CHRIS CLANCY, Director Network Technology for the Cleveland Clinic, is a highly motivated leader who has an unquenchable thirst for learning as evidenced by his philosophy: “If you’re going to be an effective leader, you must continuously carve out time to learn and grow through a variety of venues. As Lou Holtz said ‘In this world you’re either growing or you’re dying, so get in motion and grow.’” We were excited to interview Chris to learn how highly motivated leaders and avid learners, like Chris, develop highly motivated teams. Chris shared his approach.

“Before a leader attempts to analyze team member motivations, the leader must first understand what motivates people. There are numerous human behavior methodologies that explain how our brains biologically work and how we function as a species. I’ve adopted the SCARF Model developed by NeuroLeadership.org. It’s easy to understand, remember and apply.

SCARF’s premise is that there are two predominant themes regarding how humans relate to each other and to themselves. The first overarching theme – motivations driving social behavior are governed by minimizing threats and maximizing rewards. The second theme – social needs operate similarly to our basic survival needs for food and water. In the social arena, at a survival level, human beings need:

• Status – Feeling important relative to others
• Certainty – Feeling certain about the future
• Autonomy – Feeling in control (having choices)
• Relatedness – Feeling a sense of ‘safeness’ and belonging
• Fairness – Feeling of being treated objectively and fairly

Rewards and threats impact each of the five domains, creating scenarios which will either attract, incent and engage employees (rewards) or detract, de-incent and disengage employees (threats). When applying this model, a leader must have a firm understanding of each domain:

STATUS – This isn’t about promotion. It’s about appreciation and positive feedback. It’s knowing that even though I’m not the ‘top guy’, I still matter. The tricky part – it’s easy to accidentally threaten someone’s sense of status when giving advice, instructions or constructive criticism, especially when the recipient isn’t self-confident. A leader must craft the messaging so the receiver hears the golden nuggets without perceiving the feedback as being threatening, then moving into defensive mode and/or shutting down altogether.

CERTAINTY – Our brains continuously try to predict the near term future. They can best do that when we’re working in consistent, congruent and full disclosure (open and candid) environments where we can easily connect-the-dots between the organization’s direction and how that specifically translates into our roles, goals and assignments. The very act of creating a sense of certainty is rewarding. Conversely, when we’re operating in unpredictable environments and/or working with unpredictable people, we feel like we’re on unsteady ground. When this occurs, we move into a heightened alert state because we’re now actively ‘on the lookout’ for potential threats. A leader must regularly help their employees connect-the-dots – especially during periods of significant change. Failing to do so can cause fear, frustration and resistance to the unknown.

AUTONOMY – We all want latitude to influence our environment vs. operating in an organization where our every move is mandated. From the most senior to junior levels, employees want to be able to render decisions and make choices within their span of control and be supported by their leader and team. A leader must establish the right boundaries that each employee can operate within based on his/her knowledge, experiences and talent. For example, a junior employee would not be given responsibility for rendering a multi-million dollar strategic decision, but that same employee can be given responsibility for rendering more tactical decisions that fall within his/her area of expertise. Additionally, leaders must create safe environments where employees can take reasonable risks and can learn from their mistakes (and, of course, not repeat them) without being crucified.

RELATEDNESS – People want to belong – to be a part of the team. In our daily lives, deciding that someone is a friend or foe, ‘in’ or ‘out’, happens fairly quickly, impacting oxytocin levels produced in the brain. As an example, if a person joins a party where they know several people, they tend to feel more relaxed, comfortable and safe, and their oxytocin levels increase. If however, the same person enters the room and doesn’t like or know the group, the person is likely to hold back, feel uncomfortable, possibly retreat and, correspondingly, their oxytocin levels decrease. The concept of relatedness is closely linked to trust. The more two people are able to relate to one another, the higher the level of trust. Relatedness is a delicate balance however, because it takes time to create a sense of safeness and belonging, and it only takes a few seconds to destroy it – intentionally or unintentionally. A leader must choose their words and actions wisely plus create highly collaborative, inclusive and trust-based environments.

FAIRNESS – Creating environments that are perceived as being fair is easier said than done. It’s one of those behaviors that comes with experience as a leader becomes more comfortable with and fluent in systems thinking – analyzing cause and effect scenarios in terms of consistency and congruency – plus adopting a transparent approach. It’s important for team members to know what the leader is thinking, what the leader is doing and even what types of information the leader is leveraging to guide and/or render decisions.

