Fulcrum Point Partners

If you don’t take the time upfront to regularly talk with your employees, does it cost you more time in the end?

One of the more popular activities in my management courses is the airplane game.

I tell all the managers we are part of the same company. The way we make money is to create paper airplanes and fly them into a garbage bin. This creates revenue and keeps our stockholders happy.

Yes, you have to suspend reality for this and the participants do at the prospect of creating paper airplanes!

Round 1 everyone works alone. Round 2 everyone at the same table can collaborate. Round 3 the whole room works together.

This game is used to demonstrate either teamwork or delegation. (It’s also fun to watch adults act like children!)

The number of airplanes landing in the garbage bin increases as everyone starts working together. Yes, some of that is because they’re getting a better understanding and experience with what to do. But the requirements increases geometrically (if in round one the total for a table is 6, then round two they are expected to get at least 15 since they will be working together). Most usually meet this quota.

In one class, there was a group of managers who cut corners. This pretty much started in round 1. They exaggerated their numbers, created airplanes that really weren’t airplanes; basically they cheated!

This resulted in them getting higher quotas in the subsequent rounds which they couldn’t accomplish.

This time the learning wasn’t about teamwork or delegation. It was about how when we try and cut corners it comes back to us with damaging results; it would have been easier to take the time and do it right in the first place.

When managers are under time crunches, one of the things they let go is the continuous meetings they have with their reports. Since this work is important but not urgent, its gets pushed back.

It saves time in the moment.

But the cost is greater in the long run.

When you don’t have continuous ongoing meetings it can result in miscommunications, misunderstandings, decrease morale, lower morale and a lot of wasted time correcting it all.

Yes, you can miss one once in a while.

But the continuous ongoing meetings with your reports are one of the most important things you do as a manager.

When you maintain continuous ongoing meetings with each report:

• You are avoiding surprises for your or your report in the future
• If something goes wrong you are catching it sooner than later
• You are providing an atmosphere for trust and communication which we all need

So go ahead and cut corners when flying paper airplanes. Just don’t do it with the meetings you have with your reports.

The Pareto principal, which is better known as the 80/20 rule, states that 80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts.

This principal could be applied to all areas of one’s professional and personal life.

But in terms of evaluating one’s performance:

Is 80% fully successful?

Will you give someone a high evaluation if they achieved 80% of their work?

Will they get a raise? A promotion?

It depends.

There isn’t one correct answer.

Every situation with each employee is dependent on their circumstances.

But as managers, how do you measure your employees with the same standards?

By making sure each goal they have is as specific as it needs to be to be successful. That the measurements are well defined, so you minimize the chances for misinterpretation.

The end result for a manager-employee relation is the yearly appraisal.

In order for this appraisal be a mere formality and not an argument, you need to start with goals which are specific, measureable and timely (SMT goals, as discussed in my book!)

Then you need to meet regularly to see where each employee is on track with their SMT goals or where they need your support and guidance.

When you measure each employee with the same standards:

• Each employee will have different goals, but they all will be specific, measurable and timely
• The frequency you meet with each employee could be different but should meet the needs for each of them
• You will have less miscommunication, more productivity and less conflict!

And you will know if 80% is enough!

How do you motivate someone to do something they don’t want to do?

In one of my management workshops we were discussing motivation techniques. An attendee said it sounded liked I suggested they threaten their employees.

I quickly responded by saying no don’t threaten them, just have motivation with consequences.

The class laughed because they thought that phrase was a creative way of saying threaten your employees.

But it isn’t. Not really.

You can’t motivate someone to do something they don’t want to do. Well, maybe you can, but the motivation won’t last.

So how do you motivate someone to do something they don’t want to do?

You need to find out what’s in it for them.

Will there be rewards if it gets done? Will there be consequences if it doesn’t?

The employee needs to get bothered one way or another. Their stability needs to be shaken in order for a motivating factor to work.

Otherwise why would they change?

If there weren’t rewards or consequences for them, why should they change doing something they don’t want to do?

Having a reward is a more pleasant, Zen, healthier way for motivation.

But when there isn’t a reward, go for consequences!

In order to get someone motivated:

• You need to find out what motivates them
• Find a reward or consequence which will personally affect them
• Follow up on what you say will happen

Don’t offer a reward or consequence if you can’t give it. That would only make future motivation more difficult.

And how do you find out what motivates others?

Simple: Observe them, ask them and listen to them.

Then you have your data to offer rewards or consequences!

In one of my management courses, we do a listening exercise. The point is to just listen. No questions, no taking notes.

The activity gives perspective to the person who is a listener and how well they listen.

Or what they listen to.

Two dynamic women in the course were put together. One shared; the other listened. The woman who shared told how there was a disconnect at their company, based in Mexico, between the people on land and the people who worked on sea (a shipping/export type of company).

The listener immediately thought it was because this person was a woman.

As a result, she didn’t really hear anything else the talker was saying.

But the reasons had nothing to do with her being a woman. There were other communication reasons for the disconnect.

This is a great example of how we hear what we hear based on our own beliefs and experiences.

As managers and leaders, how do we put aside our beliefs and experiences when we’re listening?

It’s difficult to do.

It’s especially difficult to do when you are in conflict with the person you are listening to – an employee who isn’t doing great work, a peer who doesn’t do what they say, or your own manager who doesn’t seem to know what you’re doing.

When you do put aside your own beliefs and experiences when listening to others:

• You are actively listening to them and not to you
• Your questions will be geared more towards what they are looking for, not what you are looking for
• You can be a greater resource to whom you are listening, whether employees, peers or your manager!

Actively listening helps you to ask questions which will lead to solutions, actions or opportunities.

It will support your employees more effectively; make your job easier while making you a greater manager!