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Anxiety, reluctance and fear – these are the three things that people immediately feel the moment they hear change management. Therefore, change management should not be taken lightly by either management or the people involved. The biggest challenge of change management is overcoming resistance, especially in already comfortable organizations that have worked for many years and want to continue working as they are regardless of change.

Most of the problems in change management are related with resistance. Because even when the change is for something wonderful and to the advantage of the employees and the company as a whole, there will always be a certain level of resistance and there will always be questions about the motives behind the change.

Resistance can take a lot of forms – from a direct or indirect challenge, to lack of action, even to open hostility. In order to effectively battle resistance, you first have to understand where the resistance is coming from and why. In order to properly handle resistance in the workplace, there are certain techniques that might help. So if you are planning to invite everyone at the conference room for coffee and ask them to open up to you and explain why they think the change is unnecessary and a waste of time, you might want to reconsider.

One way to evade resistance is by making sure that the change management is applied correctly right from the start. Although resistance is a normal human reaction, it is no excuse to let resistance hinder the change. Simply put, if you do change management right the first time, you can prevent much of the resistance from ever occurring.
Another tip is to expect resistance. Regardless if the change solves a pressing problem that has been bothering the employees or the company for years, resistance to change will always be there. Perhaps because employees do not want to give up their comfortable lives prior the change or they fear being in an unknown future state. But if at the beginning you expect some resistance, your change management teams will be able to prepare strategies to address and minimize the conflict.

But the ultimate key in handling resistance is to address it formally. Managing resistance should not only be considered as a reactive scheme for change management. It should also be seen as a chance for change management heads to formulate proactive steps to handle and minimize resistance. When resistance is formally addressed, you will be assured that it is understood and dealt with as long as it is in effect. By formally addressing resistance, one will be able to transform it from a mere reactive reflex into a more effective tool for gathering support and addressing objections.

Find out more about change management and the application of learning management system as delivery medium.

Technorati Tags: business, education, management, training

In the modern age of simple, high-tech communication, having a virtual team is not only possible but in some instances preferable, as they can not only bring down time and cost but increase your companies’ pool of talent and resources. The problem with virtual teams however, is how do you manage them effectively?

So with that in mind, here are a few tips to help you manage your virtual team:

The first thing you’ll want to do is make use of as many modern communication channels as possible, as these will help you communicate with and direct your team properly. Included in your technological communications arsenal should be phone, email, video conferencing, skype, fax, remote access computers, blogs, forums, intranets and many, many more.

You may also want to attempt to standardise your project management approach by adopting one of the numerous established methods, such as Prince2 (You will need to complete a course for this method, there are established facilities all over the UK but the highest regarded are Manchester Prince2 and Liverpool Prince2).

Ensure each person in the team should be entirely aware of their roles and direct responsibilities, and you should also have a standardised method for reporting work on individual projects. You might want to try looking at online collaboration and project/personnel management tools to help you with this; a particularly good example is Basecamp.

As well as communicating with team-members using newly established and non-traditional methods, you can use the same methods to manage people effectively. You could look at slightly more creative means to select new members of staff - try holding interview via online video rather than in person for example. You can also hold full team meetings using a similar approach.

You should make an effort to be fully aware of and literate in all communication methods utilised by your team, and that you’re fully in control of all of them. Make sure you’re fully aware of all communications passing between team members and that everything is kept backed up. This way should you ever have an issue between the team or on a specific project, you’ll be able to track back and find out what went wrong.

Technorati Tags: communication, management, team management, virtual teams

Although getting the managerial spot is great news, there are some things, serious things, which come with the promotion. There are a number of first time managers who find themselves managing a fast food restaurant with a collegiate background in accounting and bookkeeping, expecting to hire people and crunch numbers but end up spending most of their time dealing with teenagers working their first job, calling employees to cover missed shifts and mopping the floor before locking up after working a 12-hour shift.

Some people get the managerial position by working their way up the ladder, while some gets the position in fancy paper.  There are also some managers who assume the position out of need. But regardless of the reason, every manager has a huge responsibility on their shoulders. If you do not perform your job properly, your team and your company will suffer the consequences.

Here are three worst things that a first time manager can do.

Prioritizing tasks instead of people.

