Task Lists Are Not Enough – Identify, Prioritization, Diligence, & Accountability

incipioworkstg on February 18, 2021

I don’t know how you feel about the current state of things in our world, but for me, I’ve got a lot going on. Like, a ton of things. I’m hearing similar feedback from others in my field and from professionals in numerous other industries. 2020 was the “hold my beer” of unprecedented change, and 2021 is shaping up to be a remarkably similar operating environment.

Yes, we know stuff happens. All day, every day. At home, at work, and at work from home. “If you’re not changing/evolving/moving forward, you’re: insert downside statement here:”, yeah, we’ve heard all of the variations of that one. But let us be honest, this all feels extremely different. Proactive, planned change is not the same as the current trend of reactive, “rebuild the plane while we’re flying it” change. So, what is an organization to do?

Identify the Target(s) & Define The Actions:

The all-encompassing “let’s fix stuff!” statement, while no doubt well-intentioned, can seriously hinder your teams’ ability to execute real and lasting change and improvement. What needs to be fixed, and according to whom? Understanding where you need to focus your time and energy while looking at dozens of opportunities is critical right now. Pick your battles carefully, get buy-in an alignment from your team on the chosen tasks and initiatives, and clearly communicate what is going to happen.

Prioritization Drives Focus

Change management doesn’t operate in a vacuum. We all have our day jobs, the critical core competencies and tasks that must be completed to serve our internal partners and our clients. What does that mean? In terms of change management, it means that we’re carving time out of what we’ve already committed to do each day to in order to improve how we do things, and the quality of our outputs. Figure out what is most important, and get all eyes, hearts, and minds focused on the prize.

And I am most definitely not saying that you can only work on one thing at a time. Not at all. What I am saying though is that you can most definitely have problems getting traction or maintaining momentum when you’re trying to do too much at once, or if the focus and energy is constantly being realigned to non-prioritized tasks and initiatives. Which leads to our next item…

Be Diligent and Protect Your Priorities – Learning to Say “No”, Or At Least, “Maybe Later”

This is a tough one. Yes, life gives you lemons, but if you’re already knee-deep in a vat of grapes in your team’s efforts to craft a fine wine, is now really the time to pull everyone out of that process in order to make some lemonade? If the risk to the business is lower than then the risk of not getting your top priorities completed, put the lemons aside for a bit and finish the task at hand. And when I say “put the lemons aside”, what I’m saying is to capture the details of the issue, add it to your tracking list, and figure out where it’s going to fall when you’ve circled back to your task prioritization process. If it was urgent enough to potentially side-track a high-priority initiative, it needs to be documented and addressed when resources become available to focus on it.

Assuming Nothing When It Comes to Accountability

What specifically must be done, by whom, and by when? How do you track progress against tasks that may take weeks, or months, to complete? Is there a specific task order or dependencies within the project that everyone needs to understand? How is the progress being communicated to the team? Does everyone have the clarity needed to do what needs to be done? Do they have the tools, knowledge, and skills to effectively execute? Do they have the time, and if not, what needs to happen to assist them with finding the necessary time?

Lots of questions, but all of them, and perhaps a dozen others, need to be clearly answered and documented to establish the foundations of accountability and ownership necessary to get things done. If you don’t have a full-time project manager in your organization, you’re still going to have to find a way to approach the task in a manner that utilizes fundamental project management best practices and principles. What is the goal, what is the path, what must happen, who is going to get it done, when will the assigned tasks be completed, and how will the changes be validated and firmly embedded in the operation going forward?

Clarity is critical, and the ability to stay focused in today’s operating environment is in my opinion the most important skill that leaders and organizations need right now. Things are happening, and will continue to happen, that have incredible potential to distract us from the most important tasks at hand, but if we can keep ourselves and our teams focused, we’ll create the “wins” we all need that come from getting the most important ones completed.

Increasing Productivity

incipioworkstg on February 8, 2021

One of my primary goals for this month is increasing productivity. Here’s how I’m working on this goal and maybe some of my plans will help you accomplish the same thing.

I have surrounded myself with talent

I think I have the right people in the right seats. Now I have to encourage and support them and let them know I have confidence in them so morale is as high as possible. When employee morale is high, it only makes sense that productivity and the quality of work will be high. Plus, happy employees are less likely to leave for another offer. For any organization, turnover can really slam productivity.