Once we understand how we function as human beings and how we can impact others – that’s half the battle. The other half is active listening. A topic for another day!”

Check out this article plus more in A-CHIEVE! (June 2011).

BRANDON DAVIS’ responsibilities cover a wide swath of territory, both literally and figuratively. Within URS Corporation’s Industrial Process Business Group, he manages accounting, financial reporting, human resources and all back office functions, as well as strategic business planning, so their group of highly talented, tightly integrated engineering, construction and technical teams that span the US and more than 40 countries, can do what they do best – service their clients across the globe.

Dividing his time between his Cleveland and Houston offices plus traveling to multi-country construction sites on an ‘as needed’ basis, Brandon operates in a borderless world. We asked Brandon: “What does it take to be a creative leader in today’s global marketplace?”

“When you go international, you must adapt to the other culture’s style and respect each person’s position and country. For example, in Latin America, it’s a different business culture. In order for your team to succeed, you must recognize that the local people know the process and how to get things done – rely on your local experts. As you tap into their culture, engage them in a friendly manner, be open to and actively listen to their ideas and opinions, build strong relationships, be patient and be acutely ‘communication aware’. By that I’m referring to ‘high context’ and ‘low context’ cultures. In a high context culture, many things are left unsaid, letting the culture explain. A few words can communicate a complex message. You have to read into what people mean plus sometimes ask a question several different ways to truly understand the messaging. As an example, in those cultures where it is improper to say “no”, even if you’ve given the team approval to say “no” if they can’t accomplish something within an ultra aggressive timeline, you must dig deeper to understand the reality behind their spoken words. You might also ask open-ended questions such as : “What are we doing right?” and “What are we doing wrong?” – then actively listen. In a low context culture, the communicator is very explicit. They tell you like it is. Most of these aspects apply to both international and domestic relations. Although not as pronounced, there are even cultural subtleties across the U.S.  As a creative leader you must recognize it’s not ‘one size fits all’ and adapt accordingly.” 

Delving further into creative leadership, we asked Brandon: “How does creative leadership translate into the day-to-day?” “Creative leaders seek out both the apparent and sometimes the not-so-obvious solutions. They are proactive, dedicated, initiative takers who, without prompting, regularly lead the charge in figuring out ways to identify and act on improvements, solve problems, break through roadblocks and present new and fresh ideas to advance the business. They have a constant hunger for knowledge and growth combined with a “let’s just fix this” or “let’s just try this” or “let’s just present this” attitude. They care about every aspect of the business. In fact, I coach those whom I work with to always treat company resources like it’s your own money – even down to the smallest details. As an example, if it were my money, would I really stay in that expensive hotel?”

We next asked Brandon “How does an organization go about cultivating creative leaders?” “An organizational culture must:

• Adopt a mindset that every client and every project is different
• Anticipate and embrace new twists on how they do things
• Openly encourage and incent those who both challenge how and why things are handled the way they are and bring fresh ideas and solutions to the table
• Invest in some percentage of creative leader ideas
• Create venues for leaders to present their ideas plus accompanying results in a public setting before the Executive Team – providing  opportunities for creative leaders to receive public kudos.

Above all, you need to engage your young professionals, support their involvement and ideas, and realize that management can’t fix everything because the reality is, we’re busy creating the problems! Although I say this somewhat in jest, one of my favorite quotes is “‘A complex system that does not work is invariably found to have evolved from a simpler system that worked just fine.’”

We next asked Brandon to share advice with our young professional readership. “Young folks in general (we’ve all been there) want to go places really fast, but when we’re younger, we really don’t know what we don’t know. No one can master a job within a few months. This concept is especially difficult for young and successful fast-track professionals to appreciate. At some point, promotional opportunities will slow down. The benefit when this occurs – it provides young professionals with a great opportunity to become a master of their craft by gaining necessary experience which ultimately feeds intuition. There is also nothing stopping a person from diversifying one’s responsibilities. Branching out enables growth and development. If a young professional adopts this type of mindset, it’ll keep the work exciting and challenging and will keep those creative leadership juices flowing!”

Check out this article plus more in A-CHIEVE! (May 2011).

KEITH PEALSTROM is a leader on the move! In addition to being the owner of Spectra Hardware, Inc. (plasma products, software and instrumentation manufacturer, founded 1981) and Wespan, Inc. (internet hosting company, founded 1999), Keith is also a SharePoint Evangelist plus former Learning Tree International Instructor.