A regular employee is expected to do the task assigned to him within the set deadline and other requirements. You were an employee who had the skills to get something done, perhaps in advertising, programming or in sales. However, now that you are manager, things are different – you are no longer bound to finish the tasks single-mindedly, but help your team carry out what they are expected to do the best way possible.

As manager, you are responsible for making sure that you get the best work possible from your team. How well you are doing as a manager will be determined by how well each individual in your team performs.

Talking more, listening less.

Any seasoned manager will tell you that the best way to run a team is by listening to them. Try doing a listening tour with your colleagues during your first few days as manager. Go have lunch or hand out with some employees and department heads. Find out what matters most to them, and think of ways to help them get what they need.

The best way to find out what people want is to make them talk. Besides, the most annoying manager to have is someone who never seems to shut up.

Delegating tasks without knowing employee capability.

This is perhaps the most common mistake that all first time managers commit almost all the time. When you give an important task to the wrong person, everything else fails.

That is why it is important that you know their capabilities and know their strengths and weaknesses first before delegating anything. Knowing what they can do and where they are good at will help you delegate the right task to the right person.

Using the Learning Management System is a great cost effective way to manage training. Choose one that has robust features and is easy to set up and use.

Learn more about managing your first team.

Technorati Tags: business, education, management, training

Although getting the managerial spot is great news, there are some things, serious things, which come with the promotion. There are a number of first time managers who find themselves managing a fast food restaurant with a collegiate background in accounting and bookkeeping, expecting to hire people and crunch numbers but end up spending most of their time dealing with teenagers working their first job, calling employees to cover missed shifts and mopping the floor before locking up after working a 12-hour shift.

Some people get the managerial position by working their way up the ladder, while some gets the position in fancy paper.  There are also some managers who assume the position out of need. But regardless of the reason, every manager has a huge responsibility on their shoulders. If you do not perform your job properly, your team and your company will suffer the consequences.

Here are three worst things that a first time manager can do.

Prioritizing tasks instead of people.

A regular employee is expected to do the task assigned to him within the set deadline and other requirements. You were an employee who had the skills to get something done, perhaps in advertising, programming or in sales. However, now that you are manager, things are different – you are no longer bound to finish the tasks single-mindedly, but help your team carry out what they are expected to do the best way possible.

As manager, you are responsible for making sure that you get the best work possible from your team. How well you are doing as a manager will be determined by how well each individual in your team performs.

Talking more, listening less.

Any seasoned manager will tell you that the best way to run a team is by listening to them. Try doing a listening tour with your colleagues during your first few days as manager. Go have lunch or hand out with some employees and department heads. Find out what matters most to them, and think of ways to help them get what they need.

The best way to find out what people want is to make them talk. Besides, the most annoying manager to have is someone who never seems to shut up.

Delegating tasks without knowing employee capability.

This is perhaps the most common mistake that all first time managers commit almost all the time. When you give an important task to the wrong person, everything else fails.

That is why it is important that you know their capabilities and know their strengths and weaknesses first before delegating anything. Knowing what they can do and where they are good at will help you delegate the right task to the right person.

Using the Learning Management System is a great cost effective way to manage training. Choose one that has robust features and is easy to set up and use.

Learn more about managing your first team.

Technorati Tags: business, education, management, training

Leading at Light Speed is a powerful leadership book by Eric Douglas for businesses, public agencies, and nonprofits revealing the 10 Quantum Leaps to build trust, spark innovation, and create a high-performing organization. In the 6th chapter, Stimulate the Creative Flow, Mr. Douglas describes the notion of celebrating failure while traversing the difficult path to innovation.

Leaders should not only celebrate successes, but failures as well. Failures are inevitable on the path of innovation, and smart leaders know there’s much to be learned from failure. We worked with a company that made software applications for medium-sized companies. Tom, the company’s CEO, was a big, affable guy in his mid-40s and a very open communicator. “Yep, we nearly blew that one,” he would say in absolute candor to his employees. “We’ll get ‘em next time.”

Tom wanted his software development team to create a new product that would dramatically simplify the use of Java tools. Unfortunately, Tom had concerns that his team had become too self-satisfied and afraid of risk. “We aren’t certain how to accomplish that,” expressed one of the engineers when Tom described the final results he wanted to see. “That’s all right,” said Tom. “You’ll learn.”

