Leadership Trends and Realities

Trust Seeds

Robert Whipple, LeaderGrow.com

We are all aware that interpersonal trust is precious. Trust is fragile; it is difficult to build, and easy to destroy.  Most people believe it takes a very long time to build up trust with another person.  There is an alternate view; if certain conditions are present when people first meet, a "seed" of trust is created upon which further trust will grow if both people continue to nurture it.

In his book Blink, Malcolm Gladwell describes the "Thin Slices" we humans use to size up other people within seconds of meeting them. We absorb an enormous amount of data instantly in the body language and the first words uttered by a new acquaintance.

I can recall meeting two influential men last year within seconds of each other. The first one gave me a solid handshake and a smile. He made great eye contact and asked me a question about my family.  The second individual gave me a half-limp handshake while his eyes were scanning the room to see who else was there.  He did smile, but it was forced and phony.

Since that time, I have effortlessly developed a relationship of high trust with the first individual, and I have felt uncomfortable to be in the same room as the second one. The relationship with the first man took several months to develop, but the seed was planted in the first 5 seconds. With the second man, there was nothing for trust to grow on, so a relationship never kindled.

There are numerous things people instantly assess about us. Here are five conditions that allow you to plant a seed on which trust can grow.

Competence  - People must be convinced that you know what you are doing to view you as  being trustworthy. If they sense that you have the ability from a knowledge and skill
set to deliver on your statements, then you pass the competence test.  If they have doubts that you can deliver, then they will remain skeptical until there is enough time to test you.

Integrity -  Do you have the character to do what is right? People need to feel that you are not duplicitous and that you will stand up for what you believe is right. It does not mean that you always need to agree with others on every point, but people need to see you as a person of high moral and ethical fiber before they are going to trust you.

Reliability - People need to be convinced that you will do what you say.  This characteristic normally takes people a long time to test, but it actually can happen quickly.  People can discern your reliability through the way you phrase intentions and even the body language you use to chat with them.  The ability to follow through with intended actions or at least get back to the other person if conditions change is easy to spot, just as it is easy to observe a blowhard who says nice things but has no intention to actually do them.

Attitude - To gain trust, you need to project a positive attitude when another person is meeting you and ensure that it comes from the heart.  Depending on the contextual background of the meeting, a smile is the usual way to show a positive attitude toward another person. Caveat: putting on a false smile is the kiss of death, because it pegs you as someone who cannot be trusted at all. In a different context, a look of concern or sympathy might be a more appropriate way to show a positive attitude toward the other person.  Your attitude and demeanor must be heartfelt and congruent with the situation.

Care - It is vital to project that you really do care about the other person. People might say it takes years to know if someone else really does care about you. In reality, care can be displayed in hundreds of small gestures, just as selfishness can be easily spotted. Giving deference to the feelings of others is an important component of Emotional Intelligence. The interesting observation about this is that the people who have low Emotional Intelligence have the biggest blindspots, according to Daniel Goleman. Translated, if you come across as a phony in terms of really caring about other people, you will not have the ability to detect this in yourself, but others will see it instantly.

On the back of my business card, I have a picture of a pile of various seeds.  The words say:

Seeds for Growing Leaders

Plant in an environment of trust,

Sprinkle daily with humility,

Weed out negativity,

Place in the light of truth,

Be patient,

Enjoy the fruits of great leadership.

It does take a long time of consistent performance for a very strong bond of trust to build, but the first seeds of trust can be established quickly upon meeting someone. Make sure when you meet a new person that you genuinely project the five conditions above, and you will be well on your way to a trusting relationship.

Robert Whipple is also the author of The TRUST Factor: Advanced Leadership for Professionals, Leading with Trust is like Sailing Downwind and, Understanding E-Body Language: Building Trust Online. Bob consults and speaks on these and other leadership topics. He is CEO of Leadergrow Inc. a company dedicated to growing leaders. Contact Bob at [email protected] 

 

You Got 20/20 Vision? Hmmm, What’s Your Mission?

Hal Alpiar, 
www.BusinessWorks.US

Is your vision statement a mission? Does your mission statement have vision? You’re getting ready for 4^th Quarter 2012 and you’re confused? Gee, hard to imagine . . .

