Posts tagged 'environment':

Is Creativity a Learned Behavior?

December 13, 2011

Posted by Thomas Despres in Blog, Thought Leadership with no comments

I think creativity
can be learned. One thing we can do is
to think about creativity on an everyday basis. In other words, it’s just like
cramming for a test. If you’re up against a deadline and you haven’t cracked
the book, it’s hard to do well on the test. If studying is part of your regular
life, then it makes it much easier. What I encourage people to do is to be on
the lookout for creativity along the way. There are some exercises we talk
about in the book to inject creativity as part of an everyday pattern. So then
when you’re on a deadline, you’re not under some crazy burden to produce
something out of nothing, you’ve been creating all along.

I’ve always encouraged my teams to take the Five Percent Challenge. If you work
a 40-hour workweek, five percent of 40 hours is two hours per week. Taking a
Five Percent Challenge is taking two hours per week and instead of working on
your to-do list and transactional type work, you’re going to close the laptop, get
out of the office and just reflect. You’re going to use that as thinking time.
It’s time for imagination and exploration. The other 38 hours, you can do your
to-do list.

What I’ve found is that when organizations try this, every single time there is
a zero percent drop in productivity. In other words, magically people are able
to get their 40 hours of work done in 38 hours. Then, more importantly, that
two hours becomes a gift. It becomes a gift to the organization because now
it’s filled with new, fresh thinking, and it’s a gift to the individual.
Creativity is truly one of the most important sources of human
fulfillment. I believe we all have this
capability to an extent. We just have to
commit to use it.

Talk the Talk

December 5, 2011

Posted by Thomas Despres in Blog, Thought Leadership with no comments

I really believe that what we say every day really matters. It’s not just because we want to get it right in the moment. It’s also because we want
to get it right for a long time to come.
People working around us will be willing and able to do great things for
us when we “talk the talk”.

Ask any executive what comes to mind when the phrase “business
communication” is mentioned and one would likely receive responses that
include references to client meetings, e-mail etiquette or negotiation. As
author and executive coach Jodi Glickman indicates in her book Great
on the Job: What to Say, How to Say It. The Secrets of Getting Ahead,
these are all segments of business communication that, despite receiving the
most attention, are a fraction of an employee’s daily regimen. Glickman, the
founder of Great on the Job, LLC, brings her expertise in the subtlety of
workplace communication to a workplace that needs laser-like clarity to cut
through the digital haze.

There will be reviews of Glickman’s book that will no doubt label it an
essential read for people at the outset of their careers. The same theory would
likely be held by executives who scan the flap copy of Great on
the Job. It would be a mistake if Glickman’s book suffers
this fate. Any executive, regardless of tenure, should pick up a copy of this
book because it is one of the few titles on workplace communication that can
address the 360-degree aspects of the art of navigating a job. No reader should
assume that he or she is a master of some of the simple skills Glickman describes.
It is a fact to which Glickman is sensitive. She points out that during the
early days of Great on the Job, LLC, several people, including her husband,
raised concerns that some of the communication techniques she taught, such as
mastering “the hello and goodbye” while on the phone, would be
dismissed as time-wasters. Glickman does an excellent job of countering all
naysayers by stating simple facts about the need for the skill. She asks
readers how many times they’ve been interrupted with a phone and have searched
for the best way to quickly terminate the conversation without causing any
residual damage. If readers take a moment to think about their own experiences,
they will end up continuing on to read the solutions Glickman offers.

Those solutions deliver one of the most rewarding aspects of Great
on the Job: the combination of theory and practical examples.
Unlike many of her peers writing about workplace communication, Glickman
provides multiple scenarios for every strategy, and her conversation examples
could be overheard in any workplace regardless of industry. She doesn’t suffer
from the “C-Suite syndrome,” a writer’s crutch in which the author
assumes that every reader is a chief executive within his or her organization.
Her leveling of the playing field gives the book an applicability that would be
difficult for readers to find in another title.

