HELP WHEN YOU NEED IT

WHAT YOU NEED

You need your new team focused, united and productive, willing to trust your judgment and, if need be, to put the past behind them.

HOW TO GET IT

1. DECLARE YOUR LEADERSHIP INTENTIONS IMMEDIATELY

It’s never too soon to do this. Explaining your values and the bitter/better place calls the culture to attention and allows them to place your actions in context with your beliefs – this solid clue to survival in your world is the ultimate gift your people.

2. CREATE A CULTURAL LEGEND AT THE SAME TIME

A legend is created every time you say what you stand for and do something provocative to prove you mean it. You won’t gain credibility from one grand act, but this first legend will get the culture’s attention right away allow it to begin the critical linkage of “said that, does this.”

3. EXPECT TO BE TESTED

You’ll be pushed about whether you mean what you’ve said is important to you. Don’t resent this – you’re new and the culture has to find fast ways of deciding who you are and whether there is reliable connectivity between what you say and what you do. Stay steady and you’ll gain its trust and support.

WHAT YOU NEED

You want full-tilt commitment for key strategic or performance goals — focus, unity and effort.

HOW TO GET IT

1. APPLY LEADERSHIP FIRST

Using management tactics to increase performance in already competent
people is wasted effort. Management controls performance by impacting skill; it’s a matter of monitoring, analyzing and directing behavior. Leadership creates performance by impacting willingness; it’s a matter of inspiring, modeling and reinforcing behavior.

The relative quality of performance among your people usually has little to do with skill. They already know how to do their jobs which is why they’re working for you. Now, it’s about their willingness to use that skill.

2. GIVE THEM THE BEST REASON TO MEET THE GOAL

Explain to your people that the only thing more important than meeting the
goal is how they meet it – in a manner that advances getting to the better place, treating one another in the spirit of your values. And the only thing more important than how they do it is why they do it – because the better performance goals are met, the more the team protects its ability to live like it wants to at work.

WHAT YOU NEED

You want your people’s extra creativity and effort to course-correct a plan in trouble.

HOW TO GET IT

1. LOOK TO YOUR OWN LEADERSHIP

Has your leadership been consistent? Have you modeled your own values on the team? Have you protected and promoted the move toward a better place for all? Have you continued to talk about the better place in meetings, e-mails and individual conversations? Have you reinforced your team’s efforts to protect your values – mighty positive when they did, clearly unhappy when they didn’t?

2. LET YOUR VALUES BE THE ROAD BACK

If a project has gotten off track, it’s those values that will help you restore any lost leadership credibility. As an example, if Family is a value, make it clear to them that your team will behave like a great family when it’s in crisis — no blaming, common goals, safe to be accountable, protect the family first.

WHAT YOU NEED

You want your people to buy the change and sell it to others.

HOW TO GET IT

1. FOCUS ON WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANTLY NOT CHANGING

A culture doesn’t trust strategies; it trusts leaders who bring it strategies. If you can say to your culture, “This is changing, but here’s who I still am – these are my values and what those mean to how we will work” then your leadership becomes a lifeline of consistency amongst swirling seas of uncertainty.

2. CREATE CULTURAL DISCIPLES AND SELL CHANGE LIKE A CONSUMER PRODUCT

Get to those early adopters first –those most willing to trust your leadership message, convince them that the change supports the values the team holds important, and let them be cultural disciples for you. A message from the culture to the culture has more credibility than anything you will ever send from your position outside the culture.

3. LINK IT TO YOUR VALUES

You have translated your values into the promise of better working conditions for your people. Use that now: If Family is a value, explain that you’re going to tackle the change like a family with open, honest communication and unconditional support. If Creativity is a value, explain that you may not have a choice about what to do but you’re going to look for innovative ways in how you do it.

WHAT YOU NEED

Reinforcement of behavior and performance to inspire more of the same.

