Quite often we find a team inside an organization with a certain amount of dysfunction.  People are quick to pick apart the reasons, “It’s because he does this, or she didn’t do that or……”  The blame game is very popular.  Most of the time teams are dysfunctional for a much simpler reason.

In reality most teams have a little dysfunctionality in them when they first form because people have yet to know and understand the work habits and basic behaviors of their teammates.

There is a quick and easy solution to this problem. 

First, get some basic information about each of the players.  I like to use an assessment for this that is validated not to tell us who does what better, but rather just who we are.  The assessment I use allows people to see how they behave normally, under stress and most importantly, what they need on a day to day basis.

Second,  with the group gathered I then facilitate an understanding of where we are all coming from and why people are different yet okay in what they are doing.  My groups have a lot of fun as I demonstrate our actions as just normal, yet different from one another.  We use some props and games to get ourselves to become relaxed with who we are, be open to how others are different and look at what we might need to do to be on a team together.  We don’t memorize letters or try to remember how we are supposed to treat each person, rather we learn to appreciate who each person is and respond to them as they are.

The best part of all this work is that it does work.  An assignment I did with a 7 member team in April of 2009 has netted cohesiveness, respect, calm, productivity and more fun in their work.

Check out your teams today and call me if you think a tune-up on working together might be in order.

Find me, Barbara, at 303-984-9271.

Did You Accidentally Lay Off More People Than You Planned?
It is important to check your payroll to see if you might possibly have lain off more people than you planned.  How could that be? 
If the layoff you did was accomplished with honoring those who had to leave, giving them the company’s full support with recommendations, strong job search assistance through outplacement experts and more, you do not have this problem. 
If not, look to see how many of your people may have “checked out” even though they are still working and on your payroll.   Employees who remain make judgments about the company and their position in the company based on how departing employees are treated.
So how do you know how well you did?  You will be able to tell very quickly by the amount of energy and enthusiasm your people have for what comes next.  If they are just working hard, heads down and delivering, but not moving toward new ideas, creative ways of doing things, offering suggestions and more than they are indeed “checked out.”
How does this happen?  The answer is simple.  Look at how you have handled the current economic crisis within your organization through this check list and answer yes or no to these questions.
#1 – Are you involving every employee in helping to decide how to manage this?  Are you using mass collaboration through blogging and the web to stimulate thoughts on successful strategies?
#2 – Is this being done with everyone on some type of team that is charged with coming up with ideas to increase revenue or reduce expense?
#3-  Have all employees been given the opportunity to report out on these ideas and get feedback if they are on the right track or need to go in another direction?
#4 – If you had any layoffs, were they done with honor, exiting people in a short amount of time but not pushed out the door, giving them a chance to get support from their colleagues, good outplacement services meetings, even held on site, and more?  (See Layoffs with Heart)
#5 – Have you been communicating your numbers and challenges much more frequently, becoming more and more transparent to your team so people can work with the reality of your situation?
#6 – How many new revenue ideas have been tried since January 1st?  Is it at least 3 or 4?
#7 – Did all your executives personally thank each departing employee, honoring them with your presence and your support in their next endeavor?
#8 – Is your organization planning to ride out this economic downturn only with “lean and mean” strategies?
#9 – How many Mastermind groups are currently working on your future plans?  Are they in different areas of your company for diversity of thought?
#10-Do you rest easily knowing you are trying 101 different ways to reduce expense, including salary reductions and shortened work weeks?

Could a Situational Specialist help you with this?

“If you are a servant of time, rather than letting time serve you, you are a prisoner of time.”  Alan Cohen

My friend, Alan, has hit the nail on the head with this statement.  In today’s world of email, voice mail, snail mail, texting, imaging, PDA’s, Twitter and more you have to wonder, “Do I have anything to do with how I spend my time?”

The answer is a resounding YES!

Do this simple thing, write down the three things you must have as priorities for today.  KEEP IT SIMPLE.

Make these things that will:

•  increase the quality of what you do, (like just listening more closely)
• provide better customer service, (like getting back to someone who is waiting for you)
• or grow the organization. (learning as an example)

 The rest can wait. 

Now make two or three priorities for yourself.  (Eat better, spend time with the kids, take a walk, get the tires rotated, take a nap.)  These don’t have to be big, they just have to be important to your life.

Set yourself free with a few simple priorities.

