The Regenerate Web

I have been thinking about this topic of whether actions add up to produce results for a while and recorded this eight minute audio post. Check it out.

I will be sending out the next edition of my newsletter, called Lead Well, this coming Monday. I try to make the content of the newsletter unique to what's on the blog because I know many of you subscribe to both. If you are not currently getting the newsletter, click here to sign up. We do not use your email to spam you, we just send the quarterly newsletter.

This quarter's newsletter is focused on Organizational Agility. Articles will offer a way to look at what agility IS and IS NOT and how it differs from change management and change acceptance. I am shairng a list of questions you can use to assess your organization's agility - and how agile YOU are as an individual leader and manager. It is a meaty edition of Lead Well and I hope you sign up to receive it.

I have heard a few people assert that employees are not disengaged, they might just not be engaged in what we want. Under this scenario, the job for managers is to redirect the employee's engagement. And I think this is true for some employees and managers need to learn how to tap into their employees' engagement.

AND I also think that some employees are not engaged - not engaged in what we want, not engaged in work, not engaged in their families, not engaged in their community, not engaged in their health, not engaged period. This is a tougher management challenge because the root cause likely has nothing to do with you.

A few years back, I might have been in the "everyone is engaged" camp, but I have seen and met several folks who are not engaged in any aspect of their lives, and honestly, I have suffered a few temporary bouts of disengagement myself. It feels quite aweful.

What is a manager to do? The folks I have known have benefited from help getting their lives refocused. A few, however, were so disinterested that they did not want to make the effort to try. Does your company have resources to allow folks coaching? Have a conversation with your employees and discover if there is any way you can support them.

Health, wealth, and success - or lack of these things - can take a toll on folks and might be the cause of disengagement. As a forty-something woman, I have had suffered the usual middle age biochemical changes (lower hormones, low thyroid, sleep disturbances, vitamin D deficiency, and several other imbalances). Apparently my body thinks it is done and ready to be put out to pasture..... I share all this information not to drum up sympathy (cash and gifts are always welcome) but to highlight a common health cause of disengagement for "mature" professionals. There are other reasons and causes. And think about the toll the economy has taken on some people. And then there is seasonal depression. And, and, and.

As you know if you have read Two Weeks to a Breakthrough, I am a big supporter of taking ownership and turning things around. And even though I wrote the book about generating breakthroughs, I have sometimes struggled to get engaged - in anything.

The point of this post is to encourage managers to build the close relationships they will need to learn how they can help their employees do their best work. If you have employees who seem unengaged in most aspects of their lives, do what you can to help them get the support they need. 

Building an engaged team is worth the effort and I think it is more complex than, "they are engaged, but just not in what you want." And for those of you who question whether disengagement caused by outside factors should be of interest to managers, here is my take. The primary job of the manager is manage and lead so that their employees can, and choose to, do their best work.

What do you think? Am I full of it? Do you think all employees are engaged in something?

I was driving on the freeway today behind a van that had the word "voltage" in bold red letters across the back doors. I started thinking about voltage and decided it was a great term to describe energy in the workplace.

According to Wikipedia, voltage is:

The voltage between two points is a short name for the electrical force that would drive an electric current between those points. Specifically, voltage is equal to energy per unit charge. In the case of static electric fields, the voltage between two points is equal to the change in electrical potential difference between those points.

So the voltage in your workplace could be described as the amount of energy available to move between people. Cool. I am digging this concept of energy transfer. What's energy if it can't travel through the work, through people, and through the organization? Like a drag racing car at the starting line, burning rubber, but not going anywhere. I'll stop mixing metaphors, now.

What can managers do to increase both voltage and energy transfer?

• Structure workplace communication so that time is set aside to share information.
• Reinforce collaboration.
• Create interdependent tasks, projects, and measures.
• Help employees build relationships - this may not happen on its own. Structure the work so that people get to know each other.
• Provide a challenge - give people something that gives them energy.

And of course, it is important to model energy and energy transfer. Give energy, receive energy, give it back again.

In Focus Like a Laser Beam, I wrote about how generating focus is a lot like shining a laser beam (the particles in lasers are super excited). Yes, that is another metaphor, but it's similar in a way...

Is your department high voltage? If not, what's your part in that?

I am guessing some of you might bring up the fact that high voltage can be deadly and perhaps voltage is not always a good thing. Same with teams. The voltage needs to be high enough to create the sparks of excellence, but not so high that the workplace becomes overwhelming, draining, and one big pit of drama. But I think that most workplaces are so far away from being too high in voltage that you don't need to worry about it too much.

If you are interested in coaching, check out this event (March 16th, it is coming up) hosted by Kevin Eikenberry with great guests like Marshall Goldsmith, Sally Hogshead, and Raj Setty - all of whom are respected pals and dynamic and smart professionals.

The idea of "being coached" reminds me of a post I did a few years ago about how to improve oyur coachability. Check it out here. And here is another post called Lessons on Coachability. check it out and learn what I mean by the phrase, "hang me from the vigas!"

