Given my love of words, I subscribe to Thinkmap’s Visual Thesaurus. Each day, I look forward to an email from Thinkmap’s Word of the Day. (Yes, I’m that geeky.) Today’s word is “erudite”.  It means “having or showing profound knowledge”. Don’t you just love how it trips off your tongue? Say it with me: erudite.

Beyond being fun to say, the roots of this word are cool too. The word erudite is related to the word “rude”.  My Word of the Day email informed, “erudite is from a Latin verb that means instruct, which is, in essence, to get the rudeness out”.

I love this! As a corporate trainer, my goal is to help facilitate learning rather than be a Sage on the Stage, offering up my volumes of wisdom.  In an adult learning environment, there’s nothing ruder than an arrogant person at the front of the room, pontificating. The same goes for leadership.  People learn a lot from their leaders, whether the leaders is conscious of doing the “teaching” or not. Every day, leaders have the opportunity to instruct their employees, whether in a coaching role, or as a role model demonstrating the company values. It’s up to the leader in how he or she wants to teach: with humility or with arrogance.

I’m going to turn the “word of the day” into a “thought for the day”— at work, would someone describe you as “erudite”? Are you seen as someone who is constantly striving to help others learn, while keeping the rudeness out?

This morning, while preparing for the work day, I had a random thought and quickly posted it to Twitter:

Props to Joan Koerber-Walker for starting the #BeOriginal hashtag on Twitter.

Judging by the number of retweets, I’d say this tweet had legs!  Or should I say “wings?”  To go beyond the 140 characters with that quote, here are the thoughts that led to that particular tweet:

1. If there’s no resistance, it doesn’t mean the proposed change is a bad idea.  Maybe what you propose is something employees have been secretly waiting for. (Thank goodness, the company is finally making that change!) Just don’t fool yourself into thinking that you’ve upped the bar all that much further.  You haven’t.
2. You need to expect a certain amount of push-back.  It’s a normal part of the change cycle. However, if the resistance is swift, powerful and nearly universal, it’s time to re-think the change you’re proposing.  It’s either off-target or too severe for what the organizational system (be it human or process) can handle at this time.
3. Wild ideas just to “get the juices flowing” aren’t always a great use of time. In the book Linchpin, Seth Godin talks about how “artists” (people highly skilled at what they do) “don’t think outside the box, because outside the box there’s a vacuum.”  He says that in order to “ship” (get the work out the door) “artists think along the edge of the box, because that’s where the work gets done.”( p.102.) I agree. The most effective leaders are those that stretch people’s boundaries, not snap them clear in half, like a severed rubber band.

So, that’s what was on my mind when I posted the game-changer tweet.  What do you take away from that quote?

I just returned from a quarterly management meeting being hosted by a client.  It’s a two-day meeting being held offsite for 30 mid- to senior-level managers of a business unit.  During the meeting, Pete, head of a 1200-person business unit, unveiled his brand-new blog.  I really admire Pete. He’s been taking risks and encouraging his staff to do the same.  When he revealed the blog today, his group gave him some good natured ribbing– “So, can employees ‘write on your wall?’ ” and “Yeah, SURE they can post anonymously.”  And: “What? Are you going to go on Twitter now too?!” Pete openly admits that this experiment may not work.  In general, efforts to use social media have not taken hold in his company.  However, Pete remains undeterred. He wants to fully explore the opportunities that a social media platform can bring to his workforce.

Now, I’m not a social media expert.  I’m not specifically advising Pete on his social media use.  But if I can help him somehow figure it out, then I’ve helped him in his larger goal, which is to communicate with his employee base.  And he did hire me to do that. 

So, I’m doing a bit of informal research on Pete’s behalf.

First, I posted this tweet before I left the meeting:

I chose to do so discreetly, as nobody in the room is on Twitter.

So far, I’ve had this suggestion from colleague MaryJo Asmus:

I’m also going to check in with my LinkedIn and Facebook networks to see what they have to say.

Are you a part of a large corporation that’s incorporating social media into its business practices?  In particular, are any executives or senior managers doing an internal blog?  If so, what advice would you offer to Pete so he can make this endeavor a success?

Leaders, when’s the last time you saw your employees go the extra mile? 

Today? Last week?  Last month?

