10 Ways to Avoid Death By Meeting by Lauren Owen

by Lauren Owen, www.RepointCoaching.com

Note: There must be a lot of bad meetings out there because this posting sure gets a lot of traffic. Here’s a re-visit to one of our most popular blog postings…

In our work as coaches to family and closely-held businesses, we’re always surprised at how few leaders use productive, regularly held staff meetings in their companies. We believe that they are missing a big opportunity to help them achieve bigger goals, resolve and even prevent unhealthy conflict, and promote good teamwork.

Here are some of the more common reasons (excuses) we hear when we ask our clients why they don’t hold regular staff meetings:

Meetings are boring!

• We’re too busy putting out fires!
• Nothing ever gets accomplished!
• Nobody wants to come!
• The last time we had one someone stormed out!
• They’re too much work!

In short, we hear more about bad meeting experiences than good ones. While everyone has sat through their share of bad meetings (and, if we’re honest, we might even admit that we’ve led a few ourselves), we don’t often hear about what makes a good meeting.

Here are some of the elements that make for constructive meetings that people actually enjoy attending, versus dreading. They can prevent some of those “fires” mentioned earlier from forming. Most importantly, they help you build a stronger, more productive and professionally run company.

1. Sense of Purpose. Is there an agenda and has it been distributed beforehand? Suggestion: when you create your agenda, add three columns for each item: timeframe, name of the agenda item, and most importantly, what is the expected outcome. If you can’t think of an expected outcome for something you want to include, maybe you need to re-think whether it belongs on the agenda. When you put together an agenda, you can always have recurring items in place (such as financial and performance goals) for updates, then add new items and solicit items from your staff members beforehand. Be sure to leave time for discussions and issues that come up during the meeting.

2. Two-Way Flow. Is it a meeting, or do you just want to pass along information? If the discussion is only going to flow one way, that’s not a meeting! Do it another way (email, phone, or ?) Or, my personal favorite – are you calling a meeting of the whole team to discipline a few people without naming anyone specifically? Don’t do it! The guilty party(ies) will assume you’re talking about someone else and the non-guilty will be annoyed that their time is being wasted. Share your feedback directly with the individuals you need to give it to on a one-on-one meeting and don’t waste the others’ time.

In summary, use team meetings for debating and decision making on important issues instead of simply transferring information or disciplining individuals.

3. Good Drama. Not the door slamming, storming out of the room, shouting kind of drama, but the drama that results in people passionately debating their positions on a particular issue. Bad meetings lack this type of productive conflict. Patrick Lencioni, in his book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, names fear of any kind of conflict as one of the major dysfunctions of a team. It’s because without healthy conflict, people are afraid to share their opinions. When they can’t share their opinions, they can’t commit to an outcome and they avoid controversial topics. This, in turn, leads to environments where back-channel politics and personal attacks thrive. Ironically, lack of healthy conflict leads to the unhealthy kind. Good meetings have lively discussions and create a safe environment in which people are able to share their strong views.

4. Good leadership. Good leaders model good behavior and have good conflict management skills, which can often include letting sometimes “messy” discussions about uncomfortable topics run their course (see point #3 above). Good meeting leadership also includes setting and enforcing ground rules to create and maintain safe environments.

5. Balance. We’ve all been in meetings that drag on forever, with lots of discussions that are so far off the original topic that no one even remembers what it was. At the same time, we all know that some of the best ideas arise from impromptu discussions. The trick is to strike a good balance. One suggestion: assign one person (ideally more of your Type A personality) to serve as the “knocker.” The knocker is charged with actually rapping on the table when they sense the discussion is starting to go “off topic.” While your knocker doesn’t get to unilaterally stop the discussion, they do get to bring it to the group’s attention for a vote: should we carry on with topic, save it for later or drop it altogether?

6. Good Timing. Is your agenda neither too full and nor too light? It’s tempting to try to pile a million tasks and topics into a short time period. Or, as one of my colleague says, “avoid trying to put 10 lbs of #### in a one pound bag syndrome”. You run the risk of burning people out and losing valuable energy.

7. Participation. Everyone participates and talks, not just the leader. Don’t be afraid to directly solicit opinions from participants. As in “John, what do you think?” As the leader, do you dominate? Are you always first to give your opinion? It’s a sure fire way to dampen discussion. Hold back. Make them beg you for your opinion. Go for the question: “What do you think boss?” and answer only after others have weighed in.

Also, give people some time to respond. As we tell clients: “Let silence do the heavy lifting.” You are not hosting a radio show. You don’t need to fill every minute with your pearls of wisdom. It’s ok to have dead air. Sometimes people need time to form their thoughts before they commit to speak.

