You know when you walk into your place and you see your significant other in a compromising position with your roommate. And then you stop in your tracks with your jaw dropped until you see that one of them has gotten a bracelet caught in the sweater of the other. And then you understand the context of the situation. And it's not so bad. That hasn't happened to you? Well, you could just as easily find Three's Company on demand and watch any episode. The specifics of the situation may change but the overall issue remains the same. On Three's Company, the plotline was the same - some misunderstanding (usually of a sexual or relational nature), followed by a poor response, an awkward reveal of the truth, and then, reconciliation. The core issue was mistrust, but the situations that revealed it changed. In our organizations, we might find ourselves facing the same circumstances. There is a core issue at hand that seems to reveal itself in what appear to be unconnected situations. In actuality, they are absolutely connected. I recently was with some HR pros who were addressing an issue that had come up a few times previously. The situation was presented newly, but the core issue remained the same. And what we do in HR often does not push the envelope towards addressing the core issue. HR tends to seek peace as its goal. We'll just hurry up and find a quick solution to the situation, rather than the issue, and hope that it doesn't come up again or that the person who continues to pick at the issue leaves the organization. This is not managing the situation effectively. What we can do is take the posture of dialogue to reveal the core issue. Allow the conversation to move beyond the buzz of cliched approaches with which we get caught up - we need to manage this change better, we need to assess our strengths so we know if we've got the right people on the bus, we need to have an outing so that we can unify our team. Listen, those things can be great, but if the core issue is lack of trust, then none of those recommendations, along with a thousand others like it, won't work. It will serve as confirmation, in some cases, as to why the mistrust is there. Cliques, suspicion and faux-enthusiasm become obstacles heaped upon an already tough set of circumstances.
Consider sitting in a room and simply asking, "Who wants to be here?" What if we start with that? What if we push the conversation around why people don't want to be there? In some cases, there's so much damage in the history book that someone might not be motivated to meet in the middle. If that's the case, then an organization can just keep pouring good resources towards resolution that will never come. If someone wants out, then sometimes that's the best answer. There is not going to be a pretty bow around it and that person may not speak well of you or the organization upon departure. Honestly, oh, well. Learn the lesson from that situation and understand that the core issue still needs to be addressed with those remaining. Call it out. Put it on the table. Have an honest dialogue about it and understand that all parties might not see the same circumstance through the same lens. Embrace it, as frustrating as it might be, and ask good questions as to how to handle the core issue. It's not about dying on the hill of circumstances, but rather fighting to get back to giving others the benefit of the doubt. As a team, we have to encourage that, but we have to do it from the core, not the surface. Some of us need to wake up and take stock of the issues in our organizations. Stop pretending they aren't there, that they'll go away or that it's someone else's problem. Our job is to address and provide the forum for dialogue, healing and growth moving forward. We lay out expectations on both sides for moving this forward. We don't accept everyone's stubbornness; we don't bow to fear. We don't allow one thing to be said in our meetings and then another to be said at the cubicles. We push for honesty, grace and truth. Listen, I recognize how hard this can be in some of our companies. I know that there is entrenched organizational un-health and the unwilling spirits of employees. But, I also know that there will only be repeat episodes of Three's Company as long as nothing is done to get to the core issue. And those episodes will play without a laugh track.
Efficient living. Oxymoronic? Yes. Everyday I wake up to the schedule I re-tweak from the night before and try to squeeze as much stuff into the time allotted to me each day (it's still 24 hours, but I have put a request for reconsideration). There are clients to meet, HR work that they need done, advice to give that is relied upon (which means effort in thought) and a business to be developed. Manageable, yes, but only if I didn't also have a family to spend time with, invest in and enjoy. There are also friends to be with, working out, eating, sleeping....well, you get it. I can actually feel your head nodding in agreement as you read. I am not alone and neither are you. We are so full that it's no wonder so many of us struggle with depression and anxiety. And to top it off, do the majority of us feel as though our time is being used well? With many companies still working under the "doing more with less" philosophy of talent management, our employees feel this, too. All of the ideals that used to energize us and we would pursue with passion have become chores and duties. We've allowed our focus to be on schedules and meetings rather than conversation and passion. Simple to say, but true nonetheless. So we have to consider and adjust. For instance, look at what you've done over the past two weeks of work. How much of it was truly productive? I had the absolute privilege of speaking with someone recently who shared honestly that as successful as he was, he had allowed his self-esteem to be tied to his performance at work. He was valuable and regarded as such. This pushed him to work even harder to keep that status. In doing so, he lost sight of him. He began to see himself as only about this one successful role, this role that kept him swallowed. I found myself nodding in agreement with him. It makes sense, doesn't it? Your company sees real, true, measurable value in what you do and how you do it. Your company wants to encourage more of that behavior and those results (and rightly so). Your company is where you spend a good bit, if not the majority, of your time. It is very easy to tie who you are to what you do in this one, albeit large, area.
