Innovate now or suffer later:
Getting off the Local lounge chair to sit at the Global dinner table
In a recent study, Canada dropped two places in global competitiveness in 2011, trailing behind the United States, Singapore and many European countries.
A recent article in Business in Vancouver indicated that “Canada’s persistent weakness in productivity growth has been due to business strategy choices; too few Canadian businesses and entrepreneurs choose strategies that emphasize innovation.”
Why is innovation lagging? Harry Jaako, Chairman of Discovery Capital Corp., stated in the article that “Fear is the strongest driver of innovation and productivity improvement; no fear, life is good.”
Harry is implying that the Canadian economy appears to be doing well and as such, companies may not be pushing to be more innovative. However, what is the cost of not being innovative on a global scale?
Innovation should be valued and encouraged in every business. Not only does it impact competitiveness, but it also can optimize operational costs. One of the main reasons I have seen for lack of innovation is that leaders are not properly engaging their employees in dialogue nor aligning them to succeed on strategic requirements.
Possible causes could be a fear of communication, working in silos or letting go of ego needs. Reality is that almost everyone has ideas for improvement, especially those at the front lines who are faced with daily client and competitive pressures.
Knowing this, why doesn’t potentially valuable information flow up to the top? Most people want to be involved and challenged – not ignored.
Employee engagement continues to be a struggle. This 90’s buzz word is still a buzz. There are several reasons for this but ultimately effective employee engagement starts with leaders creating organizational practices that enable conversation, not limit it.
Tapping into the creativity of your employees not only increases morale, commitment and competitiveness, it also optimizes innovation, profit and revenue. Here are some steps you can take to ensure you are an industry leader, not a lagger.
1. Provide ongoing context of the vision and strategy so that employees know where they are going, why and how they fit in. Understanding this leads to a vested interest in company success.
2. Facilitate meetings so that employees are encouraged to talk, present issues, problem solve and create plans to capitalize on opportunities. In meetings, employees may shut down when managers preach rather than ask and listen.
3. Align the work of roles to specific business outcomes and let employees know. Make sure everyone in your team knows who does what and give them the capability and resources needed to succeed.
4. Remove creativity boundaries. Too often businesses pigeon-hole employees. Encourage open feedback on anything relating to organizational success, evaluate it and let them know the results or actions required. Your employees may know something that others are oblivious to.
5. Develop leadership ability and give them tools that enable critical thinking, innovation and problem solving. Something as simple as knowing how to do a SWOT analysis can facilitate the process of making sure new ideas make organizational sense before consuming too much time and resources.
6. Enhance the quality of facts and ideas that inform strategic decisions. If managers are not listening to their team or acknowledging business realities and escalating the good or the bad, poor decision-making could result.
7. Ask for help and motivate and credit employees in a way that discourages a water cooler culture.
Effective leadership practices that drive innovation help stop the potential brain drain and loss of employees to companies that want to listen to and engage their people. As more employees head east of British Columbia to be effectively utilized, there has never been a better time to implement ways to turn on the brain taps to keep your business flowing.
Glen
P.S. Kwela offers training in the areas of Critical Thinking Skills, as well as Team Optimization, and Strategic Planning .
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Tip of the Week:Time Management: Focus on Results and Life, Not Time: Tip #2 What You Do Have Control Over
This is the 2nd in a series of tips on Time Management: Focus on Results and
Life, Not Time
Tip #2: What You Do Have Control Over
In my last post, we identified many of the forces that are pushing us and our organizations into time oblivion, where we are focused on “doing”: no one has enough time and we run around addicted to a frenetic pace of being “needed”.
What I am getting at here, with subtlety or not, is that sometimes “the system” creates conditions in which it is very difficult for us to see any other options for how we might operate any
differently.
Many of our workplaces are like that – the culture is one that supports people tied to their desks (or their handheld device), providing immediate responses to emails or stuck in long meetings, only then to start their work day after a 7 hour day of consecutive meetings.
We often don’t recognize the cost of this mode of operating. Make no mistake about it, it does have a cost to us both personally and to the organizations we serve.