The photo at right was taken by Terry P., the Library Media Supervisor at my kids’ elementary school. (Back in the day, we called them “librarians”.) Shortly before this picture was taken, Terry had been doing an activity with the kids using pennies and reference hand outs.  At the end of the activity she instructed the kids to “stack everything on the tables before you leave”.

It would appear that an enterprising student took Mrs. P.  at her word.

Imagine the patience and precision required to stack all of those pennies.  Was it worth the trouble?  Was it even necessary?

Seems to me that your employees might be wondering that very thing— is what I’m doing even worth the trouble?  Does anybody even notice?

Leaders, stop for a moment and think of your team members.  What are they doing that would be noteworthy enough to document with a photograph?

Drawing a blank?  Then it’s to time start paying closer attention. Maybe they are going the extra mile, but you’ve somehow missed it. Your people are doing good work*.  Chances are you’ve just been too busy to see it. So go out and start finding the stacked pennies. Oh, and if you do find a noteworthy achievement— would you do me a favor and thank them for it?  Remember, it took a lot to get those pennies to stand up in that stack. If they don’t get any feedback, they might be tempted next time to let them sit in a big, messy pile.

*OK, so maybe some of them aren’t doing such great work.  That’s an entirely different blog post.

Photo credit: ©Terry P.

I’ve been watching reruns of the Ken Burns series The National Parks  on PBS. It’s an in-depth look at the birth and evolution of our country’s national park system.  Called “America’s best idea” by writer and historian Wallace Stegner,  men both famous ( Theodore Roosevelt, John Muir )and lesser-known (Stephen Mather , Charles Young) were called upon to leverage their leadership skills to help preserve our nation’s rich landscape.

The other night, I watched Episode 3 which chronicles the years 1915 – 1919. As I watched, I was struck by the difficulty of the decisions National Parks advocates faced. For example, Stephen Mather, the National Parks Service first director, faced stiff opposition to the idea of naming the Grand Canyon as a National Park.  As an observer 90 years removed from the situation, it seems clear: of course, we should save The Grand Canyon for future generations.  But for those leaders who were tasked with setting aside land for conservation, the decision was anything but easy at the time.

The passage of many years certainly gives the gift of perspective. I’m reminded of my friend Pete’s dad, Wally Smith (not their real names). Mr. Smith was famous amongst his family members for an assortment of witticisms, which over time became known as “Wallyisms”. One of Pete’s favorite Wallyisms related to decision-making. Evidently, when Pete was young and grappling with a difficult decision, he would seek out his father for sage advice.  Pete would present his dilemma to his father, asking, “Do you think it’s the right decision?”  Pete’s father would gravely respond:

“Well, you’ll know in a 100 years.”

Gee, thanks, Dad.

But you know what? Wally was on to something.

Those tough decisions, the ones that keep us up at night— eventually we (or our successors) will  have the benefit of history to help judge whether or not we made the right choice.  But for now, in this moment, we need to decide. Or, perhaps, make a choice not to decide, at least for the time being.  In either case, we must have faith that we know right from wrong, good choices from bad.  We must have the character to stand up for inequities, and to put the greater good before our immediate self interests. This is especially true if we are in positions of leadership that require the stewardship of precious resources.

Which brings me back to the leaders featured in The National Parks series.  The passage of 100 years hasn’t changed the core of what it means to be a leader. Leaders back then grappled with the implications of big decisions, just as they do today.  Sure, there are differences (telegraph vs. smart phones) but the human factors that drive the decision remain largely unchanged. A person with character is a person with character, whether he or she lives today or lived a century ago.

Leaders—are you currently faced with a tough dilemma? Ask yourself: what will my decision mean 100 years from now? Who knows, maybe a Wallyism from the late 20th century will help you set the stage the 21^st century.

Incidentally, I thought this topic would be a fitting one, given that this is The People Equation’s 100^th blog post. Do you have a mentor or family member who’s famous for his or her sage advice?  Care to share?  We’d love to hear it.

Photo credit: istockphoto © DSGpro

Sometimes a tweet just sums it up perfectly.  Ben Eubanks tweeted:

“Verbal Spam”.  Creates quite the mental picture, doesn’t it?