8. Accountability. Many people hate meetings because nothing gets resolved or acted upon. Are your action items tracked and brought forward to the next meeting? Are action items clearly articulated? Do you create SMART goals? (Specific, Measureable, Accountable, with a Timeline?) Assign someone to record not meeting minutes but these SMART action items. Then start your next meeting with a review of this list of action items for a status report. You’ll be surprised at how productive people can be when they know they’ll be held accountable in front of their peers. If they haven’t made progress, use this time to figure out why and help them remove obstacles.

9. Regularity. For example, weekly staff meetings should be just that. Get it scheduled for a regular time and day of the week. If you are not going to be in the office that day, assign a backup leader. Or, have meeting leaders rotate (either way it’s good for staff development.) If it ends up only taking 5 minutes to go through your regular agenda items (including an update of action items in progress), great! Dismiss everyone and send them on their way. Your team will love you for it.

10. Continuous Improvement. Do a “Plus/Delta” at the end of the meeting. Ask participants what worked (Pluses), and what could have been done better (Deltas).

Does your team suffer from boring meetings? Try our Team Tune-Up. It’s team building that sticks!

Tools: agenda template and example

Tips for good meetings

Family Business Insight: Being Top Dog Can Be A Lonely Job: The Power of a Peer CEO Group by Lauren Owen

By Lauren Owen, www.redpointcoaching.com

Given the pressures faced by those heading organizations in difficult economic times, it’ss not surprising that many find the phrase “it’s lonely at the top” to ring true for them. Even CEOs of family-owned companies can find themselves feeling isolated in spite of (or in some dysfunctional families because of) being surrounded by other family members.

It’s easy to feel that you are the first or only one going through a particularly challenging situation.

When you’re the boss, for better or for worse, you set the tone for the organization. If you have doubts about a decision, you might be reluctant to share your concerns with your team members for fear of seeming weak or indecisive.

While you probably have close personal friends outside of work, you might not be able to maintain that same level of friendship with those inside your company for fear being perceived as playing favorites.

And unless your company has an outside board of directors or board of advisors, you don’t have anyone to whom to hold yourself accountable. Very few people can function at their highest level with total autonomy.

That’s why Urs and I believe so strongly in the power of CEO peer groups and advocate membership to our CEO clients. CEO peer groups consist of CEOs, presidents, and sometimes general managers, who agree to meet on a regular basis to share best practices, provide accountability and support to each other.

For several years, we organized and facilitated several peer groups within specific industries that included retail jewelry, pharmacy, and flooring. Because our groups were composed of like industry (but non-competitive) companies, our members travelled around the country several times a year to meet at each other’s locations.

As part of the meeting, members shared detailed financial information on their companies in a process they (half) jokingly called “getting naked”. Getting naked paid off: many times we saw our member companies growing faster and more efficiently than the solo companies, as measured by industry benchmark studies. Recently, one of my former jeweler members told me the suppport he received from his fellow group members help him survive the recession.

Some people who consider joining a CEO peer group are concerned about the time and expense involved and decide it’s not for them. Others don’t want their peers to see how poorly their companies are really performing.
That’s a real shame because these are often the very people who could benefit from a greater commitment to working “on the business’ versus’ in the business’ that membership in a peer group requires.

What Makes a Peer Group A Good Investment?

No doubt, joining a peer group is a big investment of time and money. How do you know you’ll be getting your money and time’s worth? Here are the elements we consider essential to an effective group:

• There’s a strong commitment to truth telling, even if the truth is uncomfortable at times. Do group members tell each other what they want to hear or what they should hear? (One of my groups had a favorite phrase: “The truth shall set you free, but first it will piss you off!”). Strong groups practice “Carefrontation”. They care for each other by confronting each other with the messages each needs to hear.
• While lifelong friendships can be formed between group members, the primary purpose is business. Do the group members share a similar purpose of business innovation, growth and excellence or are they there to socialize and tell war stories about the glory days of the industry?
• There’s a diversity of personalities and experiences. One of the greatest benefits from a peer group is access to different viewpoints which you can’t get if you act and think alike. Some of our best groups were composed of owners who represented several different generations who were not afraid to share their often opposing and usually equally enlightening opinions.
• Low tolerance for excuses. Strong group members provide accountability and sometimes a kick in the pants to fellow members. They see the better business and leader within each member and hold each other to this vision.
• It’s not a 50/50 deal. You should go into a group expecting to give 70% of ideas and expertise and get 30% back. If everyone brings that same expectation to the group, each member will end up getting more than their fair share of great ideas.
• A strong facilitator who will provide structure to meetings, keep discussions on track and model good coaching. (And not be too quick to squelch group discussion by stepping in with their sage advice all the time.)
• A strong commitment to confidentiality. “What happens in the room stays in the room” should be the mantra for any such group: giving members the confidence to share confidential information and situations.
• Your commitment. Are you willing to attend each meeting without fail? Are you ready and open to listen to some hard truths? And finally, are you ready to implement the suggestions and ideas you receive when you get back in your business?