In a recent release of HR Magazine, Evan Scott of BOOST tells us about the new challenges that we face with our workforce and how to address them.  He points out that we need to not only know who these people are and what they need, but then we need to be prepared to reward them in a way that pushes the envelop, using technology and aligning those rewards with what we are trying to accomplish.

A leader knows how important incentives and rewards are.  In the new world, where we must not only attract and maintain the best, new leaders are looking at what else is needed to convey the message of accomplishment .  People want and need more.  Companies need to align incentives to outcomes so that it is a win-win situation all around.  Both of these need good technology as a partner to make it happen.

Check out this great article and Evan’s words of wisdom at “It’s a New World and Everyone is Paying Attention.”

A leader knows that the morale of his or her staff will make or break them in the long run.  We have watched staff exit from the political campaigns of leaders that can’t be clear, stay on track or even take the time to discuss next steps.  There is a lesson there and it came to me in a strange way today.

 I had the unusual opportunity to walk in a beautiful forest in upstate New York as a break from my work, which is slated to go well into the night.  As I hiked up a path on a steep hill a young doe walked out in front of me on the trail.  A quick glance in my direction stilled me and the deer.  We eyed each other for a while and then the deer eventually sauntered off into the forest.  A little later we ran into each other again, this time near a pond where the doe was headed for a cool drink on a warm day.  Again, I stilled, again the deer did not flee but wandered on to drink.

Leaders need to approach their people as the doe and I did with each other.  Be still, quiet your mind, and just be.  Listen to hear what is in the air. Is it peace?  Is it fear?   Let your thoughts be set aside, while you hear their thoughts.  Know that you can co-exist because you have a mutual respect and understanding of each other. 

If you rush, run, blurt, or push you will cause their thoughts to flee.  You will miss the opportunity to hear the magic they bring to you and your business.

Our Mastermind groups learn how to do this every month.  Are you missing out on this valuable leadership experience.  Call us today to learn more about how two hours a month can make your managers into leaders and your leaders into superstars.  303-984-9271

In 2008 most businesses are experiencing some significant changes that don’t necessarily fit the rules of leadership that have been on the books for ages. Things that worked yesterday, last year, and many years before that are suddenly not working and leaders are scratching their heads in puzzlement about what to do next.

Here are a few ideas if you see yourself or leaders on your team looking for new information on how to handle what is in front of them today.

#1 – Get out of your office

You need to get into the shoes of your employees and find out what their work experience is like.  When you know what it is like, you need to know if that is the experience that will allow them to produce the most.  You will know how to utilize them the best and grow them into the next generation of leaders for your organization.

In addition to that information you will find the answers to most of the puzzles in front of you are available in the people around you.  It is time to stand up and talk with everyone on your team and ask what they are thinking, find out what they are experiencing and LISTEN to what they think.  Then start implementing some new ideas.

#2 – Know why your people will leave

This is heresy to say the least, but it is the road to success.  You need to have a relationship at some level with every one of your direct reports that allows you to know why they would leave and if they would ever leave.   Does that mean you will then do everything you can to stop them?  Not necessarily.  For some people the future may be with your organization, for others it may be somewhere else for very good reasons.  Helping people to make the right decision about where they work and why is part of the new leader.  We all know that the 30 year career with one company is still out there, but rarer and rarer with the varied interests of new generations.

#3 – Don’t Lead the way your Father or Mother did

Your Mom and Dad were good, smart leaders in their time, and many of the things they did you should note and follow, but if that is all you do, you are in trouble.  You need to find all the new ways people are communicating and use them to lead in a different manner.  If some of your employees NEVER use the phone anymore, how will you know the inflection in what they say?  Will that come across in a text or IM? How will you lead with a subculture of communication all around you, asking questions, challenging ideas and possibly undercutting initiatives without you even knowing it?  How will you get in on this information?  In the reverse, how can you use all the new ways of communicating to inspire and grow your people?

Look for new ways to lead and share them with us at his blog!

As I read the papers these days and look at the challenges facing so many organizations and their leaders, I am struck by a bit of an incongruity between knowledge leaders and Experience Leaders.  We often find that leaders in organizations have confused knowledge and wisdom in choosing how to next direct their organization.  Too often we are just looking at what we have learned, done before, trends, and other past activities we set forth, to “lead” our organization.  I am not sure that in the current world of challenge that this is sufficient or the way that will make a strong future.  There is a famous quote that I think gives us a better idea of what is needed in today’s extraordinarily challenging times.  This quote, “We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future.”  by George Bernard Shaw,  shows what a true Experience Leader knows, that we must be working toward true wisdom, using insight to create the future.  Our capacity to be wise, finding out what is true, what is really right for our organization and what will last has more power than knowledge alone.