We asked Keith “How do organizations effectively leverage SharePoint to increase their performance potential?”

SharePoint is an application platform on which to build solutions that meet your business needs. A key point to remember is that no two organizations leverage SharePoint in the exact same way. One organization might need a document management solution whereas another might need a way to manage day-to-day operations. Case in point – Keith shared the following diverse SharePoint usage examples:

• The United States Marine Corps’ Camp Lejeune New River Air Station. Their mission is to maintain combat-ready units for expeditionary deployment. The New River Air Station base uses SharePoint to manage day-to-day airfield operations including determining runway allocations, tracking and performing maintenance and managing security.
• The United States Army’s Yuma Proving Ground (USAYPG). Their mission is to protect United States soldiers. It is one of the largest military installations in the world, bigger than Rhode Island. The proving ground conducts a wide variety of military tests throughout the year, consisting of nearly every commodity in the ground combat arsenal. Although Keith is prohibited from citing how USAYPG utilizes SharePoint, their website specifically notes SharePoint as being one of their essential technology tools.
• Cayman Islands Government. The Cayman Islands is a British Overseas Territory located in the Western Caribbean Sea, south of Cuba and Northwest of Jamaica. The Cayman Island Government utilizes SharePoint more as a content and resource management tool, which, connected to Interpol, tracks business interests plus money laundering activities in the Cayman Islands.
• The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. Their mission is to preserve and restore our nation’s wildlife species and habitats. They use SharePoint for grant and conservancy project management.

Keith has seen SharePoint effectively used in a wide variety of ways driven by an equally wide variety of business needs that include but are not limited to:

• Performance Management
• Operations Management
• Workflow Management
• Project Management
• Resource Management
• Document & Content Management

We then asked Keith “How does one introduce SharePoint into their organization and secure buy-in?”

You have to show the decision makers the worth in doing something differently. SharePoint adoption is a complete mindset change but people will change if they see the value in the change. As an example, as a file sharing tool, SharePoint uses metadata (alternative ways to describe information beyond a file’s name) to drive through content much faster to find the file vs. a person placing a file in a folder, it becomes buried and difficult to find. SharePoint is a real time-saver. Productivity is also increased when organizations successfully integrate Microsoft Office and SharePoint so calendar, task and workflow management become one seamless application. 

SharePoint must be molded to how an organization conducts their business. The best way to approach SharePoint adoption is to follow the day-to-day operations for a week or two. Look at how the business conducts their work – what kind of forms they fill out, who has to touch the paper, how the content is moved around, then simulate SharePoint around that same process, go back and build it, put it in their hands and let them try it out. With SharePoint, nothing is ever set in stone. If it’s not working, make it work to meet the business’ needs vs. forcing clients to change the way they do business. This approach is effective because you’re not only showing the clients SharePoint’s capabilities and features, but you’re also showing them ‘why’ SharePoint makes good business sense and how easy it is to use if properly set up.  

Companies that want to implement SharePoint, take it out of the box, don’t align it with their business needs and roll it out, hoping to swim vs. sink, typically experience a variety of outcomes ranging from organizational disappointment to failed and disaster-like implementations. Organizations also forget that not everything is suited for SharePoint. As an example, it is not a replacement for File Share data storage solutions that house databases, concurrently accessed application files, data backups and data dumps, large files and large sets of files. SharePoint is all about connecting people to information. SharePoint is the User Interface that makes data accessible and useful no matter where it’s stored. It’s great for organizing people and resources, but you also can’t forget that you still have the people factor to contend with. You must sell your clients on the application, include them in the process and provide training. They must know how to utilize the solution if you expect adoption. The more adopters, the more you can do with the information, the more resources become available to you, which improves performance all the way around. Once people get used to SharePoint, creativity strikes, then they start figuring out ways to do things better and smarter – and that’s when you start increasing your performance potential!

Check out this article plus more in A-CHIEVE! (April 2011).

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DEBBIE NAGEOTTE has a wealth of healthcare, business and history-rich experience to draw upon in her multi-faceted, fast-paced, highly evolving leadership role as Kaiser Permanente’s (Ohio Region/IT) Manager of Business Management Office, Business Systems Analysis and Consulting and Business Segment Partner (Health Plan Portfolio). Debbie has always been wired to actively seek out new ways to create business value, achieve higher levels of performance and build enduring relationships. It comes as no surprise to us that Debbie is an advocate for and successful implementer of Team-Based Learning (TBL).

