Communication Complications

I’m going to make a comment involving leadership that has been made continuously since the beginning of organized business. One of the most crucial elements in becoming a successful leader is by communicating effectively. Whew I said it! That has been bothering me for some time. I really needed to write that, and now I’ve solved all leaders’ misery around the globe. Time to try and solve for world peace. I’m just kidding about that last statement. Communication is easier to discuss. The statement I made about effective communication has been rehashed so many times. Classes have been developed and taught, books have been written, and studies have all determined that communication is an important cog in the leadership wheel. If so much time has been spent trying to master communication then why is it so hard to conquer? Here are some of my thoughts;

Message-One of the things leaders struggle with is in delivering an effective message. This mental tussle between the brain and mouth doesn’t occur with the type of message needed to be sent. I think the dilemma exists with how we want to state the communication. Is the message serious or light? Is it formal or informal? Should the leader be serious looking or smile? Serious messages have been communicated with humoristic overtones and loose, informal messages have been communicated with a serious expression and tone. Both faux pas have caused confusion, awkward moments, and have cause leaders to look aloof. The final result is an ineffective message and confused subordinates.

Scripted-In today’s politically correct society the business world has developed scripting to handle all situations customers may throw at us. Leaders have scripts, dos and don’ts, and are coached to avoid saying the wrong thing. There are just too many scripts to be able to communicate properly as leaders. The message is lost in translation because it is too prepared. Employees want honest, unrehearsed dialogue with their leaders. This shows management cares enough to communicate from the heart. Being personable lets the leader be creative, warmth, and an openness that helps people better relate to leadership. If it is discovered that the message may sound inappropriate create another way to say it but make it the leaders own words not created by others.

Succinct Message-No matter what position a person holds in the organization a short but sweet mantra for communicating must be practiced. A crisp delivery helps eliminate distractions, which there is plenty of in the workplace. Remember many people are vying for each other’s time to complete personal and departmental agendas. This is reality and being able to deliver shorter messages lets people know the content is important.

Mix up communication mediums-Deliver messages at different times of the day. Effectively use verbal and nonverbal communication. Try and send e-mails, instant message people, and text if possible. Change agendas, meeting times and places. Praise and criticize equally. All of these things add variety to employee’s days. It makes leaders less predictable and these different options will keep attention spans high.

Communication is a skill that can always be improved on as a leader. It is difficult to deliver an effective message to a diverse staff. Keep developing this talent and trying to discover effective means of communication. Good luck.

Leadership According to Mick!

I saw the attached link,clip when I watched the movie Rocky many years ago. Through the years this scene has always stuck out in my mind that it is relevant when speaking about leadership no matter the industry.

This will probably get leaders to chuckle sarcastically, doubting this message. How can a fictional character, Mickey Goldmill, send a message to business leaders? Listen to the whole clip before judging it and realize that there are some key topics of leadership he shares with Rocky that can be used in organizations today.

After Mickey small talks with Rocky he proceeds with his first lesson. Organizations absolutely need effective managers (leaders). The importance of good leadership is essential for a business to thrive. They set goals for employees and try to keep them focused on what's important for the business, and how they can achieve success. Leaders create a vision and then need the ability to be able to share this with a diverse group of people with unique talents, different values, and a variety of priorities and then buy into it.

About halfway through this clip Mickey suggests to Rocky about not drinking a beer before his fight. He then delivers a message to him explaining that he never had management to help protect him. His opponents were able to punch holes in his face and career because he lacked leadership. Mickey Goldmill then tries to persuade Rocky to allow him to lead him to be able to share his knowledge helping him avoid failure and allowing him to climb the rankings. Leadership does the same things in business. It guides us through effective communication and passing along key knowledge acquired. This shared knowledge will help guide people through the work day, maybe their personal lives, build networks, and help us career path properly to bigger and better jobs.

Rocky, like many of us, turns Mickey down saying management, leadership isn't needed. It would be a hindrance instead of being helpful. He was willing to go into his fight without guidance. Employees need to be responsible in finding the value effective leadership brings. They need to see that success is the goal for all not failure. The knowledge, experiences, and pain shared is the value provided.  