Glickman’s book is as much about achieving success in the workplace as it is
about improving one’s communication abilities. If there is one massive takeaway
that no executive should miss, it’s Glickman’s instructions on how to be a
“can-do” person in a company without falling prey to the pitfall of
saying yes to every person’s request. Regardless of a person’s position in a
company, there is the prevailing logic that saying no to assignment or request
will cause a person to be labeled as ineffective or incapable. As she does in
so many instances throughout the book, Glickman uses clever logic to prove her
point. Executives should consider her notion that no one appreciates a
“yes” person who turns in shoddy work. It is far better to learn
Glickman’s method for managing multiple requests because she teaches readers
how to make turning down a request into a position of strength.

Great on the Job is the obvious product of Glickman’s years of consulting
work, as well as her hundreds of presentations on the subject matter. She takes
steps that other authors do not and the results are rewarding for the reader.
Each chapter includes sections on troubleshooting where she addresses the
legitimate questions that any reader would ask. For example, in the chapter
“Manage Expectations,” she provides some interesting advice for
people who suffer under micromanagers. Even if readers have received similar
advice from other books or seminars, Glickman’s presentation of the information
is such that she will likely get through where others have missed the mark. The
one expectation any reader has of a business book author is that he or she
lives and breathes the principles about which he or she writes. Glickman outpaces
all rivals in the business communication market, even if she didn’t include
numerous examples from her own career, which she does. It’s a testament to her
conviction to the principles and it’s reflected in every page.

I’d work for Jodi Glickman any day. It’s not just about what we’re doing at work It’s
also about how we do things. She’s “hit the nail on the head” with this
book and it’s a worthwhile read.

Play the Game

November 7, 2011

Posted by Thomas Despres in Blog, Thought Leadership with no comments

As we grow older, we are taught that games are distractions, a playful break from serious
activities. Thirty-something consultant Aaron Dignan, part of a generation that
has been raised on constantly changing games and gadgets, disagrees. In Game Frame:
Using Games as a Strategy for Success, Dignan
persuasively argues that games can lead the way to success, achievement and
fulfillment in business and in life.

This book reminds me of a situation I faced while planning to build a new factory in
Monterrey, Mexico in the late 90s, I recall the advice of the Senior Manager of
Manufacturing. “Land is inexpensive”, he
said. “So we should build a soccer field
and a barbeque pit as well as a pavilion for outdoor parties”. At first, I couldn’t believe it would make
much of a difference. I later realized
that taking these steps would be a major factor in attracting and obtaining the
workers needed to meet our goals. It was
one of the reasons that employee turnover was less than 9% yearly in our
factory when most maquiladora operations faced more than 30%. I learned that playing, in a way, is inseparable
from work and completely agree with the assertions in Dignan’s book. Well, it’s not just about what employees do
outside of the pace of the manufacturing floor.
Dignan also touches on a methodology to make work more interesting.

Rather than being time-wasters, Dignan writes, games can offer opportunities to
resolve two basic issues that undermine our efforts to achieve: lack of
volition (I don’t want to do it) and lack of faculty (I don’t know how to do
it).

With lack of volition, people are unmotivated, disinterested and disconnected,
Dignan writes. They don’t see the value in an activity or behavior. They refuse
to become involved. Games address lack of volition because they are designed to
engage people, to interest them, and to offer the promise of fun and
excitement. Games also offer autonomy and control, Dignan notes. When you play
a game, you are in charge. What happens depends on you. Fun, control, autonomy
— these are the types of elements that engage and motivate people.

Games also put us in a learning mode, Dignan writes. When you first play a
game, you are not very good. You make mistakes. The more you play the game, the
better you become. Eventually, you master the game and are ready to move on to
the next level.

How Grokking Leads to Flow

Dignan quotes game designer Raph Koster, who uses the term “grok”
when talking about the game learning process. “To grok something,”
Dignan explains, “means to understand it so thoroughly that it becomes a
part of you.” Grokking applies to the workplace, too. For example, a
cashier who has been on the job for five years probably knows everything there
is to know about the job. The problem is that once you’ve grokked something,
you become bored. There is no more learning or discovery involved.