We asked Debbie “What prompted you to become a TBL evangelist?”

“TBL is a catalyst for moving solutions down a path of delivering the best results possible. In a TBL environment, team members receive real-time affirmation that their voices are being heard, their ideas are being valued and their professional development is considered paramount, which creates a heightened sense of both individual and team commitment plus ownership. Anytime a leader can create a culture where the team members:

• Truly care about their clients’ best interests and the end result
• Respect each others’ expertise, talents, life experiences and backgrounds
• Recognize that no one person has or is expected to have ‘all of the answers’
• Look forward to sharing and building upon others’ ideas and solutions
• Are given an opportunity to learn from each other and from outside experts
• Can practice their newly learned skills and evaluate their results in real-time mode
• Grow from the experience

…is a ‘win’ all the way around!

Debbie went on to say “The beauty of TBL is its ‘in the moment, living through it’ application. Although classroom training is beneficial, with TBL you’re more likely to relate to the newly introduced practices, tools and techniques when confronted with the real data and the real circumstances found in the workplace vs. being in a classroom where you’re given fictitious situations in an exercise which may or may not relate to your company’s industry or particular scenarios. Additionally, when you’re learning theory by reading a book or attending a workshop, it’s good information, it all sounds great on paper and you conclude ‘of course that will work’, but there is no greater soul searching and character plus confidence building experience than successfully implementing real-time learning in real-time mode to achieve real-time results – especially if you’re tackling a complex situation or change that impacts an organization and its people. And when you move forward as a team, the learning is absorbed more quickly, the experience becomes more rewarding and you, as an individual, become developmentally richer.

Another challenge with classroom training is that a participant will attend an event, enthusiastically return to the workplace to practice newly acquired skills or apply newly acquired knowledge, but if no one else attended the class, the revitalized participant may lose their steam and fall back on old habits. It takes a lot of intentional actions to make a change, especially when you’re the only one who has attended a class vs. a team who is collectively learning how to implement then actively implementing ways of changing a culture or the way things are done. The flip side – a participant is sent to class but doesn’t buy into the need. In that case, the participant won’t leverage the learning after returning to the workplace. But, if that same participant is part of TBL, peer pressure can work wonders because positive energy is contagious, powerful plus a motivating force that cannot only move mountains, but can move change resistors off of dead center.”

We also asked Debbie was “What advice do you have for leaders who are about to introduce TBL to their organizations or teams?”

“A highly capable facilitator is key – a person who understands your business, connects with your team, makes certain that every voice at the table is heard, ensures collaborative behaviors are being demonstrated, reinforces ‘no idea is a bad idea’ and knows when and how to inject new learning to address gaps. You must also identify a clear goal and ensure that each participant understands the goal plus is committed to goal achievement. You and your team must also be open to new ideas and out-of-the-box thinking while also allowing the team to take risks and allow miss-steps. If Plan A doesn’t work, try Plan B. The most successful TBL engagements are those where team members are comfortable in their own skin, recognize that no one person has all of the answers, and defer to those who are experts in their field. Of course half of the battle is knowing what your expertise gaps are and if there are gaps, consider looking outside your team, either within your organization or outside of your organization to proven third party resources.”

Check out this article plus more in A-CHIEVE! (March 2011).

CHERYL HADDON has worked for several name-recognizable organizations including Avery Dennison, CTPartners, National City Corporation (NCC) and now PNC. After having earned a BS Degree/Chemical Engineering from Cleveland State University, Cheryl dove into the workforce, developed a well deserved reputation as an Achiever Leader, and has been moving at warp speed ever since — on both work and home fronts. For Cheryl, being a successful Achiever Leader means ‘maintaining balance’. We caught up with Cheryl the week during Christmas and New Year’s Day, while she was enjoying winter vacation with her husband and their two daughters.

How does an Achiever Leader like Cheryl, who is driven to attaining both professional and personal goals, spend at least a portion of her vacation? According to Cheryl, “Although Achievers are driven to check the ‘I got it accomplished’ box, the reality is, Achievers must carve out time for the Three R’s:

The reflection piece is especially critical. This is my Inner Yogi coming out. It’s important to reflect on what you’ve accomplished to help you determine where you want to go next, and more importantly, ensure that where you’re going is truly where you want to go vs. just  heading off in a direction to achieve the next thing. With reflection also comes  ’quiet celebration’ – and here’s where the next ‘R’ comes in – reward yourself by taking a moment to honor the achievement and the tangible value delivered to others. Lastly, Achievers must tackle the third ‘R’ by decompressing, which then allows one to rejuvenate or re-charge and come back with the gusto required to take on that next challenge with unparalleled commitment!”   

