People Are Human Too

Leadership is the small things wrapped up in the big things. Leaders often manage the chaos so new ideas can be allowed to grow even when they may not seem like good ones at first. And thanking employees for their ideas and work is critical.

Employees get paid, they show up every day, they have bills to pay. If that’s all that’s going on, then you’re managing a transaction. If you can engage and encourage, you build a company. If you embrace the fact employees have lives too but want to bring their lives to work so they can bring their work to life, you create the seeds of a collaborative culture.

More Than a Paycheck

We work a lot throughout our lifetime and many companies are now expecting you to answer email on your smartphone on Sunday afternoons, in the evenings, give up family time, and sacrifice your space to give more to them. Balance isn’t just a handy word to use, it’s important to put into practice. And it begins when leaders consistently recognize employees' efforts with action.

You may think this is only possible in larger companies or specific sectors. Well, I’ve been fortunate to work with Fortune 50 organizations, large companies, medium to small businesses, and start-ups in a myriad industries. It can work in all of them.

Say thank you often.
__________________________________________________________________

Do You Thank Them?

Leadership is the small things wrapped up in the big things. Leaders often manage the chaos so new ideas can be allowed to grow even when they may not seem like good ones at first. And thanking employees for their ideas and work is critical.

Employees get paid, they show up every day, they have bills to pay. If that’s all that’s going on, then you’re managing a transaction. If you can engage and encourage, you build a company. If you embrace the fact employees have lives too but want to bring their lives to work so they can bring their work to life, you create the seeds of a collaborative culture.

More Than a Paycheck

We work a lot throughout our lifetime and many companies are now expecting you to answer email on your smartphone on Sunday afternoons, in the evenings, give up family time, and sacrifice your space to give more to them. Balance isn’t just a handy word to use, it’s important to put into practice. And it begins when leaders consistently recognize employees' efforts with action.

You may think this is only possible in larger companies or specific sectors. Well, I’ve been fortunate to work with Fortune 50 organizations, large companies, medium to small businesses, and start-ups in a myriad industries. It can work in all of them.

So say thank-you; show them you appreciate their work; and let them have a life.
__________________________________________________________________
Kneale Mann | People + Priority = Profit

Lead with Their Gut

Have you ever thought of an idea then talked yourself out of it? Gladwell wrote a book about it. The thesis behind Blink was the power of thinking without thinking. We sense it’s the right call, and then we spend an inordinate amount of time trying to convince ourselves we could perhaps possibly be maybe wrong I don’t know what do you think am I over thinking it perhaps maybe?

We ask for opinions to endorse our idea and when we meet resistance, we often fold. Yeah, it was a dumb idea. It wouldn't have worked, Joe said so.

Your Gut is not Alone

I was speaking with a colleague recently and he proclaimed that his staff often comes to him with what they think are good ideas but they’re not usually that good. I think that’s short-sighted. Sure, having a clear vision of your company and understand how your experience has arrived at that decision is key but if you make time to ask someone to elaborate and expand their ideas, you might be surprised.

If you’re not familiar, Google used to allow employees to spend 20% of their time working on ideas that may or may not have anything to do with their day job. Many products have come from employee ideas. Some of them may not have been that great to start, but there is an environment to flush them out and see if their gut is on to something. Some (me) think they should bring back the policy.

What Do You Think?

There are plenty of data to clearly show how disengaged employees will be the most destructive element of any business. And it’s not always easy to measure. A late meeting here, sloppy work there, missed deadline here, and suddenly the quality of work suffers. There’s a malaise that just seems to hover over everyone’s desk. The days of all for one have been replaced by everyone for themselves.

Leadership is not easy. But it’s nearly impossible if you think your gut has to make all the decisions. If you’re in a leadership position, write down a list of the times you have asked for others’ opinion – and meant it – in the last month. Now take the next month and triple that number.

No One Bats 1.000

Some of their ideas may not initially be great, but have a close look at your batting average before you act too fast. And this is not to suggest you have to create a suggestion box where everyone's ideas are immediately accepted. Just adopt an open mind policy and see what happens.

If you rely solely on your gut to create ideas for your business, you will run the risk of creating a culture of employees carrying out what they’re told.

Their real efforts will be seeking employment elsewhere.
__________________________________________________________________
Kneale Mann | Leadership Strategist, consultant, writer, speaker, executive coach facilitating performance growth with leaders, management, and teams.

pizzaschmizza

2011 Check-List

For some, it is the quietest time of the year. To others, this is the most important month of revenue for the entire fiscal. Some are going into work and making themselves look busy. While others won't see blue sky for a few more weeks. And we should send out a special thanks to anyone working retail right now!

What do you do?

It's amazing to connect to people across the world through the social web. However, we spend so little time actually getting to know what each of us does for a living or for fun.

If you have some downtime over the Holidays, spend a little time on some profiles and websites. You may gain valuable ideas for the coming year. It could unearth a new business contact or client.

Plan. Prepare. Proceed.

Another idea is to go through your schedule for the past year and note where you may want to revisit a meeting or book a follow-up discussion that now seems unfinished.

There is obviously more to life than work but if we are going to spend so much time in the media, on the blogosphere, on Facebook, on Twitter and in meetings complaining about the economy, perhaps we can all skip a nog or two to work on some things that will make next year even better.

What will you do in the next 10 days to ensure a kick ass 2011?

knealemann | email


image credit: psdgraphics