How often are you subjected to verbal “spam” in the workplace?  Probably more often than you’d like.  My first reaction to Ben’s tweet was to imagine people who blather on, saying nothing of value.  But then, I had a thought of how maybe there is some measure of value to some people’s “spam”.  Ever heard the saying “one person’s trash is another person’s treasure?”  I think this saying could apply to the communication process as well. Maybe some people are just droning on and on, but what if they are simply at cross-purposes with their listener? What equates to trashy spam for you as the listener may indeed be another person’s golden treasure.

Here’s an example.  When I conduct my Listening Skills for Leaders webinar, we discuss the following graphic:

Let’s say the woman on the left is a supervisor who is explaining a new company policy to the person on the right who is an employee.  The supervisor is very carefully explaining the details of the new policy—when the change will go into effect, the specifics of the change and what the employee needs to do to adhere to the policy.  It’s her job as a supervisor to communicate these details; therefore she believes she’s delivering a treasure-trove of information.

Now let’s look at it from the employee’s viewpoint. Perhaps this policy change will require some type of change in the way the employee handles his day-to-day work.  Maybe the change is extensive enough that he may have to learn something new, or re-think how he handles other related company policies. Maybe those changes are daunting in some way.  In the graphic above, the employee is listening for the emotional content of the supervisor’s message—and isn’t hearing it.  He’s only hearing the logistical details, which he may translate as “unhelpful” or even “spam”.

So, what’s a supervisor to do?  Supervisors are constantly communicating—everything from the  mundane (“cookies in the break room, eat up!”) to the life-changing (“We are going to have do lay-offs for fourth quarter”). The key is to think about the expectations of the listeners.  Supervisors skilled in verbal communication will think about the following before they communicate their message:

1. What’s my intent in sending this message?
2. What does my listener expect from this communication?
3. How will I check for understanding?

Answering these three simple questions will help supervisors stay focused in their communication, thereby reducing the chance that their employees will run their communications through the mental spam filter.

Crickets at your team meetings?

So I’m sitting at a large round table, talking with a team of eight senior-level leaders who work for a large corporation.  These are smart, sophisticated people, who have both street cred as field operatives and many years’ experience leading various types and sizes of work groups.  We’re discussing how to ensure that our communications are less command-and-control.  Comments start to flow:

• “We need to be more open-minded”
• “Our younger workforce expects to be part of the conversation”
• “How do we invite more participation?”
• “It’s a more informal process these days….”

Heads are nodding in agreement.  The group is engaged, building on each other’s responses.  Then, one person is brave enough to be the Devil’s Advocate:

“OK, so let’s say that I do all of these things.  I’m asking for input, I’m trying to get them involved. Which, by the way, I think I’m pretty good at.  So I ask for feedback and all I get is, you know, The Crickets.”

To which I inquire— Crickets?

“Yeah,” he says.  “You know—so quiet you could hear the crickets chirp?”

Ah, yes, I do know.  And the other leaders around the table chuckle and nod their heads in understanding.  What leader hasn’t tried to draw out his or her team, only to be met with silence or perfunctory “Nope, we’re all good. Nothing to say.”  While there’s no “truth serum” to get people talking, there are some ways to ensure that your team members will participate when asked.

Think about how you ask the question. Are your questions truly open-ended, or are they statements disguised as a question?  Phrases like, “What’s your reaction to the idea on the table?” and “Who has an alternative idea to offer?” are neutral and invite discussion. If you say something like, “Can we all agree that we need to do XYZ?” or “That’s a great idea, don’t you think?” tend to put the emphasis on your opinions and agenda.  These statements are good for bringing a dialog to a close, but not for creating discussion.

Inspect your consistency. Do you consistently ask for input?  Or, do you only ask on the “easy” stuff—things that don’t take a lot of time to work through?  Leaders who establish a track record of inviting diverse opinions are those who will, over time, get valuable input from their teams. Many leaders say to me, “I’d love to ask for input, but it takes too much time!” This is true; there’s an upfront investment.  Ask yourself, “Will the investment of time upfront pay off in the long run?”  If there is a true urgency and no time for extended discussion, you can still ask for input, but set a clear parameter: “Team, we’ve got a time crunch for this—we can only do a quick 15 minute huddle—what can you give me quickly to be sure we still make a good decision?”

