The Heart of Engagement : Leadership Development, Management Education, Retreat Facilitation & Executive Coaching : Mike Cook : AMJ Group

Pain, as experienced in the workplace, is something most of us learn to accept. Pain coming from, misunderstanding, an inadvertent action interpreted as disrespect, a request denied, a promise broken and not accounted for. These events will all inevitably occur. We learn that pain is a part of the “game.” We learn to provide the benefit of the doubt, we forgive when offered apology, we apologize when recognizing damage done, we offer to atone for promises broken, we understand we are not going to get everything we ask for. We get over it.

In part what allows us to get over it is the knowledge that the game of business is largely competition. Business attracts many people who are highly competitive and even the least competitive among us generally enjoys friendly competition and knows our businesses must experience winning to survive.

What we don’t enjoy, what we did not sign on for, what we don’t get over, what we resent and expect special compensation for …is the suffering.

One of the definitions offered me by my on-line Merriam Webster unabridged dictionary for suffering is “to endure with distress.” That gets it for me!

Suffering overheard:  “This is not my idea of fun!”

                               “I don’t recall agreeing to put up with this.”

                               “They are expecting us to be working again this weekend!”

Suffering being spoken: “I’ll speak to you any way I want to, I am your boss!”

                                   “You should be thankful you have a job in this economy!”

Pain is a natural experience in the game of business. Suffering is what we and our colleagues add to the game that has no place in the game, serves no useful purpose, and has a very high cost. Most of the suffering that we either inflict or endure is brought about by unconscious or highly justified action, very little is intentional. Actions such as these:

• A manager finds herself being asked repeatedly by an overly mistake-averse HR representative for several levels of documentation before terminating a poor performer. Finally in frustration the manager gives up and just decides to put up with the under performing employee. The balance of her direct reports log this occurrence, share about it amongst themselves only and the performance and engagement level of the group declines.
• An HR manager becomes aware that certain line managers are damaging her group’s reputation, making excuses to not bother with proper documentation and justifying not taking appropriate action with under performing employees. She says nothing to the managers involved choosing instead to kibitz with her colleagues about how lame those managers are and joke about how it’s a wonder they can keep their jobs.
• A district level sales manager receives a call from a representative, his top producer, letting him know that for the third month in a row he’ll be processing his orders at the last minute and with some incomplete paperwork. The sales manager tells the representative not to worry; push the orders through and he’ll handle any blowback at his level.
• Name your own favorite suffering inducer here____________________________

There is a cost to all these and other unnamed actions but there is no way to calculate this cost, and we have it all nicely justified in such a way that the likelihood of change is minuscule. The cost remains untouched by “engagement initiatives” because it is a crisis of being. We see how others are being that induces suffering; we do not see ourselves so clearly. If you are wondering about yourself and want some idea of the price you’ve been paying I have a suggestion.

I am midway through a wonderful little book recommended to me recently by a friend. It is titled ‘Leadership and Self Deception.’ Somehow this quiet little book written at The Arbringer Institute in the parable format has sold over 750,000 copies worldwide and is now translated into 22 different languages.

Quoting from the publisher, Berrett-Koehler’s website;

"Since its original publication nine years ago, Leadership and Self-Deception has become an international word-of-mouth phenomenon. Rather than tapering off, it has sold more copies each year since 2004 than it did in any of the first four years after publication..."

This is not the kind of book you buy because you see it advertised, you have it recommended by a friend. The message may be painful to hear but it illuminates the path to alleviating suffering.

A small sample may peak your interest.

• Do you know someone who is managing and cannot see the suffering they are causing?

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Is it possible that in our zeal to humanize and streamline our organizations over the past two decades that we may have, in some instances, thrown the proverbial baby out with the bathwater? I speak here of the disregard or dim view some of us have developed for certain traditional management tools? There is at least some cause to consider this possibility. Hierarchy, especially in support of a “command and control” mindset may be one of the management tools that have suffered this fate without due consideration.

Saturday is now Zumba® day for me. I believe the unusual name is taken from the Spanish word for, “If you are an out of shape male over sixty you have no business here!”

