Death by committee

I am becoming a firm believer in act now, ask forgiveness later. The most inoccuous request becomes an executive committe meeting. Where corporate factions politicize and delay a business decision to the detriment of the workers that make the company money. By the time an inadequate and compromised decision comes down, I could have enacted the remedy, explained what I did to multiple levels of judgemental executives and signed my write up. Well, jobs aren't easy to come by so avoiding the write up is probably a good idea. The leadership we need is often our biggest roadblock. The excessive attention to professionalism and protocol stifles the need to get to a solution that benefits the business. Short of distributing copies of Fisher and Ury's "Getting to Yes", the chances of a solution that positively impacts the ground level business is nil. Assuming, of course, that they understand and apply what they read. This is my appeal to big wigs out there, SET THE IDEAS FREE. Get off the time devouring buy-in treadmill and turn your action bias into action. Save our ideas from death by committee.
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Lack of Control

In the process of managing performance, I have seen a wide array of responses. One manifestation is the abuse victim. This is not an article about employees that have been through truly tragic life circumstances. The discussion covers the polar opposite of your average business manager. The tenacious manager will boldly step forward to take risks, to own failures and to push through adversity. They expect that everyone is built that way. Feedback is administered efficiently with clear expectations, so it should be very easy for the recipient to favorably respond. Unless, that person does not believe they have control. Yes, this story is about belief. The employee, whether a manager or hourly team member, that just doesn't seem to respond to the feedback might not care or they might believe they can impact their situation. Now what? This is where we separate managers from leaders. Managers show up for the periodic review and feedback. They go through the motions of explaining again and again that their direct report is not meeting expectations. They use formal processes to properly address this offender until the decision about their future with the company is imminent. Then they pull the trigger for lack of a better description. In the interim, they miss signs that the person receiving the feedback doesn't know how to respond. This is a human being that is in over their head. Like the chicken in the box, they have been zapped every time they turn, so now they just hold still hoping not to get zapped again. However, their inaction earns them a zap for trying to avoid it. Now the hard core folks in the group are wondering why I am having mercy on this person that is obviously not cut out for the job. Why should we be concerned about the reason they are missing the mark, when this is the true sign that they should not be with the company any more. Well, there are a few reasons. One is common human mercy, go figure. In addition, I suggest that the business reason includes timing and value. The majority of folks that I have found in the abused victim role are long term employees. They have grown so dependent on the company that they don't see themselves having control over their environment. Whether it be opportunities outside the company or just the courage to ask to step down they don't see their options. So timing involves, how quickly you need to move this poor performer out of a key role, considering it will take at least 90 days to get them through a performance improvement plan before the lawyers make you extend it to 6 months to avoid being sued. Once you have determined that they have given up out of fear instead lack of interest, you have an opening to talk to this individual about the possibility of stepping aside. Okay, for those that don't like stepping people down, lighten up! I am not a fan of stepping people down, but I am even less fond of allowing multi-million dollar businesses to go to crap because I'm waiting to fire someone. Also, take the time to identify the value this person has to offer the business. You are moving them out of the way of progress, but you don't want to handicap another portion of the business along the way. Find their value, open the way for needed talent in their current role, and give them a job that lets them succeed. That is a win-win that preserves business and humanity. Take the time to know your team. Get an understanding of their reactions and motivations. The right response to a poor performer can allow you to postively impact the business and the life of another person at the same time.

Getting Ready for the Holidays

It is an interesting time of year for people and business. As a child of retail, we ask our employees to get excited about the holiday season and exude this excitement outward toward our customers. However, we ask them to work odd hours, extra days and to understand that we will not be giving time off to travel to family. My last gig meant that we were open every day but one each year, 24 hours a day. I am "fortunate" that now I have three closed days and we operate from 8am to 10pm. There is almost enough time to sleep. This sad state of affairs came to be through catering to the demands of the general public for more access to the things they want exactly when they want it. Guess who works for you? Oh yeah, members of the general public that need to get things at odd hours of the day because they work odd hours to cater to other members of the general public. Now that I've brought that little bit of sunshine to everyone's day, don't let it curb your enthusiasm. The happiness of having a regular pay check at the holidays is harder to come by than it used to be. A lot of folks would like to know that there will be a tree with a few gifts and loved ones to share it all, even if there isn't enough time for a road trip to family holiday. The initial challenge of time off for family at the holidays is not a problem seeking resolution. It is a business necessity that is a self-propagating and demand driven. If you all can figure out how to change the demands of the citizens of this great republic, forget worrying about retail work hours and run for office! We could use a politician that is interested in our well-being that can get us all to listen at the same time!