Review your track record of taking action. The biggest mistake that I see from leaders is that they ask for input, (“because that’s our culture—we need to be team-based”) but don’t intend to do anything with it.  If you know you won’t (or can’t) take any action on the team’s suggestions, don’t bother asking.  Of course, you won’t be able to implement all suggestions, so again, set the framework: “I’m looking for 10 – 15 ideas.  After that, we’ll whittle the ideas down to the ones that make the most sense, given our time and budget constraints.”

Do you close the loop? Which of their ideas did you use? Be sure to let them know. Moreover, be sure to let me know if you didn’t use the suggestions—and why.  Be as specific as possible about why the suggestion couldn’t be implemented.  By giving specific feedback now, you can inform the team’s thought process for later, helping them understand the bigger picture issues of budget, strategy, resources, and yes, even organizational politics. This will pay dividends for future “I’d like your input” discussions.

Enjoying the serenade of cricket night-song at home on a balmy evening is a delight.  “Crickets” at your team meetings—not so much. Follow these four simple tips and you’ll reduce the silence at your team meetings.

What’s your favorite dialog-starter?  How do you invite discussion that’s productive and open?

Photo credit: istockphoto.com © Tatiana Popova

Ways to encourage diversity on your team beyond race, religion or sexual orientation. 

Several weeks ago, I got an unexpected Skype call.  It was from my long-time client Pete. He was calling from Germany to say “hi” and let me know he’d just landed a new job as Director of Operational Excellence for a large metalworking enterprise. This exciting opportunity has offered a new challenge for Pete: leading a team that’s physically located across four continents. His nine direct reports are spread throughout the U.S., China, Germany and India. Beyond the logistical challenges of varying time zones, Pete now contends with communication issues that are heavily influenced by his employees’ cultural backgrounds.

Pete’s going to succeed at creating a cohesive, high-performing team.  His learning curve will be a bit longer this time, because he’s doing it for the first time with a global work team, but he’ll get there. How do I know? Because I’ve seen him do it repeatedly over the past 12 years.  He’s hired me to consult with him on several projects requiring people-skills development, thus enabling me to see up close how he interacts with his employees. Right now, Pete is working on providing developmental opportunities for his direct reports; that’s why he contacted me.  As he’s thinking through his options, he’s paying attention to the fact that anything he does will also need to acknowledge the multiple national cultures that his employees hail from.

Anyone who’s held a leadership position knows that it’s tough to get an entire team on the same page.  Adding diverse cultural backgrounds only makes it that much harder. Pete does have an advantage because his previous job had him traveling the globe for the past six years. I think his success is going to come from his highly tuned interpersonal skill set rather than extensive cultural awareness. Even though this is Pete’s first go at leading a global virtual team, he’s going to do well because he has a track record of doing the following four things to value diversity.

Change Up the Definition

The basic premise of most corporate diversity initiatives is that creating an inclusive workplace is about honoring all people, regardless of skin color, faith, or lifestyle. Pete goes beyond that notion to the root of the word.  “Diverse” means differing from one another . Notice there’s no value judgment in that definition.  The “difference” is neither bad nor good, it’s just different. By taking this more all-encompassing view of encouraging “diversity” on a team, he removes himself from having to be the expert in all forms of cultural, ethnic and religious norms. It’s not possible, so he doesn’t even try.  But he does come from a place of valuing each and every person for their uniqueness, which is Pete’s second success factor. 

Value Their Uniqueness

Pete is consistent with company policies, but flexible in his interpersonal approach. Even the newest supervisor knows this truth: every single direct report is unique.  So, the key to learning to bring out the best in each contributor is to figure out how to interpersonally “deal” with him or her. Pete has honed his powers of observation. He’s continually assessing, ” Is this person outgoing? Introverted? Which team members thrive on deadlines? Who is embarrassed by public recognition and who loves it?” Pete cares enough about his team members to know these details. This allows him to tailor the “must haves” of company policy in such a way that they fit an employee’s preferred approach.

Encourage a Variety of Viewpoints

The third way that Pete encourages diversity is that he is always seeking multiple viewpoints, both from inside and outside of his team.  He taps multiple sources of expertise to be sure he hasn’t missed something.  He’s open to hearing the “bad stuff” as well as the good. I’ve witnessed people say some fairly inflammatory things in his presence and he has remained calm and open to their opinion.

