63 - Does Your Measurement System Matter?

Good morning!

Another month has flown by.  It seems like July and August were only a week instead of a month!

For September, our theme is Let Go. Remember, July was Love.  August was Learn.  These three
themes have come from my Integral Leadership Model that I wrote about in my book Leadersights.  These are the 3 key decisions leaders make every day to become more effective.

Throughout this month, I will try to show you how the topics everyday relate back to your decision as a leader to let go of your need to control everything; to let go of your need to be comfortable; to let go of your need know everything. 

The bottom line is that control is an illusion anyway.  With as complex as most systems are, it's impossible for any one person to control everything.  But it is still important that we feel like we have some control over our immediate environment.

If we can put some sub-systems in place, we can secure that feeling. 

One of the most common is a measurement system.  You're used to these at work.  Some of you have key performance metrics that you post everyday.  Others continue to have big Monthly Management Review meetings that stretch for hours at a time to give the leaders the feeling that things are in control.

A lot of the metrics I see in workplaces are largely ineffective.  I want to be measured by the things that I can actually control.  Otherwise, the measurement is arbitrary.  We have tons of software in workplaces now that can display all kinds of real-time data, but they end up just being a thermometer.  It tells us how hot or cold it is, but since I can't do anything about the weather, I don't really care and it doesn't drive my behavior.

As we go through this month, I'll focus on different kinds of measures and metrics for different kinds of things in the workplace.  Things like Safety, Quality, Delivery, Productivity, and Cost show up in lots of places, but where the data come from and how we use the data can either make them useless or highly effective.

I hope you'll share some of your measurement experiences with me as we go through the month.  If we measure the right things, we can let go without losing that overall feeling of control that gives us confidence to try new things.  If we measure the wrong things, we end up feeling stressed out and out of control.  It's hard to come up with new ideas if you're so stressed out that you can't think.

If you need to tweak your measurement system to make it more effective, please give me a call.  Together, we can create something that will make things more satisfying and effective at work.

Let's make September an awesome, safe, healthy, and prosperous month.

Have a great day, and I'll see you tomorrow.

62 - Better Huddles

How can you get teams to perform better together?

How can you improve relationships at work?

How can you boost satisfaction in your teams?

How can you see and solve problems more quickly?

You can get all of these benefits by using team huddles. 

I recommend huddling everyday and at every level of the organization. 

At the working level/the value creation level/where the rubber meets the road or Tier 1, I recommend starting the huddle within the first hour of the work shift or the work day.  Maybe allow just enough time to allow for people arriving just a little late for one reason or another.  Set a time and always start on time.

What will you do in the huddle?

You talk about how yesterday went, reviewing the key metrics, reviewing problems that occurred, and celebrating the successes you had.  Then celebrate whatever is happening today:  birthday's anniversaries, vacations, babies, graduations, etc.

Then you talk about Today.  What's the plan for today ("Here's what we have to finish today:")

So to make a huddle work, you have to have a plan for the day.

At tiers 2, 3, and 4 it's essentially the same, but these need to look further out than just today.  Tier 2 should anticipate needs for the next week or two.  Tier 3 next month.  Tier 4 next quarter and next year.  But everyone works everyday, and if you want these leadership levels to perform as teams, they need to have a daily plan and meet daily as well.

The key thing that makes all of this work ends up being what you measure.  If you measure the wrong things (things that aren't really something the teams can effect) then nobody really cares and the huddle will just be something they have to do. 

If you measure the right things, everything changes.  How do you know what the right things are?  Ask the teams.  Experiment a little.  If you just use whatever the senior leadership or the continuous improvement team gives you, it's not likely to work.  They just need different things.  They do have to be tied together, but they still have to be relevant to the team. 

So work with it.  The question that might help is "What do we need to know the most every day?"

If you have questions or if you need a little help getting these sorted, I can help.  Just send me a note and we'll figure it out.

Set your calendar alarm now so you can join me for a Lean Coffee discussion Wednesday at noon.  Then, Wednesday at 4 I'm hosting a webinar featuring Bruce Ross, a friend of mine in New Zealand.  His title is "Re-establish the Life, Business (and Bank Account) You Want…. Without Fear of Burnout".  I'll post the registration link in the comments.