Are you a CEO, President and/or General Manager interested in learning how you could benefit from being part of a peer group? Contact me at lauren@redpointcoaching.com.

Leadership Insight: How to Have More Time and Energy for the Most Important Things in Your Life by Urs Koenig, PhD, MBA

Note: this article was inspired by a management blog posting by Frank Arnold in my favorite Swiss newspaper NZZ.

 

 

 

 

I love this time of year:

• In the U.S., we just celebrated Thanksgiving, the best holiday ever: no presents, no cards just friends, family and plenty of good food
• Our family spends the weekend split evenly between enjoying the first meter of snow in the Cascades and cultivating the age old Swiss tradition of baking Christmas cookies (or Guetzlis)
• We have three solid months of skiing to look forward to; and
• We are just about to head to my mother’s place in Davos in the Swiss Alps for the holidays

I also enjoy this time of year because, as it comes to a close, I find it a great time to reflect on what’s been working and what’s not been working this year.

Reflecting back on my 2011, I realize that I while I have done a lot of things well this year, I have continued to spread myself too thinly across too many activities and projects (both in my personal and my professional life). So instead of starting 2012 with a lot of “To Do” resolutions, I am committing myself to a rigorous “Stop Doing” resolution.

Let me explain:

All of our clients (myself included) love to start new and exciting projects. We enjoy thinking about, and yes, sometimes fantasizing about all the good that will come from our new projects. At the same time, most of us find it very difficult to make the hard decision to discontinue projects that do not either yield what they should or simply aren’t at the core of what we should be doing. In other words, not many of us are very good at cutting our losses.
As a result, we find ourselves and our organizations spread way too thinly across too many projects and activities. We lack focus and clarity.

My own experience in juggling competitive sports, career and family life has (at times painfully) taught me that I can really truly focus on only one thing at time. If, for example, I am making a major new business push, then I need to have athletics in no more than ‘maintenance mode’ and I know I might be asking for more support from my spouse on the family side. Similarly, when preparing for a big race, I cannot at the same time aggressively grow my business.

When it comes to deciding if we should ‘continue doing’ or ‘stop doing’ something, the great Peter Drucker hit the nail on the head when he challenges us to answer the two hard questions:

“If we were not in this already, would we now go into it?”
and if the answer is ‘no’, the next question should be:

“How do we get out and how fast?”

Two of the most effective ways to address our ‘spreading ourselves too thinly” challenge are ‘Stop Doing’ Lists and “Stop Doing” Meetings.

A “Stop Doing” List

Most of us keep To Do lists. However, instead of focusing on what “to do”, a “Stop Doing” List encourages you to think of activities you should not do anymore. One of the ways to actually implement a “stop doing things” list is to smartly exchange money for time. Even if this seems like a bit of a foreign concept to you, consider implementing it one a small scale. That’s right: Exchange time for money.

For example in the office: hiring a (virtual) assistant to take as many mindless, repetitive tasks off your plate as possible. At home: Pay someone to run errands for you: shopping, picking up the dry cleaning etc.

Over time, done right you will find that this concept will follow the compound interest rule: The more you can afford to buy time to focus on the things where you add most value (and hence make more money) the more you can afford to buy time to focus on the high value activities etc., etc.

Stop doing lists are not only valuable for individual leaders but also help departments and organizations focus on what they are truly great at.

Action Steps:
1. Put together a “Stop Doing List” for 2012 right now.
2. Come up with two small activities you will outsource in 2012 (Buy time)

A “Stop Doing” Meeting

Establish a regular meeting during which instead of talking about what to do, you only focus on what to stop doing will instill a new sense of discipline in your business. For example, some organizations monthly examine different areas of the business (e.g. products, services, distribution channels, markets, clients segments, processes etc.) inquiring of each area: What do we want to continue doing? What do we want to stop doing?

Again, Drucker’s questions, which former GE Chairman and CEO Jack Welch used to perfection to ensure that he was always at least number two or above in any industry, help focus the discussion:

If we weren’t in this business already, would we enter it today? And if no: How soon will we get out?