There hasn’t always been a Zumba® day for me but it has become increasingly evident that I need to spend more time intentionally and actively moving my body as I get older and what better for that purpose than Latin dance in the middle of the day on the weekend?

So, mid-routine last weekend I began to develop a connection between my experience at that moment and conversations I have been having recently with associates about revisiting the value of hierarchy. Would it be possible to re-purpose organizational hierarchy, place it in a more democratic perspective, and in the process breathe life into what was once a revered yet frequently feared hallmark of organizational life? What if the vertical nature of a hierarchy was a function of its purpose and value in a democratic context? This would stand in contrast to the authoritarian context that now so automatically comes to mind?

“Re-purposing hierarchy” was the thought that came to mind last Saturday as I swayed wanly in the back row of my Zumba® class. The class is scheduled for an hour but I noted that after about forty-five minutes the signals that were being sent to my legs and feet from my head were not being executed. I am not talking about insubordination here, simply failed execution, the spirit was willing but the flesh was weakened by that point.

If I were constrained by the traditional understandings of hierarchy, at that point I would make my commands even firmer and just tough it out for the full sixty minutes. In my younger days I was capable of that approach, mind over matter in a system that permitted such things to happen without major consequence.

There is a pretty compelling article in the November 8^th issue of The New Yorker magazine, “The Perfect Stride” ,by Jennifer Kahn, about the life and accomplishments of Alberto Salazar, once considered the premier long distance runner in America. My conclusion from reading this piece was that Salazar may have sacrificed his future and legacy by over employing the command and control based hierarchy approach for short term benefit. I often fear US  public corporations are making the same mistake each financial quarter.

Last Saturday morning rather than allow vanity to attempt an override of the information I was receiving from my legs and feet I decided to listen. What I heard was affirmation; I had gotten what I came for. My heart rate was up, my legs were noodle-like, thoroughly exercised, and I had simply finished earlier than the rest of the people in the class! I was done and now I could look forward to the sauna. So I left.

What a different way to consider hierarchy, as a way to manage for the future as well as for the moment, consideration and appreciation given to all information received, viewed in  the best interest of the entire system, not merely some of its components. There is more to think about here but that’s enough for now, let’s hit the sauna!

By they way, who was it that thought putting mirrored walls in those exercise rooms was a good idea?

• If you are a manager, where are you receiving information right now that you are choosing to ignore because it conflicts with the attainment of certain objectives?

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 Have you ever read anything by Derek Irvine? He writes the Globoforce Blog and I usually catch his pieces on Human Capital League. I love Derek's writing, concise, lucid and spot on when it comes to employee recognition.

Today I was reading Derek's piece entitled "Paying Bonuses" - When Will We Ever Learn?" As is often the case I was flowing right along with Derek, "Yes, you are right about that, glad you mentioned that, couldn't agree with you more" etc., etc. I wasn't far into the piece when suddenly a couple of words hooked me and sent me reeling.  In speaking about the folly of many annual bonus programs he said, among other things, "The challenge with them tends to arise when bonuses become an entitlement."

Whoa! The room started to spin, back, back back! Suddenly it was 1972 and I was in the classroom , Kedzie Hall at Michigan State and we were discussing an article that was making its way around the graduate programs in Labor Relations at the time and causing quite a stir. The article, "One More Time, How Do You Motivate Employees?” authored by Frederick Herzberg, had been published in Harvard Business Review in 1968.

In his article, considered a breakthrough in thinking for the times, Herzberg argued that if employers were truly interested in motivating employees they must realize the distinction between what he called Movement and Motivation. At that time, often as not employers relied on tools that were external to employees in hopes of spurring performance, Herzberg called this Movement. He labeled these tools as extrinsic motivators, Hygiene Factors, a bit of a sterile term but this was after all 1968! He stated that these factors, external to the employee, had little to do with motivation and were in fact not dissatisfying at best.

Herzberg went on to label another category of factors as the true Motivators for employees and all these were in fact internal and idiosyncratic to an individual employee.

Here’s How Herzberg saw the world of Motivation:

So now here we are and it is 2010, forty two years since Herzberg published his landmark piece and I am reading a blog post about the folly of many bonus programs!