On Thursday, I'm kicking off a weekly series of webinars on organizational culture with the aim of helping you reshape the company to get the culture and performance you want.  I'll share a little more of this tomorrow.

Have a great day and I'll see you tomorrow.

- David

61 - Review and Reflect - Self Efficacy

This week we've focused on self-efficacy.  So how does this help you?  What do you get out of knowing about this topic?

I don't hear anyone talking about Self-Efficacy in the business world.  I do hear about it in Education and Development communities, but it seems like it's almost too academic for business.  That isn't really true, though.

It's important to understand cause and effect in any setting.  Ultimately, you want your work to be rewarding, both financially and spiritually.  Leaders want people to work more productively, and to continuously improve the ways we do the work. 

Designing work for self-efficacy and satisfaction provides both of these outcomes.

Self-efficacy is the confidence you have in your ability to do a particular task.  People with high self-efficacy will improve their workspace, try new things, and persist through failure.  If everyone in your company showed up doing these three things, that company would be unstoppable.

To review, there are 4 main elements: Mastery, Vicarious Learning, Verbal Persuasion or Coaching,
and Control. 

The learning piece focuses on designing work that a team can do together to build better relationships and learn from watching each other and talking about better ways to work together.

The coaching piece focuses on helping the team set better goals that challenge the skills of the team to build expertise in the required tasks. 

The coach also provide support and encouragement and should be done by whomever actually leads the team, even if it's a peer leader rather than a true supervisor.  By the way, in more advanced organizations, this can be a position through which team members rotate.

Mastery focuses on individual competence.  The higher the competence, the higher the self-efficacy.  So we deliberately focus on making everyone an expert.  Work that requires an expert feels more significant and meaningful that work that is menial.

To build that mastery, we set effective goals and targets that challenge our people in a positive way.  We provide the support they need to find the best way to do the work that achieves the challenge or hits the target.  Through repetition and accountability skills will improve.

So, while we can make an academic case out of this, there's nothing more practical that goal-setting, standardized work, practice, measurement, consistency, coaching, and feedback.

Tomorrow, go and make your work better.  Go and make work better for the people in your care.

Have a great day, and I'll see you tomorrow.

60 - The Elephant in the room

 

Today, I want to talk about the elephant in the room.  Not that I have one at the moment, but the metaphor has always been interesting to me.

We also use elephants in another metaphor about big problems - How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time.

But my daughter has always loved elephants and has quite the cute and cuddly collection that she's now sharing with my grand kids.

And I know elephants in the wild can at times be ferocious, but Elephants aren't predators.  We use the metaphor "elephant in the room" because its actually something that we can ignore, despite the tension. 

And eating an elephant, even one bite at a time, is a big job that is unpleasant, but if you don't finish, you can't really expect the elephant to eat you.

When I teach problem solving, and people want to start off with these giant problems that haven't really been clearly defined, I usually talk about a T Rex instead of an elephant. 

I don't want to be able to ignore a problem like the elephant in the room, so let's make it a T Rex and decide what we're going to do with it before it eats us (which problems are likely to do if they go unsolved.)

If we decide to eat the t rex, then we also have to decide where to start.  If we start in the toughest part, and that first bite ends up tasting bad, people won't want to keep eating.  If we start trying to solve a really tough problem without first building up some skill, we're not going to succeed.

Make the first bite some place juicy and tender, and properly cooked so it goes down sweet and nice and easy, so people will want to keep eating. 

Start with small pieces of a tough problem.  Build self-efficacy with a series of small wins.  This way, when it's time to tackle a really tough piece, we'll have the skills and the confidence to take it head on.

Have a great day and I'll see you tomorrow.

59 - Control

The final piece of the self-efficacy puzzle is Control.

As humans, we have a legitimate need to feel like we are in control of our environment.  Whether its, family, household, community, or work, we are at ease when we feel like things are under control.

Whenever anything happens to disrupt that feeling of control, we freak out.  Some people more vibrantly than others!

At work, many people are content to control their workspace and they don't worry about much of
anything else.