The cycle looks just like running on ice. You keep putting effort into the motion of running, but it's not very pretty and it really doesn't get you as far as you think. Perhaps there is success in what you are doing, but is it as successful as it could be? The baseball player who is hitting .213 may not seem so great, but he does if the rest of team is batting under 200. It's relative. You can advance in placement when running on ice, but the return on the effort exerted is not good. As a former runner (dang right knee!), I have experienced the thrill (is there such a thing in running?) of moving on asphalt, rubberized tracks, wooded trails and miles of roadway. My motion is different on those surfaces and I had to make adjustments. Efficiency in running is connected to how smooth and fluid you can make each motion. Movement of arms and legs, head position and breathing are some of the areas to bring together in cohesion for one fluid movement. We often don't get to react fluidly. We get to react. Our lives move from being planned by us to being dictated by a thousand other things. Control is needed. Think about your movement. I know that there are happenings in life that you cannot plan for - death, injury, care for a parent, etc. - but that's not what I mean by control. Ask some pointed questions of yourself. Can I not participate in this meeting and trust that those involved can handle it without me? Can I delegate more effectively? Do I know the skill sets and aptitudes of my team? How I can free burden from another worker, too? How can we leverage each other better? Examine your environment. The staff you are with is dealing with the same. Perhaps working through efficient use of time with managers would be helpful. They, then, can take that training back to their departments and teams. Leveraging time well will lead to an increase in productivity. But bear in mind that if most of us deal with a difficulty in managing our own time, then how would a manager feel equipped to help others. Let's provide some tools! Not everything "urgent" is important. We should teach others that truth. Start with you. Sometimes, the summer months allow for a vacation or perhaps a couple of days off. Might I challenge you to use a hour or two of it to work through this perspective? Have you been running on ice? Have you seen a loss of passion? Why? What can you do to approach it differently? Are you moving so much but feeling like your not getting very far or making a lasting difference? Have you allowed yourself to be defined by what you do? The way you view your schedule might shed some light on this. As I get ready for another day of 90+ degrees as part of the East Coast heatwave, I kinda like thinking about running on ice. It's a heck of a lot cooler than running on the black top of the roadways around Philadelphia. However, those runs really allow me to think clearer about my goals and whether the life I live daily are moving me towards them. If that breakaway would be helpful for you, then grab an ice cube and some water and get moving!
Meetings. How many are you having a day? Are they productive? Has it moved from productive to routine? It seems like many companies love meetings. I have been part of more meetings than I care to recollect. When I was working hard in college (or hardly working, depending on the day), I didn't think that my professional career would be marked by so many meetings. It's not that I mind, really, but I often think about how fruitful these times are. When The Cover Girls sing "Show Me," they be-pop the lyrics "actions speak louder than words." I know we're familiar with this phrase and we think it's true. We would want our businesses to be measurably action-oriented. We measure ROI on new hires, training programs and marketing strategies. We should. What if we were to measure the ROI on meetings? What would that show our companies? If meetings are held just because, then what is it that we are demonstrating? Our ability to sit in a room and drink K-cup coffee? Are all meetings just brainstorming? Complaining? Or are they motivating? Do we leave with a sense of purpose and a direction? Do we leave with actionable items? And let's add to the distraction. Now we can have meetings without ever leaving our desks - GoTo Meetings or Skype. They are convenient, no doubt. Productive? Maybe not. How many times have you worked on two or three other things while you are online "attending" a meeting? Perhaps the meetings are not productive because you are not totally engaged. Perhaps you're reading this and thinking, "yes, John, but you don't know how boring the meetings that the CEO holds are." I guarantee you, I do. So, let's think productively. What are some actionable steps that can be taken to improve the ROI on meetings? First, train the people who are presenting. Crazy, right? But let me ask you, how many employees have been trained in this? Employees of all levels may be required to present reports, charts, projections or processes. It should not be assumed that all people can naturally hold the attention of a room and can plan accordingly to do so. I have heard well-meaning people say that practice will help them. If you are doing something wrong and keep practicing it, won't that just help you perfect your wrongness?
Have you seen the Volkswagen commercial with the dad teaching his son to throw a baseball? Click to watch this. It completely proves my point about practicing doing something the wrong way. In the business setting, we would rather complain about someone who gives poor meetings rather than help him/her to know how to get better at it. We seem to forget how valuable our time is and that the meeting is meant to be informatively productive. We should leave the meeting with something practical - a new approach, tools to make a process easier or faster, or a task to complete that will enable other departments to do their jobs better. Poorly equipped people leading meetings are torturous and costly. Secondly, decide as to whether a meeting is necessary. Is it really prudent to hold this meeting? Can one meeting be held together with another to reduce time spent away from actually working on the tasks to complete? There is benefit in holding a meeting with three veins of information in one hour than three different meetings of 30 minutes each. Who can make these decisions? Can we encourage that person to consider such a request? At the end of the day, the ROI on meetings should show how these meetings connect to the productivity of the company. Can an employee take what's offered in the meeting and see it have an impact on the work he/she does? I should also mention something that some of you may be thinking. What about the intangible things a meeting gives - camaraderie, interpersonal relationship development, unity development? I get it. I agree with this actually. My question in return would be: is the camaraderie developed concerning how much time is wasted in having these meetings? Is that what your attendees are rallying around - complaining? If the goal is to join folks together in unity for an eye-rolling summit, then perhaps you've met your objective. I doubt highly, though, that this is what a company is having meetings for. As HR professionals, perhaps we should speak into this area. Can we serve as a resource for training for managers, supervisors, C-Suite? Is that too scary? I hope you're able to have an honest conversation with your CEO about how to make meetings better, even if part of the issue is your CEO. Your insight might prove valuable to him/her. I get how risky that is and so I'd advise you to tread lightly. If you can make this a business case showing ROI, then that will help tremendously. Time is valuable. Companies want employees to show them results. If at the end of the day, you've attended five to six meetings, that may not be a great day. Haven't you had those days where you say, "What did I do today?" I have. I don't like it. I bring value each day to the work I have been asked to do. I don't want my time manipulated or wasted. I like meetings that allow me to do my job better and equip me to achieve. Meetings held just to hold them are dumb.