I had the pleasure and privilege of speaking at the Executive Women in Government conference yesterday. There were about eight speakers - all powerful and inspiring leaders - and their messages seem to come together in a wonderful call to action. The post I did on Relevancy, Vibrancy, and Legacy shared the main points of my contribution. Here are a few of the more memorable bits of wisdom from the other speakers:

• We live in a new era of complexity and we need to face what we have to do. Our movements must change, too (referring to previous movements that catalyzed change).
• The importance of doing what you love. That we can all engage in unlocking the mysteries of the universe (or our communities, families, organizations).
• "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." Eleanor Roosevelt
• We must all fight to reduce tunnel vision, fragmentation, and silo-ization in our organizations as this is what causes big problems and serious collapses.
• We need to consider the need to change the DNA of what we do on a daily basis.
• Veteran White House reporter Helen Thomas wowed me when she said she still stays up at night thinking about how to ask the questions that will "get them" to share what they don't want to. At over 90 years old, she is still more proactive than many of us!!
• Leaders need to reconnect people with their purpose.
• We need to learn how to package stories so that people can learn from them (communicate so that our message is received as intended).
• If we don't set the bar high, we won't go anywhere.
• The next generation is HERE and deserves our support, coaching, mentorship.
• If we provide people with different experiences, we can change their perspective.
• It is always easier to break something down than it is to build it up.

And overall, I was energize to hear about all the great thinking and passion going on in the federal government. Washington DC has several sides. Many people only know the side they see on CNN and other news channels - the politics, the divisiveness, the 1000 page bills weighed down with hundreds of unrelated pet projects and promises, the bickering and name calling. Underneath this loud layer of partisan elected officials is a large infrastructure of dedicated, smart, and hard working career public professionals who are passionate about making the U.S. a better country for everyone. They have to zig and zag with each administration and after major legislative changes - and most do it without losing their faith, hope, and drive. Partnering with them are thousands of non-profit organizations and consulting firms who know it is worth getting through the inevitable red-tape to work with the government on projects and initiatives that make a difference. This is the vibrant D.C. that I really enjoy working with and around.

P.S. - I loved it when Cokey Roberts responded to a question about the challenge of finding balance and the downside of wanting to do it all. She basically blasted the notion that we can't try to be superwomen and supermen - and she invtied us all to get a bit tougher. Roberts writes about early women leaders in American history and says they had it much harder than we do now. She suggested we embrace "moments of balance." She also encouraged all leaders to do what it takes to make the workplace a more family friendly place. And these two ideas are NOT contradictory.

I am putting the finishing touches on a presentation for next week that is about how we can leave our legacy in today's crazy work world. It strikes me that there are three levels of contribution.

Relevancy - you keep learning and you stay up to date on how to best communicate and connect with others. You seek mentors and coaches in a variety of places and from people at all levels of the organization. Because you stay current, you can better manage across generations and cultures and you use these skills to help teams spend time well and get results. Relevancy requires openness.

Vibrancy - you bring energy to the workplace and utilize your talents in ways that give you meaning and satisfaction. Your engagement is contagious, too, and you help others tap into their interests and talents to benefit the organization. We all have down periods, but you recognize these lulls and do whatever it takes to climb out of them and get reengaged. Vibrancy requires intrinsic energy.

Legacy - you know that knowledge is not your legacy because knowledge is ubiquitous. Your legacy is as a role model for HOW to work. You are a beacon of possibility, you drive to make great things happen, and help teams work well together. You approach situations others avoid and demonstrate courage, perseverance, agility, and care. And you do these things while remaining real, humble, and approachable. Legacy requires presence and humility.

I was facilitating a training class this week and asked participants one thing they loved and hated about meetings. Meetings are SOOOO expensive and it is important that every meeting should help move things forward with top velocity. One participant said she hates it when people talk beyond the point of contribution. What a great way to phrase a common problem!!! I told her it would make a great blog post title and here it is.

Twitter is just 140 characters. The best blog posts are often short and saturated quickly get to the point. Should the same logic apply to meeting conversations?

Well, sort of. Yes, with a caveat. I am a proponent of great and deep conversation. That said, there is usually someone almost every most meetings has at least one over participator - someone who does not know how to make a clear and concise point at every meeting.

We have the "little book" from Strunk and White to help us learn how to write concisely. Where do we go to learn how to speak concisely? How does one best learn how to make a point and then STOP TALKING? It's not The Dale Carnegie Course or Toastmasters, these teach presentation more than conversation skills.

Perhaps we would get be better at talking right up to the point of highest contribution more effective if we wrote our thoughts down ahead of time. Those extra words and phrases (and circular thought patterns) are so much more obvious when you write, read, and then edit your messages. 

Give it a try. Write what you want to say and then cut, cut, cut until you can make your point with 50% fewer words. I could go on about going on, but that would be rather ironic, now wouldn't it? But be careful not to strikethrough the best parts, OK?

I got an email from my publisher that the new edition of my book about high impact middle management is available (they just did an email blast you can see it here). The new version has a slightly tweaked title: The High Impact Middle Manager. I am thrilled to have this book (a slightly revised version of my first book, High Impact Middle Management) back in publication and available.

If you are a middle manager, know and love a middle manager, or want to someday be a great middle manager, check it out. Amazon has it as available for preorder, but it should start shipping soon.

A bit of behind the scenes information: The Foreword is the same one as was included in the 2004 version of the book and was written by Ralph Stayer, CEO of Johnsonville Foods. Here's the thing - in the Foreword, Ralph compares me to TIGER WOODS! Ouch! My initiation reaction was, "Oh no!" But now I can chuckle about it and I think that people will figure out that he is referring to Tiger's positive attributes.