The (Sometimes Maddening) Need For Precision

A manager is presenting in an important meeting.  He is in the process of making a critical point, yet goes blank as he has forgotten the date he last met with the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO).  The CMO is someone who had played an integral role in the breakthrough the manager is reporting on.  “Let’s see I think I met with the CMO last Wednesday”.  Backpedaling, he painstakingly recants, “no it was Thursday”.   After confusion ensues amongst the group, he changes course once again.  “Wait, it was probably Tuesday”.

The manager has taken nearly a minute attempting to sort this out. That’s an eternity for someone who has been allocated only 15 minutes on the agenda—with five of those minutes committed to Q&A.  The manager seems oblivious to the side-show he has created.  Yet he’s especially pleased with himself when he finally figures out that it was indeed Wednesday when he met with the CMO.  He’s a man who has a high need for precision–someone who (among other things) prides themselves in getting the facts 100% right every time.  To him it’s a badge of honor.

Here’s the problem with people’s need for precision: too often in group settings (think: meetings, teachers instructing, etc) it detracts more than it helps.  This gentleman, for example, ultimately got his fact right but in the process lost his audience.  Plus, the group ultimately lost its momentum after the manager had trouble regaining his mojo.

The irony is that the meeting date with the CMO was inconsequential to the point the manager was attempting to make.  It simply didn’t matter.  Yet the manager seemingly had more invested energy in identifying that arcane fact than his all-important proposition.  The manager got lost in the weeds.  The culprit?  His own need for precision.

Precision, as important as it is, is essential only when it has direct bearing on a desired outcome you’re trying to achieve.  Otherwise, it’s noise.  There are exceptions, but not many.

The opposite also occurs.  How frequently do you see this happen?

A manager is attempting to share an inspiring story about Judy —the company’s promising new COO.  Early on in the manager’s comments to the assembled group of front-line supervisors the manager says,  “Judy was a supervising engineer for only two years before she was promoted to Director.”   Dan, a seasoned front-line supervisor, interrupts, “…actually, it was three years.”

Turns out, Dan was right—but his point added no value to the manager’s insightful perspective about Judy.

A human resources director is reporting on the results from the annual employee satisfaction survey to the company’s top officers.  She is pointing out the implications from the unmistakable downward trend in employee confidence across the entire enterprise.  Arthur, the company’s newest officer, unexpectedly chimes in.  “Yes, but look at the high level of confidence amongst the officer corps.”

Turns out, Arthur was right—but the high level of confidence amongst the officers was clearly an anomaly when contrasted against each and every other group in the company.  Arthur’s comment unfortunately distracted his fellow officer’s focus away from the all-important need for them to understand the dramatic decline in employee confidence.

Brett, a twenty nine year old chemist, makes a recommendation to his GM about how to remove the unwelcome deposits on the company’s boiler tubes. Betty, a twenty four year veteran of the steam generation department, asks Brett during an important group meeting: “what makes you think, after a short six months with this company, that you are in a position to recommend on such an important  issue?”

Turns out Betty was right—Brett was a short-timer, someone who was seemingly ill-equipped to make  such a recommendation.  But Brett had experience.  Turns out, he had helped solve a very similar problem with his last employer.

Each of these latter three examples are variations on people’s need for precision: the first is always representing the facts correctly, the second is never letting an exception go unnoticed, and the third is being unforgiving to those attempting to lead (i.e. expecting perfection).

All three of these are admirable and (usually) well-intended. Yet, it’s not helpful for the group when someone shares an arcane fact that adds no value.  It’s not helpful for the group when someone’s clever observation (think: exception) sidetracks the group from weightier matters.  And it’s especially not helpful for the group when those that attempt lead it come under constant cross-examination as a means of passing someone’s self-appointed credibility test.

Precision is a good thing—it enabled Man to send astronauts to the Moon and return them safely.  Yet, precision isn’t always our friend…no more so than when it becomes maddening to our colleagues!