Just because the media and politicians tell us the economy is getting better? Just because we’re looking at a healthcare reform that has absolutely nothing to do with healthcare and everything to do with costing business more money? Just because enemy combatant terrorist situations surface from those we’re told are not really terrorists, and from circumstances that we’re assured do not exist? Just because global-warming hoaxsters have us running to refrigeration investments?

~~~~~~~

We’re probably feeling like confusion is nothing new, right? So why not live with a little more?

Well, here’s why: The business you own or manage doesn’t need to be as misguided and convoluted as politicians and the media. Remember they get paid for creating confusion. Your success depends on keeping things simple.

Keeping things simple starts with a foundation of mutual trust, an integrity attitude, tenacious awareness, and consistent hard work.

First off, don’t let anyone tell you to work smarter and not harder. That’s baloney! Every business success comes from hard work. Next, don’t let people confuse you about the characteristics and values of Mission and Vision Statements. [No, they are NOT the same!]

A Mission statement is essentially a declaration of intent, challenge and pursuit. It is your goal statement that clearly and succinctly explains what you plan to accomplish over what specific period of time and by what means. It is action-focused. Its ultimate success will be determined by the extent to which you cultivate mutual Trust  among those you work with and oversee.

And, like every meaningful goal, your Mission Statement needs t0 be specific, flexible, realistic and have a due date. [Without all four criteria, you've nothing more than a wishlist fantasy!]

A Vision statement is a heart-and-soul summation of where you see your business in 5-10 years. It is a picture you paint in your mind and share with others. It answers the question: If you succeed in your mission, where will you be? Its success is determined by your practice of —and ultimately your reputation for— high Integrity on a consistent day-to-day basis.

Your Vision Statement is a set of words that best describes what you imagine your future state of existence to be, and how you expect (hope) to be viewed by others: your employees, associates, vendors, customers, markets, industry or profession, and community. It is dream-focused. Its primary value is to inspire pursuit of your Mission.

What’s your Mission for 2013? What’s your Vision for 2020?

Oh, and in the same fashion that it helps to start ANY mission with 20/20 vision, it is often most useful to put your 2020 Vision on the table (to keep focused on it) while you develop your 2013 Mission (or while you think up the ways to get where you want to end up).

Seeing through it all …maybe, maybe not.

Hal Alpiar, 
www.BusinessWorks.US

There’s an awful lot of talk in top management circles trending to the favor-ability of transparent leadership, but reality often dictates the need to exercise the exact opposite, at least for certain situations. Two-facedness? Manipulative? Irresponsible? Lacking integrity? Ruling by exception? Well, even open windows do not always afford a clear view.

When every word you say and move you make is public to all around you, it can be inhibiting to decision making that might be for the good of all involved. Adhering to a policy of transparency can instead take on a neurotic life of its own which can prevent meaningful forward motion.

Consider, for example, the advisability of sharing content of investor or prospective investor discussions as they occur, with all employees. . . or, publicly airing the private meeting critique of an under-achieving employee. Actually, many if not most sensitive-type bits of information might best be kept private and only be shared on a need-to-know basis.

We badger government officials to maintain transparency because they are elected and paid by us to represent our interests, and we are entitled to know what they think and say, and how they behave. But business (thankfully, for the cause of cultivating entrepreneurial spirit and the capitalism that fuels our economy) doesn’t conduct itself that way.

Private enterprise shareholders are entitled to know how business management represents the interests of a given company, but not have a say in every issue. Shareholders are instead invested in the integrity of the management that represents the company they are invested in.

Effective transparent leadership may translate to open-door management for many, but even those who take their doors off the hinges have been known to beef up their effectiveness with periodic whispers and private notes. Because sharing everything with everyone can easily create more problems than it solves.

Another way to think of it is simply that not every organization member is capable of understanding areas of specialization beyond what she or he is directly involved with, and to expect that that’s the case is to invite confusion and delay that will block progress. It’s healthy to look at the total leadership picture before throwing all the doors and windows open.

To paraphrase Lincoln’s famous quote: “You can be transparent to all of the people some of the time, and you can be transparent to some of the people all 0f the time, but you can’t be transparent to all of the people all of the time.” 

 

How to Keep Good Employees During Difficult Times

Jonena Relth, TBD Consulting