So as Rocky proceeds with his tirade about management, leadership. Yelling at Mickey as he leaves, asking him if he wants to be present as he gets pummeled know that business leaders face the same dilemma. They want to guide, we just have to want to put our hands out collectively, like Rocky at the end, to shake our leaders hands and accept the mentoring provided

Detroit Leaders Need To Take Action!

I need to offer my two cents involving Detroit’s situation regarding the Emergency Finance Manager. Let me start by letting you know that my own opinion about the EFM working in Detroit is still being shaped. I’m not entirely sure that the leaders involved in this situation are being completely honest. There have been articles written about Detroit’s financial dire straits letting people know that in order for Detroit to be saved an EFM needs to be appointed. You then here about Mayor Dave Bing disagreeing with Governor Rick Snyder’s feelings about the necessity of an EFM to rescue Detroit financially. The city council, meanwhile, is prepared to challenge the legality of the Governor’s decision. Mayoral candidates feel an EFM isn’t necessary and that Detroit can pull out its financial Armageddon on its own. All of these differences of opinions tells me that all parties involved, from the beginning, aren’t acting like good leaders.

 In my opinion all parties involved are acting in their own best interests. It seems that these leaders have forgotten who their inaction affects and that is the citizens of Detroit and of Michigan. Political leaders, too often, act to preserve votes, try to accomplish part of their own agenda created as they try to enter the political arena, or are just greedy believing that a fire sale of Detroit assets will be held and they will lose something or that this is a hostile takeover of the city. Everybody knows the best route Detroit should take but too often don’t get the opinions of the people that matter, Detroiters and Michiganders!

So as I remember the articles telling readers the reason that Detroit shouldn’t hire an EFM or the theories of how to pull Detroit out of economic ruin. I urge leaders of Detroit and Michigan to do one thing which is DO SOMETHING FOR GOODNESS SAKE! That’s right please settle on a resolution, organize the resources that will allow a vision to be followed, and lets start to actually take action to make Detroit and Michigan better places. Too often over my four decades of life has nothing been done. Bickering, lawsuits, and sheer greed have gotten in the way of progress. Leaders have turned a blind eye to all of the conflict existing which often times results in bigger conflicts.

So please constructively settle the existing conflict, let’s get over self-serving statements like Charles Pugh had last week by telling people that he doesn’t want to work in City Council for free, let’s get all of the available resources together and lets start to rebuild Detroit. Leaders need to get in sync with each other and actually act as partners instead of their own personal hedge funds looking out for themselves instead of its citizens. So whether Detroit partners with the state to offer services, or it becomes an innovative city by getting more Campbell-Ewalds to join Detroit, or it just downsizes by demolishing empty houses and buildings and developing farmland please do one of these and create a new mantra for Detroit.  Over the course of a year I’d like to be able to write about how the leaders of Michigan became more organized and transformational in 2013 which helped all cities become a little better.    

 

Customer Service and Leadership

My working life has been about servicing the customer to retain their business indefinitely. I have been able to teach a customer service class, and have done enough good and bad regarding service to understand that providing it in an outstanding manner is showing leadership.

I think customer service and leadership aren't linked together enough because the people providing it may not hold a management position. This doesn't matter because no matter what providing great service is offering leadership and it is becoming a lost art.

Think about some of the skills needed to provide great customer service. Listening skills have to be done effectively to be able to converse with customers. Communication should be controlled leading your customer to the product or service desired in a timely manner but this has to be done in a personable, unrehearsed manner. This is very difficult to achieve in a fluent way especially because of the diversity a customer base makes up.

A customer service provider must treat their customer base ethically. The ability to gain control of values, priorities, and responsibilities is showing leadership qualities. Power becomes intoxicating and offering customer service is powerful. Customers have to trust enough so they can be guided towards what is being offered and influenced by people they don't know. Many times the exchange of money is involved and the quest to earn more can influence the type of customer service we provide.

Many times customer service is making sure your base is listened to, talked with, making sure they receive what is asked for, and to make sure all services and products are available at all times. Providing this is showing awesome leadership.

Good Leaders Need Good Followers

I had the wonderful experience of teaching a Customer Service class, to students trying to learn phlebotomy, and the topic of leaders and followers came up. I had explained to the class that to be able to be a good, credible leader they need good followers to carry out their vision. One student objected saying that she thought the word follower was derogatory to people by considering them less than leaders. So here’s what I explained;

·         Leaders can hold any position in an organization-A leader is someone that expresses a vision so that it can be completed and made a reality. Leaders do not have to be people in management. They can hold any position in a company. These are people with ideas, mantras, or expectations and act on these.

