REVERSIBLE COMMUNICATION FAILURE

"While the rest of the world has been improving technology, Ghana has been improving the quality of man's humanity to man." ~Maya Angelou

"It's not a faith in technology. It's faith in people." ~Steve Jobs



I certainly embrace the efficiencies we have gained to communicate and transact globally using the bounty of technology that has emerged over the past two decades. But even Steve Jobs knew that technology was the tool to aid humanity, not to replace humanity.


Unfortunately, I attribute the degradation of communication style to a collective over-reliance upon technology tools that allow for the decrease in face-to-face communication. It is not mandatory that we decrease our face-to-face communication, but if we allow ourselves to hide behind our smart phones as we walk down the sidewalk, we may come to believe that we are being productive.


But, as with any muscle that we fail to use to its capacity, gradual entropy of communication style, the ability to interpret body language, grace, tone, etc.result direct. This decline in style and skill has led to a lowest-common-denominator commoditization of communication in cyberspace, which when exercised in person is often stunted at best.


Skip Weisman, a fellow member of The Leadership Trust recently posted an insightful article that brought the topic of Ineffective Workplace Communication to the fore. Much like the management-by-walking-around movement got us out of our offices and back onto the plant floors and into the work spaces of our teams, so too must we now look up from our smart phones and tablets, set them down, and engage our colleagues in an authentic, in-person manner to redevelop the skills that our forebears exercised well and effectively.

This communication breakdown is occurring on two levels: (1) our own behavior; and (2) the behavior of those we interact with.

I'm the worst offender...I had to come to terms with my own behavior. Now, while I hadn't exactly crossed over to the realm of believing that "my friends live in it," I had found myself walking down the street--even crossing the street--checking email, etc. I would sit in meetings and check incoming messages as they appeared, which is often every five minutes or less. As colleagues, friends and family would bring it to my attention, I'd laugh the observations off with a "hey, this is how we do it" smile and shoulder shrug.

Because I do speak publicly and meet with others so frequently, I wasn't experiencing the entropy of interpersonal communication, nor was I pulling out my smart phone in the midst of delivering seminars. But I certainly was allowing technological interconnectedness to come into conference rooms and restaurants beyond what I would characterize as good form. So, I took personal responsibility for it and decreased (not eliminated) my own personal offenses. Heck, if our nation's forebearers were able to found the United States, establish international trade treaties, and usher in the industrial revolution with free market civility--all without 24/7 texting and email-- then I became convinced that I'd survive without my face glued to my handheld device.

Regarding those with whom we interact, we can certainly gently remind them that eye contact is still in vogue, but truly once we take control of our own behavior, we can then restore enough sanity from our end to restore and strengthen traditional face-to-face dialogue. This is where it gets really interesting.

The more that I observe the degradation of communication in individuals who recede into the relative non-verbal safety of their tablets and smart phones, the more that I realize the crutch that these devices represent to those who may always have been uncomfortable communicating verbally. While I do not expect every individual to assume a gregarious posture contrary to a more sedate nature, I have come to recognize poor communication among managers and teams as contributing to productivity decreases, turnover and heightened stress in the workplace. Either provide communication training to those individuals, or simply stop promoting them beyond their communicative capability.

Let's look at our own teams:

• Should we be devoting more time to truly open team communication and one-on-one meetings?
• Have we asked and accurately understood our employees' individual passions, both professional and personal?
• Do we exercise the courage the solicit feedback from our leaders, peers and direct reports so that we may improve our communication and work style?

Like many of you, I enjoy the convenience and effectiveness that my communication technology provides, but sometimes we just have to put the darn devices down, walk around, pause, make eye contact and have an authentic conversation with the individuals around us.

Certainly, we have made some great strides during the technological revolution, but as Maya Angelou noted, we cannot cease devoting ourselves to "improving the quality of man's humanity to man."

Lead with Integrity.

DON'T STEAL MY JOY!

"If a man love the labour of any trade apart from any question of success or fame, the gods have called him." ~Robert Louis Stevenson

 

"Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work." ~Aristotle 

Continuing the theme from my previous article, I had been thinking more about how we lead those members of our team who appear to have plateaued in their roles.

I am reminded of a time earlier in my career when I was meeting with one of my Accounting Specialists (we'll call her "Sherry"). Sensing that her abilities exceeded her present role, I had been encouraging Sherry for some time to learn new tasks, go back to school for additional education, and position herself for advancement in the Organization. I valued Sherry's contributions and loyalty to the Team. During this particular meeting, I was proposing assigning Sherry some new duties with greater responsibility, and I was suggesting that I delegate some of her current duties to another Accounting Specialist to alleviate some of Sherry's work load.

I'll never forget what came next. Sherry looked at me and said calmly but firmly, "Cris, don't steal my joy!"

A bit confused by her response, I clarified further, "Sherry, I am very pleased with your work on this Team, so I want to provide you with new opportunities." I continued sincerely but naively, "This is a good thing I'm suggesting."