Action Steps
1. Start regular “Stop Doing” meetings in your organization
2. Communicate the action steps coming out of these meetings throughout the organization

For more information and resources, visit us at www.redpointcoaching.com.

 

Hiring A Executive Coach? 3 Questions to Ask Yourself (and Your Prospective Coach) First

By Urs Koenig, PhD, MBA, Principal, Redpoint Succession and Leadership Coaching

If you (1) are a coach, (2) have worked with a coach or (3) are hiring a coach (for yourself or others) ask yourself these three questions (discussed in more detail below):

1. What does success look like and who gets to decide?
2. What are you paying for (or, if you are the coach, what are you getting paid for)?
3. What is the process?

(Note, I believe that a lot of what I discuss here also applies to hiring and working with other consultants, not just coaches)

Let’s talk about what most coaching looks like today and what we believe it should look like. Consider the below two scenarios and ask yourself:

• Which scenario is closer to my experience of coaching?
• Which scenario is preferable and why?

Scenario I: A senior manager just finished his eight month $35k coaching engagement with a well known executive coach. Although the manager’s boss and the Vice President of Human Resources had a good idea what the manager was working on (he needed to be more assertive and build stronger relationship across departments) they did not participate in the actual coaching process. The coaching was a somewhat mysterious process as it happened behind closed doors. Even some of the coaching client’s close working colleagues did not know that he was working with a leadership coach. Over the duration of the engagement, there were two progress meetings during which the client and the coach reported their progress to his boss and the HR VP. At the end of the engagement, the coach submitted a report in which he outlined how the client progressed during the engagement. He presented primarily self-reported anecdotal evidence. The report included a (positive) self assessment by the client. The coach believed he had earned his $35k fee because he spent a lot of time with the client and strongly felt that the client got better.

Scenario II: A senior manager just finished his eight month $35k coaching engagement with a well known executive coach. The client involved her stakeholders (peers, direct reports, and bosses) from the very start in the coaching process. The client developed her coaching goals (she needed to be more assertive and build stronger relationship across departments) in collaboration her stakeholders and regularly solicited feedback on her progress from them. Halfway through and at the end of the engagement stakeholders rated the client on her progress against her coaching goals in an anonymous online survey online survey. The results of the first online survey were less than stellar and forced the client and her coach to make some changes. The second and final online stakeholder survey showed a significant improvement of the client’s targeted leadership behaviors. The coach collected his $35k fee because (and only because) he facilitated a process by which helped the client get better, as assessed by the client’s 3rd party stakeholders.

Again, ask yourself:

• Which scenario is closer to my experience of coaching?
• Which scenario is preferable and why?

A lot of coaching in small business and corporate America is significantly closer to Scenario I than to Scenario II (I know because I have practiced it myself…). For those of you even vaguely familiar with our leadership coaching approach, it will come as no surprise that Lauren and I are strong proponents for moving coaching towards Scenario II.

Let me explain.

I have been coaching for more than 10 years and looking back over this period I am amazed how much the field of coaching and my practice has changed.

I started my coaching as a career coach, quickly transitioned into small business/entrepreneurial coaching and finally ended up finding my calling in leadership (executive) coaching.

I have worked with many wonderful clients (100+ of them) and I believe I have done a lot of good work and, on occasion, some great work. However, I often had the nagging feeling of uneasiness around the measurable impact of my coaching. Yes, the clients felt happy and gave me positive feedback. I did feel they were (for the most part) making good process and got things done they would not have done without our work together. Nevertheless: my outcome driven personality was not satisfied. Questions would linger: How did I really know if I made a difference? Who should be the judge? Did the results achieved justify my fee?

At about the same time I was pondering these questions, Lauren and I were certified in a methodology called Stakeholder Centered Coaching pioneered by executive coaching legend Marshall Goldsmith. In essence, the coach first identifies the client’s key stakeholders (peers, direct reports, and bosses.) Stakeholders are critical to the process as they are people best in a position to: 1) identify the client’s existing leadership shortcomings, 2) give specific and immediate suggestions for ways to improve and 3) assess progress towards desired change. The stakeholders, in essence, are turned into collaborative partners in the coaching process. (Scenario II describes a Stakeholder Centered Coaching engagement, which is the approach Lauren and I now use in our engagements.)

The result? A quantifiable assessment that is hard to “game” by either the coach or the client. (Another side benefit to the Stakeholder Centered approach is that it tends to greatly improve the quality of conversations across the organization, but that’s the subject of another article!)

Coaching represents a big investment in time, money and effort for the client and your organization. Make sure you get a fair return on your investment by asking the questions below before you hire a coach. Does their process look more like Scenario I or II? Does it provide good answers to each of the questions below?

