Right Answer, Wrong Approach

As a tenured leader in your organization, it comes as no surprise that you have all the right answers.  And if you were promoted into management from within, chances are you're known for your ability to solve problems for your team.  They bring you the issue, you tell them how to fix it, all is right with the world.

Except...

Your team isn't developing.

Think of the child who needs his shoe laces tied.  When he's a toddler, an adult does if for him.  But at some point before he starts school, they begins to encourage him to try it himself, coaching him on different approaches, until one magical day, it all comes together and he's doing it "All by myself!".

If your employees line up at your door each day with the latest challenges, it's probably because that's what you've taught them to do.  Because it's the fastest way to solution.  Because you have the experience and they don't.  Because that way you stay informed of what problems they're facing.  Because they need you.

We all need leaders, coaches and mentors.  But if your approach to leadership is telling and solving, your organization is missing out on all that your team has to offer.

Try the coach approach.  Ask for their ideas, talk about the possible results, allow them to try, keep an open mind, and eventually you can shift the responsibility of problem solving to your employees.

Be known as the leader whose whole team has the right answers, because their leader uses the right approach.

Use Vacation to Fuel Innovation

Looking for more innovation from your team? Upcoming summer vacations can help.

Or more specifically, the days immediately following vacation. Brain research indicates that we're more capable of having an "aha moment" after a period of mental rest, like time spent away from the office.

What's on your work calendar when you get back from a break? Lots of catch-up time is the most common answer. Checking in on what you missed while you were away, taking the baton from whoever was covering during your absence, and hitting the ground running. This is no different for your team.  Their first priority is getting back up to speed to re-enter the fray.

David Rock, co-founder of the NeuroLeadership Institute, says this is a waste of a clear mind.

In his book, "Your Brain at Work", he shares research by Stellan Ohisson that explores how we need to stop thinking about a problem one way before a new solution can emerge. "When facing a new problem, people apply strategies that worked in prior experiences." "But as long as your prior approach has the highest level of activation, you will get more refined variations of the same approach but nothing genuinely new comes to the fore."

Genuinely New = Innovation

Your brain is hot wired for innovation after a break. 

What if the first day back from vacation wasn't used to get back up to speed. What if day one was devoted instead to innovation. We're back at work, but not the work of our day-to-day tasks and short term projects. Instead, we're at work creating the future, thinking big, finding new solutions. With the right planning and teamwork, the emails can wait until day two, even day three.

You're the leader, you could make this a part of your team's norm. Talk about it, plan it, schedule it, try it, measure it, and talk about it some more. But get moving - vacations are right around the corner.

Here's to your team's Summer of Innovation.  

You can read more about David's recommendations about using a fresh mind to tackle big challenges in his  blog post "Back From A Vacation? Don't Waste Your Clear Mind."on Psychology Today.

Living In Your Calendar

I just read an article today on Harvard Business Review, thinking I might learn about a new productivity tool.  The article is called To-Do Lists Don't Work by Daniel Markovitz.

Turns out I was already following his suggested alternative, I just hadn't thought to give it a name.  I like the one he's come up with, Living In Your Calendar.  Having used this method for a few years now, I share it for your consideration. 

Here's Daniel's advice:  "The alternative to the feckless to-do list is what I call "living in your calendar." That means taking your tasks off the to-do list, estimating how much time each of them will consume, and transferring them to your calendar."  "In essence, you're making a production plan for your work."

For me, what that means is that my day, while still full, is realistic.  If the task doesn't fit, I move it to a day and time where it does.  And if something of higher priority comes up (for example, a client meeting), I move the task to a future day/time on the calendar to make room. 

Advantages

• Sanity  As I said, it makes for a realistic day.  Things don't so much move off the list as they just get done.  And I don't lose track of the rest of the work because it's already been scheduled somewhere else on the calendar.    
• No Guilt  The to-do list always made me feel like I was starting my day with a backlog of things I "should" have bene able to cross off yesterday.  The calendar method instead follows the philosophy that there's a time and place for everything.
• Prioritization  Since I'm scheduling, not just making a running list, I put things on the calendar in a manner that corresponds to due dates, appointments, and even best time of day for my work style. 
• Running Time Tracker  When I look back on my week or my month, it's easy to see where I've spent my time and then I can adjust on the go-forward if I think it's not in balance with my business goals.  It can also be an easy way to keep track of accomplishments.