I’m determined to delegate

I know what I’m best at and so I’m going to delegate the rest! I’ve surrounded myself with talented people and I’m going to give them the power to make decisions. And then, I’m going to trust in their choices.

I’m focusing on time management

I find I can be distracted by “bright, shiny objects.” By that, I mean I can be diverted from what I’m intending to accomplish by distractions – in the workplace or outside the office. So I’m trying to apply some time management techniques. For example, I’m keeping a rough journal of my time to help me stay focused and accountable to my calendar. I look at my schedule for the week and create a list of priorities – even going so far as to number them, one, two, three. I also ask myself every so often to review what I’ve accomplished in the past 30 minutes. It’s amazing how fast a couple of hours can fly by before you know it.

Holiday Recipes – Appraising Your Appraisal Process – Essential Ingredients

incipioworkstg on November 25, 2020

‘Tis the season for annual reviews!

Depending on your organization, you are either neck-deep in your year-end performance appraisal process, or it is just around the corner. Consider these essential components; just like cooking a turkey, the essential ingredients are widely available, but it’s the subtleties of the art of preparation and execution that differentiates a good, juicy bird from a dried-out, unappetizing one.

Choose your recipe well in advance (i.e. a year ago):

Key performance indicators for individuals, groups, and the broader organization. Individual and group strengths and opportunities, plus action plans to further leverage those strengths and improve on the opportunities. All of these should have been well documented, and widely communicated to groups and individuals, throughout the prior year. Specific themes, categories, and the rating methods should be consistent throughout the year.

Preparation:

Quality Ingredients – Content for your assessment should be readily available from performance discussions you have had throughout the year. Keep these key points in mind:

You are reviewing an entire year’s-worth of performance, not just the last quarter, and most definitely not the most recent “win/loss”. Your assessment narrative and performance metrics should span the entire assessment period.
Nothing related to an individual’s or group’s performance should be “new news”. If the person being assessed is hearing it for the first time during their performance appraisal, it is time to reassess your performance management and feedback process.

Serving Suggestions – Performance appraisal sessions are a BIG-TICKET item in terms of driving buy-in, ensuring ownership, and increasing engagement in your organization. Take the time to make sure your presentation is top-notch.

Schedule well in advance, provide adequate time for discussion, and protect that time! Remove anything from the environment that could distract you or the other participant. This is what I consider to be sacred space in the leader/team-member dynamic, so dedicate the time and effort to ensure it is perceived as such.
I highly recommend giving the person who is being assessed the opportunity to do their own self-assessment ahead of the actual session, and to compare the two during the meeting. This can help you to determine if the individual understands how their performance is being assessed, in addition to helping both parties to determine if they are aligned in their assessments.
Continuing from the bullet point above, be open to modifying your initial assessment based on the discussions that happen during the session. I have seen this go both ways, where a leader will increase or decrease the official “rating” based on the performance discussion and the input provided by the person who is being assessed.

Post-Session – What happens after the session ends is just as critical as the session itself!

Work directly with the individual to put together an action plan related to performance strengths and opportunities. It is best to allow the team member to take a little bit of time to absorb the feedback and to begin working on their own action plan. Once they have done that, bring them back in to discuss, calibrate, and to optimize the development plan. You are setting the stage for the performance management and development process for the new year.
Refer to prior year/period performance assessments during your discussions throughout the new period. Continue to focus on the major themes, but also allow for adjustments as performance improves and new opportunities arise. You are actively gathering critical components for the next appraisal, so keep it consistent, intentional, and focused.

If your performance appraisal process is well planned, consistently executed, contains substantive and actionable feedback, and perhaps most importantly, is a coordinated and high-value collaboration between you and your team, the value proposition increases tremendously. On the other hand, if it is perceived as a chore, feels disconnected or is a distraction from the day-to-day work that has to be done, or feels heavily one-sided, no amount of gravy or stuffing is going to make that bird palatable to your team members!

Annual Performance Evaluation: Affirmation And Acknowledgement For A Job Well Done The Last 12 Months

incipioworkstg on November 9, 2020

Employees are craving feedback from management. In fact, a recent Gallup survey found more than 70% of respondents want feedback on their job performance on a weekly or even a daily basis. Not only is feedback actively desired, if provided correctly it can have an incredibly constructive impact on the workplace. Studies show regular feedback – both positive and negative – leads to lower turnover and increased productivity.