1. What does success look like and who gets to decide?

• How does the coach define success for the coaching engagement? What about the client? The boss? HR? How is failure defined?
• How will progress be measured, along the way, and at the end? Is it quantifiable?
• Who reports progress/results? Is it self-reported (client, coach) or by third parties (e.g. anonymous surveys, stakeholders)

2. What are you paying for (or, if you are the coach, what are you getting paid for)?

• Are you paying for process/activities (e.g. billable hours spent) or measurable results?
• Are you having to pay the coaching (consulting) fee no matter what the outcome of the engagement or is the coach’s fee at least partly dependant on the success of the engagement?

3. What is the process?

• Is the coach able to clearly articulate the process (note: coaching is not (anymore) simply a series of conversations)?
• Does the coaching only happen in private, behind closed doors, or is the process attempting at building leverage across the organization (e.g. by including various stakeholders)?
• Is the coaching engagement clearly scoped? Does everyone agree what is being worked on and what is not being worked on? How do you prevent scope creep?

For a detail description of our coaching process, visit our website at Redpoint Coaching.

Thinking About Bringing A Child Into the Family Business? by Lauren Owen

by Lauren Owen, MBA, Principal, Redpoint Succession and Leadership Coaching

Recently, one of our readers who owns a family business posed this question:

I want to bring my freshly minted graduate son (business degree) into the business. What’s the best job description and how do I work out how to pay him?

First off, I assume you:

a) have had a heart-to-heart talk with your son to determine that he sincerely wants to work in your business and not because he feels obligated to do so, and;

b) have a job that needs filling,

because to bring a family member into your business where both of these conditions aren’t true is to invite disaster.

Assuming both are true, you’ll want a job description that details:

• Day-to-day activities and responsibilities
• Who he reports to, and who reports to him
• Skills needed for the above

If  you are looking at some sort of succession process that includes your son, you’ll want (outside of his formal job descriptions)  to have a plan, ideally in writing, as to what responsibilities of yours he’ll be taking over, when he’ll be doing so, and what type of skills and experiences he’ll need to be able demonstrate in order to do so. Think of it as a combination succession plan for the business and personal development plan for him.

The heart-to-heart talk shouldn’t be a one-time event.  At least annually, you and your son should discuss when and if you want to sell (or gift) your majority ownership and if he wants to buy (or receive it). 

Build in performance milestones and accountability into the succession plan for both of you. And as you would with any employee, be sure to give him both regular formal evaluations and substantive informal feedback along the way on his current job performance.

Pay should be commensurate with his job and his performance (and not his status as your son). Share his job description with other industry contacts to determine a fair salary. Build in clear performance bonuses that reward the behavior you want him to demonstrate.

Best of luck!

One-on-One Meetings: One of the Most Effective Leadership Tools by Urs Koenig

by Urs Koenig, Phd, MBA, Principal, Redpoint Succession and Leadership Coaching

During his tenure as CIO of Swissair (the former Swiss Airline) my dad applied for the top job at the Swiss Disaster Relief Agency. During the interview, he was asked to define leadership. He responded with a one liner (and was expected to present a thesis and as a result didn’t get the job…): “Being a leader means getting things done through your people.”

While I like his definition for its brevity, the question remains: how do you get stuff done through your people? You engage them, you inspire them, you listen to them, you set goals for them and you hold them accountable.
And what is one of the most effective and efficient ways to engage, inspire, listen, set goals and hold your people accountable?

You guessed it: Conducting regular and meaningful one-on-one meetings with your direct reports.
As with so many of the things we coach our clients on, conducting regular, productive and meaningful one-on-ones is a very simple concept but not always easy to pull off.

Why have yet another meeting and what if I don’t have time?

If you are like 90 % of the managers out there, most of your interactions with your people occur in an ad hoc manner — during team meetings (even if many of the people present don’t need to be part of the conversation), in hurried emails and voicemails, in passing in the hallway, or when a big problem desperately needs attention.

While all of these often interrupted, incomplete and hurried interactions are one-on-ones, they are seldom the most effective ones. Often there is no logic to the timing of these conversations. In fact, they are usually random, incomplete, and often too late to head off a problem or solve it before it grows large.

Regular one-on-one meetings will get you ahead of this curve. Not only will your people prepare for the time they have your undivided attention, they will discuss issues they won’t bring up in a group meeting or in impromptu discussions: their dissatisfaction with part of their current role, interpersonal challenges or other problems that could keep them from succeeding at work.