In his seminal book, Flow,
author and professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi illuminates why games are so
attractive, Dignan writes. Csikszentmihalyi shows that people are most
effective and happy when they have the exact right level of skills to meet the
challenges they face. If they don’t have enough skills, they will be anxious.
If their skill level is above the challenge, they will be bored. To progress in
an activity, people need to have challenges that are just beyond the level of
their skills and abilities. They will be motivated to grow just a bit to enjoy
the perfect balance of skill and challenge, which gives them a feeling of
exhilaration and achievement. Games, notes Dignan, “provide us with what
we crave: a set of escalating challenges, feedback on our progress and the
thrill of victory.”

Designing Games

In 10 chapters (called levels, an echo of the learning process of a game),
Dignan explores the multifaceted implications of games in today’s society.
Topics include the rise of interactive technology, the misunderstood concept of
play and the future of games. In one chapter, Dignan shows readers how to
design behavioral games for success based on 10 building blocks, among them:
objectives, skills, resistance (the opposing force that creates tension in the
game), resources, actions, feedback (some kind of response to the action taken)
and outcomes.

Game Frame is a unique and insightful read. Dignan not only successfully advocates on
behalf of games, he offers his readers an actionable tool for designing games
that readers will want to use for the next major challenge that they face.

What Matters Most: Leadership Lessons from Maj. Gen. “Burn” Loeffke

September 14, 2011

Posted by Thomas Despres in Blog, Thought Leadership with no comments

While I wouldn’t
pretend to have worked a career and lived a life that compares to Major General
Loeffke, I will say that many of the lessons I learned while on international assignment
in Mexico and Puerto Rico serve me to this day.
From laughing to serving to being humble, his lessons in his life’s work
are similar to those I experienced when working alongside some of the most
capable and driven people on the planet – Latin Americans. Upon reading this, I just had to share it!

Major General Bernard “Burn” Loeffke likes to say that he goes into any
situation armed with two weapons: the FIRO-B^® and the MBTI^®.
For the uninitiated, the two are personality assessments that can give leaders
great insight into how to work effectively with others.

Burn Loeffke discovered his most powerful leadership weapons when, as a young
General, he attended a CCL program. During a recent visit back to CCL’s campus
in Greensboro, NC, he said he carries CCL lessons with him
every day — and relies on the Fundamental Interpersonal Relations
Orientation-Behavior and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.

“Perceptions and emotions matter,” says Gen. Loeffke. “We can’t solve the rational
part of a problem until we deal with the emotional.”

Both the FIRO-B and the MBTI help people to understand their leadership style and
preferences and to consider the different needs and perspectives of others.
According to the general, the insights from these tools allowed him to better
understand his own colleagues — and his competitors.

Three-and-a-half combat tours, rapid promotions and deep love for his fellow soldiers marked
Gen. Loeffke’s early career. Later, as a diplomat in uniform, he served inMoscow during the Cold War and as a defense attaché inChina.

When he retired from the military in 1992, Gen. Loeffke pursued several passions,
including leadership development. He returned to CCL as Visiting Fellow in
1993-94. He later earned a medical degree that allows him to practice and teach
preventative medicine. He now travels the world on medical missions. He writes;
teaches at medical universities; and fosters partnerships, friendships and
connections across cultures. Recently, the general was invited to teach
leadership fundamentals to 1,000 future leaders inChina.

In all he does, Gen. Loeffke draws on the insights he learned at CCL – and shares
some of his own:

Seek and share health, music and laughter. A sense of humor, a dedication to fitness and a love of
music have sustained the General personally. He’s also found that a desire for
better health, music and laughter are common to any place, any culture.
Everyone wants to be healthier and anyone can be a healer, he says. Music gives
energy and singing brings people together. And nobody wants to be around glum
people, so find humor and laugh more often.

Help others. The needs are great. Much of the world is a disaster. The challenges facing nations
and individuals in the next decades are extraordinary. In your work and through
your life, make a commitment to helping others.