Right after Derek’s article I see a comment from Doug Shaw, who regularly writes pieces I really like in his blog, ‘Stop Doing Dumb Things to Customers’ and he says to Derek, “…I sometimes wonder if we'll ever learn....but then I read your good stuff and I am heartened that some folk do get it and are making changes to business practice…" and Derek responds with “…I agree -- collectively, we are making great strides in changing business practices…”, and I gag!  Sorry guys, with all due respect, forty-two years seems like a long time to keep doing something that doesn’t work. I admire both your enthusiasm and perseverance.

I suspect the attachment to bonuses has more to do with what matters most to senior management than it does to what works! They do like their bonuses.

Just how long will it be before we accept the premise Herzberg distinguished for us all those years ago? Like a lot of other things, not everyone wants to hear that the world is not flat…say the people in the extrinsic motivation industry for example. Coffee cups, hats, key chains anyone!

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The Managers’ Forum

The photo that appears at right is hopefully an iconic image for most of you, *Tom Cruise as he portrays the principle-driven sports agent, Jerry Maguire, (from the movie by the same name) as he is imploring his client, football wide receiver Rod Tidwell to, in his words, "Help me help you!”

 *(Tom personally autographed this shot for me! The only thing better would be his autograph on the image below of Les Grossman from Tropic Thunder. But...you can't always get what you want!)

The United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Brazil, Malaysia, Philippines, Spain, Mexico, China, Colombia, The Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, India, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Singapore, Hong Kong and Romania…and these are the countries I am aware of.

Being fairly new to the blogging world (less than a year) I am gratified that the pieces posted each week have found such a wide following in such a short period of time. When I see where the readers live and work, I am deeply touched by the gift the internet provides us all. What offers a greater possibility is to find a way to leverage the commonality of interest we all share. How can future posts be more relevant and especially relevant to those of you who are mid-level managers?

I have worked for most of my career to distinguish the possibility that mid-level management is a legitimate career destination, not a career cul-de-sac that is often made the butt of jokes.

Managing in the middle requires a unique set of talents and skills. In professional sports, nobody seems surprised that coaches very infrequently become general managers and general managers infrequently have coaching experience. These are two very different talent/skill sets and it is time we brought this awareness to business in general rather than perpetuate the caste system we have tolerated for so long.

The challenges in the middle almost always involve mastering the complexity of a) translating the business strategy into actions while b) getting the work done and c) developing talent for the future. When it is done well middle management is a primary source of employee engagement and retention. Done poorly it often leads to the exit of assets that a company can ill afford to lose.

Those who wind up in senior positions often pass through the mid-levels of management in ritualistic fashion. If we are fortunate, they don’t stay any longer than necessary as their natural strengths are more strategic than operational. Left in place too long in the middle these “Hi Po’s” can do more damage than good as they do not function well in environments calling for putting the interests of others ahead of their own. This is said not in a derisive manner towards senior management but rather to caste a critical eye towards systems that label employees “Hi Po’s” based strictly on their suitability for senior level positions. We are all “Hi Po” for something and it’s not the same for everyone….this is my way of letting those of you currently managing in the middle know that you are both known and appreciated.

As someone whose career has been spent mainly developing mid-level managers, I am asking to know what  you need to hear more about?

Let me know what I can address in the coming weeks and months that would make a difference for you. Help me help you!

Thank you for your attention.  

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 Small Business Forum: If you want truly engaged employees, work with them to find their natural contribution and provide opportunities for them to make it.

Over the past twenty years I have spoken most frequently with managers and business owners on a common topic, employee performance. The theme is almost always the same, “How can I get more from my employees!”

I have two responses to this question and neither managers or owners like them very much.

Here’ the first:

• You want more; OK, what are you willing to give up?

 The virtually predictable immediate response to this question is, “Give up? Why should I have to give anything up?” (This statement has often been generated from the fear that the only way to improve performance is to pay more.)

The conversation goes on with me explaining that I am not talking about giving up money, it is much worse than that; I am talking about giving up control! Now I can see the hair stand up on the back of their necks.

