little political consideration, but if she is honest, she’ll appreciate the accountability. Afterall she expects it from you, right?

By holding people accountable for what they say, you not only help improve productivity, you also prove that what you asked for is important. Another way to look at it. If you asked someone that worked for you to provide a report on Monday, and you don’t read it, why did you ask for it? Sooner or later, it’ll give the impression to your team that the work isn’t important. If you offer support to someone and don’t follow through their trust in you will begin to erode.

To Your Customers

It doesn’t matter if you are in retail or provide a service, you have to be accountable to your customers and clients. This doesn’t mean the customer is always right, although you shouldn’t let them know that. This doesn’t mean you give the client everything they want. It DOES mean that you do what you say and say what you do. Last week I talked about the importance of your companies image and reputation. Being accountable to your clients means saying what you do and doing what you say.

Your customers come to you to fill a specific need or want. They also come with a certain level of expectations.  Being accountable to your customers means meeting (or exceeding) those expectations each and every time you do business. Mistakes cannot always be avoided, it happens, but when mistakes do happen you take every reasonable (and sometimes unreasonable) action necessary to regain that trust. Just like with being accountable to your company, once you lose the trust you may never have an opportunity to regain that trust

This Week’s Challenge

Develop a plan to focus on these three areas of accountability. Even if you already think you are focusing on accountability, take time to identify ways you can become even more effective. Adding accountability to your relationships with yourself, your company, and your customers will help your and your business grow.

If you would like to discuss more ways to help your business grow or if you feel you have a specific problem that needs to be addressed, please reach out to me.

Playoff Mentality and YOUR Business

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andrew shaffer playoff mentalityHere we go again! No, not with New Year Resolutions and a fresh start, but PLAYOFFS! The NFL playoffs started over the weekend and the College Championship is being played tonight. As I watched the end of the NFL season, and some of the College Bowl games over the holiday weekend, I saw a wide range of emotions on display. I saw joy and anger, optimism and disappointment. This emotional roller coaster was not just experienced by the teams on the field, but by the fans in the stadium (or in my family room). It highlighted how invested fans are in their teams.  This week I am going to share how harnessing the playoff mentality and this type of excitement can benefit your business.

Playoff Mentality and YOUR Business

There are a lot of parallels between sports and business. In fact, in many business meetings I’ve attended there have been sport metaphors used to express urgency, a level of performance.

  • “She hit a home run on that one.”
  • “He struck out with that client.”
  • “We need a game plan for that project.”

You don’t have to be a sports fan to see the parallels. Business is competitive, and you have to play to win. Just like the playoffs, it’s win or go home in business. However, the similarities are much deeper. Here are a few things I witnessed this weekend watching sports and how you can apply them to your business and create YOUR winning team.

Play to Win

You have to play to win. If you aren’t winning, you are losing and when you continuously lose, you go out of business. Playoffs bring an intensity and a sense of urgency with a win or go home scenario. You, and your employees, should bring that same intensity to your business, EVERYDAY!

Sports fans are cheering for their team to win every game. As a fan I’m receive no physical benefit from my team winning. The players, coaches and team organization benefit, but not the fans. So many times, in business though, employees don’t really care if the business wins. I have worked with employees that were almost cheering against their company because they didn’t see any benefit from winning.

Imagine if everyone in your company was doing everything they could to help the business win? How would that benefit your company? Now imagine if you had up to 70% of your employees indifferent to winning or even a handful actively working against you. Everyone from the CEO to the new hire walking in the door today need to be playing to win, and more importantly, needs to know what winning looks like!

Loyalty

This is something that just impresses me. Every weekend from September through January I see people out wearing something that represents their favorite team. It might be a jersey, t-shirt, gloves, jacket, hat, but it’s everywhere. Honestly, it continues all year round. Every week, fans are reminding me of their favorite brand (team), and nobody is paying them for the advertising!

People talk about their favorite teams waiting in line for coffee, on social media and at holiday parties. Sure, sports provide entertainment, but let me ask you this. Imagine if your customers had half the emotional connection to your products or services as they do to their sports team? People are loyal to their team, in good times and bad (unless they are consistently bad). Do your customers have that kind of loyalty to your brand? Do your employees have that type of loyalty?  Why not?

Eternal Optimism

Even the best teams don’t win the championship every year. Although there are always some that seem to be in contention every year. Consistently top performing teams take loss or a setback, or even a bad season, and build upon it. The next game, or the next season is always an opportunity to redeem yourself. Great teams don’t quit, they don’t give up, and they don’t accept defeat. They study setbacks, and build upon it to prevent them from happening again. Eternal optimism, and a sense of hope for the next challenge keeps them engaged, improving and loyal.

I have worked with individuals and teams that had become accustomed to losing the same problems on every project that they eventually accepted defeat as a way of life. This prevented growth, innovation, and eventually competitiveness. Do you struggle with the same challenges year after year? How are you working to resolve these problems, or have you accepted them? How could your business thrive if your team had eternal optimism?

This Week’s Challenge

How could having a playoff mentality in your business help you thrive? Find steps that you can incorporate into your business that will give your employees the same sense of loyalty and emotional attachment they have to their favorite sports team. When your employees begin to work with a playoff mentality, your company production, profits and customer loyalty will increase!

If you would like to discuss more ways to help your business grow or if you feel you have a specific problem that needs to be addressed, please reach out to me.