Experience leaders find that wisdom or being wise encompasses the capacity to take a broader view of the current challenges and circumstances.  Rather than paying just the bills that are due today, dealing with just the crisis of today or worrying about the quarter, the experience leader is looking at the experience of the organization, its clients, customers, and employees for a lifetime.  They have the capacity to call upon and utilize the skills, talents and abilities of everyone in their organization for current challenges while simultaneously building the future.  The Experience leaders who are going out to their own employees and other leaders and saying, “help us create the future.”  These wise Experience Leaders are the ones who are making it through these challenging times.

 The Experience leader’s vision and wisdom is not created in a vacuum, but with the wise input of many, many people stretching even beyond their own organization.  Vistage, the largest CEO organization in the country, is well aware of the power of this collective wisdom and thus creates an environment where 12-16 leaders can join together to use collective wisdom to meet challenges and create the future.  They provide one of places Experience Leaders can go to get the common sense and good judgment of many and create powerful futures for their organizations.

These are challenging times, there is no doubt about that.  These are also the times of great opportunity.  The times for Experience Leaders to make use of the knowledge we have gained in the past and from others to become wise about the future of our organization.

Experience Leaders also make good use of “Leadership Masterminds” to collect this wisdom in their organizations.  I am convinced that where these collectives exist you will find that not only are the challenges met, but the future is being created.

To find out more about “Leadership Masterminds” email barbara_j_brannen@yahoo.com.

Have you ever wondered if morale, employee relations, recruitment, retention and training could take on a new level of excitement that permeated your entire company? Have you ever wondered if there was just a better way for people to work?  Have you ever wondered if there was simply a better way for us to get our Human Resources experience to the next level? 

Look no more!  It’s here, there is a way and you have found it today!  Barbara Brannen comes to your organization with a trailer load of new ideas, fun solutions and expertise that will really make you sit up and believe that not only is there a way to have everything above, but even more.

So, how does she do it?  First, Barbara believes in the experience of work and therefore she brings the experience of working in your company right into the room and allows you to look it with fresh eyes.  Next, she takes that experience and turns it into a plan to improve every part and piece until no stone is unturned and no experience is ever the same.  From what you say on your website to the front door, from how people are on-boarded to how they are approached when their performance is not up to par, Barbara is going to load you up with tools, strategies, ideas, and fun.

Barbara has spent over 30 years with organizations that did amazing things like triple in value and become “THE” employer of choice in their markets to companies that moved flat revenues to new heights and created a line at the door to work for them.  She is the author of several books, including “Office Peace” a great fable on the perfect place to work!  She is a professional speaker which makes her fun, experienced and eloquent with you and your organization.

Isn’t it time for some new strategies for your organizaton?  Find barbara at barbara@letsplaymore.com.  

Welcome to EnerCast! We are a company devoted to optimizing the work – life experience through engagement, experiential learning and energy.

EnerCast will be the fuel to help you address a myriad of challenges and situations. 

EnerCast is here to help the cast of employees you have so carefuly chosen work at an optimum level.

 EnerCast will help you with:

•  Leadership Training
• Implement the changes needed after an employee survey
• Meeting and retreat facilitation with higher energy and better results
• Help you move to your new strategy and goals
• Create a more collaborative culture
• Increase productivity
• Create an “Employer of Choice” environment
• Reduce Turnover
• Human Resource Audits
• Overcoming the effects of layoffs or other stressful events
• Integration strategies for your people from mergers or acquisitions
• Create an extraordinary “On-Boarding” experience
• Introduce new concepts to the organization
• Help to get the right people in the organization
• Design effective rewards and recognition programs
• Benefits and Compensation Strategies
• Employee Relations
• Situational Specialist
• Edu-tainment Keynotes and Training

Wow!  2008 is really here!  As a manager/leader you now have the opportunity to have some fun.  You see, you can make fun out of anything, resolutions, work or what happened to me on New Year’s day……

You see my New Year started off so-o-o-o-o-o-o bad that my son commented. “Mom, you have no where to go but up.”   What happened was the septic system at my mountain cabin froze (more…)