How do we find good people who will come to work for us when our states are losing hundreds of thousands of jobs each year? How do we convince workers that if they can sell their homes and uproot their families by moving to work for us, that we'll be able to guarantee them a secure position within our companies?

Each HR exec is grappling with finding, retaining and developing good people during these hard times.  It's easy to attract the best folks when the economy is ticking right along; house prices are holding steady or going up; business opportunities abound, and all is well in "HR Land."  The 'good ol' days' don't seem to be coming back any time soon and it's been a whole different business environment that we've been navigating since 2008.

Our topic this month is talent attraction, retention and development. All three components of finding and keeping valued employees are crucial for our business success.  But what do we do, especially if our companies happen to be located in the four worst states in terms of job losses?

Lists we don't want to be on are the "prestigious" unemployment lists [not] from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for 2008-2012.  Honestly, we can put our heads in the sand and listen to the media telling us that the job scene is improving, or we can take these stats to heart and begin changing our hiring and retention policies to help workers and companies survive and hopefully thrive in a down economy. 

Let's start with some statistics that give HR leaders heartburn.  Mike Sunnucks of the Phoenix Business Journal summarized some of the 2008-2012 unemployment data in his March 26, 2012 article, Arizona among four states with worst US job markets since 2008.

States that lost jobs since 2008:

• Nevada lost 12.7 percent of its jobs. That was worst among U.S. states. Arizona was next with 10 percent of its jobs lost, followed by Florida with an 8.5 percent job loss rate.
• California lost the most total jobs, shedding 855,200 positions during the 4-year time frame. Florida was next shedding 578,900 jobs. Arizona lost 225,100 jobs during that same time.
  • Those four states were hit hard by the real estate meltdown, rise in foreclosure and hits on hiring, population growth and tourism.
  • California also has suffered from the real estate decline as well as some businesses and workers leaving because of high taxes.

Only four states and the District of Columbia added jobs since 2008.

• Texas beat out Arizona for 3,600 Apple workers and gained the most jobs of any U.S. state with 139,800. Texas might have gained the most jobs but the state came in fourth in percentage growth at 1.59 percent.
• The other states adding jobs were North Dakota (41,200 jobs), D.C. (21,000 jobs), Louisiana (10,400 jobs) and Alaska (4,200), according to BLS data.
• North Dakota did best when it came to percentage jobs gains, growing its workforce by 14.3 percent since 2008.

So what can we make of this data?  Not much until we delve into other information telling what type of jobs are being cut and what kind of jobs are being kept or increased?  We also need to ascertain why so many people of any particular industry are being hit in any one area of the country; what is behind the drop in consumer spending; what factors need to change for our economy to pick up, etc. The analysis can be daunting, especially given the different interpretations by even the best economists.

One suggestion I have is to use a good CPA firm that has access to up-to-date business intelligence data and software that enables them to calculate your company's risk tolerances to the economy, hiring, keeping people during down times vs. letting them go, etc. They can also advise you on ways you can change your HR policies to make them more "employee friendly."

Additionally, look at ways to incentivize your existing people to stick with you during these hard times. Many of those people have spent much of their adult life at your company and their company knowledge is hard to replace - especially quickly.  It can be much easier and more cost efficient to keep existing, valuable employees than searching for, hiring and bringing new people up to speed. 

Ideas and programs abound, but I'd suggest you go to the source and find out what your employees want. Don't waste time designing incentive programs that will decentivise your people because they have no interest in what you're offering.  It will very likely not be more money -- it could very well be another day of PTO or the ability to work virtually instead of tackling traffic jams each day.  Whatever you do, be consistent and fair.  Some companies get in trouble by showing "favoritism" to one employee group over another.  Keep the playing field even and you'll never regret it.  You want loyal employees and nothing kills loyalty faster than finding out the guy in the cubby or office next to you gets bennies that you don't!

We're all looking for the one silver bullet that will help our companies do well in this economy.  If you find it, please let us know!

To do your own research, you might want to start online at the Bureau of Labor and Statistics:  Databases, Tables & Calculators by Subject 

Jonena

TBD Consulting has a 20-year, proven track record for ensuring employee performance improvement which translates to employee performance success. Whether you need help developing an in-house training organization or simply need "extra hands" to meet your deadlines or ROI goals, please contact Jonena. She and her qualified staff are here to assist you with your organizational development, coaching and training initiatives.

Corporate Office 602-263-1961. Email Jonena today!