HOW TO GET IT

1. CELEBRATE WHAT THEY DID. THEN CELEBRATE HOW THEY DID IT.

Announce however you plan to celebrate your team’s performance, then raise the bar and announce an even bigger, better celebration because of how they performed (assuming they did the work in accordance with your values). Make sure they understand what would have left off the table if they hadn’t gotten the performance in a way that also supported your leadership and advanced the team to a better place.

2. CELEBRATE EVEN IF THEY DIDN’T DO IT

Your culture will monitor what gets it most rewarded and adapt its behavior accordingly. What do you want that behavior to be? Continue to reinforce support of your leadership; it will also be your best chance of delivering management results.

3. SHOW CREATIVITY AND EFFORT IN DEVELOPING REWARDS

Avoid ritualistic performance reinforcement efforts; if you treat performance celebration as a commodity your people will treat the job as a commodity. A leader knows their people and knows what would delight them most; proof of that awareness turbo-charges the impact of the reward. Better to bake them a cake than buy them one. When you show special effort, your culture knows that it moved you to respond intimately and situationally and this is proof that there is linkage between performance reinforcement and safety.

WHAT YOU NEED

You want to avoid losing any others.

HOW TO GET IT

1. CHECK THE QUALITY OF YOUR LEADERSHIP

People work because they’re inspired to; same reason they don’t. Look to your leadership first to see if you failed to deliver on your commitment to your people – living your values on the team, helping them get to a better place. It’s possible that the key player who left was the first to say, “I don’t need this,” or it’s possible that they were just someone who wanted most to believe in your leadership.

2. ADMIT YOUR MISTAKES AND RENEW YOUR VOWS

If you believe a lack of leadership contributed to a key person leaving, talk about it with your people. Your people don’t expect you to be perfect. They expect you to be honest with them and committed to the promise of your leadership. If this is a wake-up call, they only want you to…wake up.

3. BURY YOUR DEAD WITH DIGNITY

The loss of a key person probably caused you some problems and you may find yourself resenting them and devaluing the history of their contribution. Keep that stuff to yourself: your employee culture is far closer to the person who is leaving than to you.

WHAT YOU NEED

To get through one of the most unpleasant of all management circumstances with limited damage to your team and yourself.

HOW TO GET IT

1. REACT TO THE THREAT IN THE NAME OF YOUR VALUES

What’s key is to protect your leadership credibility within the culture, even when you’ve shown yourself unable to prevent the loss of jobs. If you have Health as a value, ensure that you are taking overt, exaggerated steps to let people talk through their anxiety and take care of themselves physically. If you have Creativity as a value, have your people examine anything they can control and innovate ways of the R.I.F. experience as good as possible for those who were let go and the working environment as good as possible for those who remain.

2. DON’T DISMISS IMPACT ON THE CULTURE

Your culture is going to be shaken and self-protective; just when you need the most unity and focus from those who are left, it’ll be difficult to get. Trying to dismiss its concerns too quickly or lightly will increase the divide between you and the culture.

Agree that your people would may not be willing right now to trust any promise of “Everything will be all right.” Regain your culture’s trust a little bit at a time, with small short-term promises.

3. BURY YOUR DEAD WITH DIGNITY

If those who leave simply disappear then they never really belonged to anything special and the culture will absolutely take notice of this. Instead, treat the people who are leaving with the same values as if they were still on your team. Keep them at least somewhat connected to the team, bring back news to the team of their success in finding a job, pick a date on the calendar and get back in touch with general good wishes from the whole team.

4. GUARD AGAINST YOUR OWN DETACHMENT

You may not agree with the necessity or the way it’s mandated you carry it out; emotional detachment is a natural reaction in the face of such circumstances. The fundamental skill of leadership is the ability to unite others in common purpose. Don’t back away now, bring your team together and you’ll be amazed at what they can do to relieve the pressure on your values in all sorts of real-world situations. If anyone else has to leave, your leadership will have made a lasting impression on what people can expect from themselves and from those in positions of authority.

WHAT YOU NEED

You want the year to start right, with everyone fully energized and focused.