Revisiting Dress Code - Current Events

A recent news story turned my eyes back to managing employee appearance to demonstrate high company standards. A female sports reporter complained that the NY Jets were sexually harassing her during training camp. We all agree harassment is unacceptable and any substantiated harassment must be addressed. In the meantime, go online and look at what this reporter chose to wear as a female business professional at work. She has skin tight skinny jeans and an equally tight backless halter top. This should be embarrassing for her employers and professional journalists. Does the company where she works for have any standards? Who do you know in a mainstream professional job that takes their work seriously and shows up for an assignment in their Friday night bar clothes? There are other pictures of this reporter that show that she may have known how to look professional in the past. Dress code is not about controlling employees, it is about the company's brand and reputation. If I give you some dress code colors, you know know the brand. Bright blue and khaki? Red and khaki? Pastel shirts and tan aprons? Tight t'shirts and short-shorts? We may not agree with all of these dress choices, but we know the company and their brand right away. It is easy to identify their employees, when we need help. If you don't have experience with customer satisfaction surveys, availability of employees is a key factor in the customer experience. For those that don't like my current events example, too bad! The real point here is that employers need to align employee appearance with their brand and hold them to it. Maybe that journalist is representing her company the way they want. If that is the case, I suggest that their brand could be exposing their employees to issues that can be avoided. I can already hear the objection that people don't have a right to treat us differently because of our clothing choices. Guess what, we all know that people do and employers have the right to expect a specific standard of dress. Let's go from ideal to get real and put our business brand front and center!

Presidential Appointments and Partisan Politics

Well, our President has once again invoked the tired excuse that Republicans are blocking efforts to fill key positions. He is attempting to appoint another college friend to a consumer protection advisory post. However, he failed to stop the media from pointing out that he hasn't presented her as a candidate for the job, yet. Wow, if you're going to use the same lame excuse, make sure it fits the circumstances. I know that I prefer to be lied to by someone clever enough to make the lie credible. The partisan crap is thin enough without missing important details like the fact they were never told about the appointee. It would be ideal if more time were spent on repealing that nasty 1099 language from the laughably named healthcare reform legislation than trotting out tired stories about how hard it is to get your friends hired in the government.

Succession Planning

Well, once you get about 100 managers that could become 100 gaping holes in your business, you start to get anxious about who can do what. Then you decide to gauge your team by asking your middle management peers what they think. If you are lucky, you get results that are generally the same and everyone decides on a ranking that you can use. Other times, you have to scratch out an answer that everyone will respect and move on to the next rating. In the end, you discover that you have a very thin line of talent between you and operational disaster. Now what? The work really begins. You need to get managers that are already too busy to notice that their managers aren't good enough to meet the future needs of the business, to create a training plan to elevate their managers' to meet the future needs of the business. You have to keep a pool of talented external managers on a string, hopefully without pissing them off and killing the company's reputation, to plop into openings. Every time you do that you get to convince internal management that the external candidate is just as good and worth training, because they don't realize it is their fault no internal candidates are ready. Now that you have started the cycle, be prepared to dedicate 2 to 3 years to hiring the best external candidates you can identify and afford to pay, while placing your C or better players in elevated positions as often as a manager will offer to nurture them at the next level. If you are lucky, you don't spend those three years begging for a reprieve on the time to fill measures and internal vs. external recruiting ratios. Let me know, if you need any quick and basic succession planning processes you can manage with a spreadsheet, a meeting, and a little patience or a little zanax.

Interviews - Have Your House in Order

If you want to do panel interviews, or the evil interview rotations, which are all bunk, be sure you are guarding the company's image. Too many panels are thrown together ad hoc for the purpose of that day or that search. The wide and varied people selected to talk to your precious, hard won candidates could cause you to lose that talent. How many of you got to pick your coworkers? How many times was your choice overridden by the executive that interviewed after the panel? How successful in terms of performance and longevity were the candidates selected by the gang up interview process? If you don't know, start there and ask one more question. How many candidates dropped out of the process? Candidates want to work for a company that is professional and well run. The politics, affiliations and frustrations of your panel could come out during the interview process. I have flown all the way to Wisconsin for a single day to interview after first interviews in Alabama. The HR Assistant forgets to give me directions around the construction. The second person I talk to is openly hostile during the discussion and I leave wondering why I spent all day in a suit in airports to talk to these bozos. I recently interviewed at a facility where the GM threw together some managers and direct reports of the position together for a third interview panel. After the panel, the direct report for the position took me on a tour. She was visibly upset, so I asked. She said that she had interviewed for the position and wasn't selected. She shared all of her frustrations with the general manager, the office arrangements and the politics. I was caught up in a restructure, so I pursued the position against my better judgement. They went with another candidate, so fate helped me dodge that bullet. If you aren't physically present and orchestrating the entire interview process, be 110% sure that you know the people handling your applicant. Every company is dysfunctional like a professionally dressed family holiday. Unless you want this bald truth exposed to your potential talent, control the process. There is enough good in the business to keep you there, so help them see that instead.