CREATE A FEEDBACK LOOP

Annual reviews alone won’t meet that need for feedback. We have found annual reviews generally are just a snapshot of someone’s performance in the last four to six weeks. Successful companies have a system in place for regular feedback so the annual review becomes a collection of ongoing performance.

TECHNOLOGY CAN HELP

Technology can provide you with reminders for performance notes, goal setting and weekly or monthly reports. There are lots of tools and systems available today that create feedback vehicles from self-evaluation to 360 reviews, which include feedback from peers, management and even clients. Self-evaluation is crucial. How does the employee see how he or she is doing? Does the employee have a clear picture of the yearly goals? Then you can narrow in on what really motivates employees leading to successful employee engagement.

THE RESULT

The goal is to create an effective working relationship. Feedback will help you see what is working well and how you can work even better together. It will help you set goals on a monthly and yearly basis. And importantly, regular feedback will help you in succession planning by identifying high performers who will grow with the company as well as helping you see areas where you may need to look at hiring from the outside.

BEGIN WITH ONBOARDING

An effective feedback process starts with an efficient onboarding program. As we discussed in an earlier blog, successful companies set up clear expectations before an employee is even hired. Employees then have clarity around what they do for their day-to-day tasks and have a clear understanding on how those tasks are evaluated.

The best organizations are made up of people who are motivated by recognition. They are productive employees because they see and hear the value of what they do. As a leader, providing regular feedback is one of the most important things you can to do make sure each person on your team feels valued.

Building Trust Builds Confidence

incipioworkstg on October 12, 2020

It has to start somewhere.

Let me tell you about one of my first jobs. I was in college and working part-time at a call center. This wasn’t intended to be a career path for me, but when I graduated, they offered me a job. That’s when I discovered I had access to some great leaders and mentors. I can tell you any number of stories about how they motivated and inspired me – but here’s one of the most important lessons I learned.

After a few months in my first leadership role, I found myself in my manager’s office for one of our weekly touchpoints. He said I was playing it too safe and that wasn’t why they hired me. Besides being a brilliant leader, he was also very observant. And he was right.

I was nervous. While I had full confidence in my ability to perform the role I had been given, I was afraid of making a mistake. Of being judged. That’s when he said something that has stuck with me ever since.

It’s About Risk

“There is only one type of leader that never makes mistakes. It’s the leader who does nothing.”

Then he told me about the biggest mistake he ever made in his career, and how his manager worked with him to learn and grow from it. He encouraged me to take chances and not be afraid to make a mistake myself. He convinced me we would learn from any mistakes and become smarter and better for having made them.

For him to open up and share his worst work experience with me showed his vulnerability and transparency. And most importantly, it showed he wanted me to trust him as much as he trusted me. The point is you can develop loyalty by showing loyalty. That’s how you build trust.

Think about how much time and money you could save if you create a work environment where everyone feels comfortable sharing opinions and having honest, transparent discussions!

Training and Development: Why It’s Necessary!

incipioworkstg on September 1, 2020

What’s your biggest asset?

You Already Know.

Have you ever heard a company say, “Employees are our biggest asset?” When I hear that, I want to know what they are doing to back that up. Job seekers, in particular, are impressed if they learn a company is investing in their people to make them more efficient and productive. That’s exactly what great training and development programs are designed to accomplish.

Attract and Retain Employees

One of the biggest benefits of a training and development program is it’s effectiveness in attracting and retaining the best employees. Knowing an organization is willing to spend money on training and development not only attracts the interest of excellent candidates, but it will make your current employees feel valued and even increase loyalty. A combination of internal and external training (perhaps collaborating with a local college or university) will pay long-term dividends. It also will improve your reputation in the community which certainly will help your recruiting efforts.

Build Your Bench Strength

We’ve talked in other blogs about how disruptive it can be when you have to replace a valued employee. Having a program that trains and develops workers will go a long way to minimize that disruption by providing a smooth transition. A successful training and development program provides you with a pipeline of qualified employees ready to step up and be rewarded with a promotion. You’ll find it’s a lot cheaper than starting over in the hiring process.

Do Your Research

Survey Your Employees

***They know what they need!***

Have you thought about surveying your employees to see what they would like to see in terms of training or development efforts? It will give you some great feedback and allow you to tailor a program that is effective and appreciated. You’ll find it will also increase communication, collaboration and teamwork. It’s a great chance for employees to show you skills you didn’t even know they had.

