Category: work

Six tell-tale signs that our leadership superpowers may be dipping

~ jordan ~ Leave a comment
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When business is booming and the economy is raising our revenues, it’s easy to perform our role as a leader.

The key behaviors are easily manifested and evident to all employees. “Walking the talk” is easy. Leaders even preach the attributes of a good leader to their direct reports. They also enjoy dropping quotes from great leaders of the past.

However, challenging times tend to test our leadership resolve. Difficult times can test the values we preach. Such hard times can test our leadership competencies. It is in these moments that we need to hold on stronger to ideal leadership competencies and behaviors. This is the time where our people look up to us for guidance and to set an example for them to follow.

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.” James 1:2-3

It is in these moments that we need to understand and observe ourselves. We need to pay close attention to our leadership style. We need to be critical of how we behave towards our current situation and towards our people.

From experience consulting for different company leaders in good times and in bad, here are a few signs to watch out for. If you start seeing any of these manifests in your leadership style then it’s time to take a pause and assess why you are behaving the way you are behaving. Assess how your leadership behavior is helping or hindering your current situation.

  1. We start to de-priorities the development of our people.

In times of blessings and times of lack, people should always be our most important asset. We cannot have people as our most important asset in good times and in bad times bring them down the pecking order. It will be our good people sticking with us that will help us through difficult times. We may need to reduce our manpower in downtimes, however, let’s make sure we keep the good ones. Great companies invest more in the development of their people instead of cutting down the training budget. Management guru Peter Drucker said, “If you think training is expensive, try ignorance.”

  1. We start blaming first and ask questions after

Democracy reigns in good times. Everyone has an equal voice in good times. In bad times, we sometimes shift to finger-pointing. Instead of asking the question “what happened, what’s the root cause, how can we correct it, how can we prevent recurrence”, we default to “who is to blame for this?”

Such a work environment causes people to be afraid to try anything for fear of reprisal. Nobody also wants bad news to trickle up for fear that the messenger of bad news gets the ax. By the time senior management gets wind of an issue, it has already ballooned into a big problematic snowball.

  1. We fight industry trends

What got you there, won’t get you to the next level. Too many times, I have seen the reason for a company’s success turning into the reason for its failure. Company founders hold on to their original success formula. Software companies using the same antiquated programming approach even though it has been made obsolete by the industry. Retail businesses refusing to create a hybrid digital/brick-and-mortar model. People standing on street corners marketing their products and services using old-fashioned flyers.

Do we really think we can beat industry trends? Blockbuster thought that they can keep the lead by ignoring Netflix. They filed for chapter 11. Kodak refused to move to Digital cameras since their massive growth was fueled by film-based technology. They filed for chapter 11. Did Barnes & Noble think that building more stores would win the hearts of customers that are moving into digital books? They filed for chapter 11.

  1. We start losing high-potential people and retain the bad apples.

When signs of bad leadership start to manifest itself in the workplace, it’s the good employees that jump ship. These high performers know their market value. It’s the none-performers that tend to stay. Why? They have no place to go. Now take a balcony moment and check your business. Your company is currently under a lot of stress and the people you have are mostly non-performers. The good ones went out of the front door.

  1. We don’t openly bring faith in the workplace

Deuteronomy 8:18 You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the power to get wealth; that He may confirm His covenant that He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.

When we succeed, we often think it was purely on our own accord and effort. We think that the growth of our business stems from our intelligence and tenacity. What we forget is that our talents, opportunities, blessings, wealth, valuable employees, valuable clients, favorable market trends, education, parents, family name and so on came from our creator. None of our success is purely ours to solely claim. Why is it that we do not openly acknowledge or practice our faith? Are we ashamed to be seen as an obedient follower? Are we ashamed to show that we rely on a higher power for our business?

Captains of industries with an openly strong faith in God have grown their business to billions of dollars in annual revenues. You have Dan Cathy (Chik-fil-A) grew his business to 2,363 stores with annual revenues of $10.5 Billion. You have Dave Thomas, CEO of Wendys with their 800 stores. James Cash Penny with 2,000 JC Penny store locations.

Clearly, faith in the workplace works.

  1. We start mixing personal and professional views

When times are good, leaders can separate their personal from work views. Even if they do not like people at a personal level they can work with them.

