Intermittent
Actions Produce Intermittent Results
By: Natalie R.
Manor, CEO
Humans need support. Successful
humans need lots of support, guidance, clarity, instruction
and direction. Turbulent workplaces that have no time
to support and train their people will create an atmosphere
that resembles an intermittent electrical problem. You
will never be able to count on the juice, but you will
always be able to count on the frustration.
Even the most successful
of us, me included, have taken on the mantra, “I don’t
have time”. When I catch myself saying it, I try to
quickly remove the thoughts of having no time because
it’s just not true. We have the time for what is important.
Maybe we have forgotten to remind ourselves what is
important.
Training, support and guidance
are important for all of us. We need it now more than
ever.
Case in Point:
In the last week, I spoke
with five different organizations that called us to
potentially help them with their leaders and managers.
Some of the key leaders in each of these organizations
are exhibiting very serious breaches in communication
(or lack thereof, including not speaking at all). Some
examples of their frustrations and complaints about
their managers and leaders from these organization are:
- Not sharing key information with
their staff in a timely way – some did not share
the information at all
- Refusing to participate in a professional
way with other team members
- Inability to clearly communicate
issues so they can be resolved in a timely way
- Time management issues with providing
necessary and key information for strategic decisions
- Business development disappointments
using old, outdated or irrelevant information about
the organization
By the end of the week
I was dumbfounded. I asked myself how it could be that
these managers and leaders are NOT being trained. They
are barely being managed…forget any leadership.
The boldest person I spoke
with told me that they had some training in late 2007
and they “assumed” that they (managers, leaders, executives)
were practicing the information they learned during
that training.
I asked each of the people
who had called me whether the managers or leaders had
been provided with:
- Best practices to follow for success
- Weekly support during meetings
to meet goals and outcomes
- Feedback on how they were doing
- Case studies or stories of successful
results to model
- Performance and/or behavior suggestions
for leading, communication, sales, managing
Again, the common answer
was that these managers and leaders are senior people
who are expected to know what to do and how they should
be doing it.
After the last conversation
I took a deep breath. I moved past my disbelief so I
could be in place to explore how can I help these managers,
leaders and organizations align with their own business
and communication best practices that will ultimately
help them be supported right here and right now.
Consistency, frequency
and focus on what is most important to you and your
organization is what will create a symmetry and ease
in today’s turbulent business environment. However,
you have to take the time to ask the
question, “What is important to…you, us, the team, the
organization?” Once you know what is most important,
you can produce some very solid and successful results.
By knowing what is most
important and taking action around it you will also
produce effective managers and leaders who need all
the guidance, training, direction and support they can
get right now.
You have not run out of
time to do what will produce effective and successful
people and results. Trust me. None of us have run out
of that kind of time. Your people are worth it and so
are you.
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