Training Transformation

incipioworkstg on September 1, 2020

In challenging times like these,

Organizations are often tempted to cut employee training and development programs. Even some of the most experienced leaders I’ve met feel training is something they can do without in a tough economy, or at a minimum cut it back to the bare essentials (compliance, onboarding, job skills, etc.). When revenue is decreasing and operating costs are going up, I can see how this looks like a no-brainer.

Take a

minute to

frame what

you’re asking

your people to

do

And you’ll likely start to see why training and professional development should be the LAST line-item that takes a cut. When times are tough, money gets tight – I get that. But right now, organizations are asking leaders, teams, and individuals to innovate like never before.

To enact change rapidly, and make sure it sticks.

To collaborate much more broadly.

To assist team members and external clients in working through massive changes to how their products and services are created, delivered, and supported.

Those types of initiatives require a training approach that is structured for efficiency and designed to enable your teams to drive the business to long-term success. It has to be customized, widely bought into, rapidly deployed, and universally adopted and executed on.

Effective training will not only improve workers’ skills; it will improve morale, which helps reduce expenses by contributing to employee retention. When job roles, expectations, success factors, and a host of other critical factors about your business change as rapidly as they have, and will continue to do so, your leaders will be the ones who make or break the effort.

WHAT DOES YOUR LEADERSHIP TRAINING LOOK LIKE?

Now is a great time to examine your training. Traditional training tends to be transactional, event-based, and often is just a single session or two conducted over a short period of time with limited follow-through and validation after the fact. That’s been appropriate for some things but highly ineffective with other focus areas, like driving true transformation in your culture and how your teams operate.

CONSIDER A NEW APPROACH

I suggest you take a new approach to training that is transformational. This training is longer in duration. It’s conducted across the organization with consistent follow-through. It’s action-based and has high levels of accountability.

GET FEEDBACK

While the training and development effort is underway, make sure you make time to get feedback. This will tell you how well the program is received and it will give you valuable insight into its effectiveness.

Engage people by asking for their opinion and suggestions. You’ll likely find they have a very keen understanding of the work they do, the opportunities tied to it and the paths for improvement.

Remember, it’s one thing to train your people on a specific task, issue, or organizational initiative. It’s another thing entirely to develop, nurture, and effectively prepare your teams to proactively identify opportunities, to naturally innovate and optimize, and to consistently work towards enhancing the value of your organization. Training your leaders and teams to transform requires the transformation of your training approach and methodologies.

Get The Right People for Your Business-Soft Skills Matter!

incipioworkstg on April 30, 2020

The Individuals You Hire Impact Your Existing Staff.

If there is anything a business needs to consistently get right when building effective teams and a winning culture, it’s recruiting. The individuals you hire communicate clear expectations regarding performance to your existing staff.

In the recruiting process, successful companies look not only at an applicant’s skills and experiences but also at their personality, drive and motivation. Understanding what will fit best with the existing team is critical. That means the hiring manager should have a clear picture of the needs of that team and how the recruit will fit within that group. From my perspective, in many situations, passion and drive can exceed the value of skills and experience.

Reassess and Be Flexible

For example, look at the situation facing many organizations today. Right now, there are thousands of fantastic people in the job market looking for work due to layoffs. They are more than willing to provide significant value to employers who have stayed in operation throughout the global pandemic, even if it is a short-term value! Businesses need to reassess their expectations as it relates to commitments around employment timelines. Having a short-term superstar is definitely better than having a role unfilled due to passing on that hire while looking for a longer-term team member.

Can an Outside Recruiter Help?

Sometimes traditional methods of recruiting can be limited ineffectiveness. If your candidate flow is weak, or if you are not getting the specific characteristics you need in applicants, an outside recruiter can be extremely beneficial. An outside recruiter can leverage a broad range of connections and other resources to find the candidates with the skills and characteristics you need to fill your specific job role.

An outside recruiter also uses a thorough, formal and consistent recruiting process. That allows the hiring manager, and in some cases, key members of the team, to more effectively assess the “fit” of a candidate. Depending on the situation, or the organization’s strategic direction, the candidate with the best resume may not be what a team needs.

Recruitment: Are You Proactive or Reactive?

incipioworkstg on April 8, 2020

Ashley Overberg- Incipio Workforce Solutions

I always say recruiting is about being “proactive” and not “reactive.”