Because systems are complex structures, it takes significant self-discipline to draw the line yourself and decide what you are going to do differently. The organization will take whatever you will give it. That is the nature of the system.
So the only person who can negotiate how the work comes in (pace and nature of the work to some extent), manage your output, and moderate your stress levels, is you.
The tip for this week is to recognize the “systems” at play which keep you operating in your current mode, and get very clear about ‘what is in your control’ to do something differently. I believe that in most jobs these days, you do have discretionary control over the following:
1. Becoming skillful at negotiating and re-negotiating priorities, which includes learning to see “no” not as an outright “no” ( and therefore labeled a poor team player), but rather “no” as a negotiation;
2. Recognizing your own internal “habits” that may keep you over-invested in specific areas and unwilling to separate yourself. For example, an inability to delegate because you believe only you can do the work to a specific standard, or you have a strong desire to feel needed; and,
3. Using a good time management system that ensures you get to the most important work for your role.
Does this stand true for you? If so, then stay tuned. We’ll expand on all three of these areas in coming posts.
Joanne
Life, Not Time
Tip #2: What You Do Have Control Over
In my last post, we identified many of the forces that are pushing us and our organizations into time oblivion, where we are focused on “doing”: no one has enough time and we run around addicted to a frenetic pace of being “needed”.
What I am getting at here, with subtlety or not, is that sometimes “the system” creates conditions in which it is very difficult for us to see any other options for how we might operate any
differently.
Many of our workplaces are like that – the culture is one that supports people tied to their desks (or their handheld device), providing immediate responses to emails or stuck in long meetings, only then to start their work day after a 7 hour day of consecutive meetings.
We often don’t recognize the cost of this mode of operating. Make no mistake about it, it does have a cost to us both personally and to the organizations we serve.
Because systems are complex structures, it takes significant self-discipline to draw the line yourself and decide what you are going to do differently. The organization will take whatever you will give it. That is the nature of the system.
So the only person who can negotiate how the work comes in (pace and nature of the work to some extent), manage your output, and moderate your stress levels, is you.
The tip for this week is to recognize the “systems” at play which keep you operating in your current mode, and get very clear about ‘what is in your control’ to do something differently. I believe that in most jobs these days, you do have discretionary control over the following:
1. Becoming skillful at negotiating and re-negotiating priorities, which includes learning to see “no” not as an outright “no” ( and therefore labeled a poor team player), but rather “no” as a negotiation;
2. Recognizing your own internal “habits” that may keep you over-invested in specific areas and unwilling to separate yourself. For example, an inability to delegate because you believe only you can do the work to a specific standard, or you have a strong desire to feel needed; and,
3. Using a good time management system that ensures you get to the most important work for your role.
Does this stand true for you? If so, then stay tuned. We’ll expand on all three of these areas in coming posts.
Joanne
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Tip of the Week: Time Management: Focus on Results and Life, Not Time: Tip #1, What's the Problem Anyway?
This is the 1st in a series of tips on Time Management: Focus on Results and Life, Not Time
Tip #1, What's the Problem Anyway?
More often these days you hear people saying, “I don’t have enough time for that” or “there isn’t enough time in the day”. The unintended consequences of technology , complex management structures, global competition, long and unproductive meetings are just some of the major forces in the workplace that are contributing to peoples’ struggle to manage their time effectively.
Remember how advances in technology were supposed to free us, give us that paperless office and more freedom and transportability? Fast forward just 20 years and we are living with 24/7 contact with our organizations, paper piles that we don’t know what to do with (electronic files seem to be better off due to the introduction of IT departments), and overburdened people at several levels of the organization.
Complicating matters further is the rate of change. According to change management expert and Harvard professor, John Kotter, the rate of change is happening so quickly, it isn’t even linear. It is exponential and organizations have to keep up.
All of this combined gives me a headache. You too? What if I told you there were specific tools you could use, in combination with good old fashioned self-discipline-- tools that would ultimately translate into a better quality of life for you and better results for you and your organization?
Sign me up – right? … Except for the self-discipline part, maybe. But truth be told, there is no pill, there is no magic – good time management does require self-discipline. No surprise, the tip for this week is to “get real”.
