Odds Are Your Team is Struggling and Not Telling You
One of the greatest things about the high performers we have the pleasure to work with is that when the going gets tough, they get going to find solutions and to capitalize on opportunities - even when they aren’t feeling well or are tired. They almost always find a way to rise up and deliver.
That’s one of the reasons they are appreciated so much.
But the downside of that high-performance mentality is that when it gets really, really, really tough -and it will, sooner or later – it’s harder to admit when they need help. Like during this time of COVID-19 when we are seeing record numbers of people who are stressed and strained, and not raising their hands to talk about it.
This article in Forbes magazine about a study on the mental health toll of the pandemic says it all: more than half of the 1000 respondents said they are afraid to tell their bosses or to ask for extra help or some time off when they need it.
At the root of all of it is a fear of repercussions and of looking weak or incapable. The not-so-funny thing is even though a huge portion of people in North America are thinking and feeling the same thing, they feel alone when they have difficulty coping.
That’s no surprise when the culture of many high-performing companies is based on the attributions of high performers who find a way to get things done. In a recent podcast, we talked about how even in the companies that really care for their employees – and despite policies like flex days, and time off to attend their kids’ sports days - it can be difficult to say, “I need a break”.
If Your Team is Struggling Make it Easy to Ask for Help
The best thing you can do - as a manager and a leader, knowing there’s a good chance many people on your team need a break - is to put the conversation on the table, and to share and talk about the Mental Health Continuum Model.
Image Source: BC Emergency Health Services
This is one of the tools we use when we teach companies about mental health issues and their effect on individuals, the culture and bottom line. We also talk about building resilience (Chapter 3, Double Your Resilience, Your Oxygen Mask First), and share examples of our own and others’ experiences.
Be open with your own experiences to de-stigmatize mental health issues in your company. We all get burned out and there are strategies to get back.
It’s important to normalize that stress can be more than we can handle, and the longer we delay getting help and support, the worse it gets. Make sure the people on your team gets the support they need – including time off or help from counsellor or psychologist, if they are in the orange or red zone.
The ultimate challenge to all of us, as leaders, is to be the person people can come to early, so that they can continue to be healthy and productive.
As I recently shared with a CEO who I encouraged to take time off to rejuvenate, if we were a plant denied the water, sunshine and fertilizer needed to thrive, we’d be a wilted version of best selves.
The Challenge
- Check in with your people to understand where they are now, and to make sure they have what they need.
- For yourself, take a look at the Mental Health Continuum model, self-assess and figure out what you need to be at your best.
- If someone on your team is stuck make sure they get the right professional help.
If you’d like someone on our team to come and teach some of the principles of mental health, let us know.
Fear of Fear
Are you afraid to be afraid?
“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” - Nelson Mandela
I was recently speaking with one of the amazing CEOs we work with, talking about the things that made the difference between the highest performers and the team members that were simply "good".
We talked about traditional attributes but one of the behaviours that came up was the fear of fear.
It became clear that when you push yourself, make a big commitment, decide you want to change the world, pivot a business, or dramatically improve an organization, there’s a certain amount of risk involved.
And if you are really focused on working on the right things - important and impactful projects and goals, you are going to be afraid. That terrifies some people.
But, for the most successful leaders, it’s different.
While they don’t necessarily enjoy being frightened, ultimately, they aren’t overly worried about standing, naked and vulnerable, at the point of no return. That’s where the human spirit really comes alive, and where the best work and creativity actually happens.
The Challenge
- Think about you and your team: has the fear of being afraid impacted your decision making?
- If you were not afraid to be afraid, what would you do, or commit to, differently?
Building Confidence by Breathing Belief into People
“Leadership is unlocking people’s potential to become better.” - Bill Bradley, American Hall of Fame basketball player, Rhodes scholar, former Democratic Senator
Did you know that the best coaches, advisors or leaders believe in you before, and often more than, you do?
They have an ability to see our greatness in two ways:
- By seeing and calling out the strengths we already have today
- Through envisioning us performing at a much higher level
And then they give us the challenges and support to get us there.
As simple as it sounds, many of us aren’t amazing at seeing what’s already there. But good leaders not only see it – they describe it.
I’ve had hundreds of conversations with CEOs and executives about building confidence and what has helped them to grow most in their careers - like sporting activities as a kid, professors at school, or any jobs they had.
Again and again they said they had someone who believed in their capabilities well beyond what they saw for themselves.
Because of that, they were questioned, pushed, supported and encouraged. And they were able to do things they didn’t think they could, building confidence along the way.
They saw it before I did, said one CEO. One of the greatest gifts you can give someone is to point out their strengths.
Like “You have an amazing ability to…
- “Take a complex problem, and put it in a simple metaphor we can get” - or
- “Totally take a conversation and look at it the opposite way” - or
- “Make someone feel good even when you give really tough feedback” – or…
…fill in the blank!