If your direct report is falling short, the one-on-one setting enables you to communicate in no uncertain terms what changes you need to see happening. Following the principal of praising in public and criticizing in private, you can be firmer and sterner during a one-on-one than during a team meeting. Think of the perfect one-on-one meeting as hybrid of an information gathering, planning, coaching and accountability meeting.

Like any meaningful meeting, not having it will cost you an expensive multiple of the time you would have spent in the meeting. Having it will save you time and headaches in the long run. There is one more important, not often talked about benefit to regular, meaningful on-on-ones. By sitting down with your direct reports and demonstrating true interest and concern not only for their productivity but also for their input, opinions and development, you build a more committed and engaged team which leads to all sorts of well documented soft benefits (e.g. increased job satisfaction) and hard benefits (e.g. lower turn-over, lower recruiting and training costs).

But how do I best do them?

Schedule 30 minute one-on-one meetings with each of your direct reports at least every other week, better every week. Make it a regular, re-occurring meeting. Don’t use travel as an excuse not to have it; conduct a phone meeting instead.

Keep a file for each of your direct reports where you gather all the none-time sensitive questions and issues you need to discuss with them. So rather than interrupting your folks constantly whenever you think of something, drop it in the file for discussion during the one-on-one. Take notes of issues raised in the one-on-one and agreed upon courses of action.

Here is my suggestion for a standing agenda for your one on one meeting:

1. Update on action items/commitments from last time
2. What is going well?
3. What are the obstacles and how can I (the manager) help?
4. Action items going forward

Once a quarter, I recommend you go ‘bigger’ and cover the following:

1. Where are we going (the organization)?
2. Where are you going?
3. What are you and your part of the biz doing well? What are you proud of?
4. What are your suggestions for improvements for the future (for the organization, for your part of the biz, for yourself)?
5. How can I help?
6. What suggestions for improvement do you have for me?

Have the one-on-one meeting primarily driven by your direct report. Make this a coaching conversation by asking lots of questions and listening well. Provide guidance if it’s needed but do not fall into the trap of filling the time with your own talk. If you are taking up more than 30 % of air time, you are talking too much.

Present, Accounted for, But Not Productive: Does Your Family Business Suffer From Presenteeism?

by Lauren Owen, MBA, Redpoint Coaching

You suffer from “presenteeism” in your business if you have one or several staff members who are physically present at the job but whose productivity is limited due to physical, mental, or emotional afflictions. They may be employees who are toughing out illness or chronic afflictions. Or, they may be physically healthy but have a high desire to leave their job but don’t. These employees tend to have lower commitment, be more dissatisfied with their jobs and reduce morale on their team. In effect, they’ve “retired on the job.”

Presenteeism is estimated to occur three times more often than absenteeism. (Health & Wellness Research Database, 2005)

In our work with family businesses, we’ve seen both managers and rank and file employees who suffer from presenteeism. Besides the impact on team morale, they cause work load issues for those who work with them. By far the worst impact, however, is when it’s either the founder or next generation member who suffers from presenteeism.

Maybe it’s a founder who lost his passion for the work 10 years prior but never retired because he couldn’t think of something better to do. Maybe it’s a son or daughter (or cousin or aunt) who was never suited for their job, never wanted it, but felt pressured by other family members to join the company and ended up staying. Or maybe it’s the sibling who didn’t get picked as the next leader, stayed with the company, but has harbored resentments and ill-will resulting in poor (or no) performance on the job.

The impact of a presentee owner or successor on a family-owned company can be devastating. Opportunities are lost, key employees leave, and potential suitable successors walk away in frustration. The value of the business (typically more than 90% of a family’s networth) spirals downward.

Presenteeism often is THE huge “elephant in the room” (issues that everyone knows about but no one wants to talk about) for many family businesses.

As with any other elephant in the room, the best way to deal with it is to 1) bring it out into the open and 2) put structures in place to prevent it from happening in the future. Easier said than done we know (especially when you have a presentee founder), but here is some food for thought:

• Does your company have a culture of continuous improvement and open and constructive feedback, for all employees, including the owners?
• Are there formal evaluations and informal one-on-ones for employees, including family members?
• Does your ownership report to an outside board and is that board composed of members who can and will hold the owners accountable for their performance (or lack thereof)?
• Is there a policy in place for hiring family members that includes written job descriptions, interviews, and evaluation for job fit before they are brought into the company?
• If there is an existing family member not performing up to expectations, what’s the plan for addressing the issue? What needs to happen for this “elephant” to be dealt with?