Tom set up four teams inside the engineering department with four related tasks, and gave them a deadline. On the wall he put four color-coded charts with milestones and timescales – one for each team.

The deadline encouraged speedy progress. The teams worked like crazy. On the last day, they asked Tom to come into the conference room. “We’ve got good news and we’ve got bad news,” the engineering VP said.

Tom glanced up. “Tell me the good news first.”

“We’ve got a heck of a product,” said the department chief.

“And what’s the bad news?” inquired Tom.

“It doesn’t do what it’s suppose to,” intoned the engineer.

Tom smiled. “Sounds great,” he stated. “I would like to know more.” The creators of the product then outlined for Tom how the product would eventually work.

“Why couldn’t you make the deadline?” Tom questioned.

“Because it was unrealistic,” several people chimed in.

Smiling, Tom encouraged his team to continue trying. Four weeks later, the team came in with big grins on their faces. “Guess what?” asked the engineers. “It works better than we imagined!”

Today, that product is the backbone of the company’s record profits.

People who fail while innovating should be made to feel welcome to try again – not scared to stick their necks out. That’s how you encourage creative flow.

Take this free work survey to see if your organization practices the 10 Quantum Leaps of high-performing organizations.

Technorati Tags: celebrate failure, innovation, leadership, management

Leading at Light Speed is a powerful leadership book by Eric Douglas for businesses, public agencies, and nonprofits revealing the 10 Quantum Leaps to build trust, spark innovation, and create a high-performing organization. In Chapter 3, Lead Through Others, Eric discusses the merits of using a behavior-based interview process instead of a typical interview.

One effective tool that can ensure you find the right people is behavior-based interviewing. It starts with writing down the behaviors that are most important for success in a particular job – not the tasks. Managing a team, motivating people, developing under-performers, starting a line of business, engaging people in change – these all might be behaviors you’re looking for. This list becomes your litmus test for selecting the right people.

The corollary of behavior-based interviewing is openended recruiting: When a position comes open, you keep searching until you find the right person, even if it means temporary hardship. Finding the right person takes precedence over settling for filling a position.

The quest to get the right people means you should always be on the lookout for talent. Naturally the most talented people are not usually looking for work. If you want to build a great company you need to get great people on board, and that may mean using unusual tactics. Effective leaders usually will use 25 percent of their time in recruiting and developing talent.

The cost of settling for second best can be huge. First, there’s the cost to ensure someone is trained properly. That’s a price you would have to pay in any case. But by settling for second best, you may have to spend more time training them to make sure they don’t make mistakes. It may be that you must spend more time critiquing their work. Perhaps you require multiple signoffs on their choice. One possibility is revising the process to make sure his or her work is reviewed by someone you trust. In an attempt to fill a position, you just add a little more bureaucracy to the organization.

Now comes the higher, hidden cost. The talented people in your organization start to resent the new person. They must deal with his or her mistakes. Maybe they have to subject themselves to the same bureaucracy. At that start this is an irritant, but it soon starts to grate. Morale suffers. Ultimately, the genuinely talented people decide to move on. This ultimately results in a damaging loss of trust. All because you failed to find the right people in the first place.

Here is an example of a typical interview vs. behavior-based interview.

Typical Interview:

Describe your experience in sales.
Is managing large accounts something you’ve been entrusted with?
Describe your greatest success.
How are you best motivated?
Describe how you typically handle conflict?

Behavior Based Interview:

This position requires a person to make five sales calls a day while traveling in a territory from Minneapolis to Atlanta. Tell me about your experience managing those kinds of sales logistics.

In this position it’s necessary to manage large accounts with multiple contacts inside the organization who need to be on board to get the sale. Explain your experiences making such a sale. How did you get them all to say “yes” to make them all say “yes”~How did you succeed in making them all say “yes”}?

We expect people to be self-motivated. Describe your own motivations for success. What are some examples of times you went the extra mile for a client - and for your company?

Tell us how you handled a situation that made you look bad. What did you do? What did you say? What was the outcome?

This position means working with an internal R&D team to help revamp our product for a new launch every year. Describe how you’ve successfully managed internal relationships with R&D teams to maximize the success of upgraded products?

Take this free work survey to see if your organization practices the 10 Quantum Leaps of high-performing organizations.