Call out those gifts you see along the way, so they can see them - and own them.
Then treat your people consistently with what they will be like, at twice their level.
Don’t assume they get it…they don’t.
Rejuvenation for Work Stress
I finally had a bit of a break earlier this month, for a few days - and wow, did it make a difference!
For all of us, the first half of 2020 was challenging, stressful, busy – and a blur. It’s gone so fast!
Like many of you, it’s been the hardest I’ve worked in more than a decade. I had added work stress managing internal changes, shifting exclusively to virtual meetings, solving serious challenges for our clients, and more.
I could feel the fatigue kicking in and, while I took a couple of mini breaks, it was wonderful to have a week away. Although I did work part of the week, having zero responsibilities was just what I needed to rejuvenate.
“…your wellbeing must come first for you to have the strength to keep going and keep giving. You need to continually replenish your oxygen, your energy and your stamina.”
For me, that’s not easy. I thrive on being busy, on pressure and get a kick out of how I can help people.
For most of my life, I’ve woken up every day with a number of things to get done, and then prepared for even more.
Usually, when I have time off, I’m excited to make plans to do all kinds of things, including doing some strategic thinking about my work and life. This time was different.
I did none of them – a sure sign of how much I needed to rest and rejuvenate. I needed more than my daily resilience rituals (Chapter 3, Double Your Resilience, Your Oxygen Mask First). I needed ‘drool time’ - you know, when you are so relaxed that your jaw releases and drops? That’s drool time.
And that’s only possible with more than a weekend off.
And it took a while to completely relax but I could feel more of the brightness of my spirit come back, as each day passed. It was a joy to wake up to days with nothing I had to do, nowhere I needed to go.
And, by the way, one of the greatest pleasures of downtime is time to nap. Highly recommended!
That bit of downtime was great and as I have more time off, throughout the summer, I’ll be conscious of having time for fun with friends and family, balanced with enough rejuvenating drool time for me.
The Challenge
- What is your plan for deep, personal rejuvenation over the next couple of months?
- How can you set aside all responsibilities to do absolutely nothing for a few days or, ideally, more?
Frontline Strategy Execution
I'm always fascinated to be in the unique position of participant and observer in the boardrooms of so many different businesses – to be part of making decisions and then to see them come alive, as a customer. Sometimes, even when we have a beautiful intent, by the time they are executed - or not - on the front line, they’re either very different than intended or there are additional repercussions that we didn't anticipate.
That's why I always go back to the early days of my career, when I worked on the front lines, where we often had conversations about how out-of-touch the executives and leaders of our companies seemed to be.
Playing Office
And that’s why, to the best of my ability, I always try to consider strategy execution decisions by the impact they make on frontline employees, in production or service – the people who are usually the ones creating the most value and great experiences for customers. I call being on the front lines as having your steel-toed boots on, versus your Italian-made loafers, in the boardroom.
Very often, people on the front lines don’t understand why the decisions made are better for the company – and, often, leaders just don't understand what happens on the front line enough to make decisions that actually make it easier for employees to do their job.
I call it ‘playing office’ when executive leaders are disconnected from the factory floor, the store or the call centre or wherever the customer experience happens.
That’s why we always encourage the CEO and leaders, throughout the organization, to get out, onto the frontline to talk to the customers, to talk to the vendors and to talk the employees. They must go there to touch it, smell it, feel it, taste it and hear it.
Two Different Approaches
I’ve been watching how companies interpret, respond to and implement new health and safety regulations for COVID. Some handle it exceptionally well, and others not, which I recently found when I visited two wineries in the Okanagan region of Canada. The contrast was shocking.
Rightly so, there are strict regulations in wineries that offer on-site tastings. The first winery I visited moved their tasting room into tents, in their vineyard - a brilliant idea that actually enhanced our experience. We were protected from the sun and had special, socially distanced tasting stations that were sanitized constantly. Even though we had to wait a few minutes longer than normal, they did an exceptional job creating an exceptional experience, and the energy was absolutely amazing.
The second, much-better known winery felt like a regimented, institutional experience. Everything was very structured, from the process to get into the building to the tasting. Staff were uptight, almost with a look of terror in their eyes. Interaction with the staff was not fun at all so, at one point, I commented to one member that everyone seemed really serious. She responded by pointing out a woman on the side, explaining she was from head office to watch them and ensure they were being compliant.
Now, I believe that policies to protect our health and safety are very, very important and that doing the right thing is non-negotiable. But destroying the employees’ ability to deliver great service with joy and engagement impacts the customer experience.