Effective Managers Say the Same Thing Twice (or More) by Urs Koenig, MBA, PhD, Principal, Redpoint Succession and Leadership Coaching

by Urs Koenig, MBA, PhD, Principal, Redpoint Succession and Leadership Coaching

“If you want something done you need to say it 150 times, seven different ways.”

I must have said this so many times (maybe 150 times) that some of my clients have quoted me back.

I am proud to announce that empirical research (quoted in the 2011 May issue of the Harvard Business Review) is now backing my statement:

”A team lead by Professor Tsedal Neeley (from Harvard) and Professor Paul Leonardi (from Northwestern University) shadowed 13 managers in six companies for more than 250 hours, recording every communication the managers sent and received. The research discovered that one of every seven communication by the mangers was completely redundant with a previous communication using a different technology. They also saw that the managers who were deliberately redundant moved their projects forward faster and more smoothly.”

When the researchers asked the managers if they were surprised about their redundant communication the reaction was this: “Seriously, you think this is interesting? This is how it works. Of course I follow up with yet another message.”

Two key take-aways from this research for you:

• If you want something done, plan deliberately to communicate the same message several times using different techniques such as instant communication (face to face meetings, calls, Instant messaging) or delayed communication (emails, voice mails).
• The most powerful way to move the needle on a project or a task is to start with an instant communication (preferable a face-to-face meeting, second best a call) and then follow up with a delayed message (such as an email). The instant communication ensures motivation and buy-in. But the follow up via email is to remind people of their commitments so that it does not fall off the radar screen.
• Do not use email first (delayed message) and then follow up with a face to face (instant).

For more leadership tips and resources, visit www.redpointcoaching.com.

Ditch the Employee Drama and Crank Up the Productivity in Your Workplace by Lauren Owen, MBA, Principal, Redpoint Succession and Leadership Coaching

by Lauren Owen, MBA

Tears in the hallway. People storming out of meetings. Doors slamming and yelling. Whispered conversations by the water cooler. Nasty Facebook postings about colleagues.

Why can’t we all just get along?

After worrying about profits and cash flow, frustration with drama and discord is the number one complaint we hear about from business leaders. It seems to cut across all types of industries, business models and company sizes.

Drama and discord create stress, and hurt your company’s productivity, reputation and most likely the bottom line. When leaders tell us they’re burned out, workplace drama usually is one of the main causes. While there is no magic solution to instantly eliminate these types of issues, we think most leaders could “dramatically reduce the drama” if they took a stand and few key action steps.

Provide a Clear Structure

Often, we see structural issues that encourage discord. Turf wars can erupt when people are not clear about their positions and responsibilities. Very often we see an excess of drama when there are vague or no job descriptions and/or mystery surrounding organizational structure. When we conduct one-on-one interviews at our clients’ worksites, their employees tell us they want to know where they stand and what is expected of them. If you don’t have written job descriptions, an employee handbook that spells out acceptable and non-acceptable behaviors, and an organizational chart that clearly shows who reports to whom, develop them now. (And don’t forget to share them with your employees!)

Understand Different Communication Styles

People are hard-wired to communicate differently. Some people want “just the facts.” Some are story tellers. (Guess what happens when a story teller tries to share a “brief tidbit” with a just-the-facts type A person?) Others would rather bite their tongues off than confront someone, even when it is an issue or behavior that clearly crosses the line. Awareness and appreciation of your own and your team members’ styles coupled with some personal development training and coaching can go a long way toward both better on-going communication and prevention of hard feelings.

Realize that Not All Confrontation Is Bad

There’s conflict that results in hard feelings and resentment and there is conflict that gets things resolved, puts issues on the table and encourages commitment to a plan of action. In his book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni lists fear of conflict as one these five dysfunctions. If you trust your co-workers, you’re more likely to speak your mind and engage in the healthier kind of conflict. If you don’t, you won’t speak your mind and as a result, your commitment to future team activities will suffer.

Conduct Regular Meetings with Clear Ground Rules

When we ask leaders whose workplaces are rife with drama if they hold regular constructive meetings, the answer is almost always “no.” Regularly scheduled, well-run meetings are essential to clear communication and team building and surfacing potential conflicts. For a list of tips for running good meetings, see Redpoint’s Better Meeting Tips.

Address Under Performers

Oftentimes, poor performers are in jobs for which they are totally unsuited. Do you hire the best people or just settle? Do you have a plan of action to address the poor performers? A huge cost of allowing poor performance to continue unaddressed is that it creates resentment among your top performers.