You need to truthfully assess to what extent are your habits costing you or causing you to spin around and be less productive.
You then need to ask yourself: am I willing to apply a bit of self-discipline to improve results and improve the quality of how I spend my time? Are you willing to be discerning and ensure you work on the most important things first?
If you believe some of your habits are ineffective and you believe you can summon some good ole’ fashioned self-discipline……then stay tuned because the tools will be introduced in the coming weeks.
Joanne
Tip #1, What's the Problem Anyway?
More often these days you hear people saying, “I don’t have enough time for that” or “there isn’t enough time in the day”. The unintended consequences of technology , complex management structures, global competition, long and unproductive meetings are just some of the major forces in the workplace that are contributing to peoples’ struggle to manage their time effectively.
Remember how advances in technology were supposed to free us, give us that paperless office and more freedom and transportability? Fast forward just 20 years and we are living with 24/7 contact with our organizations, paper piles that we don’t know what to do with (electronic files seem to be better off due to the introduction of IT departments), and overburdened people at several levels of the organization.
Complicating matters further is the rate of change. According to change management expert and Harvard professor, John Kotter, the rate of change is happening so quickly, it isn’t even linear. It is exponential and organizations have to keep up.
All of this combined gives me a headache. You too? What if I told you there were specific tools you could use, in combination with good old fashioned self-discipline-- tools that would ultimately translate into a better quality of life for you and better results for you and your organization?
Sign me up – right? … Except for the self-discipline part, maybe. But truth be told, there is no pill, there is no magic – good time management does require self-discipline. No surprise, the tip for this week is to “get real”.
You need to truthfully assess to what extent are your habits costing you or causing you to spin around and be less productive.
You then need to ask yourself: am I willing to apply a bit of self-discipline to improve results and improve the quality of how I spend my time? Are you willing to be discerning and ensure you work on the most important things first?
If you believe some of your habits are ineffective and you believe you can summon some good ole’ fashioned self-discipline……then stay tuned because the tools will be introduced in the coming weeks.
Joanne
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Overcoming Barriers to Effective Business Management
Walking up and down Lonsdale Avenue in North Vancouver serves as a reminder of the challenges, risks and opportunities that pursuing a small to medium-sized business has.
'For Lease' signs seem to be scattered throughout Vancouver but at the same time, there are many business that thrive. What’s the difference between those that succeed and those that do not?
If you look at the top reasons for business failure, the key one that stands out is poor management. Having worked for small businesses in the past including running my own, I understand how stressful managing the operations are coupled with financial pressures.
Marketing, location and commitment all impact the success of a business and each are quite controllable. Managing people is different. Dealing with the stress of business can lead to behaviours that limit management success such as ego, control, lack of communication and more.
This post aims to give you a 'leg up' and help enable more effective business and people management.
Employees want to do good work. They also want to be valued and empowered to make a difference. How can business owners or managers make sure that happens in a smaller operation when you may not have the support larger ones have?
By not engaging and utilizing employees to their full potential, you may be putting your business at risk and could easily become another statistic. The solution is to believe your employees want to contribute to collective success and set them up to do so.
How? There are a few simple steps every leader can take in creating a powerful workforce. It may seem like common sense, but it is surprising how unclear many employees are on what difference they make or what’s expected from them.
1. As an owner/leader, understand what you are trying to achieve. What are your business goals and what kind of work needs to be done in order to achieve them? Remember, change is constant, so should your evaluation of work required.
2. Determine the roles you need and evaluate what skills and behaviours are required to get you there. If they are lacking, get training or source someone who can fulfill what you need.
3. Make sure you clearly define what is expected from each employee, the purpose of their role, and who they need to work with in order to get results. There is power in knowing the 'who, what and why' about work.
4. Empower employees to be accountable for certain aspects of the business. It doesn’t have to mean that you are giving up total control – but do you really need to be as involved as you might be. If people know their job, trust that they will make the right decisions and do the best they can in making sure the business is performing at its peak.
5. Facilitate team work by making sure everyone knows what everyone else does. Then, get their ideas on how they should work together in order to achieve goals. When employees resolve their own problems, there is more commitment to the solution.