Be Respectful at All Times

Above all, Pete is respectful. His respect is genuine; it goes beyond the political correctness that sometimes masquerades as respect. That’s why he can get away with saying, “I was raised on a farm in Kentucky; I’m fluent in ‘Kentuckian’ as a foreign language.”  He can acknowledge who he is and where he comes from without it sounding like a put-down to others of similar backgrounds.

Pete’s story demonstrates that you don’t need to have an advanced degree in multi-cultural affairs to be an effective advocate for workplace diversity.  By doing the four things outlined above, leaders ensure that team members are bringing their whole selves to the picture— including, but not limited to, the beliefs shaped by their race, religion, etc. This mindset allows leaders to honor their employees’ diversity yet remain focused on the task at hand: delivering value to the customer.

People Equation Updates

Activity on The People Equation has been light recently due to my many offline projects. Here’s a quick run-down on what’s been happening and how you might benefit from knowing about them:

The HR Happy Hour Tackles Leadership

Earlier this week I was a guest on the The HR Happy Hour radio show (Episode 35: The Leadership Show).  Talk about a lively discussion!  Well-known digital HR influencers like Jason Seiden and Lance Haun dialed in to give their take on today’s leadership issues. Adding insights to the conversation were callers Deb Exo, veteran Talent Management pro (and a former colleague from my Herman Miller days) and  Steve Browne.

Fellow guest Amanda W. and first-time HR Happy Hour participant held her own with the fast pace and fluid topics.  I’m not giving her credentials online because she was “undercover”—she works as a training manager for a multinational financial services firm and her employer frowns on public displays of . . . um, I’m not exactly sure. But I don’t want to blow her cover.

As is typical with the HR Happy Hour, there was an active backchannel going on Twitter.  One of the strongest tweet threads was “are leaders born or made?” Personally, I’m bored with that discussion, but Ben McCall took the idea and ran with it in Leadership: One Size Does Not Fit All. My thanks to Ben for featuring my post 25 Free Leadership Resources within his article. (Check out the comments section on Ben’s post to see why I’ve grown weary of the debate.)

After the show, I received several Direct Messages and emails from friends who were listening, including one of my former direct reports from 17 years ago! (Thanks for the kind words, Katie.) My thanks to Dan McCarthy, Jessica Miller-Merrell , Stephanie Kempa, Victorio Milian and  Joan Ginsberg for listening in, talking about leadership and most of all, your words of support!

Writing, Research and Interviews

Recently the Managing Editor of Executive Travel magazine contacted me to pen an article for their “Winning Strategies” column in the July/August edition of the magazine’s print version. It’s an article on how leaders can create a customer service culture. So I spent much of my week conducting research and interviewing company owners to uncover their strategies for creating a customer-centric culture. Stay tuned—I’ll let you know when the article is published.

This week, I was also an interviewee when a colleague interviewed me for a book she’s writing.  It’s super-secret— still in the planning phases. But I can tell you this: she’s on to something with an idea that will help those of us who are self-employed.  

Next week, I’ll be interviewed by Barb Giamanco for a presentation she’s doing on social media. Barb and I are both authorized Independent Distributors for Inscape Publishing and she’s been asked to make a presentation at their annual conference.  This has tremendous meaning for me; I credit Barb with being my social media mentor and for helping me get started with Twitter and blogging. So, for her to now be featuring me in her social media presentation is an honor.

Positive Office Politics Takes Flight

It all started with a DM from Jane Perdue asking “want to write an article on office politics?” From there, it turned into the Positive Office Politics Series, which gained the attention of Franke James, Editor and Founder of Office Politics.com. which is the #1 site for this topic.  Both Jane and I have been featured as Guest Advisors on the site.

Now, Franke and I are taking it a step further and collaborating to bring The Office Politics Game to life here in Michigan.  On March 24, I’ll be facilitating an Office Ethics session using Franke’s book Dear Office Politics: the game everyone plays as the basis for workshop. Franke has worked with big names like Tom Peters and Edward DeBono , so it’s a thrill to have her expertise guiding me.

 So that’s what’s happening for us here at the People Equation.

 See anything that’s of interest to you? Want to know more? Email me at jmiller@people-equation.com and we’ll chat.  Hope you have a great week!