Technorati Tags: behavior based interview, hiring, management, typical interview

Leading at Light Speed is a powerful leadership book by Eric Douglas revealing 10 specific ways an organization must act and behave to build trust, spark innovation, and create a high-performing organization. The fourth chapter is about how to Manage Decisions Well.

Decisions are the atoms of every organization. Every business transaction, every new product launched, every new service offered, every process made more efficient and reliable, is a result of hundreds, if not thousands, of decisions. To build high levels of trust, teamwork and innovation, people need to know their decision-making roles and responsibilities.

For leaders who are trying to operate at light speed, this means focusing energy in areas where difficult conversations often need to occur. In the first place, this means clarifying priorities. Which decision needs to be made first? Which decision is less important?

Additionally, this means defining decision-making roles for your people, which oftentimes translates into less responsibility than your team members may think they have. At lunch one day, the manager of a large hospital division stated: “I need help learning how to be a better leader. What do you see as the most important thing I need to do?My immediate answer was “Define before you delegate”. Making the decisions you desire? Which decisions are you delegating to other people? You can’t be afraid to have those discussions.”

Our research shows few managers pay much attention to managing decisions. They see themselves as making decisions, not managing them. They fail to define roles and responsibilities clearly. They confuse the different types of decision processes. Confusing collaboration with consensus is not appropriate. They fail to lay out decision processes in a holistic way so that everyone can see their role. As a result, they fail to leverage themselves as leaders. Either they go too far, or not far enough, in empowering others. An optimum balance of trust, teamwork and innovation are not achieved.

An organization’s decisions are the day-to-day inputs and outputs. Operating at light speed means leaders must build systems resulting in across-the-board good decisions throughout the organization. They need to teach people how to manage decisions within the confines of the core values and vision. They need to reframe how difficult decisions are communicated and made. Clarify assignments. If left unchecked, the sludge of bureaucracy inches itself in and the organization stagnates. Most importantly, people must shift their orientation from making decisions to managing them.

What is your organization doing to implement high-performance practices? Find out with this free work survey.

Technorati Tags: leadership, manage decisions, management, managing decisions

Leading at Light Speed is an excellent leadership book by Eric Douglas showing you step-by-step how to implement 10 Quantum Leaps that build trust, spark innovation, and create a high-performing organization.

Quantum Leap #3 is all about Leading Through Others.

To maximize your impact, you have to lead through others. As a leader it is imperative to recruit and hire the right players, delegate responsibility to them, and make sure they have the tools to succeed. It also means getting rid of players who fail to adapt successfully. In this high paced world, each person on the team is needed to elevate the others. Taking to heart the habits of greatly successful teams is necessary. Effective leaders keep an eye on team dynamics, they bench players who refuse to progress, and give starting positions to those who come ready to play.

Renowned chef Alice Waters liked to say the secret of her cooking was to, “always start with the right ingredients.” When asked why he liked combining one or two superstars with a bunch of younger, unknown players, L.A. Lakers basketball coach Phil Jackson said: “They elevate each other’s game.”

“Get the right people on the bus,” is how Jim Collins puts it. You can only lead successfully if you find the right people and give them what they need to do their jobs right. Admittedly that’s easy to say and hard to do. This chapter discloses some of the elements. It focuses on shifting your mindset - instead of thinking about yourself you lead through others. Jim Collins uses the example of Wells Fargo and Bank of America to illustrate the difference.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Bank of America and Wells Fargo Bank had similar revenues and profit margins. Bank of America was directed by a leader who, by dint of his strong personality and commanding nature, had assembled a passive team of “yes men.” Dissimilarly, the Wells Fargo CEO, Dick Cooley, had assembled one of the most dynamic management teams in the industry. At Wells Fargo, people posed tough questions to one another and weren’t afraid to challenge the status quo. They felt free to challenge each other’s thinking. Better relationships are founded on mutual trust not with fear and intimidation.

In the early 1980s, banking deregulation took place, triggering a revolution in the industry. The industry’s conventional profit margins were in danger. Seeing the changes coming, the Wells Fargo management team focused on cutting costs. They recognized that banking was becoming a commodity business, with thinner profit margins than before. “Run it like you own it,” became their mantra. On the opposite end, BofA took a long while to react. The exclusive society prevailed. No one stood up to the traditional wisdom. The result? From 1983-1998, a fifteen-year period, Wells Fargo’s stock outdid BofA’s by 500%.