Oftentimes we hear from our Achiever Leader clients that they become quickly frustrated with non achiever customers, colleagues and co-workers. We asked Cheryl to share her perspective with us. ”

“Achievers must recognize that people are different, but that doesn’t mean that non Achievers aren’t valuable. Some might be more visionary – some might be more creative and inventive – some might be more analytical – which means that they may not be as strong on the execution side and that’s OK. Achievers must appreciate diversity, figure out how to interact with various personality types, recognize what everyone brings to the table and constructively leverage each person’s strengths to advance end goal attainment. Additionally, Achievers, being the great (and sometimes obsessed) executioners that they are, must not fall into the trap of ‘getting lost in achieving’ vs. recognizing that people and circumstances change. They need to pay attention to events as they unfold, take a step back, reassess the landscape and develop a revised go-forward plan that best serves the organization’s and customer’s mission.” 

So how can the Achiever Leader’s Manager bring out the best in the Achiever Leader?

We posed this question to Cheryl. “I’m going to refer back to my favorite phrase – ‘maintaining balance’! Managing the Achiever is all about balance. Managers must recognize that Achievers consistently go above and beyond, so it’s second nature for Achievers to sign up for whatever their Managers need. The challenge – some Achievers have a tough time saying “no” when they really should say “no”. They take on way too much because they don’t want to let their Managers and their organizations down. Net/net…the best support a Manager can provide to an Achiever is to help the person maintain work/life balance. 

What advice would Cheryl like to offer to Achiever Leaders?

“Work/life balance is a hard pill to swallow at times. My best advice is to be an Achiever in your world, which requires that you strike the right balance between your professional and your personal goals. As you’re managing your work/life balance, know where you shine, know where your passions lie, be the very best that you can be each and every moment of each and every day, recognize that Achievers are an ‘in demand’ breed and that opportunities, although morphing in today’s business climate, remain plentiful, and come to peace with and find fulfillment in ‘maintaining balance’!

Do you work with a colleague who you’d like us to spotlight as our next Featured Achiever Leader? If yes, please email us at GWALSH@TECHEDGELLC.COM.

Check out this article plus more in A-CHIEVE! (January 2011).

BOB BAYER’s calling was leadership. After having graduated from Case Western Reserve University, landing a position as CWRU’s Assistant Director of Financial Aid, receiving several promotions along the way, and now serving as Information Technology Director for Forest City Enterprises, Bob is truly passionate about being ‘the best version’ of leader. It’s evident in his philosophy, his strategies, his approaches and his ‘raising the leadership bar’ attitude. 

We asked Bob “What do you enjoy the most about being a leader?”

For Bob, it’s not about attaining a title or appearing at a certain level on an organization chart. Leadership to Bob is three-fold – it’s about:

With respect to Bob’s first point, we took a bit of a “delegation detour.” We were curious to learn more since delegation is integral to Bob’s leadership strategy. Bob’s take on delegation – it doesn’t come naturally. In order to achieve delegation mastery, one must carve out time to:

Exploring this topic further, we asked Bob “What is the most effective delegation technique that you’ve used to date?”

For Bob, it’s a process that starts with selecting the right delegation candidate (delegatee). From there, he co-engages in ‘shared visioning’, which, as Bob defined, is the ability to articulate the ‘big picture’, share the compelling reasons or ‘the why’ behind the vision so the delegatee genuinely believes in and embraces the vision, and provide high-level guidance plus a framework to operate within so the delegatee can successfully plan and execute against the vision. 

We next moved onto the million dollar question “How do you keep your leadership capabilities and skills fresh, sharp and relevant?”

In Bob’s case, he leverages a variety of techniques including:

Bob has also leveraged 360 degree feedback to increase his leadership awareness. Bob shared with us that as leaders, we must remember that perception is reality and that we’re judged by our actions and not by our intentions. We need to force ourselves to take a look at how others see us and adjust accordingly. 

For our last topic, we were interested in learning more about how Bob, an accomplished seasoned leader, approaches up-and-coming leaders. We asked Bob “What do you look for in the ‘next generation leader’ and how can they be best mentored?”

