The Best Leaders Listen Very Well

While working with a set of managers recently I was reminded of how easy it is to listen and get a person talking. How to do this is no secret but it is not “easy”. First you need to ask an open ended question. Such as “tell me what you are thinking about the changes to the strategic plan”. Second, and this is the hard part is to count to ten and let the other person fill the silence. Ten seconds feels like a long time, uncomfortably so. My guarantee is that nearly anyone you engage in this way will start talking. They will also feel like what they had to say was very important to you. 

Accountability Question of the Week: I am accountable for whatever happens in my organization, regardless of how well I do my own job.

How can I be accountable for whatever happens in my organization?

Well the CEO and COO and others are. So why them and not you? Could be in how we define accountability. Could be that they are getting paid more. Pay me more and I will be more accountable?

To be accountable or responsible or to take greater ownership all we have to do is say “yes, I can impact nearly any situation at work”. I have that power. Each time I do not act on an opportunity to make an impact I cheat myself and my coworkers. These actions can be as simple as picking up trash without worrying who or how it got left in the wrong place. Listening and checking for understanding. Speaking up with a reality that others may not want to hear. Offering to help.

If you believed and acted as if you were accountable for whatever happens in your organization would your job become easier?

Am I Responsible for Everything?

“I am totally responsible when my organization is unsuccessful, even if my own performance is outstanding.”

Does this sound like you are responsible for everything? Could that work to “be responsible for everything”?

Probably not. On the other hand people “leave accountability on the table” every day. In very concrete terms if you go to work today and at work you see a trash can knocked over in an area and  its contents on the floor are you going to clean it up? If you said yes why is this situation your responsibility? If you said no why isn’t this situation your responsibility? By not cleaning it up you are making an active choice to leave it for someone else and you have chosen to not take ownership. If you do clean it up you are likely saying this is not right and I will ensure it gets fixed. Accountability and responsibility are about “doing the right thing” and “getting to the right outcome”.

So when a failure occurs in your organization are you responsible for that? What will  you choose to do to help?

Empowerment or Accountabilty: Which Do You Want?

Are you seeking to have greater empowerment in your organization? Do you want people to take greater ownership of outcomes? Not sure what that means or will look like? This may help: If you want greater empowerment, create greater accountability or vice versa. What matters is that you and your co-workers (direct reports, fellow managers, your boss) need to see that empowerment and accountability are opposite sides of the same coin. To get one you have to get the other. Empowered people are more accountable. Highly accountable people operate in very empowered ways.

John wants to have his staff take on more of the duties that he is doing that are less important to the accomplishment of his goals but still important in the bigger picture. But John keeps hanging onto these weekly tasks because that is easier, at the moment,  than delegating them. He is afraid that others will not be as accountable as he is for doing the tasks. In reality a number of people on his staff have been asking to take over some of these tasks for a number of months. John needs to get over his fears and engage them to be empowered and accountable. When John figures out that if he empowers them to accomplish these tasks he also needs to ensure they understand that they are accountable for the results, he will be on his way. Once the truth that to take on the task also means being accountable for the result John and his staff had an easier time transferring duties. Empowerment = Accountability and vice versa.

Role Plays: Whats the use?

Role plays can be the most trans-formative tool in a  training or coaching process.  But they have to be done right. While role plays are an effective way to engage people, when they lack guidance they can be lost time and a deterrent to engagement.

Why Role Play?  To practice a needed skill.  Needed is critical here and a skill that the participant wants or has some idea they want to master because there is a ready need.

How to do them right:

1. Allow plenty of time.
2. Use scenarios that are real, get them from the participants.
3. Set them up well, do some coaching of the role players. When using real scenarios this is fairly easy. (For example one real scenario is approaching an employee who has a body odor issue. A second is an employee who is simply not meeting expectation, wrong procedure, wrong format etc. and they do not seem to be getting it.) We use the whole class, all of the participants to set up the scenario, talk about the approach and style, what you will do and not do etc.
4. This is all dependent on  a model to follow for having effective discussions that achieve the desired outcome. We work the model, or whatever we are teaching.
5. Use the rest of the class as experts on how to intervene based on the training teaching and as people to critique.
6. Facilitate the role play by interrupting and stopping it when it goes awry. the skill builder must be able to call time and ask for help. Actively coach during the role play. The active coaching makes all the difference. This is where the skill builder corrects behavior, tries a new technique, adjusts their style to see what happens. The real time,  real issue impact is phenomenal. The other role player, the subject/object will go with the flow and respond to the skill builders change in style and direction.
7.  Debrief it but not too long. Role plays done this way take 20 to 40 minutes so the debrief is usually brief 5 to 10 minutes and very rich.
8. Everybody participates and does both sides of a role play, that is be a skill builder and an object employee.

When we do these best they will take whole day depending on the number of people and we rarely lose interest or engagement. People said they learned as much from seeing them as doing at times. Seeing others styles working was a great eye opener for people.

Thanks for reading.

Bob Sutton
513 260 9518

We teach people how to treat us!

I had a great conversation with my brother-in-law at family gathering. One of those discussions where we solve the worlds problems and then laugh at ourselves.  We were talking about landlords and bad neighbors and other people who can make our lives more difficult.  He had a recent experience where he had a very inappropriate neighbor whom he had numerous run ins with over loud music. He eventually told the gentleman, “You are teaching me how to treat you. I have tried to be cooperative and asking you to lower the music,  work with you, now I am telling you. You act this way I call the police no more requests, no more discussions.”.  This hit me like a ton of bricks when I think about how I am teaching people to treat me.  This give me pause. So when someone sends me a reminder of an appointment or task does that mean I have taught them that I am unreliable or non-committal? Possibly.

I will strive to pay more attention to this and be clearer with co-workers and others so that they treat me in the way that I desire and that I learn from them how to treat them.

Thanks Steve for the great insight and example from your neighbor. I hope the situation gets better.

Bob

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