 

Professionalism To The Rescue

Customers were frustrated by ‘it’, employees were embarrassed by ‘it’, the owners were uncomfortable by ‘it’. What, you ask, is ‘it’?

‘It’ was an archaic (think: 19th century) tracking system for repairs of customers’ mission-critical equipment.  This value-added service has been provided by a well-respected Walnut Creek, CA based company for years.  Trouble is, few people now were seeing the repair service as ‘value added’.  The company did a great job fixing the equipment; it was the process that was the problem.  It certainly was a good thing that the repair service wasn’t ‘core’ to the business.

Consider these ‘equipment repair’ experiences:

***A customer calls in to ask for an estimate (time and money) of getting their equipment repaired.

***A customer asks their representative for a status report on their equipment repair order.

***Employees (of all stripes) would ask the foreman of the repair facility for workload reports and backlog estimates.

In each and every case (regardless of who was asking) people consistently got untimely and inaccurate information from well-intended, but less-than-confident, employees. “Amateur hour” was how one person described it.   It was no wonder that representatives from the company cringed when having to give their customers updates on their repairs.

I first met the owner about six months ago after an address I had given on professional values to business leaders.  My core message that evening:  make professional values your north arrow.  After the address the owner reached out to thank me, indicating that the message had really resonated with him. My address had reinforced something in him that he had always believed….but he had never been taught before that evening.

Little did I know how much the message had resonated with him until I reconnected with him weeks later.  Since our first encounter, he had committed to making every aspect of his business as professional as possible.  He had made a laundry list of things he wanted to change: first and foremost was that antiquated tracking system for equipment repairs.

He smiled as he recounted with me how much fun it had been for him creating the new tracking system.  As a professional, he noted, the new tracking system was something that he always knew he should do. Having made the commitment to himself to center his company around professional values proved to be impetus he needed to get started right away.

Almost from the onset of implementing the new tracking system the company gained 30% additional business in equipment repairs.  And that 30% increase has held steady over these many months.  In other words, it wasn’t a fluke.  Interestingly, the owner says that handling 30% more volume with the new system ‘feels like’ their previous volume with the old system.  In other words, the greater work load hasn’t been a problem at all—even though it’s 30% higher than before. For the benefit of those who desire quantification, that’s a 30% increase in productivity!

His employees love the new system as it really helps their ability to satisfy customers.  And it avoids them looking stupid and feeling embarrassed as they had before with the old system.  It’s proven to be a winner in every way.  The owner can’t wait to make even more changes!  Said another way, he can’t wait to make his operation that much more professional.

Professional upgrades can take a lot of forms—this one happened to involve a system.   All this owner needed was to be reminded that he was a professional and how important that was for his company.  The experience has reignited his commitment to the high standards (e.g. mind-set # 4) he’s always believed in.  His business, his employees and his customers have all benefited.  I can’t wait to see what he’ll undertake next.

 

Two ‘Motivating’ Questions For Leaders

As a leader, which question do you think is more important 1) how do I motivate my staff? OR 2) how do I stop de-motivating my staff?

In my experience question number two has frequently proven to be more important.  If you find that surprising, keep in mind….

….motivation is largely intrinsic—it emanates from within.  There is only so much leaders can do when they press the ‘motivation lever’. People really motivate themselves.

…..there is seemingly an endless number of ‘de-motivators’.  Consider: knee-deep bureaucracy that slows decision-making to a stand-still, incessantly long and ineffective meetings, senseless time-consuming reports that no one pays attention to, regularly ‘carrying’ non-performers on the payroll,  wrong-headed resource allocations, inadequate  training, irregular or ineffective communication from leadership, unclear or ever-changing organization priorities.  I could go on, but won’t.  You get the idea.

Perhaps it’s obvious, but the de-motivators are poison to leaders attempting to create a truly professional environment for their organization. When these de-motivators are present, ‘professional‘ is not an adjective people would use in describing their organization.  When that occurs, you’ve in trouble!