6. Constantly communicate and ask for feedback on you and the business. Encouraging an environment where people feel open to share what’s on their mind will pay huge dividends.
Business owners that can let go of controlling all aspects of a business and give their employees the accountability, authority and capabilities to run operational requirements are better set up to create a business that is innovative and successful -- one that thrives, and where the 'For Lease' sign goes up only by choice.
Glen
P.S. For more information - see my Whitepaper on Requisite Organization
'For Lease' signs seem to be scattered throughout Vancouver but at the same time, there are many business that thrive. What’s the difference between those that succeed and those that do not?
If you look at the top reasons for business failure, the key one that stands out is poor management. Having worked for small businesses in the past including running my own, I understand how stressful managing the operations are coupled with financial pressures.
Marketing, location and commitment all impact the success of a business and each are quite controllable. Managing people is different. Dealing with the stress of business can lead to behaviours that limit management success such as ego, control, lack of communication and more.
This post aims to give you a 'leg up' and help enable more effective business and people management.
Employees want to do good work. They also want to be valued and empowered to make a difference. How can business owners or managers make sure that happens in a smaller operation when you may not have the support larger ones have?
By not engaging and utilizing employees to their full potential, you may be putting your business at risk and could easily become another statistic. The solution is to believe your employees want to contribute to collective success and set them up to do so.
How? There are a few simple steps every leader can take in creating a powerful workforce. It may seem like common sense, but it is surprising how unclear many employees are on what difference they make or what’s expected from them.
1. As an owner/leader, understand what you are trying to achieve. What are your business goals and what kind of work needs to be done in order to achieve them? Remember, change is constant, so should your evaluation of work required.
2. Determine the roles you need and evaluate what skills and behaviours are required to get you there. If they are lacking, get training or source someone who can fulfill what you need.
3. Make sure you clearly define what is expected from each employee, the purpose of their role, and who they need to work with in order to get results. There is power in knowing the 'who, what and why' about work.
4. Empower employees to be accountable for certain aspects of the business. It doesn’t have to mean that you are giving up total control – but do you really need to be as involved as you might be. If people know their job, trust that they will make the right decisions and do the best they can in making sure the business is performing at its peak.
5. Facilitate team work by making sure everyone knows what everyone else does. Then, get their ideas on how they should work together in order to achieve goals. When employees resolve their own problems, there is more commitment to the solution.
6. Constantly communicate and ask for feedback on you and the business. Encouraging an environment where people feel open to share what’s on their mind will pay huge dividends.
Business owners that can let go of controlling all aspects of a business and give their employees the accountability, authority and capabilities to run operational requirements are better set up to create a business that is innovative and successful -- one that thrives, and where the 'For Lease' sign goes up only by choice.
Glen
P.S. For more information - see my Whitepaper on Requisite Organization
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Tip of the week (Influencing without Authority): Managing Up
This is the 8th in a series of tips on Influencing without Authority: Managing Up
One thing I have realized in business is that everyone has upward reporting relationships. CEOs typically report to boards of directors. Mayors report to councils and publically elected officials are subservient to the public.
Influencing one’s manager (or other 'boss' figure), however, deserves a special mention. When attempting to drive change upwards, consider the following:
• It is your job to sell an idea, not theirs to buy it. Don’t throw unsynthesized ideas over the wall and expect something to happen. Think it through and be prepared to make an effective pitch.
• Show how your idea links to the bigger organizational agenda that your manager is concerned with. If it does not, ask yourself if it is really worth pushing the point.
• Be prepared to pitch the same idea on multiple occasions – persuasion is not a one-shot effort.
• Don’t expect your manager to be infallible – no one is. Show patience with their thinking and work with them in a respectful way as you would with anyone else.
• Build the relationship by consistently asking the question: “how can I improve at what I do?”.
Russ
One thing I have realized in business is that everyone has upward reporting relationships. CEOs typically report to boards of directors. Mayors report to councils and publically elected officials are subservient to the public.