Corporate Values and the Opinion Mill

Companies are very happy to discuss their core values and the guiding ethics that they have outlined for corporate governance. Core values comprise a portion of the new hire orientation curriculum and hold a prominent place in the employee handbook. These lovely little nuggets of positive behavior become a club by which many a manager is flogged out in the field. Not everything about business is rosy or fits into a pretty rose colored glass called values that everyone drinks their cool ade from. The importance of having expectations for how the team works together is not at issue here. The speed with which employees that willingly gossip, violate policies, and mistreat each other are willing to point out that a manager was not the model of the ethics is excruciatingly fast. The only thing more astounding is the miriad ways that managers manipulate this when they disagree with a business decision to show that their leaders aren't models of the values either. The larger the company the less likely that the group will truly share values at a level detailed enough for the company to achieve team synergy with core values. Like so many things assembled to govern us, these values are up for interpretation and create their share of challenges. Be prepared for the scrutiny that comes with these values and the places where good managers may be demonized by their willingness to follow business practices that don't fit someone's ideas of values.

Conversely, how do you know you're a rock star?

So Marti posed the question most of us spend far more time pondering than is probably healthy, "How do you know if you suck at your job?" I think we, the seemingly career pessimistic souls in the world of work, should consider the opposite question, "How do you know if you're a rock star?"

Just as emails can be the taser of doom, they can also be the one mode of unsolicited positive feedback. Further, it's documented, which has a negative connotation at times, but is useful in this case. I keep an email file by year of the positive feedback I get. It's far too easy for people to remember the negative - for bosses and employees alike. I want to be able to make the case for the positive, even to myself, as I'm a regular at the 'Self Flagillators Club'. A small piece of negative feedback will leave me reeling for days. An equally sized piece of positive feedback lasts a minute or two.

So while keeping those positive emails help me think I 'just barely don't suck', how do you know if you're a rock star?

1. You're not perfect. Even the Beatles had a bad show and top grossing stars have a tough night.

2. You don't stop. Just because Brad Paisley fell off the stage, he didn't take it as a sign to stop live performance.

3. You capitalize on what's new. Every rock star goes on tour with the new album. Find a reason to get out in the public eye with some new material.

4. You stick to what you know. This sounds like a dichotomy compared to the previous item, but how many rock stars switch genres successfully? Ask Jessica Simpson how that career in Country Music is working out for her.

5. You hone your craft. The hours a walk class musician spends practicing and listening to music is astounding. As Marti highlighted in the "Balance" articles, maybe greatness lies in OCD with a margin of accepting the rest of the world might not love every song on the album.

Take heart my colleagues in the 'barely don't suck' office space, you could be a rock star in need of self discovery and a good agent.

How Do You Know if You Suck at Your Job?

I posed this question to a coworker yesterday. He wasn't sure. 1 week shy of 3 months into this adventure and the question is coming up. Looks like time to look over the measurables from our evaluation form and have a talk with the boss. There are tons of ways to know, if you suck at your job. Make an honest review of your performance against stated objectives like Sales goals and evaluation criteria. If someone in charge of you has provided formal feedback (a write up of some sort), that could be a sign. You can also tell by whether or not you are making deadlines and receiving notes from stakeholders that things aren't done as expected. These signs do not mean you will permanently suck at your job, but you are definitely sucking right now. Self-reflection can help, but this is not a time for you perfectionists to beat yourself up. You are just looking for the points where things went sideways to see how you can avoid that in the future. A few of my great trips sideways have been a product of applying my frustrations or distractions to my work. Things fall through the cracks and erode my reputation as a timely and accurate support professional. It is recoverable, as long as the slump doesn't last too long. If your slump looks more like the Detroit Lions than the New England Patriots, you need to fire up your resume and practice interviewing. Otherwise, suck it up and get back out on the field and prove yourself.

Electronic Feedback

When I hear electronic feedback,the first thing that I see is one of those tasers that shoots out two eletrodes and zaps the sense out of it's target. At work, there is an email equivalent to the remote taser. Working as a field manager results in this phenomenon, if you periodically take risks to get work done. These risky choices won't always keep the bosses happy. First, the immediate supervisor talks to you to ensure that the correction is clear, maybe hoping to ease your mind and point you in the right direction. This is like the coach walking out to the mound in baseball to calm down a pitcher that just hit the umpire in the forehead with a pitch. In the end, this is a pre-emptive action. These are HR people and they will want the discussion and the error on paper to use, if needed, for progressive actions later. Thus, the email swiftly drops, like the taser victim, to cover the company and the higher-ups, while stunning and annoying the field manager. Whether you call it a reminder or electronic feedback, do your best to step to the side when the eletrodes deploy!