Gen. Loeffke adds that science has proven what he has long known: Helping others is
good for you. An antibody called SIgA increases — boosting your immunity — as
you do things to help other people. “If you do things to help others, you
are healthier,” he says.

Be humble. Gen. Loeffke is a decorated military officer, distinguished statesman, humanitarian
and scholar. Impressive on paper; inspiring in person; and incredibly humble.

As a new medical officer serving on a medical mission in a remote combat zone in Sudan, he
wasn’t able to rely on his past success and training. When his supervising
physician fell ill and was suddenly sent home, Gen. Loeffke was the only
trained medical professional in the area, working with two local men who
assisted in the makeshift clinic.

“We were seeing 120 wounded a day, and I had to take over surgery,” he
recalled. One assistant offered to help; the general gratefully accepted.
“This man cannot read or write, and is uneducated by Western medical
standards. But he knew what to do; he did the surgery. He taught me how to do
internal sutures,” says Gen. Loeffke. “I learned humility inSudan.”

I’d say that Gen. Loeffke is a true role model in how to live the life of a leader. His experience is unique. His appreciation for what it takes to get
things done against all odds is admirable.
His willingness to give back distinguishes him. Above all, in my opinion, his ability to
connect with those around him is the key to his success.

Make Your Own Rules!

September 6, 2011

Posted by Thomas Despres in Blog, Thought Leadership with no comments

Sometimes you’re fortunate enough to be in a position to “make your own rules”. I certainly had the opportunity in Latin America – twice! Working in Mexico from
1996-2002 and in Puerto Rico from 2002-2006 gave me two chances to build cultures
using my own rules – my way of doing things to get people on board. This book, Make Your Own Rules, brought me back to those assignments.

Imagine opening your door and Trapper John from the long-running television
series M*A*S*H — also known as actor and business
investor Wayne Rogers — is standing there, looking just a bit older than you
remember him from the show. Rogers
says he’d like to ask you a question: If you could build the house of your
dreams, what would it look like?

This may sound like a fanciful scenario, but it happens often, as Rogers explains in his
book Make Your
Own Rules: A Renegade Guide to Unconventional Success. Rogers is still passionate
about acting, but he is equally passionate about entrepreneurship — and this is
what brings him to the doorsteps of surprised homeowners. Rogers believes that businesspeople have to
listen to customers. He is true to his word. Every time Rogers and his business
partners are going to build a new housing development — one of the many
investment activities in which Rogers
is involved — he starts knocking on doors in the neighborhood where he is going
to build to learn what houses people would really want to buy. (Rogers notes that women
make most of the decisions about the houses that families buy, so they are the
ones to consult). After the startled look and the occasional question
(“Aren’t you that actor?”), the homeowners help him discover exactly
what appeals to homebuyers.

Who Needs a Hit TV Show?

Make Your
Own Rules is aptly titled. Opinionated and strong-willed,
Rogers has
clearly lived by his own rules. While filming M*A*S*H
at 20th Century Fox, Rogers met Lew Wolff, who had been hired to run Fox’s real
estate arm. Even though M*A*S*H was in its third
year, Rogers
still did not have a signed contract. He decided to leave the series, and
joined the equally unhappy Wolff in a real estate development partnership. Rogers’ second career as
an investor was launched. He would go on to become involved in banks, a
convenience store chain, a vineyard, Broadway plays, and even the country’s
largest bridal retailer, among many other investments.

Dealing with Regulations and Egos

Rogers’ passion for the deal — and for free market enterprise — is palpable
throughout the book, which presents a litany of business deals in which Rogers
has been involved. Every deal clearly illustrates a lesson. Some of the general
lessons, in addition to asking the customer, include choosing partners
carefully, doing your homework, and casting off conventions — not being afraid
to do something differently from what’s been done in the past. Rogers
also has chapters on the “magic” of creative financing and how to
make the most of the banking system (a founding shareholder in six banks, Rogers has appeared
several times before the House Banking Committee). A chapter titled
“Creativity Fuels Success” shows how the best businesspeople are
creative at heart.

