We are getting what we asked for…

I have to shake my head at everything that I am hearing on the news these days. But not for the reasons you may think.

Examples of getting what we asked for:

• We believed that everyone should be able to buy a house. The banking industry came up with a product to meet that demand. People who really couldn’t afford to buy and maintain a house didn’t read the contract and the future payments. RESULT: defaults on mortgages and the banking industry stuck with a lot of houses instead of money.

• We asked for cheaper products. The business community has answered us. To produce the product at those prices they have had to computerize, create robot, or go overseas to meet the price desired. RESULT: fewer employees.

• We pushed for an increase in minimum wages. It was passed. Now it the cost for employees has caused companies to computerize, create robot, or go overseas to continue to beat the competition. RESULT: fewer employees.

• In 2008 when companies were struggling and either closed or had to lay off employees we asked for help. The government extended the unemployment benefits. RESULT: higher unemployment taxes that companies have to pay (potentially at the federal and state level), thus increasing the cost of every working employee.

Secondary result: this probably isn’t true for everyone but these are some of the effects I heard from CEOs and business owners:

1)      Employees tell them that they can make more from unemployment and don’t have to work hard.

2)      Employees will work for a couple months and then quit so they can get back on unemployment.

3)      Would rather be on unemployment than take a cut in pay.

4)      They want to start out at the same rate that they were receiving at their old job. (Not at the starting salary/wage.)

So individuals are not working really hard to get jobs.

• According to reports the amount of debt most families are carrying is at an all-time high (they keep raising their debt ceilings). And we are being told that if we go out and spend more it would create more jobs. RESULTS: not 100% sure but would bet that it will increase the debt load of the same families.

• Companies are asked to create jobs. RESULTS: again not 100% but will this lead to increase cost of products or increased debt to the organization.

• We asked for lower taxes. The government has been working different programs to reduce the tax impact. RESULTS: the government has to reduce staff and that causes reduction in services or the ability to perform the services.

• We scream that the government has to do something when: there’s a flood, fire, hurricane, tornado, or any other disaster. WHERE IS THE MONEY SUPPOSE TO COME FROM?

In the last election I heard people interviewed that were sure that Pres. Obama would buy them a house, get them insurance and a job. Now where is that money coming from?

The situation we are in reminds me of a quote by Mao Tse Tung:

“It is well known that when you do anything, unless you understand its actual circumstances, its nature and its relationship to other things, you will not know the laws governing it, or how to do it, or be able to do it well.”

In this quote I believe that he is referring to the natural laws that govern life. The natural cause and effect involved in every interaction. Individuals make decisions or take actions based on their view of the situation. They think they know all the facts or all of the consequences of their actions but they don’t. They believe that they are making “logical” decision and don’t realize that every decision has an emotion connected to it.

When I work with groups/teams I am amazed at their hesitancy to really look at the downside of the proposed decision. It someone will be negatively impacted their answer usually is something like “the good of the many out way the need of the few”, or “it will impact on a few people”. In a local debate the comment was “it will only negatively affect 1 business.” 

So I believe that until we are really able to quit making quick decisions (or believing that there is one answer and your know it) and look at the better decision we will continue to spiral. I feel this is especially important within organizations. Employees, management, leadership, and owners need to work together to find the best solution for the organization. What is the overall best decision. I am sure that the impact will not be the same on everyone but what isn’t the goal for the organization to succeed so that everyone will benefit?

When will we get our pride back and take responsibility not on for our self’s but also for everyone around us. Why is it better to be on unemployment better than working 2 jobs? Why do we hate the government but yet want it to take care of everything?

We have met the enemy and yes it is us.

“Quick Decisions lead to Faulty Solutions”

It's All About Me After All

Since May I have been working with a new client. It has always amazed me how much similarity there are between groups. Usually I am told that there is no way I can help them unless I know there business. But it is not about the business. It’s all about the “me” in the organization. That is the part that no one in the organization understands. This is the territory that I travel.

When working with teams, I no longer talk about having a positive attitude. Most people hear “positive attitude” as a platitude and they are tired of hearing that if they are just positive all the frustrating things will go away. The frustration remains because it has not been dealt with plus now they have to smile about it.

Yet it is all about the “me”. Not the attitude but rather the point of view of the “me”. What does the various “mes” feel about change the organization is taking? Point of view is defined as an individual’s opinions or set of beliefs which shapes their attitude. Many times these points of view are interpreted as a negative attitude. When in reality it is because from their point of view they do not agree with the direction.