Frequently the de-motivators are connected to the structural building blocks of the organization—policies, processes, and programs.  People are smart, they’ll find ways to motivate themselves.  But people can’t always change the environment of which they are a part. In those instances where the environment needs changing, leaders must do so.  That means removing obstacles, providing essential resources, and otherwise protecting their people from the debilitating aspects of the organization’s politics.

Few leaders knowingly set out to de-motivate their people.  Yet it happens far more frequently than we know.  That’s why it’s critical for leaders to know what’s bugging their people.  Left unattended, the dark cloud surrounding de-motivated employees will eclipse whatever motivational glow that would otherwise attempt to emerge.

Mind-Sets Trump Skill-Sets–Exhibit ‘A’–Gabby The Bartender

As people get a deeper understanding (and appreciation) of the mind-sets, they inevitably start to see things differently.  Robert Cloutier of San Diego is one such person.  Here’s a note Robert sent to me last week and encouraged me to share:

“I ran into a busy brewery last night (Valentine’s Day) at 9:45 PM and sat at the bar for roughly thirty minutes.  I had one cocktail while I waited for a to-go order.  Luckily, the Lakers versus Clippers game was on the television in front of me, so I got to watch the continued changing of the guard in Los Angeles regarding which basketball team is relevant (look no further than Dwight Howard’s lack of professionalism when searching for reasons for the Lakers broken culture).”

“Once I sat down, the bartender immediately greeted me.  She asked my name and introduced herself as Gabby.  Then, she pointed to the other two bartenders at the other end of the bar and told me their names as well.”

“As I was looking over the menu Gabby offered suggestions and was especially helpful.  I told her I was ready to order, but I actually wasn’t.  As I sat there and stalled, she smiled and told me that she was there all night and that there was no rush.  After I finally decided, she advised me on how to take advantage of the happy hour prices and save a little money.”

“I finally ordered and set my sights back on the basketball game.  However, I couldn’t help but notice that Gabby treated everyone in the same polite manner.  I noticed that Gabby used other patron names in addressing them and treated her coworkers warmly.  In the busy bar atmosphere, there were a few times when she reluctantly had to shout to the other end of the bar for communication.  Even then, she started every sentence with ‘please’ and ended every sentence with a ‘thank you’.”

“She checked on me a few times and each time addressed me by my name.    Once my food came, Gabby came out from behind the bar and put my items in the to-go bag, rather than just handing them to me.  Before she put my food in the bag, she opened up each of the boxes to show me what I had ordered.”

“To say it was busy that night would be a large understatement.  It is one of the few open places on Valentine’s Day in a city of close to 200,000 people—it was a mob scene.  As I watched Gabby move with efficiency and grace, I thought, “there is a total professional.”  As far as mindsets, I saw all of them and was reminded again of what continues to build momentum in my brain—when the mindsets are present, ANY technical competence can be learned.  In other words, I will take Gabby with her professional mindsets and train her from scratch in regards to technical competence over some other person with high technical competence without the professional mindsets.  I was truly inspired watching Gabby behind the bar.  She’s one of the few that really ‘get it’.”

Gabby was obviously amazing…to the degree that Robert (a super busy guy) felt compelled to write about it. The story is especially rich.  What do you take from it?

A Well-Intended, Yet Misguided, Question Professionals Should Stop Asking

You’ve heard it on Oprah, you expect it from psychologists, emphatic managers are sometimes encouraged to ask it.

“How does that make you feel?” It’s an oh-so-common question.  On the surface, the question seems innocuous–even well intended.  Someone has a ‘bad’ experience; empathy gets marched out as an anti-dote.   On the surface, it all makes sense.

But it’s a question that makes my head explode.

Why? Because the implication is that the person has no control over how they feel.  That’s just wrong.  Taken to its logical conclusion, it enables people to abdicate responsibility.  It breeds victimhood.