“We” leaders surround themselves with the right people. They have sense enough to pick good people and to know what needs to be done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it. We as leaders can’t be focused on controlling every decision, but entrusting them to our people. Their goal is to delegate. When people are empowered, they feel free to engage and ask tough questions and air conflicting opinions. Good leaders see such an atmosphere as a positive sign that change is in the air, and they welcome the kind of friction that they know will keep sparks flying.

Take this free work survey to assess your organizational strengths and weaknesses.

Technorati Tags: leadership, leading through others, management

Leading at Light Speed is a groundbreaking leadership book by Eric Douglas describing the 10 Quantum Leaps which build trust, spark innovation, and create a high-performing organization.

Chapter 3 is about how to Lead Through Others and on page 60 Eric talks about how to manage highly effective meetings.

The key to highly effective meetings is not what you do during the meeting, but what you do before and after the meeting. Here are four of the practices that we teach:

1. Take ownership of the agenda. Before the meeting, decide what outcomes you want, what decisions need to be made, the time required, what information will be provided, and who needs to be included. Once the focus of the meeting is decided, send out the agenda in advance, as well as any background materials..

2. Stay Focused. During the meeting, remember the following mantra. “Make sure we’re having the conversation we need to have.When people get distracted, it’s the meeting captain’s duty to get back on track.. No one will be offended; on the contrary, people will be grateful for your leadership.

Introduce each item by providing the necessary context and linkage to previous decisions. Once the discussion begins, keep everyone focused on the agenda topic. When unconnected topics arise, bring the meeting back to the issues at hand and decide later if it merits another dialogue.. Give everyone a chance to provide input, and keep a tight watch on the clock.

3. Achieve closure. Prior to moving on to the next point, be certain the desired outcome is achieved.. If a conclusion has been reached, make sure it’s understood by everyone.. Clarify what the next steps will be and who will be taking them.. Decide on who’s going to communicate the results of the discussion.

4. Keep thorough notes.. As a matter of reminding people what was decided, send out a followup memo after the meeting.. This memo becomes a fail-safe way to check later to ensure that the necessary actions have occurred. Notes are very useful to keep track of what’s been accomplished.. Lastly, it avoids wasting time trying to recollected the events of previous meetings.!

Is your organization implementing the practices of high performing organizations? Find out with this free work survey.

Technorati Tags: effective meetings, leadership, management, meeting management

Leading at Light Speed is an essential new leadership book by Eric Douglas synthesizing the best business practices into 10 Quantum Leaps that build trust, spark innovation, and create a high-performing organization.

In the third chapter, Douglas focuses on leading through others and a discussion giving Hiring Tips for Getting the Right People on the Bus.

In order to gain the best ingredients, you must be disciplined about whom you hire, promote, and reward. The size of your organization makes no difference; you can’t afford to settle for second best. Effective leaders seek to get, in the words of Jim Collins, “the right people on the bus~Successful leaders are, in the words of Jim Collins, those who get, “the right people on the bus.”

Bob Matthews, the founder of Cable Data, one of the world’s largest billing companies, was ahead of his time in thinking about how to find the right ingredients. He used his unique talent for seeing someone’s abilities to move people into new roles that bring out their strengths.

“Most people aren’t trained in ways that match their natural abilities,” he said. “A person’s natural talent matters more than a resume.” He hired people who’d been successful in an eclectic array of fields – a Yoga instructor, a jewelry maker, a software marketer – and inserted them into leadership roles.

In order to avoid routinization, Bob altered people’s roles frequently. Bob realized when people are gaining knowledge, they produce the most effort. When they follow routine effectiveness suffers. Keeping them on their toes, he’d put people in new roles every three years. “I think it’s important for people to get uncomfortable again,” he said. “I want to continually challenge them to learn and apply their best thinking.”

Bob was committed to placing women in senior management roles. He believed that women were, by their natures, more likely to check their egos at the door and work collaboratively. The success of the women who worked for Bob is a testament to this vision. Many ended up leading Fortune 500 companies.

Take this free work survey to discover how well your company measures up to the 10 Quantum Leaps.

Technorati Tags: delegating, hiring tips, management, Outsourcing