·         Good followers are necessary-As leaders create an idea, create a mantra, or communicate expectations it has to be done with charisma, a firm voice or plan, backing by management, and good followers to complete their vision. All a good follower means is there need to be people willing to listen to leaders and willingly execute the task, mission, and expectation at hand.

·         People willing to follow-The reason the term follower is not derogatory is because there are those working in organizations willing to be a good follower. Professionals are more than willing to arrive to work daily and complete any task given to them, follow processes, or fulfill expectations at a very high quality. These people have no interest in being a leader because they like completing tasks for the betterment of the department, branch, or organization.

·         Followers can become leaders-Anyone interested in leading can do so. Please realize that if this path is chosen you have to be comfortable that it will be expected consistently. This is where committing to leadership roles needs to occur. The organization isn’t wrong for expecting workers to lead consistently if done once. As long as the person is comfortable with these expectations than they should be the best leader possible.

Review top notch companies and you’ll find leaders existing in many parts of the organization holding a variety of positions. This helps the organization become stable, extends its life expectancy, and helps it grow and evolve, and become a good community partner.

Culture and Change

Every week my group presents its weekly intraday reports to the leadership team. This includes supervisors, managers, and directors, so there is quite a variety of people that can establish culture and change it when necessary. The reason I present that combination is because leaders can fall into a culture rut. Each week the leaders get critical about the work presented to them, take an hour to decide a plan of action, and decide on putting several confusing action items together to solve departmental issues. This of course should be completed usually within a half hour. Usually what comes out of this is a rushed group trying to complete multiple items, with the problems not completely solved and the fingers of blame pointing in several directions.

This scenario, to me, is an example of culture and one that is in need of change. Culture can be defined as processes taken to complete daily tasks, how they are communicated, how consensus is reached, conflict management, and items learned to be able to complete tasks more efficiently. Instead the department has many opinionated, agenda driven speakers vying for their agenda to be heard. I think as a group we all need to decide that its time for a culture change.

Some ways to do this is limit the number of participants perhaps on a rotational basis so different leaders can be heard and can communicate with their respective teams. Another thought in changing the culture is to present a solution to any problem presented as a team. This removes blame and inserts constructive steps. Another thing is to have weekly forums involving the entire group. This can be a great place to communicate expectations and goals. Finally I think it is imperative to communicate lessons learned and talk about better ways to organize tasks, run meetings, and communicate with one another. It will be beneficial for production, group confidence, and cohesiveness.

I recently read an article that mentions the fact that the workforce needs to be able to adapt to changing conditions. They need to be able to be proactive with their professional growth and instead of being comfortable employees need to willingly step out of their comfort zone and try new things. I agree with this line of thinking, heck I developed a blog and seminar called the Career Makeover, actively promoting the thought that the workforce is in charge of their own career development. That people need to actively receive training to develop new skills in an ever changing climate. I even suggested workers need to try to interview for other positions just to get a feel for what other organizations consider to be relevant skill sets, and to hear the type of processes and procedures used today. Readers should read my blog at http://cmwworkshop.blogspot.com/ especially as I develop more content.

As I sit back and digest the article and my own beliefs I also feel it is the responsibility of leaders to encourage their direct reports to receive training to develop new skill sets, ask them to read more (its ok if the reading is industry or non industry related), introduce them to the world of social media, and even be confident by inspiring co-workers to interview for other positions. Don't be afraid of change to your team, challenging people in a positive way, or for them to succeed. Leaders need to step up and provide a path for employees to follow. Development plans are crucial because this is where information can be gathered to see what each individual person is thinking as far as how they want their careers to progress.

I think this part of leadership and team development has become a lost art because today's business society is so results driven. All customers have to be serviced, survey results need to exceed expectations, dollars have to come in. Those are all necessary but they don't have to come at the expense of a team's development.

Sometimes people become stagnant or stale because they are afraid to try new things, or we just get comfortable because we are creatures of habit. At times we just lose sight of our own goals for our careers and we as leaders need to step away from daily demands for our organization and step up and let our team members know its acceptable to blossom professionally and create the best path for them to achieve new successes. SFNBJQ25JKNC