Leaders need to feel like they are in control as well, and so they often try to manage everything, including people.  I don't know about you, but I don't particularly like being managed - I prefer to be led by a caring leader.

The hard part is that we've built these work systems that reinforce every leader's attempt to keep things under control.  But organizations are complex systems, impossible to absolutely control, until you change your perspective on what control really is.

In the Army, the term "command and control" is steeped into everything we do.  While there are plenty of micromanaging control freak jerks in leadership positions, what we teach everyone is really focused on executing a mission.

To execute a military mission, leaders are forced to let go.  The terrain and the fluid situation require decentralized execution, so we train soldiers to take control of their piece of the terrain and act however the changing situation demands.

To maintain an overall feeling of control, commanders explain their intent for the mission (where we want to be at the end) and we train like hell, so everyone knows what they have to do. 

In other words, commanders share their vision, make pretty detailed plans and assign specific missions, then develop their people so they can trust that when they let go, people will do whatever it takes to accomplish the mission and achieve the vision.

Isn't that what you want for your organization?  The more you help people feel like they have control over what they do, the higher the self-efficacy and the higher their satisfaction.  Go make someone's day today!

Have a great day and I'll see you tomorrow.

58 - Coaching for Self-efficacy

We're still talking about building your confidence and self-efficacy.

So far we have talked about Mastery and learning vicariously.   Today our topic is Coaching for self-efficacy.  If we are trying to push a team to achieve mastery in multiple tasks or job functions, we need to provide that team with effective coaching in the form of present and principled leadership.

The hallmark of an effective, professional, coaching leader is that they talk less and listen more.  That might not be what you see with sports coaches, but it's what works best in a work environment.

Too many leaders think coaching is primarily about feedback, and we're taught to always start with something positive before you destroy their morale with all the stuff they should be doing better.

Instead, remember that coaching is primarily about improvement.  To improve someone's performance, they need to know what's expected, so the coach helps the performer to set high standards that really challenge their skills. 

With any challenge, you should expect several failures because a good challenge exceeds their current skill level.  The coach supports the performer with the resources they need to build those skills.  That might be in the form of time or tools.

Coaching leaders also have to correct a performer.  We do this with compassion and again by asking questions and listening more.  Let the performer explain the result they got and what happened to get the result.  If they have failed, they know it.  You don't have to point that out!  Help them reflect on their performance to find where things went wrong and what they could do better next time.  Again - talk less, listen more.

Finally, a coach is the main source of encouragement.  If we are setting challenges that drive higher performance, there will be lots of failures along the way.  The coach helps the team persist through those failures by encouraging them to try again and to keep finding new ways to try the work until they can achieve the challenge.

The relationships you build as a proper coach will last a lifetime.  Remember:  Challenge, Support, Correct, and Encourage.  Four key skills for coaches.  Four key skills for leaders.

57 - Learning from Others

Are you part of a team at work?  How does your team work together?

Self-efficacy is a special kind of confidence we have about our ability to do particular tasks or
jobs.

People with high self-efficacy often improve their own workspace, try new things, and persist
through failure.

There are several deliberate things we can do ourselves and as leaders to build self-efficacy at work.  Yesterday, I spoke briefly about Mastery and how doing a job gets better with practice and that boosts self-efficacy.  Not exactly rocket science.  Leadership, though, can be the catalyst for getting that mastery process started.

But mastery is just one piece of the puzzle.  Another thing that helps is our ability to learn by watching other people.  This vicarious learning occurs throughout our lives, but an effective leader will design work that allows several people to work together and be able to actually see each other working.  As they work and discuss things, people will notice that they each do a job in a particular way.  Even when everyone is following the standardized work, there are still individual differences and knack points that certain people bring to the task that make it easier or quicker.

We have to see these differences ourselves, because the nature of expertise usually means the expert can't really explain what they do differently.  As we watch, we learn vicariously.  That gives us an opportunity to try what we've seen and then to make it better.

Bottom line:  put people on small teams and encourage them to experiment with different techniques to use while following the standardized work.

Join me at noon for a Lean Coffee discussion, and join me tomorrow for a webinar on Navigating Changing environments.

Have a great day and I'll see you tomorrow.