Events trigger emotions. This is an automatic reaction—or that’s what most people believe. But that’s not really the way it works. Rather, emotions are determined by what we think about the event, not by the event itself. In other words, our interpretation of an event ultimately becomes the precursor to the emotion we experience.

For instance, the mandatory overtime Saturday work-day unexpectedly gets canceled by management. Tom is thrilled (he gets to play golf); while Mary is bummed (she needs the extra money).   Same event— two completely different emotions.  The event/circumstance didn’t make either one of them feel anything.   It was Tom and Mary’s interpretation of the event that ultimately produced the emotion they assigned to it.

Don’t misunderstand, empathy is a very good thing. By all means ask folks how they feel….that will help them.  Just don’t ask them how an event or circumstance made them feel.  Good intent, bad question.

NOTE: this topic is covered in greater detail in chapter eleven of The Power of Professionalism and in chapter six in The Big AHA.  Both reference the terrific work of Professor Seymour Epstein at the University of Massachusetts.

Is Your College Going Out of Business?

Today college students are asking themselves a lot of questions many of us once thought unimaginable. Mark Cuban asks ‘Is Your College Going Out of Business?‘. Check out his article, it’s really thought provoking.

I relate to Mark’s message. When my kids were in the process of choosing colleges, I drilled home to them the importance of coming out of school with as little debt as possible. (they each paid part of the freight)  Two of my three college kids came out of school with zero debt. The third had less than $10,000 in debt.

Being wise stewards of money (largely by being smart consumers of educational services) is one of the most important things my children learned as a result of attending college. I’m proud of each for having the discipline to make the tough choices that enabled them to come out of school with little or no debt.

I wish Mark hadn’t used some of the language he did towards the end of the article, but it is what it is.  Consider yourself forewarned.

Every Hand Went Up! —Part Two–From Grandpa’s Well Intended Faux Pas

NOTE: This post is Part Two (and a continuation) from ‘Grandpa’s Well Intended Faux Pas’ post on Jan 3rd.

_____________________

The Director asked the students, “how many of you would recommend the approach taken by Rob in the way he instructed your imaging course?” Every hand went up!

At the Southern California vocational school where Rob taught there was a gap in how prepared the students were to enter the working world.  Rob knew it, employers did too. Technically, the students  knew their stuff.  In other words, their skill-sets were fine.  The school had done a good job in training their students to be masters of an ever-increasing complicated technical universe.

Yet, increasingly employers realized the technical alone was insufficient. Purpose and values were  important. So was taking responsibility.  Like the employers, Rob believed that pouring in buckets of knowledge into student’s brain (as important as that was) was proving incomplete—after all, the school wasn’t preparing robots to enter the workforce.  The school, in effect, was preparing technicians to enter the workforce.  And traditionally that had been fine.

But today more was needed. Professionals were needed. Employers didn’t explicitly say so, but when you listened to their needs, professionals (the adjective, not the noun) is precisely what they were looking for.

Rob made the commitment to graduate professionals—not merely technicians. He did this on his own. He is to be commended. The implication? For students to meet the ‘professional’ standard they need both skill-sets and mind-sets.  Thus, he married the mind-sets from The Power of Professionalism with the well-established technical curriculum.  He upped the ante in a big way.

What did the students think?  They whole-heartedly recommended it.  Remember, every hand went up when the Director posed her question.

And if you’re wondering why the Director was asking that question, it was because the school’s owner was so impressed by the change in the students she asked the Director to look into expanding the approach to the rest of the school’s population of 1,000 students.  It’s an exciting prospect.

We promise to keep you updated as the story unfolds….

Having A Point of View

In The Power of Professionalism I wrote extensively about the importance of professionals having a point-of-view.  (see chapter eight, mind-set three)

Nilofer Merchant’s recent article—Having A Point of View–nicely compliments the spirit chapter eight.  As she notes, having a point of view ” attracts talent…creates allies…focuses the work.”  All true, plus some.

Check out the article, it’s a good reminder.