Bob’s radar is keenly attuned to those high performers who have a sincere hunger to be the next great leader vs. those who are just going through the motions or matriculating through their life plan because leadership is the next logical step. Bob specifically looks for candidates with exceptional professional and personal integrity and those who sincerely care about other people. From Bob’s perspective, a leader must lead through and with others and that can’t be done without having a genuine concern for others. 

As far as being a mentor, for Bob it’s all about:

Do you work with a colleague who you’d like us to spotlight as an upcoming Featured Achiever Leader in our monthly professional development newsletter? If yes, please email us at GWALSH@TECHEDGELLC.COM.

Check out this article plus more in A-CHIEVE! (February 2011).

As we wrap up the last few weeks of 2010 and look forward to 2011, think about your organization’s current challenges.  Are you in the midst of sweeping change or is it just around the corner?  If “no” to both, might you be missing an opportunity to pursue change in the spirit of achieving your organization’s key business goals and drivers?  Have your organization and your people lost their focus due to all of the distractions and #1 priorities that continually bombard us on a day in/day out basis?  How committed are your people?  Are they part of the 33% of the total US work force that has become “disengaged” per 2010 Gallup and PWC research?  Do your people truly work well together or are you continuously being pulled in to referee?  Have your teams lost their consultative edge and what it means to provide exceptional products and services to your customers?  TechEdge LLC can help you catalyze your organization’s transformation, break through problematic barriers and re-energize your people through a variety of programs, including our guest speaking services.

Our guest speaking approach is unique.  We only present to small and medium size audiences in order to create interactive dialogue and conduct hands-on group and individual exercises that enable participants to solve real-world business problems in real-time mode.  We also provide ready-to-use take-away tools and Action Plans that can be immediately implemented to address your most burning organizational issues.  Our specialty topics include, but are not limited to:

• Creating High Performing Teams & Organizations
• Driving to Customer Service & Results Delivery
• Leading Courageously
• Tackling Demand Intake & Fulfillment: A Practical Approach
• Engaging the Millennials & Gen X’ers
• Upping the Human Connectedness Factor
• Optimizing Your People Potential
• Strengthening Organization Change Outcomes
• Creating Consultative Cultures
• Inspiring Creativity & Innovation
• Instilling Collaborative Behaviors
• Building Enduring Trust & Relationships
• Embracing Constructive Conflict

Non-profits that have utilized our guest speaking services include:

• AIM (Applied Information Management) Institute
• CAIT (The Center for the Application of Information Technology)
• SIM (Society for Information Management)
• NEO IT Think Tank

We provide for-profit client references upon request.

To learn more about how we approach guest speaking engagements, download the slide deck from our September 22, 2010, NEO IT Think Tank event entitled “Human Connectedness and the Business of IT”.  How did our audience react to our presentation? Here’s what Katie Jagusch (URS) posted to LinkedIn:

“Gwen’s presentation on Human Connectedness is fantastic!  She clearly understands the interpersonal relationships found in most workplaces and knows how to improve those relationships in order to increase overall productivity.  The foundations of her methods are based on well-documented scientific studies and I cannot wait to get started putting some of her best practices to use!”

Contact us today to find out how we can deliver a dynamic, engaging, thought provoking, action-oriented and targeted presentation for your organization!  We look forward to serving you!

A thousand “thank you’s” to the blog reader who commented “Great Cultural/Organizational Change Parts I and II advice, and I’m really looking forward to Part III, but my organization doesn’t even get the basic need to develop an Organizational Change Management (OCM) plan! Help!” Let’s rewind and start at the very beginning! The question of the day ~ why and when is Cultural/Organizational Change Management both relevant plus imperative?

I cringe when I think back to the times that I’ve seen organizations, leaders and teams dive head first into the “next big change” deep end of the pool. Hyped up by all of the “this is going to be the greatest thing since sliced bread” internal and external sales pitches, and driven by enthusiasm (or trepidation of not joining ranks with their fellow leaders, teams and peers who are forging ahead), they blindly chart their trajectory, calculate their velocity and make that grand leap without having first assessed the water level. In mid air, all seems great until reality strikes, or in this case, their head suddenly crashes on the bottom of the pool and sends them into that surreal state where everything seems to be spinning out of control. What just happened that suddenly created unanticipated, unexpected, unwanted reverberations that spread far and wide within a surprisingly short period of time? Unplanned change! So what types of change can cause organizational havoc?