My second response;

• “Do you want more or do you want their best?”  

This response usually evokes something that sounds like, “Huh?” and a look of confusion from the manager or owner

These questions are really closely related.

As a new owner of a small business back in the 1990’s one of the biggest challenges I faced was realizing that every day would be an opportunity for me to choose between control and contribution insofar as how I related to the people in my employ. The classic mistake I made early on was thinking that because I owned the business I should manage it. Eventually I got over that and along the way I learned that what I believed and preached as a coach/consultant was in fact true, with the addition of the right conditions…people really do want to contribute. In fact, people will give you their best for free; they make you pay them because they are doing what you want.

OK, maybe you don’t believe what I just said but at least consider that there is truth somewhere in the statement.

Don Tennant posted a nice piece on November 2nd in the IT Business Edge. If you look over what he’s talking about it may not seem right on point but it is close enough and when it comes to people, “close enough” often gets the job done because when others pick up on your sincerity they will start to pull their own weight.

Our business grew quickly in the early going; we needed to move twice in the first five years. Each time I found myself with the logistics of moving to deal with, phones, computers, files etc. and of course some amount of decorating the new surroundings.

I was in an out of the office a lot, as a consultant we didn’t make a lot of money in our own office so being out was where I needed to be. But the administrative staff was in the office all the time. When it came time for the moves I gathered my people, we identified what needed to be done and then they along with me determined who would do what. As often as not I wound up setting a budget and paying the bills. They did everything else; chose the paint colors, the carpet patterns, the light fixtures, the office layout etc. In each case they beat the budget and I ended up with a great place to be when I was in the office and they created surroundings for themselves that gave them something to look forward to each day.

• Simple, you bet; easy, not so much. Control is a tough thing to let go of and yet the release of it is the highest form of recognition and your most powerful management tool.

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Small Business Forum: Your Beliefs May Be as Big a Problem as Business Conditions!                                                                                                                                                                          

If I had a nickel for every time I heard someone in our small business mutter, "The next six months are everything!" over the past twenty three years I'd have a modest pile of nickels and a twitch whenever I heard something about cash flow projections. Oh, I do have a twitch!

C'mon people, it is really a whole new world out there, stop acting like you didn't see thing coming. I was traipsing around Fort Worth, TX back in early 2008 when I started noticing the "$5 Foot long" signs in the windows at Subway followed shortly by the same offers at Quizno's, a sure indication that the amount of lunchtime traffic in that area had slowed and the companies were trying to draw people out again. To be sure this was also one of those times that gas prices were flirting with all time highs but I had the feeling this was more than just that. Our business, management education and development, had started to slow in the fourth quarter of 2007 so my economic antenna were already on red alert and had been for several months.

If you operate or have operated a business to business services company (well actually any smaller business!) you know that often your fate is tied to your larger clients. If you have a business like mine you have always known you were considered discretionary, even in the best of times.

We’ve seen things fall apart before, the dot com bust, post 9/11 and so on, so in early 2008 we just figured “Hang in there and this will pass, it always has!” Well it’s been almost 30 months since then and it hasn’t past and it isn’t going to. This time is truly different.

I was inspired a couple of weeks back to read a piece in Seattle 2.0 by Richard Luck, CEO of Loudlever, a software company. Richard is a software guy and fortunately for us he occasionally posts to his own blog, aguywithanidea.com. He doesn’t write often but when he does  it is worth waiting for. He is in the trenches everyday building a company but has that rare ability to step back and comment on the larger context.

Take a look at Richard’s piece, especially his thoughts on financial planning in the current circumstances. In his words, “Financial forecasting in this environment, in this marketplace, is like trying to build a house on a foundation of quicksand.”

Richard is being realistic; he is not operating from his past waiting for things to get back to what is familiar and manageable. If you haven’t adopted his perspective it is time you did. Oh yes, and get around to reading ‘The World is Flat 3.0’, I know it is a bit old now but it will seem like news if you haven’t seen it yet. Very grounding!

• Are you still operating your business like "things will get back to normal?"
• Can you see that it may be time to create a new set of operating assumptions? What might they be?

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