Give Meaningful Feedback

Here’s a concept. Sit down in a one-on-one setting, confront your misbehavers about their actions, tell them what is and is not acceptable and give them consequences for their actions? Again, not all confrontation is bad. Be sure to be very specific about the issues, focus on the behaviors, not the person, and keep your emotional tone even. Keep in control and keep the conversation short. Then, follow up. Praise for good trends, and address bad trends immediately. Do not wait for an annual review to address these issues.

Meet with the Non-Drama Queens

Ever notice how the bad-behavers tend to get all the attention? Have regular one-on-one meetings with all team members. Actively ask what you can do to help each employee perform and ask about what obstacles they face. This puts you in a pro-active position to potentially head off and/or fix issues before they become full-out drama.

Perform a Cost-Benefit Analysis on Your High Maintenance Employees

Sometimes your higher performers can be higher maintenance and, we admit, sometimes they are worth the extra effort. Sometimes they tear apart a team and are huge energy drainers.

Get Clarity about the Why

Daniel Pink, in his book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, states that research clearly shows that workplaces that engage their workers with a clear sense of purpose to something bigger than profits or self-interest have more engagement, and less turnover and burn-out. If someone were to ask each of your employees what the purpose of your company is, what would they say? Would it be: “make more money” or “create market share”? Or would they say something like what the team members of our pharmacy client say: “We help people live healthier lives”? Would your workers refer to your company as “they” or as “we”? In Pink’s opinion (and ours), words matter. “Humanize what people say and you may well humanize what they do.”

What’s Your DNA in the Situation?

In other words, what’s your role in this situation? While you might protest that you hate the drama, if you were really honest with yourself you might understand that the drama is satisfying some need of yours. Attention? Power? Control? Do you avoid all conflict, even healthy conflict, at all costs?

What Gets Measured Gets Managed

Think of drama and discord as leading indicators. Our colleague Walter Oelwien, author of the excellent blog, www.Managerbydesign.com, suggests tracking the number of mini (and major) dramas on your team and setting a goal to reduce it. “Having an awareness of your drama/reactive score will help you understand where you are as a manager.”

Here are some resources for you:

Redpoint’s Tool for Giving Better Feedback

Redpoint’s 10 Ways to Avoid Death By Meeting

Empathy exercise: “A Day in the Life.” A simple exercise for your next team meeting to develop empathy among different departments.

Assessment Samples: Hire smarter with assessments. See samples here.

How to Delegate Effectively By Urs Koenig, MBA, Phd, Principal Redpoint Succession and Leadership Coaching

by Urs Koenig, MBA, Phd, Principal, Redpoint Succession and Leadership Coaching

Is This You?

Joe is the managing partner of private equity firm. He has tons of balls in the air at any one time. He is generally good at delegating projects and tasks. Yet when his stress level rises, he feels the urge to re-engage in projects he previously delegated and ends up frustrating his people. Joe is micro managing and getting overly involved with his subordinates’ projects.

Susanne is the Senior Vice President of Operations. She has a background in sales and enjoys nothing more than building relationships. Because of her position, she gets bombarded with requests for meetings and calls. By her own admission, she finds herself too often spending time with people who should be talking to her sales force instead of her. Susanne is engaged in tasks that be done effectively by someone at a lower level in the company.

Recognize yourself or one of your managers in the above behavior patterns? If so, read on!

Delegate More of The Right Stuff

Most leaders we talk to feel that they need to do a better job at delegating. Indeed, effectively delegating might arguably be THE hardest leadership competency to master. While the majority of leaders and managers need to delegate more, it’s not just a question of delegating as much as possible but delegating the right stuff. It might actually be that your people need you more and not less involved in certain areas.

Ask Your People

Our advice is simple. Sit down with each of your direct reports and ask them the following questions (credit to Marshall Goldsmith) about each of their areas of responsibility:

• Are there areas and projects where you believe that I am too hands-on and can let go more? Are there projects where I need to get more involved and provide you with more guidance?

During the course of this discussion you will inevitably find that you are micro managing in certain areas and that more delegation is needed there, while more of your involvement is asked for in other areas.

Then Ask Your Direct Reports:

• Do you ever see me working on tasks that someone at my level doesn’t need to do? Are there areas where I can help other people grow and develop, and give myself more time to focus on strategy and long-term planning?

I will virtually guarantee you that your direct reports will come up with great suggestions for you on things a person in your position should not be doing.

Ask yourself and your people these tough questions. The responses will most likely be eye opening and will save you time, energy and make you more effective. All the things good delegation is supposed to do!

Following our coaching philosophy we encourage you to commit to concrete action steps to your direct reports on how you will improve your delegation and then check in with them on a regular basis on how you are doing.

And remember the ‘D’ in LeaDership stands for Delegating!