During my presentation to the Grand Rapids Entrepreneur’s Club today, I compared social media options for the small business owner to stepping up to an all-you-can-eat buffet.  There are a slew of choices—how do you choose those that are most healthy for your business? Following that analogy, I offer you, the small business owner, a “diner’s guide” to getting the most out of your social media fare.

[Disclaimer: The recommendations below are a result of my personal experiences as a small business owner.   I make no claim to be a social media “expert” but I am a consistent user of several platforms. The list below is not complete. The links below were active when I published this post.  Also, I receive no compensation from mentioning the people/blogs below. These are simply resources that I find helpful and hope that you will too.]

Appetizers: Social Media Starters

Two bloggers that I’ve followed closely that have some great general information about social media are Trish McFarlane, a Human Resource professional who blogs at The HR Ringleader and Michael Hyatt, the CEO of Thomas Nelson publishers.  Their posts on social media are helpful because they come at it from an “every day user” viewpoint rather than as a highly technical blogger or social media guru.

Check out Trish’s blog on how to get started in social media and Mike’s blog category of social media.

Mashable.com. Mashable is one of the most widely read social media blogs. It can be quite technical, but there are still posts that are helpful to the average user.  Keep in mind: when you use the site, the most current blog posts are the ones that are most technically accurate.  Older posts were correct at the time of publishing but may have since been replaced with new information. There’s a tab called “How To” at top of Mashable home page. Check this out for useful social media tips, including the How To Connect with Other Entrepreneurs post.

Salad Course: Facebook

Just like any salad, you need to know how to choose the healthy Facebook items (Fan Pages) and stay away from the fat-laden ones (Farmville). Facebook started out as a site focusing on connecting friends and family, providing an easy way to post photos and find long-lost friends.

As Facebook’s popularity has grown, the business community has latched on with applications allowing business friends to stay connected.  Facebook may or may not work with your social media diet; you need to decide how many social media platforms your company can maintain.  These days, several of the platforms are linked, making it easier to post to multiple accounts at one time, but it still can be time-consuming. Keep in mind that many of your business colleagues may want to keep their personal lives and business lives separate, so they may not want to “friend” you on Facebook  for business purposes.

If you do decide to give Facebook a try, start with Mashable’s guidebook.

Concerned about privacy on Facebook? Fellow HR blogger Lance Haun shared this site with me for Facebook privacy tips.

Main Entre: Linked In

If you only choose one social media platform, start with LinkedIn.  Some social media pundits are signaling the decline of LinkedIn, due to Facebook’s rising popularity with business users, but I don’t think that’s coming anytime soon. Last fall, LinkedIn wisely collaborated with Twitter to make it easy to share updates across the two platforms. At a minimum, small business owners should:

• Have a complete personal profile
• Create a company profile for their business

Another blogger friend of mine, Sharlyn Lauby who blogs at The HR Bartender was featured on Mashable with a very popular post called  7 Ways to Get More Out of LinkedIn.

New more advanced LinkedIn tips? Two social media bloggers, Neal Schaffer at Windmill Networking and Scott Allen at Linked Intelligence have generously agreed to have their excellent summary posts on LinkedIn featured here on The People Equation.  See Neals’s 25 Most Useful Linked In Blog Posts and Scott’s 1o0+ Smart Ways to Use Linked In.

Dessert: Twitter

Most of us love a little “sumpin’ sumpin’ after dinner, even if it’s not strictly good for us. Hey, I say “everything in moderation” and that’s how it is for me with Twitter.  Twitter can quickly become like those gooey chocolates that you can’t stop eating– highly addictive with very little nutritional value. However, using Twitter wisely and in moderation can be a positive addition to your social media regimen if you are displined enough to do so.

Brand new? See Mashable’s Twitter Guidebook .  

In addition to the Mashable guidebook, I recommend the just-released TweetThis! For Business, written by Jessica Miller-Merrell.  Jessica and I met via Twitter. For the past year, she has carefully tracked and documented how to gain leverage for your small business using Twitter. See my book review on TweetThis! here.

So, are you ready to jump in to social media?  Feel free to connect with me in any of the following ways:

Facebook: Jennifer Miller’s profile

Facebook: SkillSource Fan Page

Twitter: Jennifer Miller’s profile

Twitter: SkillSource Twitter page