When times are tough, the line between personal and work views starts to blur. The leader’s personal views start to cloud their work judgment. Dealing with good people with opposing views starts to get painted in a bad light.

Once they have a bad view of good people, everything these people say is taken in a negative context. Good people that are marked as (personally) bad eventually leave the company.

There are other tell-tale signs of a leadership 180-degree turn. These are just examples of signs to look out for. With God by our side, we can maintain our positive Leadership behaviors in good times and in bad.

You can listen to the podcast version of this article by clicking here (jordansviews.com)

Customer Pain Points

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Have you ever gone to a bank and found it so difficult and irritating to do a simple transaction like make a deposit? How about going the mall and navigating your way around clothes only to find out that your size is not in stock? I am sure that we all faced customer service challenges in the past.

Successful organisation convert these painful customer experiences into opportunities to better serve their customers. Successful companies have processes and programs in place to deliberately identify customer pain points and addresses them. Companies, like Alibaba, go to the extent of modifying their business models to address these pain points. Addressing customer pain points is part of their agenda and not an afterthought.

How about your company? Do you use your customer pain points as opportunities to provide a great customer experience?

The Power of a positive mindset

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Are you an optimist? A Stanford research shows that students perform better in math exams when they have a positive attitude towards math. The researchers showed data linking positive attitude to performance. The researchers said that “Having a positive attitude acts directly on your memory and learning system.”
In my life, I have never encountered a truly successful pessimist. Some pessimists may seem to be successful but if you dig deep down, their success was not a result of their effort. It could have been a result of DNA (inheritance) or luck (married to wealth). If you have the chance to watch Bill Gates, Steve Jobs or any other great leader speak you will notice that they are literally oozing with positive energy. They look at problems as challenges to conquer. They do not allow failure to take over their minds. They do not bicker or complain.
How do you foster a positive mindset? Well, you can start with the following:
1. Foster a strong relationship with God. A strong relationship with our maker always produces hope. There is always hope that there is nothing impossible with God.
2. Stay away from negative people. They tend to ‘drain’ your positive energy. They dump their woes of the world on you. They would complain about everything from their boss to the traffic situation, spouse and neighbor. Well ‘misery loves company.’ They want others to be as miserable as them.
3. Read biographies of successful people. There are few things as inspirational and positive than a successful life that started in adversity.
4. Always keep your eye on the benefits or value of what you are doing. Does your work glorify the provider of your blessings? Does your work glorify God?
5. Keep your mind occupied with learning new things. Do not dwell on negative news from nay-sayers. News sells by sensationalizing and scaring its readers.
Do you want to make the best out of your life? Do you want to share the resulting blessings with your love ones, family, friends, and colleagues? Start with having a positive mind.

Living our work Values

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For the last few months, we had been encouraging our team members to seek our APEX (be authentic, be purpose driven and be excellent) values being exhibited by our colleagues. Values are useless unless they are lived by people. Values are useless unless it is rooted into a culture.

Every weekly meeting, we encourage sharing stories of colleagues having lived one of the three values in the past week. We entice this behavior, in the beginning, with prizes hoping that one day the values become a norm in the company.

This week, after three of our colleagues sharing their story, it struck on me that I had witnessed a colleague from HR exhibiting all three values. Let me share her story.

Last weekend, our team members went to EK for a day of de-stressing in our local theme park. On the drive home, my colleague from HR shared something interesting. Apparently, she is an avid learner. She enjoys jotting down tips every Monday, during our team meetings. She was so enthused with her learning opportunity at work that she could not contain it to herself. On every opportunity that arises, she would energetically share her learnings with her friends.

She believes deep in her heart that learning is an opportunity that should be visibly celebrated through sharing knowledge with others. It is not enough that we learn something new. The true values come from sharing knowledge with others. She does not need to share. However, she is always compelled by her conviction to share her learnings for the week.

Veng is authentic, she cannot contain her passion to share her learnings with others.

Veng has a clear purpose to help others.

Veng is excellent as she purposefully learns new things in order to get better in life and at work.

Veng has shown us one way of living all three values. Thank you, Veng.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Am I Surrounding Myself With The Right People?

~ jordan ~ 1 Comment

Another interesting read from my daily Bible reading.