The issue with points of view is that usually each “me” has already figured out what the fix should be. So any activity that doesn’t match what they think needs to be done (believe me they have been stewing over it for a long time) is not going to work. If I work with a production team, that is fully convinced that the issue is with sales, will not even want to think how their processes may be affecting the situation. “We are not the problem you need to fix sales.”

What many people don’t understand is that what appears to be working may only be working because it is a band aid to help the organization. But if the organization wants to succeed and grow then the band aids need to be removed and the real work of improvement needs to be accomplished.

Changing points of view is actually harder than changing their attitude. Actually you need to change the point of view before you can effectively change the attitude. Otherwise changes in attitude are false and end up negatively affecting the changes you want to make in your organization. People will do things because they are supposed to not because it is the best thing for the organization. So you now have individuals who don’t care but have a good attitude. You want them to care. So how do you change their point of view?

Here is where the work begins. When you think of point of view you may think of writing or movies. At least that is where I learned about point of view. In these fields point of view is important if you want to truly connect to your reader or viewer. But isn’t’ that want you want to do with your employees? Award-winning author Alicia Rasley in her book “The Power of Point of View” explains how point of view functions as a crucial piece of your story--something that ultimately shapes and drives character, plot, and every other component of your fiction. I believe that point of view shapes and drives everyone’s thoughts and actions. How can you find the points of view of your team and how do you shift it that is the question. After all it is all about “me”.

Have you been able to switch the points of view of your employees? Share your success.

When Production and Sales Collide

I find it interesting that no matter what organization I work with there always seems to be a major disconnect between production and sales. Even in service organization there is disconnect between the service providers and their sales. Shouldn’t they be on the same page? Aren’t they trying to achieve the same goal? 

If you ask them why there is such disconnect, they will say things like:

“Sales doesn’t understand what it takes to make the product. They make promises that we can’t keep.”

“Production just doesn’t get it. We have to have it this way or we can’t make the sale. The competition is doing it why can’t we?”

When they get together all they do is fight. No one stops and listens to the other side. Why you may ask. Unless you are in sales or production in which case you think you already know the answer. I believe it is because we haven’t trained people to effectively problem solve. Therefore all the past experiences of the individual come into play. And of course our past memories are never wrong….Right? 

Wrong. Most people remember at least of version (their view point) of the past situation. Of course the future will be a repeat of the past. But it doesn’t have to be. 

All segments of the organization need to be able to sit down and withhold judgment not only on the issue but also the individuals involved. Sales and production can and should be an incredible force for your organization. They need to see the other as a trusted partner not an evil force that needs to be conquered.

Tell us about how you have been able to get your sales and production teams to work together.

Rake Constantly

I find it interesting when companies don’t think they can learn from other companies outside their industries. Especially since I recently learned something watching the landscape company I hired to cut down dead trees in our yard.

As I watched the small crew work, it was a 4 member crew; I noticed that at least one was raking up debris constantly through the process. As I began to watch I wondered if the job could be done cheaper with fewer people? Do they really need 4 people? I know none of you have ever seconded guessed a contractor while there were doing a project.

While I watched the crew I realized that the tree removal was never messy.

• Large branches were cut down. The branches were hauled off and shredded and the mess was raked every time the ground was free of branches.
• Sections of the trunk of the tree were cut off. A small “gator” took the sections to a spot in the back yard where they were stacked (for the family to cut and split). All the debris was raked as each section was mover. 
• The stump was removed, the final mess was raked and the ground was smoothed over the location the tree once occupied.

I was amazed at how fast these 4 individuals removed 4 fully grown (although dead) trees plus 3 other stumps in less than 5 hours. I mentioned to the owner that I was surprised how quickly they removed the trees. The owner told me that they usually use a crew of 3 people but they found that by adding one person to their crew they were able to get more accomplished in a day.

Of course I don’t have access to their numbers, but I firmly believe that if they didn’t have the 4^th member the project would have taken as least 2 more hours. Which I would assume would mean that the company would not have been able to do another contract.

But the bigger lesson for me was what the seeing the cost of choosing to ignore the “raking”. Even though at the time it doesn’t seem to be really important urgent and there will be time to do it later. But that is where I get in trouble because it just piles up.

When working with organizations I find that managers tend to not “rake” up the mess in their interactions with each other and their staff. I’ve heard many times “it is not a big deal, I’ll wait till it is something big before we talk about it.” Until we learn to “rake” the debris and get rid of it, our relationships will continue to get more cluttered. And unfortunately that is usually when an issue becomes a wildfire and burns through the entire organization turning it to ash.

Make 2011 the year you are going to start “raking” up issues constantly before the chaos causes wild fires in your organization.