Let’s first define the word “change” with the help of Merriam-Webster Online:

Without a doubt, the above definition covers a broad spectrum. How does this translate into the day-to-day? Change could look like the introduction of a new leader, idea, philosophy, culture, policy, decision, strategy, directive, goal, structure (including reorganizations, layoffs, mergers, acquisitions), responsibility, process, procedure, tool, technology, application, system, physical surrounding or any number of scenarios that ‘could’ or ‘would’ cause either the entire organization or some subset of the organization to alter how they currently think and/or behave. Herein lies the key to the question “why manage organizational change?” MYTH #1: Many believe that people don’t like change in general, so change train wrecks, although painful, are quite normal. Based on my 25+ years of organizational change observations plus experiences, I see the world differently. I’ve witnessed both train wrecks and amazing success stories. My conclusion is that people don’t like change when:

Let’s think about it. If I’m promoted into a new role with new increased responsibilities, I would be a-ok with that change! Why? Because I don’t perceive the change as being detrimental, there’s a personal payback and a promotion screams “I’m valuable!” It’s all in how the change is perceived by those being directly or indirectly impacted by the change. Unfortunately change initiators oftentimes lose sight of the ‘perception factor.’ As a change initiator, I may be able to quote 10 reasons why a change is necessary, 16 reasons why it will benefit the organization and another 13 reasons why life will become nirvana. But…if I’m sharing my rationale from the organization’s (or my own) vantage point vs. from the vantage point of my audience (those impacted by the change), I’ve totally missed the mark!

If organizational change is not thoughtfully and carefully orchestrated and socialized at the onset, and by that I mean, people-related (human behavior) implications and risks are thoroughly anticipated, identified, considered, discussed and addressed and those who will be impacted by the change (either directly or indirectly) are engaged as soon as reasonably possible in the initial organizational change dialogue plus planning phase activities, I 100% guarantee, without a doubt, that rebellion will occur. What does rebellion look like? It looks like fight or flee mode, both of which are destructive and can quickly derail change initiatives. While some fighters and flee’ers (sorry, I know this isn’t a word, but it gets the point across) are vocal, most are not. They operate in subtle and sometimes undetected ways, slowly and continuously stirring the pot, building up change resistance. Although I always prefer to be engaged at the front end of change because I can help organizations accelerate end goal achievement by avoiding the usual landmines, I’m oftentimes engaged during the midst of or at the tail end of a change gone horribly wrong. As I’m working with my clients to ‘right the change ship’, which includes interviewing those either directly or indirectly impacted by the change, I typically hear these comments:   

The irony ~ many organizations claim that their people are their greatest assets, yet these same organizations don’t understand the need to ’get into their peoples’ heads’, see the world from their perspective, anticipate their reactions and help them work through change as early in the process as possible. MYTH #2: In fact some organizations subscribe to the perplexing ‘barking orders’ myth ~ if I pound my fist on the table loud enough, shout “just get it done”, and force the change through, it will magically happen. When the human factor is grossly or even moderately underestimated, organizations are willfully pulling the trigger and shooting themselves in the foot. As a result, they can expect employee disengagement and disenfranchisement plus costly change deployment and benefit realization delays. As the old adage goes “pay me now or pay me later.” With the right, upfront OCM planning and all that goes with that, even the most complex changes can be effectively introduced, socialized and adopted. And the great news ~ the proverbial train wreck can actually be avoided! But taking OCM shortcuts will most certainly result in a change resistance groundswell, the magnitude of which some organizations may never fully recover from depending on the breadth and depth of the change and the ensuing organizational ‘credibility hit’ from change gone bad.

Interested in learning more about how to successfully approach change? Check out our Cultural/Organizational Change multi-part series starting with Part I!

Achievers have a burning desire to not only bust through organizational barriers, but crush them to smithereens! It’s in their DNA! But (and this is a big “but”), even the über-fearless Achiever struggles with a self-imposed barrier that compromises their health and well being plus their long-term retention. Based on my first hand observations and experiences as a leader, consultant and coach, one of the Achiever’s greatest arch enemies is the Personal Boundary Barrier.  

