Bounce Forward...getting resilience on the HR agenda

Recently I had the opportunity to be a guest speaker for HR.Com in their virtual conference. My topic was Bounce Forward- building resilience at work.  During the webcast, some great conversations and questions were generated around: building resilience, making resilience a higher priority, building team charters, and how to help the team bounce forward during change, challenge, adversity and crisis. 

Resilience is an important topic to get on the HR agenda’s in workplaces. One of my key messages during this presentation is that “the time is now!” to build the business Bounce Forward.  My book, Bounce Forward has four components...

1) Courageous Dialogue- having the conversations that matter most (and are mostly avoided)

2) Teamwork by design- not by default

3) Managing stress and boosting resilience

4) the ASK

You can access the webcast recording here:

http://www.hr.com/en/webcasts_events/webcasts/archived_webcasts_and_podcasts/bounce-forward--building-inspired-and-resilient-te_h1h8lt3j.html

Here are some of the tips I shared on the webcast:

- Take time to build the team

- Resolve issues effectively and as they arise

- Practice and prepare for challenging conversations

- Ask for help

- Set three priorities per day

- Build a team charter

- Create opportunities that build trust and improve relationships

- Help others discover their passion and purpose and connect activities to these

As you move into the second half of 2012, what will you do to make sure you are bouncing forward....that you are resilient?  Simply taking one action each day towards building resilience and your ability to bounce forward results in 365 actions in a year!

Sometimes the Way We Look at the Problem, IS The Problem

Another way to think about stress is through the outcomes you
experience in your life. For example, the quality of your relationships, your
satisfaction with a job, your current level of health and stress, and your
financial situation are all a result of how you have responded to situations,
events, and circumstances that have come up in your life.

You might be thinking: “There are lots of things that come up in life that
I have absolutely no control over.” And you are absolutely right! There are
many situations that go on in the workplace that you cannot control or
influence. In fact, there are events that arise in life that are completely out
of your control. It is important is to spend your energy, skills and time
focusing on what is within your ability to control or at least influence.

I discovered many years ago when I was a Correctional Officer that
sometimes the way people view a situation or event is actually the problem.
When you can change how you look at the event or view it through a
different lenses, sometimes the issue doesn’t seem so bad.

“Why is it that people always put their energy into the things that drives
them crazy…stuff that is completely out of their control?” asked a client
during a team building consultation.
“Tell me more about that. What do you mean?” I asked Joe, the team
lead. Joe had been with his company for 15 years, and according to him
he “had seen it all, and done it all.”

“Well, I have noticed that our staff meetings often go off on a different
tangent. It seems innocent at first but then I see the team’s energy
focusing on what they can’t change, such as company policy, the available
budget, and the current economic climate in the world. People get pretty
hot under the collar and it can be tough to bring them back to the rea
l world…our business.”

“Great question Joe, one that would be useful to explore when we meet
with the team. What’s your take on it, though?” I asked. Joe really
seemed to have his finger on the pulse of his team and had a vested
interest in building a resilient and inspired team.

Thinking for a few minutes, Joe responded, “Maybe when people focus
on what they can’t control they can assign blame, or look to who ‘should’
be responsible, instead of what they can actually influence or fix
themselves.”

“Interesting. So I wonder what gets in the way of the team having
THAT discussion.”

These two questions were soon a facilitated discussion that led to an
incredible team building process. The questions were: Why do team
members put energy into what is not within their direct control and?
And what is it that we can actually control or influence, and could we
explore putting our energy there instead? As the team explored looking

through a different set of eyes, they discovered that when they focused
only on the negative or what seemed broken the situation was far worse
than it was in reality. When the team focused on what was in their
control, they looked at that same event very differently, and focused
on solutions!


Excerpt from Charmaine Hammond’s Bounce Forward Book.

To read more about this topic, follow the blog, or you can order a copy of
Bounce Forward (the book or the soon to be released audio book) by
emailing chris.alcock@hammondgroup.biz for your signed copy.

What kind of leader are You? Part Three

Learning about leadership through the teaching of John Maxwell

In the last two posts we covered valuable information from author John Maxwell, a leading expert on leadership.  This post will summarize additional leadership strategies from Maxwell's book The Five Levels of Leadership.  Maxwell talks about how habits often get in the way of communication, business, relationships and ultimately, success. I have seen this first hand in training and team building sessions, teams have habits of communication that are positive but also that get in the way of effective dialogue.  Maxwell suggests that leaders explore their own leadership habits. For example, deciding how you will organize yourself. How you will communicate during challenging times. How you will check for understanding. Determine how to maximize your time. Determining what you will do the moment you arrive to work (e.g. escape to your office, greet staff, etc.), decide how you will treat people, and what your work ethic will be. Essentially, Maxwell says that you will and should choose your leadership path, because, leadership is not what you are- it is WHO you are being!