HOW TO GET IT

1. SET CONTEXT FOR THE YEAR AHEAD

Explain that the only thing more important than what the team is going to do is how they’re going to do it (your values) and the only thing more important than how they’re going to do it is why they’re going to do it (to protect their ability to work the way they want to) – the better place.

Q1 is often the time that bonuses are received for the prior year’s performance. Put those accomplishments in context and add your own additional celebration if they were achieved while protecting and promoting values. Celebrate those on the team who did this even if the year itself was unsuccessful.

2. EXPLAIN LAST YEAR TO THOSE ABOVE YOU AND SET CONTEXT FOR WHAT’S TO COME

Put last years result in leadership context for your own manager. If the results were good, explain how your leadership efforts caused results and ask for support for those same efforts this year. If the results were bad explain how you expect your leadership to impact this year and ask for support. Sooner or later you’re going to need to appear to perform a miracle in the name of your leadership and that decision will be made by a level or two above you. Don’t wait until you need it: get the support now.

3. LOOK FOR OPPORTUNITIES TO CREATE CULTURAL LEGENDS

Cultural legends continue to add credibility to your leadership. Facing a new year, look for choice points, where people will have to choose to protect and promote your values. Look for choke points, where it will seem as if people can’t possible protect how you want them to work and still get their job done – be prepared to remove as prohibitions wherever possible and to reach in and help them when you can’t. Look for benchmarks for success – proof points that progress is being made toward the better place – be prepared to celebrate that.

WHAT YOU NEED

You want maximum performance as you approach the point of no return.

HOW TO GET IT

1. GIVE THEM SOMETHING WORTH PROTECTING

Remind your culture that delivering performance results helps ensure that the team stays together and gets the freedom to work the way everyone wants to – defined as the better place.

2. CELEBRATE RESULTS WITH VALUES INTACT

Don’t wait for the quarter to end before you recognize any accomplishment, big or small, made in accordance with your leadership values intact. Keep the energy and commitment in force.

3. TAKE A HARD LOOK AT YOUR OWN LEADERSHIP

If your culture has made its numbers before and is having problems this quarter, look to your own leadership. Have you been consistent in its application? Have you modeled your own values? Have you protected and promoted the move toward a better place for all? If not, gather your people together and reinforce it now. Apologize if you feel there has been any default, recommit to them and if possible, create a cultural legend by removing any current prohibition to acting in the name of your values. Be an overt role model.

WHAT YOU NEED

You want the best people easily attracted to your organization.

HOW TO GET IT

1. GIVE THEM SOMETHING WORTH PROTECTING

The first rule of successful marketing: Don’t say something until you stand for something. Before you offer the benefits of your leadership, be sure that leadership is credible.

Are you modeling your values on the team? Are you protecting and promoting the advance to a better place them? Have you continued to talk about the better place in meetings, e-mails and individual conversations? Have you reinforced your team’s efforts to protect your values – mighty positive when they did, mighty pissy when they didn’t?

2. TALK ABOUT YOUR VALUES AND BETTER PLACE IN THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS

The benefits that people realize working for a leader are rare and valuable. Talk about them as part the interview process; it’s sure to stand out – and stand out as meaningful – amongst other interviews they’ve had.

This is what you should explain is offered in your leadership-influenced working environment: A sense of common cause, working with intention about how not just what, stability in the midst of constant change, focus on people responsible for productivity not the productivity itself and the fundamental respect for human beings and what’s important to them. Add that such a team breeds commitment and talent, and the people in it get recognized for achievement.

People don’t trust companies; they trust people. They may consider working for the company, but they’ll be living in your organization and that’s what you want to focus on.

3. CONDUCT INTERVIEWS IN THE NAME OF YOUR VALUES.

This will add credibility to your claims. If you have creativity as a value, don’t ask standard insipid interview questions from across the desk. If you have fun, don’t make the interview a dour experience. If you have spirituality as a value, conduct the interview on your knees…