Influencing one’s manager (or other 'boss' figure), however, deserves a special mention. When attempting to drive change upwards, consider the following:
• It is your job to sell an idea, not theirs to buy it. Don’t throw unsynthesized ideas over the wall and expect something to happen. Think it through and be prepared to make an effective pitch.
• Show how your idea links to the bigger organizational agenda that your manager is concerned with. If it does not, ask yourself if it is really worth pushing the point.
• Be prepared to pitch the same idea on multiple occasions – persuasion is not a one-shot effort.
• Don’t expect your manager to be infallible – no one is. Show patience with their thinking and work with them in a respectful way as you would with anyone else.
• Build the relationship by consistently asking the question: “how can I improve at what I do?”.
Russ
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Tip of the week (Influencing without Authority): Developing Your Personal Power
This is the 7th in a series of tips on Influencing without Authority: Developing Your Personal Power
There are two types of power in business – positional (i.e. the authority vested in you based on your position) and personal power. While the use of positional power is sometimes necessary, an overuse of it will quickly erode one’s personal power, leading to a dictatorial style of management.
For this reason even senior leaders need to learn to influence without the use of authority. Personal (non-authority) power can be developed by focusing in two areas:
• Relationships: People tend to have an easier time adopting ideas of people they like. So look for ways to build relationships at every turn. Attend to the little things, apologize to people, don’t forget what you have promised and recognize others for what they do and who they are.
• Expertise: Before people will adopt your ideas, they need to believe that you are credible. So do your homework, get the facts, talk to the experts and do whatever you can to learn about all parts of the organization, not just your own.
There is a paradox between these two points. Attempting to “be right” all the time to avoid being perceived as anything but an expert can actually harm relationships! People will perceive you as an expert based on the credibility of what you say, not because of statements such as “I have a PhD in Sociology and you don’t”.
Next time we’ll look at managing up. Stay tuned!
Russ
There are two types of power in business – positional (i.e. the authority vested in you based on your position) and personal power. While the use of positional power is sometimes necessary, an overuse of it will quickly erode one’s personal power, leading to a dictatorial style of management.
For this reason even senior leaders need to learn to influence without the use of authority. Personal (non-authority) power can be developed by focusing in two areas:
• Relationships: People tend to have an easier time adopting ideas of people they like. So look for ways to build relationships at every turn. Attend to the little things, apologize to people, don’t forget what you have promised and recognize others for what they do and who they are.
• Expertise: Before people will adopt your ideas, they need to believe that you are credible. So do your homework, get the facts, talk to the experts and do whatever you can to learn about all parts of the organization, not just your own.
There is a paradox between these two points. Attempting to “be right” all the time to avoid being perceived as anything but an expert can actually harm relationships! People will perceive you as an expert based on the credibility of what you say, not because of statements such as “I have a PhD in Sociology and you don’t”.
Next time we’ll look at managing up. Stay tuned!
Russ
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Tip of the week (Influencing without Authority): Influencing an “Analytical”
This is the 6th in a series of tips on Influencing without Authority: How to Influence an "Analytical"
Analyticals are systematic, structured, logical types. They care about things being thought through and being done right, and less about how people feel about it. If you need to convey an idea to an analytical, consider doing the following:
• Show them how you arrived at your thinking. Any hard data or facts that you can produce will help.
• Do not overstate the benefits or understate the downsides of your thinking – analyticals will sense both and may decide that you are not being credible as a result. Tell them the downsides proactively and how you intend to mitigate them.
• Ask them what problems they see with your idea and how it can be improved.
Then thank them versus becoming irritated – analyticals can often save you from yourself!
Next time, we will look at how personal power is derived.
Russ
Analyticals are systematic, structured, logical types. They care about things being thought through and being done right, and less about how people feel about it. If you need to convey an idea to an analytical, consider doing the following:
• Show them how you arrived at your thinking. Any hard data or facts that you can produce will help.
• Do not overstate the benefits or understate the downsides of your thinking – analyticals will sense both and may decide that you are not being credible as a result. Tell them the downsides proactively and how you intend to mitigate them.
• Ask them what problems they see with your idea and how it can be improved.
Then thank them versus becoming irritated – analyticals can often save you from yourself!
Next time, we will look at how personal power is derived.
Russ
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