The first churches were started by a bunch of common men and women who loved Jesus and loved seeing people meet Jesus. Their success wasn’t based on their position or their training, but on their passion.

Attitudes are contagious. One thing I love about the team I serve with is that being around them and discussing church, ministry and life in general, stirs my passion for what I do.

If you read through the book of Acts, Paul had a team of people who worked with him to try and accomplish a vision that was larger than he could have ever imagined. Any great leader knows you cannot persevere without great people.

An excellent leader will always persevere because they are not trying to do what they are doing alone. They’ve built a team with people who understand they are valued, their opinions are not only welcomed but necessary, and the goal is the advancement of an organization—not the attention of an individual.

You know you have the right team when you don’t just love the work you do, you love the people you do it with. You know you have the right team when problems do not belong to “me” but rather they belong to “we!” You know you have the right team when the people you lead love you and the organization too much to allow team members to make a ridiculous decision.

The right team will refuse to allow personal preferences to dictate decisions and will embrace uncomfortable conversations. The right team will bring people in when making a decision that directly impacts their area, understanding that this does not slow down the process, but speeds it up, because people are way more likely to buy into a decision when they’ve had input.

What’s Next:
Do you have the right people around you? People who would stick with you no matter what the circumstances?

Is there anything about your attitude that you don’t want to pass to your team? What steps can you take this week to set the tone for the people you lead?

Am I Giving It My Best?

~ jordan ~ Leave a comment

Good day,

This article is from my daily devotion. It is very applicable in today’s workplace.

I hope you enjoy it and see the value it brings on how we look at our work.

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If someone special comes over for dinner, you don’t start pulling the leftovers out of the fridge. You go all out to give them your absolute best.

God gave us His very best when He sent Jesus to the cross, and God calls us to give our best to Him as well.

I once heard a football player say, “the separation is in the preparation.” The reason his team was winning was because they prepared the best they could for each game. What set them apart from other teams wasn’t their facilities or their skill, but their preparation.

The same is true for us. The separation between good and great organizations is the preparation people are willing to put into doing the absolute best they can do. Organizations that anticipate great things prepare for greater things.

Sitting around wanting something great for yourself, your company, or your church is not a bad thing; in fact, it can be the fuel that sets the vision in your heart on fire.  However, many times it’s not a lack of vision that holds us back from achieving  maximum potential, but rather our lack of execution.

There will never be a day when we don’t have a next step to take in our walk with Jesus or in our roles as leaders. We don’t have to be perfect, but we should work hard, learn as much as we can, and THEN trust God to make up the difference.

We cannot effectively lead people long term if we are not dedicated to increasing our leadership capacity. As long as we are learning, we are growing. When you stop growing as a leader, you begin dying as one.

Reference site

https://my.bible.com/users/jordanimutan/reading-plans/2166-the-most-excellent-way-to-lead/subscription/341917169/day/4/segment/0

Millennials are a necessary workforce

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We have no other talent pool to take from. We have no other pool to select successors for key positions in your company. In the next few years, we will only have the Millennial pool to pick and develop talent from.

When it comes to Generation Y or Millennials, we have three choices:
1. We Villainize them. We choose to brand them as the corporate enemy refusing or incapable of doing things our way.
2. We Tolerate them. We choose to treat them as a necessary evil.
3. We Engage them. We adjust and develop them to be future leaders and managers.

Frankly, if we were to make sure that our company survives and even thrives after the Baby Boomers and Gen-X have left, then we only have option #3.

It is not easy and that is exactly why we developed a management development program called ‘Understanding and Managing Millennials”. The program, designed for supervisors and managers, is a combination of a one day classroom lecture with a 30 day on the job assignment and mentoring.

If your company has such Millennial challenges, then please have your assistant reach out to us. We will be more than happy to drop by and discuss the matter with you.

We also encourage you to read the article below.

11 Tips for Managing Millennials BY SUSAN M. HEATHFIELD

The millennials joining your workforce now are employees born between 1980 and 2000, or 1981 and 1999, depending on the source. Unlike the Gen-Xers and the Baby Boomers, the Millennials have developed work characteristics and tendencies from doting parents, structured lives, and contact with diverse people.