Growing through the leadership levels: To grown and transform as a leader, Maxwell suggests that leaders must move through each level, and progress to the next.  In level one, leaders can focus more on potential, instead of positions. Pursue their own professional growth, leadership development and training and move from the priority being on rules to the priority being relationships. Maxwell states it is critical that at this level that leaders learn to ask questions, ask for help, say “I don’t know” when they don’t know and to build and maintain contact with others. When leaders can master this, I have seen them create an environment where staff take the risk to ask for help (which is important).
As leaders transform to leadership level two, they will want to focus on relationships, listening, and valuing others. It is important for leaders to learn and practice seeking out other’s strengths and assets and appreciating the unique differences within the team. Leaders must act with integrity, as trust results from integrity. Make sure you are attention, be what Maxwell calls the “chief encourager” and act with care and candor. As a trainer I have seen the benefits of leaders who recognize and appreciate the differences in their team. They facilitate innovative thinking, energy, and respect.

In Level three leaders must focus on authenticity, which means you simply cannot fake your way to this level or through this level because you are either producing/creating results or you are not. People can see right through insincerity, and I have seen that challenge or decrease trust levels.  Lead by example, deliver results, communicate the vision to the team frequently and live the vision. Results are inspiring. Maxwell suggests that as leaders are developing their team they should focus on the following formula and train people in such a way that: 80% is in their strength zone, 15% is in their learning zone, 5% is outside their strength zone, and 0% of the work is in their weakness zone. Often this is the level where leaders get stuck and do not progress and transform to the next two levels. I would say that this level takes a lot of humility, willingness to be uncomfortable at times, and a desire to grow.

In level four, production is not enough; developing people must become a priority. Maxwell suggests you develop individuals, and the team. Some of the leaders I have met are masterful at this. Their commitment to growing the people is evident, and their attitudes and words are focused more on others, than themselves. Grow leaders and champion the corporate vision. Be the team member you want others to be and focus 80% of your time on the top 20% priorities. Solve issues and do so immediately, don’t let them fester and become bigger issues, and of course, be approachable. Another author, Ken Blanchard says “it’s not what happens when you are there, but when you are not there”; this is the real challenge for leaders. Transfer the work, delegate to those who actually execute the work, as this helps create an environment of trust, and ownership. Continue learning, training and developing. one of my corporate clients saw his role, as a seasoned leader, to foster his team stepping into their skills in a much bigger way.

At level five, leaders are empowering team members to grow and lead larger. There is a focus on people’s strengths, and who they could become (not who they are now). Succession planning is essential at this level, as is leaving a legacy! Be humble, maintain the company’s vision, develop leaders and make room for them at the top. Succession planning is so important yet I have met few non-profit organizations who have a plan, and many small business owners that do not take the time to create one because they are too busy being in the business instead of working on it. Succession planning is key... it will help you create systems and processes so that the business can run in your absence and at the same time fosters growth and responsibility in the team.

This week identify ways that you can share the corporate knowledge with others. Consider your legacy...what is the legacy that you want to leave behind in your team or business? And, what can you do to take action today?

John Maxwell is a masterful leader. To read his book, and learn more about the many other leadership programs he offers, check out:

Do More Than Grow...Innovate!

In October I had the pleasure of emceeing an incredible event for the second year in a row. The event was the HR Boot Camp. The audience was a skilled group of Human Resources professionals and leaders from businesses, small and large. The speakers were from local businesses that were are engaged in innovative and creative solutions to Human Resources issues.

After listening to the incredible examples and case studies featuring HR innovation at its best, I left the event with new information, powerful reminders, and some concepts that challenged my thinking.

Some of the reminders that stuck with me, even two month later, are:
- The importance of identifying and building talent in the organization. One speaker gave examples of how they foster employees "growing with us" (with their company), and exchanged numerous examples of how they do this through innovation awards, engagement, opportunities for training and development and professional growth, mentoring and coaching, and exposure to hew learning.,
- How vital training is, at every level in the organization. There was a focus on the importance of leadership development. Far too often companies invest less in their leaders as their experience level grows. The reality is that leaders, as much as anyone, benefit from ongoing support, coaching and development. Investing in leadership is an investment in the company.
- Knowledge transfer is essential to ensure the long term survival of an organization. When an employee leaves a company, they take with them an invaluable amount of corporate history, knowledge and wisdom. Companies that find ways to transfer knowledge, develop and review succession plans, and who have seasoned employees mentoring new employees will ensure that corporate knowledge is retained and that legacies live on.

What examples of innovation is your company proud of? How do you foster innovation in your place of work? What has worked for you in terms of having employees "grow with you"?

As you move forward into another year, take a few moments to expand on what is working well, explore some new ways to foster innovation and ensure that you have actions in place to retain corporate knowledge and history. A plan in more than a great idea. It is a great idea with action behind it.