What is Truth?

I had the opportunity to see a performance of the musical “Wicked” yesterday and was struck by a couple quotes.

"Where I'm from, we believe in all sorts of things that aren't true... we call it history.”

“Truth is what we agree on” (this one may be not quite exact)

But it got me thinking about the concept of truth. Everyone thinks they know the truth of an issue. Or they feel there is only one way to look at the facts and that is the truth. When I talk about perceptions, I am really referring to how we interpret the events and information around us.

The show was an interesting idea of how the Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz came to be. It also gave you a glimpse of what Paul Harvey may have referred to as “And now you know the rest of the story.” Did the wicked witch actually die or was it a hoax.

So do we really know the truth of any issue? Are facts really the truth?  I’ve always heard that you can make statistic say anything you want 85% of the time. How many times have you heard both sides of a political debate use the same data to tell a different story? I mean is the glass half full, half empty, or do I have too much glass?

I think we need to get away from trying to find out what is true and false but rather what are the views and concerns of an issue. By changing the conversation to views and concerns you change the entire complexion of the discussion. After all it is the views and concerns that need to be addressed.

As Max Planck said “A scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.” Just think about some of the “truths” of our history that we laugh at today. Who will be laughing at our truths in the future?

Weather Happens!

If anything brings out the Grinch in people its weather delays. It’s December 16^th. It’s snowy and icy in several of the major cities major cities along the east coast. Flights are being delayed and canceled. Thus travel plans are being short circuited. All this equals highly stressed and irritated passengers.  But what are the airlines/airports to do???

Well it depends on who you listen to. As I set at the gate an announcement is made “Flight xxxx has not left their airport because of weather. It appears that they will arrive at least an hour late. Please come to the counter if you have any questions or need any assistance.” If you travel as much as I do this is not an unusual situation to be in. Maybe because I do travel frequently I know this is going to happen. I try to plan my travels to include time for just such situations. Especially in December in the Northeast or Northern Midwest states.

As I sat and watched people (one of my favorite past times in the airport) I couldn’t help but over hear the conversation at the counter. The passenger was really upset because the flight was going to be late and they might miss their connecting flight. As I listened further I learned that her (we’ll call her Ms. M) plans included her husband, son and mother. They were going to a graduation of one of her other children. The airline representative informed her that there weren’t any other seats available at this time but they could guarantee them a seat on an early flight the next day. Ms. M went on to lecture the representative on the fact that they had been waiting there for 6 hours on standby (because their earlier flight had been canceled) and now the airline was suggesting that she take her family home and get up at 1:00am to come back to the airport. “Would you want to do that to your mother?” she asked repeatedly. Along with trying to make them feel bad because Grandma was going to miss the graduation.

Now I realize this was a tough situation however what was the airline to do part the skies and melt all the snow and ice so the plane could magically appear at the gate? Were they to create an extra plane, get a flight crew, plan the flight, register it with the FAA , and the airports in the next 30 minutes? I am sure she would have said yes to all of these.

Why do we expect that all our problems can be made to go away if we are condescending and arrogant with people who are trying to help? Are we the only people that are having issues? Maybe someone else has a more serious reason for getting to their location? When did we become such a rude society? I watch several people go to through the line and treat the representatives as if the representative was purposefully trying to ruin their lives. Did they really want all the flights to go out as scheduled? If the flights did take off as scheduled, when they really shouldn’t have, and an accident happened then everyone would sue the airlines for making a bad decision. Do travelers not realize that winter weather happens?

Maybe instead of getting pushy and obnoxious when things don’t go as planned we should take a breath and work with people to find solutions to the problems.Especially the ones that no one can control. Last time I checked no one can control the weather. There are things in your organization that you cannot control (like a break down in equipment, illness, etc.). Some of these situation require all the creative juices you can pull together to overcome. Getting angry and stressed will not help the situation. In fact it usually makes the situation worse. I have to give credit to the United Airlines staff for keeping their cool and working as efficiently as possible to get people to their desired destinations. My trip took 6 hours longer than I had planned but the important point is that I made it home safely. Thanks United Airlines.

Merry Christmas to all and safe travels!

Should President Obama have discussed the reasons why he replaced General McChrystal on a national stage?

I've always been told that a leader should praise in public, reprimand in private. Was the President modeling leadership when he told the world why he terminated McChrystal?  I am by no means saying that McChrystal was right in having the reporter from Rolling Stone there to write an article. However, hearing the President say he violated the code of conduct and erodes trust sounds a lot like some of the comments in the article.

What are your thoughts.