Within these bigger themes are scores of more specific business lessons — for
example, how to use bankrupt shell companies to significantly cut the costs of
going public. Most of the lessons, large or small, reflect Rogers’ iconoclastic
yet practical philosophy of business and life: The “system” — whether
it’s government regulations that undermine entrepreneurship or Hollywood egos — is not your friend, according to
Rogers, but you have to make the most of it. Washington politicians are a repeated
target of Rogers’ disdain, although Hollywood decision-makers aren’t held in much better
regard. Rogers recalls asking Warner Brothers to
finance on Broadway a Neil Simon play called Brighton
Beach Memoirs that Rogers
was producing. The decision-maker at Warner Brothers agreed to invest in the
play if Simon would make some changes. Rogers
describes how he reacted: “I laughed and asked this woman, ‘You are going
to tell Neil Simon what is funny?’ Her response was, ‘Well, yes.’ I could not
help myself. Very politely, I asked, ‘Are you sure you are the right person to
tell Neil Simon what is and what is not funny?’” Warner Brothers never
invested in the play, which, of course, was a big hit.

Make Your Own Rules is filled
with stories, opinions and advice that will sometimes make you want to laugh,
nod your head fervently in agreement, or, most often, take some notes for the
next time you have a business or investment decision to make.

The Blame Game

May 9, 2011

Posted by Thomas Despres in Blog, Thought Leadership with no comments

It’s in our nature to look for someone or something to blame when things go wrong. Yes, we’ve all been there and done that. Maybe it’s about self preservation. It could be because we watched our role models do the same thing as we grew up and we’re just following their example. Stepping into the workplace, we saw more of the same. Nevertheless, I believe a change in how we do things is in order. Call it a cultural change or call it a behavioral change. Either is ok. But for sure, it’s time to turn the page on the Blame Game.

How do we do it? First and foremost, we need to step up and take responsibility when things go wrong. If that happens, there obviously wouldn’t be the need to cast blame. Setting an example by stepping up and taking responsibility is a great way to gain respect and credibility from employees, peers and managers. It not only takes their collective guard down, but it also makes them more likely to step up and do the same when they are responsible for something that goes wrong. Read more »

“Balance” is the key

February 24, 2011

Posted by Thomas Despres in Blog, Thought Leadership with no comments

When I arrived in Mexico in 1996, I recall the focus on results that the plant manager had at the time. It was 24 X 7 results, results and more results. We had midnight staff meetings. We measured everything from on-time shipments to electricity usage. We took corrective actions at the slightest sign of unfavorable trends in our endless metrics. We spent a lot of time making sure that everyone impacted knew the “score”… not that there’s anything wrong with that. It was critical at the time to focus on results. After all, we had just moved a product line to Mexico from Canada into a plant without resources in place and without an established Enterprise Requirements Planning (ERP) System. It was hard work to say the least getting all the moving parts in place.

Although success was achieved through acceptable results in the first year, the business turned when we also started to find ways to “balance” the approach. We started to celebrate successes. We publicly recognized employees that went above and beyond to get the results we were after. We tied bonuses to productivity. Once the employees saw the leaders as “buena gente” (“good people”), they started to make strides unlike before. They became more willing to get things done, fixed or improved. With this environment, ideas to improve product cost for example tripled year-over-year. Performance metrics improved at a pace twice that of before.

In the end, leaders can find success by driving to the metric and making sure employees are doing what they need to do to obtain results. That success will be short-lived unless the environment to sustain it fosters a partnership between the leaders and the employees. That partnership will ensure that the employees are willing to work to find ways to get the results the organization needs to compete in a tough market.

Posts tagged 'environment':

Is Creativity a Learned Behavior?

Talk the Talk

Play the Game

What Matters Most: Leadership Lessons from Maj. Gen. “Burn” Loeffke

Make Your Own Rules!

The Blame Game

“Balance” is the key

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