To gain a better understanding of this formidable barrier as seen through the eyes of the Achiever, let’s first take a look at what motivates Achievers. They want to create a legacy of getting things done and, as much as possible, accomplishing the impossible! They’re also generally a-ok with making a fair number of enemies along the way as they’re rocking the organizational boat, shaking things up, challenging the status quo and poking at paradigms. Achievers are used to receiving criticism, e.g., they move too fast, jump too high, prod too much, question too much, expect too much, push too hard, plus a whole host of other “too much” descriptors. Oftentimes this type of negative press further compels Achievers to “stay the course” because it’s a gauge that tells them that they’re constructively “stirring things up”, and that’s a good and necessary thing as they advance an organization’s agenda. Sometimes Achievers even wear their “constructive disruption” badges on their vests as a sign of honor plus long-life membership into the brotherhood/sisterhood of “Getting-Things-Done”!

Now let’ s take a step back and define “personal boundaries.” According to Wikipedia, “personal boundaries are guidelines, rules or limits that a person creates to identify for him- or herself what are reasonable, safe and permissible ways for other people to behave around him or her and how he or she will respond when someone steps outside of those limits.” Personal boundaries can have many applications including but not limited to work/home life balance, professional/personal life separation and professional/personal respect. The barrier part for the Achiever is his/her reluctance to establish and stick to their personal boundaries in cases where, if they do go into personal boundary protection mode, the Achiever could be perceived as losing their achiever edge, e.g., the Achiever is not moving fast enough, not jumping high enough, not being amenable enough, not being flexible enough, not delivering enough. Saying “no” to whatever or whomever is stepping on the Achiever’s boundaries could conceivably put the Achiever’s reputation at risk ~ and that’s incredibly unsettling for an Achiever given their drivers.

So how does this play out for the Achiever when the word “no” is not part of their boundary-protecting repertoire? Consider the following two scenarios: 

Scenario #1:  Self-Imposed Fear

Because Achievers are driven and motivated by eradicating even the slightest obstacles that jump into their paths and because they accomplish exponentially more than their fellow colleagues, Achievers often times become the assignment-dumping-ground-of-choice. Achievers are overloaded with an abundance of work that even Superman, Wonder Woman plus any other superhero thrown into the mix, couldn’t accomplish in the amount of time allotted. If an Achiever hasn’t learned how to protect their personal boundaries by saying “no” to that next assignment because they fear that saying “no” will dent their reputational armor, the Achiever will build up resentment and eventually become frustrated to a degree where either the person explodes (which usually involves bridge burning) or leaves the organization (which also usually involves bridge burning) or both. Achievers who can’t say “no” generally don’t “check out” and stick around. They’ll want to aggressively move onto the next challenge and work in an environment where they feel respected and appreciated (vs. abused) for their voracious capacity for work.  

Scenario #2:  Manipulator-Imposed  Fear

Because Achievers care about their “going above and beyond” reputation, they can become paralyzed in situations where saying “no” can be miss-represented by the receiver of “no”. Let’s face it ~ some percentage of the professional population (actually, some percentage of the population in totality) are Manipulators. Check out our “Collaborative vs. Manipulative Behaviors” blog. If the Achiever is interacting with a perceived Manipulator and the Manipulator crosses personal boundaries of any type (work/home life balance, professional/personal life separation, professional/personal respect), it’s more difficult to say “no” because the Achiever is anticipating how the Manipulator is going to frame “no” to others. The Manipulator won’t say “Hey, I crossed a personal boundary so John said ‘no.’” The Manipulator will instead say “Hey, what’s up with John? He isn’t as effective as he used to be. John is losing his edge. We just can’t count on John anymore.” Saying “no” to preserve personal boundaries becomes especially difficult when the Manipulator has a high believability factor and is either heavily networked and/or has the ear of leadership. Similar to Scenario 1, the Achiever will build up resentment, eventually become disenfranchised, then move on to another organization.

What Does All of This Mean?

If you’re an Achiever or if you have Achievers working for you, you need recognize that it’s not second nature for an Achiever to protect their personal boundaries, but it is a requisite skill that an Achiever must learn to: 1) preserve their health and well being; and 2) retain Achievers on a long-term basis. Helping an Achiever develop this capability requires behavioral work in four key areas ~ helping them:

• Learn when to say “no” ~ picking the right battles
• Learn how to effectively say “no” ~ based on situational variables ~ the “how” is not one-size-fits-all
• Recognize that saying “no” is a strength and conversely, not saying “no” can become a liability
• Muster up the courage and inner strength to say “no”

Are you an Achiever who wants to learn how to effectively say “no”? Submit your confidential coaching questions to Coach’s Corner!