Millennials are used to working in teams and want to make friends with people at work. Millennial employees work well with diverse coworkers.

They grew up in an environment in which diverse children were the norm.

Millennials have a can-do attitude about tasks at work and look for feedback about how they are doing frequently—even daily and certainly weekly. Millennials want a variety of tasks and expect that they will accomplish every one of them. Positive and confident, millennials are ready to take on the world.

They seek leadership, and even structure, from their older and managerial coworkers, but expect that you will draw out and respect their ideas. Millennials seek a challenge and do not want to experience boredom. Used to balancing many activities such as teams, friends, and philanthropic activities, millennials want flexibility in scheduling and a life away from work.

Millennials need to see where their career is going and they want to know exactly what they need to do to get there. Millennials await their next challenge—and there better be a next challenge.

Millennials are the most connected generation in history and they will network right out of their current workplace if these diverse needs are not met. Computer experts, millennials are connected all over the world by email, instant messages, text messages, and the internet. Job searching, business contacts, and friends are just a couple of key taps away.

Know this because it really matters to millennials.

11 Tips for Millennial Management

1. Provide structure. Reports have monthly due dates. Jobs have fairly regular hours. Certain activities are scheduled every day. Meetings have agendas and minutes. Goals are clearly stated and progress is assessed. Define assignments and success factors. Millennials don’t need to be boxed in but they do need banks on their pond.

2. Provide leadership and guidance. Millennials want to look up to you, learn from you, and receive daily feedback from you. They want in on the whole picture and to know the scoop. Plan to spend a lot of time teaching and coaching and be aware of this commitment to millennials when you hire them. They deserve and want your very best investment of time in their success.

3. Encourage the millennial’s self-assuredness, “can-do” attitude, and positive personal self-image. Millennials are ready to take on the world. Their parents told them they can do it—and they can. Encourage—don’t squash them or contain them. They’re always looking to provide input and ideas. Encourage them to voice their thoughts and opinions.

4. Take advantage of the millennial’s comfort level with teams. Encourage them to join teams and provide a work environment that stresses teamwork. They are used to working in groups and teams. In contrast to the lone ranger attitude of earlier generations, millennials actually believe a team can accomplish more and better—they’ve experienced team success. Not just related to age, watch who joins the volleyball match at the company picnic. Millennials gather in groups and play on teams; you can also mentor, coach, and train your millennials as a team.

5. Listen to the millennial employee. Your millennial employees are used to loving parents who have scheduled their lives around the activities and events of their children. These young adults have ideas and opinions and don’t take kindly to having their thoughts ignored. After all, they had the best listening, the most child-centric audience in history.

6. Millennial employees are up for a challenge and change. Boring is bad. They seek ever-changing tasks within their work. What’s happening next is their mantra. Don’t bore them, ignore them, or trivialize their contribution.

7. Millennial employees are multi-taskers on a scale you’ve never seen before. Multiple tasks don’t phase them. Talk on the phone while doing email and answering multiple instant messages—yes! This is a way of life. In fact, without many different tasks and goals to pursue within the week, the millennials will likely experience boredom.

8. Take advantage of your millennial employee’s computer, cell phone, and electronic literacy. Are you a Boomer or even an early Gen-Xer? The electronic capabilities of these employees are amazing. You have a salesman in China? How’s the trip going? Old timers call and leave a message in his hotel room. Or, you can have your millennial text message him in his meeting for an immediate response. The world is wide, if not yet deep, for your millennial employees.

9. Capitalize on the millennial’s affinity for networking. Not just comfortable with teams and group activities, your millennial employee likes to network around the world electronically. Keep this in mind because they are able to post their resume electronically as well on web job boards viewed by millions of employers. They intermingle on sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn and rate your company at Glassdoor.com. Sought after employees, they are loyal, but they keep their options open—always.

10. Provide a life-work balanced workplace. Your millennials are used to cramming their lives with multiple activities. They may play on sports teams, walk for multiple causes, spend time as fans at company sports leagues, and spend lots of time with family and friends. They work hard, but they are not into the sixty hour work weeks defined by the Baby Boomers. Home, family, spending time with the children and families, are priorities. Don’t lose sight of this. Balance and multiple activities are important to these millennial employees. Ignore this at your peril.