It’s the worst-case scenario if you have to be reactive to staff shortages. Even if someone gives you a two-week notice, you’re often caught in a time crunch. You’re scrambling asking them to train someone for their position. If not, that job might be open for a long time.

One way to get ahead of the hiring crunch is to examine recruiting trends at your company. Is there a certain time of year your staffing requirements have to ramp up? Perhaps in the past, you have lost people around the holidays. Knowing the history of hiring needs will help you avoid staffing problems in the future.

Identify trends, create a strategy before you need it.

Once you’ve identified some trends, you should develop a strategy and then a marketing plan. Begin by making sure there is an open line of communication between the executive team and human resources. It’s all about being honest. Is there a problem with turnover? If so, what strategies and solutions do we have in place? What’s been going on in the past month? The past year? What needs do you foresee? Even when things are running smoothly, it’s important to have that check-in to ensure there are no surprises. If any issues are identified, it pays to address them early before you find yourself short-staffed, which will affect your bottom line.

Employee Referral Programs

Assuming you’ve created a company culture where your current employees are motivated, engaged and proud of where they work, an employee referral program can be helpful. Setting up some criteria around that program is important, however. For example, a new hire has to stay for a certain amount of time for the referring employee to get a bonus.

It’s also important to look at the demographics of your hires. Benefits evolve over time. Make sure your benefits package is designed to draw in both a boomer and a millennial. What can you provide that might be unique and set you apart from a competitor? With millennials for example, can you offer student loan assistance or a loan repayment plan? That’s important to young people coming out of school with large amounts of debt. When was the last time you looked at your 401(k) benefit? Is the company match sufficient to attract a worker proactive about being prepared for retirement?

Are you looking for a good fit or a warm body?

Once you have a candidate, obviously you begin by looking at their technical skills. Do they have the knowledge and skills to do that job effectively? Then you look at whether they might be a good “fit.” Behavioral questions can help you make that determination. For example, rather than asking someone, “Can you multitask?” Ask them to describe a time when they juggled six projects at the same time. Answers to similar open-ended questions will give you an idea of their skills and experiences are a good match for your open position.

It’s important to recognize not everyone is skilled at interviewing. Every manager needs training in this area. Without even knowing it, some people will ask questions that are illegal or ask questions that might imply favoritism. It’s important managers know what they can and can’t ask. A strong internal training program designed around hiring best practices will head off any issues and strengthen your ability to recruit quality employees.

Bulking Up Your Business- Smarter is Stronger!

incipioworkstg on March 24, 2020

Are You and Your Team Members Getting Smarter?

The other day I ran into a former co-worker. We were able to catch up in about five minutes – a “memory conversation” if you will. I realized pretty quickly there hadn’t been a lot of professional growth for him since we worked together. He seemed satisfied to be in the same job and apparently saw no real need to improve his skills or stretch himself professionally.

If you’re in an organization that isn’t promoting culture and engagement it’s easy to become disengaged in that “toxic” environment. On the other hand, the smartest companies today strive to hire employees eager to grow themselves because they know it will help the business grow. Great leaders have the confidence to surround themselves with people who are smarter than they are – people who add value to every aspect of their job. It makes sense. Research shows when people get the tools and training to do their jobs well they feel supported, are engaged and more loyal.

TAKE CHARGE OF YOUR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Regardless of whether your company has a commitment to professional development, ask yourself, “How do I as an individual contributor to an organization become more valuable and a greater asset to the group?” Professional development gives you the ability to speak to different topics in conversation – not only with current or potential clients but also with your fellow employees. It can also put you a path to leadership opportunities, increase your productivity or put you on a path to a boost in compensation.

It’s important you personally seek out opportunities. For example, put together a group of accountability partners you meet with on a monthly basis. Discuss topics at hand or ask to be challenged in your line of thinking. Seek out training and development opportunities for yourself – maybe after hours or on the weekends.

Push yourself to learn something about the business with which you’re not currently familiar. Think about how you can become better versed in cross-functional tasks within the company. The more diverse you make your area of expertise the greater the growth opportunity.

Perhaps you attend a conference and when you return you make it your responsibility to deliver a “CliffsNotes” version to your team. You share your knowledge with others which shows value, and in turn, increases everyone’s value. It also provides a “win-win” for the company to justify the conference expense.

Taking control of your professional development isn’t always easy. But if you stay motivated you’ll find the benefits are immensely rewarding.