This outcome defines the crossroads between effective and ineffective leadership. There are leaders who enforce policies in a way that shuts people down, and others who find a way to implement them and keep the sparkle in an employees’ eyes and joy in their connection with customers. Whatever the second winery’s leaders were doing missed the mark.
At the end of the day, it’s important to remember that we all serve one boss and that's the customer. And the second that we forget it and ‘play office’ too much, we end up making bad decisions that affect our customers and our employees, and our bottom line – and don’t realize it.
Now, more than ever, it’s time to slip off those loafers and lace up your steel-toed boots.
The Challenge
- Where might you have policies in your business that are being you know implemented as a directive from head office?
- How can you find a way for them to be delivered in a way that enhances employee engagement and the customer experience?
Strategic Alignment and Accountability
We often receive calls from CEOs or senior leaders asking us to help improve either the strategic alignment or the accountability in their growing company. And when we dig into the symptoms and root causes we often find some very simple things have slipped as the the company has grown.
In many cases, we find a lack of a clear vision of the company they're trying to build. It's not that those visions don't exist in the minds of the CEO, senior leaders and team members, it’s that there are 4 or 42 or 4200 different versions. Sometimes, long-term visions have been created, or the CEO may have made a presentation on them two or three years ago; but there’s no single, undeniable vision (that most people know and can articulate) for people to focus on and believe in.
Getting in Sync with the Vision
In reality, it’s very hard to get a group of 42 or 420 or 4200 people in sync – that’s why it is so rare to find in companies. So, over the first year or two with clients, we use time-tested tools – discovered and developed over 25 years – to boil down their vision into something compelling and tangible enough for people to sink their teeth into: like a strong and simple billboard message that everyone walks by, as they enter their office every day, virtually or physically, to be reminded of know who they are and the mission they’re driven to fulfill.
It takes hours of thinking and debating time to create these compelling (and relevant) visions – time that’s challenging to find in fast-growing companies, as everyone tries to keep up with the growth and doing things like hiring desperately needed new team members, to take very good care of the new or existing customers who pay the bills.
But a clear vision makes sure there is strategic alignment with everyone in the company. Every person is aligned and pointed in the same direction – their own true North – plus or minus a few degrees. That clarity and common purpose gives everyone more strength and peace of mind.
Choosing a Strategy To 2X
Once clear on the vision, the strategy of how you are going to get there becomes critical for focus and accountability. We look at plans for 3 to 5 years in the future and call this 2X-ing the Business: the drive to make the business double the size, and at least double the strength and profitability.
In this process, we boil down all the different, potential investments of resources (capital and human) to decide on the top 3 to 5 that will help to successfully get to the next big milestones.
This sounds simple but requires hours of valuable debate and strategic discussions, testing and iterating ideas, to tease out what really works and what doesn’t.
Because everyone believes their personal or department projects are very important (which, from their perspective we can understand) this is where the organization decides on the best investments of human capital and financial resources, to make the greatest improvement in the company.
Alignment kicks in when you all complete the needed debates and agree on the growth strategy.
Accountability kicks in when one executive on the team owns each of the major strategic investments. During annual and quarterly meetings, the owners of those projects give updates on the progress made, and how you're getting closer - and/or smarter about getting closer - to those objectives.
Break It Down Every 90 days
Focus & urgency come alive when those 3- to 5-year goals convert into annual and quarterly deliverables.
This structure helps people to succeed because they are clear on what must be delivered and, every 3 months, report back on what they achieved, what they learned and what they/we can do better in the next quarter.
It’s no different than cramming for an exam in high school or university. When you only have an annual plan, people cram for the exam once a year – they’re more likely to be successful when they have to pass the test four times a year.
This quarterly reflection creates a real opportunity iterate - to tweak plans with better options or alternatives, based on what we've learned in the last quarter.
So, when you have clear, 90-day deliverables, reported on every quarter, a lot more progress is made - and all the questions about accountability and alignment start to fade away because you've agreed on what is most important and have been transparent about how you deliver on your commitments.
Synchronizing the Real Impact
We also ask leaders of each investment, project or goal to estimate the impact on the bottom line, to train people to think of their project in commercial and ROI terms. It can be hard to do - and we don't care if they get the number right - but want them to be able to debate different possibilities, based on the true economic impact.
We all have ideas that we are passionate about and believe will really impact the business - and sometimes we are right! The goal is to get back to facts and to prove out the validity and potential impact of an idea before you invest heavily in a project that could improve profitability by $5000, when there's an alternative that could impact the bottom line by $500,000 or $5,000,000.
Using our heads and looking at the numbers in the game of business helps us to make smarter decisions.
The Challenge
- On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the engagement, strategic alignment, and accountability of your team?
- What do you think would improve that engagement, strategic alignment and accountability by 10 or 20%?
If you need help to enhance your company’s performance, speak with one of our team of qualified coaches to learn how we can help.