11. Provide a fun, employee-centered workplace. Millennials want to enjoy their work. They want to enjoy their workplace. They want to make friends in their workplace. Worry if your millennial employees aren’t laughing, going out with workplace friends for lunch, and helping plan the next company event or committee. Help your long-term employees make room for the millennials.
By internet research counts, 75,000,000 millennials are joining the workforce—in 2015 they became the majority of your workers. These are desirable employees. Make your millennial employees happy in a fun, yet structured setting, and you are building the foundation for the superior workforce you desire. You are developing the workforce of your future.

As always, when characterizing a  particular group of employees based on age, or any other special characteristic, some employees will fit this description; some employees will fit a part of this description; some employees will not fit this description at all.

Yet, if you heed these tips, you will steer your organization forward, more times than not, with a positive approach to managing your millennial employees.

https://www.thebalance.com/tips-for-managing-millennials-1918678

Do you practice what you learn?

~ jordan ~ Leave a comment
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Another way of looking at the old saying ‘Practice what you preach’ is ‘Practice what you learn.’ Far too often, we sit down in a classroom type training learning something new. However, we seldom put new-found knowledge into practice. This is such a waste of time, money, resource and opportunity to improve.

After returning to the Philippines five years ago, one glaring practice I noticed about training companies is that they have this ‘training hit & run’ approach. These training companies provide classroom training but fail to consider the sustainability of the lesson in real life. Such training companies do this either in a public workshop or in a more contained corporate training setting. Knowledge retention with such an approach is very low. People usually go back to business as usual and gradually forget what they learned.

AGMC, the company we set-up, has a different approach. After we conduct our ‘classroom training’ the learning process does not end there. Participants have an assignment to use what they learn in their day-to-day work. Three or four weeks after the classroom training, we reconvene and the participants share their experience using their new competencies.

Participants report on the work situation where the skill was used. They are also required to analyze the situation and report on their insights. It is only now, after the discussions, that they receive their certifications.

This is not a new approach to sustainable learning. It has been used abroad for some time now. Locally, when you take up a Lean Six Sigma program, the participant is required to have an actual work project proving the use of the lessons learned. They identify a challenging problem at work and use the tools and lessons they learned to fix the problem. The participant then proceeds and analyzes the financial benefits of the project and present/defend it to a panel. Only when they prove that they effectively used their newly acquired competency will they get their Lean Six Sigma Certification.

To all training companies back here. Let us design our programs as sustainable competency development programs and not as a one-shot deal. When a customer calls us again for a development program, it should be for a new competency. Getting a call to come back and re-train people for a competency that did not stick simply means we failed.

Tips for the newly hired Gen Y

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Entering the workplace can be intimidating for a first timer. Often, a new millennial employee would not know where to begin his or her journey. This is particularly worse if the company does not have a structured on-boarding program.

The first thing you ask for on your first day at work is for the on-boarding program. For the first time employees, the on-boarding program is a set of activities designed to get a newly hired person to quickly be productive in the workplace. This can include a brief background of the company, the key leaders, critical HR policies and procedures, walk-through on where to get information when needed, tour of the office and so on.

After the on-boarding has been accomplished, the very first question you ask your manager for is your latest job profile or job description. You need to read this very carefully as it narrates your job and the activities it entails. You need to clearly know what is expected from you. A former Citibank executive used to tell us “In order to do a good job, you first need to understand what is expected from you. Do not guess.” Ask your manager what he or she expects from you.

Start observing which of your colleagues actually deliver on their commitment and which ones are simply full of lip service. You need to stay away from the nay sayers or negative ones. These people will drain your energy with their negative vibes. Make sure you keep close to the high potential ones and get their help when needed.

Do not forget to dive into and understand your KPI’s and goals. You need to know how your performance will be measured at the end of the year. You need to understand what your goals are and plan how to reach them. Your ability to work as a team and deliver your goals has a big influence on your career in the company. It will also influence your pay scale and bonus.

Make sure you try and get along with everyone. At this point you will be feeling your way around the workplace and the last thing you need is someone who dislikes you. Let me make it very clear right now – no matter how bright you may think you are, you cannot win in the workplace if you are alone.

There you have it. Please feel free to pass this on to your friends and colleagues.

All the best in your new venture.