"I would be happy to take on these additional tasks and the project, but please don't take away my current tasks," Sherry continued. "I enjoy doing them."

Aha! So that was the rub. In my zeal to develop my Team Member with advancement opportunities, I had neglected to fully understand how and why Sherry had come into the role I had found her in. Because I had viewed her outstanding work ethic, trustworthiness, and loyalty to me (as the Leader) and to her peers through my own lens, I had failed to inquire further into Sherry's own perception of her value to the Team and to the Organization.

Taken in that new light, but cognizant that Sherry would not be able to effectively shoulder all of the new duties with all of her existing duties, we negotiated to ensure that Sherry retained those prior duties she most valued and would remain the back-up on the additional duties that she agreed she would shed. As Leaders, we must shun the gut-level assumption that "resistance to change" or "secure comfort zones" are the only reasons member of our Team might wish to perform longstanding duties. As Sherry taught me that day, some employees simply--heavens!--ENJOY THEIR WORK.

Sherry had shown longtime loyalty to the Organization. She didn't want to set the world on fire, become the CEO, or lead a Division. But, like many members of the Teams we lead daily, Sherry wanted to contribute to the Team's success, further the objectives of the Organization, and have fun doing it. Really not so bad when you view the win-win outcome against the philosophical backdrop of the likes of Aristotle and Robert Louis Stevenson.

TODAY'S QUESTION: Are YOU fully informed about the individual reasons why your Team Members gravitate to and excel at the work that they perform? If not, when will YOU schedule that conversation?

BLOOMING WHERE YOU'RE PLANTED

“You’re not going to do this forever. There’s a finite amount of time you’re going to be doing this. Do this really, really well. And if you do this really, really well, everybody will see that, and they’ll move you onto the next thing. And you do that well, and then you’ll move." ~Gene Ross, as recalled by Terry Lundgren, CEO of Macy's

"Truly charity has no limit; for the love of God has been poured into our hearts by His Spirit dwelling in each one of us, calling us to a life of devotion and inviting us to bloom in the garden where He has planted and directing us to radiate the beauty and spread the fragrance of His Providence." ~St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622)

Hunger? Chutzpah? Impatience? Go-Getter?

How do you characterize that insistent quality--what I refer to as "career energy"--in the Leaders you train, coach and develop? How do/did the Leaders you report(ed) to characterize that quality in YOU?

I think back to my early energized career and how I couldn't understand my own Mother's serene satisfaction with her plateau in the professional world. Lost on me until many years later was that my Mother had found her niche in the workplace, and it balanced very nicely with her other life areas. Not until I had grown personally and professionally, stumbling repeatedly along the way over my own hubris, did I come to appreciate that each of us has the opportunity to "bloom where we're planted."

Many of us are familiar with a variation of the story of the three steelworkers atop the skeletal girders of a future skyscraper. A reporter happens upon the three men at the end of their shift and asks each of them what work they are performing. The first steelworker replies with exhaustion, "I do what I'm told, welding day after day." The second steelworker replies saracastically, "I'm constructing the frame of a building for do-nothing suits." The third steelworker pauses, wipes sweat from his brow, and looks skyward hopefully and smiles, "I'm a member of a crew dedicated to raising the finest office building this City's ever seen, in which our sons and daughters will one day earn their living upon graduation from college..."

Any one who has ever weathered a sanitation strike or a transit strike knows firsthand that there are no insignificant professions in our society. Even when participating in volunteer work, I find that I often don't encounter much competition for roles that involve cleaning restrooms or picking up trash--and so I readily request those jobs because I know that when they don't get accomplished with passion, the visual (and olfactory) results are embarassingly unpleasant. Dirt under my nails is good for my soul.

Reflect back to someone you met who may have been performing a menial task, but was doing it with gusto and enthusiasm. I love to tell about the young gentleman sweeping the street at DisneyWorld's Hollywood Studios who saw me and my wife reviewing our map, and walked right over to us and happily escorted us halfway across the park to the show venue we were seeking. We all must remember--as I did that afternoon--to find that individual's Leader and point out our satisfaction with his/her team member's committed action. Remember, a caring someone may have done exactly that (as Terry Lundgren remarks further in the link above) for YOU at the dawn of YOUR career.

TODAY'S QUESTIONS: Turning our attention to our own Team--to the Leaders and future Leaders, as well as to our plateaued Team Members--how are we receiving and perceiving that insistent characteristic or lack there of?

• Are we acknowledging and encouraging the individual's career energy?
• Are we harnessing and aligning that energy for the good of the organization?
• Are we coaching and focusing the individual to reduce potential negative consequences of misguided career energy?
• Are we designing succession plans that incorporate these individuals into appropriate roles and providing stretch goals to translate that raw energy into meaningful experience?
• Are we engaging the plateaued individuals at periodic intervals to assess whether they have career energy brewing?