Disadvantages

• Tough Fit For The Corporate Environment  If your typical day is back-to-back meetings with other people, you'll spend too much time moving your to-do appointments around.  At best, you might be able to work them into early or late day, but even then, only if you have little to no meetings with people in other time zones.
• Public Viewing  If others (like your team) have access to the contents on your calendar, they will also see these appointments, along with the details.  Unless the whole team has adopted this method, these appointments with yourself to do work may look to others more like free time such that they can insert themselves by calling/stopping by.  It can take a lot of discipline for you to protect these to-do appointments.
• Harder To Delegate  If you set up to-do's as tasks (Outlook), you can delegate them.  If you set them up as appointments, you can't.  The calendar approach assumes you are the only one who can do the task, or at least that you need to be involved while it's been accomplished.

So depending on your work situation, Living Your Calendar is an approach to consider.  The small business leader, solopreneur, or senior leader with a manageable meeting schedule (perhaps, 4 hours or less per day spent in meetings) would seem like a good fit.  Corporate leaders who are already double and triple booked in meetings from morning til night, not so much.

That's Not So Easy

The Staples' Easy Button isn't going to help employees out with the number one request on their wish list for office improvement:  Eliminate Office Politics. 

In preparation for "Improve Your Office Day" on October 4th, Staples released results from a survey they conducted in September (Staples Survey) sharing employee wishes for better technology and more comfortable office furniture.  But granting the number one request isn't so easy as a trip to Staples.

Management is the major influence on the role of office politics within a company's culture.  It's the classic example of The Shadow of A Leader (Senn-Delaney Leadership).  If politics are created and encouraged within the leadership teams, individual employees will follow suit.  And even those who make their best efforts to "stay out of it" will be affected if their direct management and/or team members are playing the game.

Office politics are a distraction to the real work of the organization, draining energy and wasting time.  They can be the very reason teams fail to reach their full potential.  If you suspect your team is suffering from the politics game, this survey could be a great conversation starter.   

Summer's Theme is Not Team

Ah, summer has finally arrived.  And so it begins.

Promises of vacations and long weekends dot our calendars.  Lunches extend as we leave our desks to brown bag it outside on the picnic tables.  Even the music on the commutes in/out of the office gets slower and smoother.  I knew it was officially summer today when I heard Corinne singing "Put Your Records On".

Summer, prime time for productivity in the office.

Say what? 

Really.  Personal productivity, that is. 

Goodness knows you're lucky to have even half the team show up for a call given the overlap of vacation schedules.  Networking meetings that used to take place over the lunch hour turn into full day outings.  Even in Crackberry Nation you have to wait longer for return emails and phone calls once June Solstice rolls around. 

Summer's theme is not "team".  From late June through to Labor Day, it's all about your opportunity for personal productivity.  Checking off items on your own to-do list builds momentum and frees up energy for the bigger stuff that arrives in September when everyone returns to their desks.

Here's a short list of ideas for your consideration.  

• How 'Bout Those Development Plans?  Your plans, I mean, not those of the people who work for you.  Hire a coach, take a class, read a book, attend a webinar, and expand your world.   
• Take a Long Lunch - and bring one of your employees with you.  Summer's a great time to hold one-on-one meetings outside the office.   
• Clear Out the Clutter - Seriously, do you need all that paper?  And how about that email inbox?  Getting rid of the clutter adds time back into your day and gives you space to breath again.
• Listen to the Stillness - Take advantage of the quieter office season by giving yourself the gift of stillness.  Growth occurs when we're present and still.  Quiet your mind and listen for what rises to the surface.
• Revisit Long Range Plans - Pull out the strategic vision, the mission statement, the 3 yr, 5 yr, 10 yr plan.  Is it still relevant or does it need an update? 
• Surf the Net - Research your competition.  Look for what's new in your industry.  Check out what's happening on the global scene.  What are your customers saying about you in their blogs, on Facebook, on your website?  

Put Your Records On, close your door, and embrace your summer of personal productivity.