HTCH

Healing the Corporate Heart

In Defense of Millennials

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I am a big fan of Simon Sinek. However, I recently saw his video about Millennials and I think he got it wrong. In a nutshell, his message was Millennials got dealt a bad hand because of the following:

  • Failed parenting strategies that didn’t teach them to be self-reliant.
  • Too much technology that got them addicted and prevented them from building deep interpersonal connections.
  • Impatience that prevents them from doing “deliberate practice” and building real seasoning required for mastery.
  • Corporate environments that don’t foster collaboration and working together.

His observations about Millennials hold some truth, but I believed he missed the real issue: If Millennials got dealt a bad hand, who was dealing the cards?

The current leadership generation that is in power dealt the cards, and it’s their belief systems and choices that created these problems for Millennials. In the video, there was a strong tone of “this is what is wrong with you” and it felt like the typical generational judgment of “can you believe kids today?” The problem with this judgment is it immediately sets up a conflict between the generations. With this approach, one side becomes better than the other, no one will tell the truth, and now everyone is into unconscious protection by making the “other side” wrong. It becomes an “us vs. them” scenario.

Part of the inherent problem is that the current leadership generation raised Millennials and the majority are parents of Millennials. If the current leadership generation doesn’t like the way they raised Millennials, it seems unlikely that they will find an effective way to lead them unless they take a more collaborative approach. The current leadership generation’s values – what they did and did not emphasize, where they put their attention and where they didn’t – all impacted the growth and development of Millennials.

If the view is that Millennials have all these things wrong with them, then the current leadership generation must fix it because there is nothing wrong with Millennials. They have grown up in a world moving at light speed. They are bombarded constantly with everyone overscheduling them by giving them a non-stop litany of lessons, groups, and experiences. And then when they grow older we say they have an issue sitting still and focusing. Hmmm. While the current leadership generation created the acceleration of technology, it didn’t grow up in it. Millennials are the first generation to grow up immersed in a technological society.

The first step for both generations is to recognize that they each have strengths and weaknesses. This is OK. The idea in generational transition is to recognize and honor each other, and craft an effective way to leverage each generation’s strengths and minimize their weaknesses.

Millennials have the challenges discussed above. They are also great at collaboration, understand technology like no other generation, and are focused on making a bigger impact in the world.

The current leadership generation has their own challenges. They are not very good at collaboration, probably still go to the manual to figure out technology, limit themselves by old hierarchical rules, and typically can’t handle the information overload anywhere near as well as Millennials. They are also resilient, focused, and determined; and have tons of practical experience about how to get organizations to accomplish things in terms of what works and what doesn’t. They are seasoned.

The goal is to take away the conflict and keep people out of their defense mechanisms so that both generations can recognize the other generation’s strengths and acknowledge their own challenges. Luckily, business already created a structure to address this – the cross-functional team.

Organizations can create a cross-functional team with key existing leaders from the current leadership generation and the emerging leaders from the Millennial generation. Simply put them together to solve the challenge. However, this approach requires both sides to let go of “being right” and focus on what might actually work. Some call this approach innovation. When both must work together to come up with workable solutions, both generations need to have their voices in the room where they can safely speak their truth and challenge their own assumptions about the world.

 

There is no way around it. Each generation has its own view of the world. A set of beliefs that both define them and limit them. No one has a pure, accurate, clear objective view of how everything works. Therefore, the inner work is to challenge what you think to be true and assess that view as honestly as possible. Only by working together can the generational transition happen in a meaningful and powerful way. Most generations fail to pass on their wisdom to the next generation and few have tried to do it in a systematic way.

 

The fact that so many generations are simultaneously working together today provides an enormous opportunity to find a unique and creative solution to the challenge of meaningful and effective generational transition.

The Spirit of Acknowledgment

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We have all heard the distinction between the letter of the law and the spirit of the law. The letter of the law in an interpretation at a technical level; one that is accurate but somewhat mechanical. The spirit of the law is governed by the original intent behind the creation of the law in the first place. We all intuitively understand that the spirit of the law is about an authentic desire to make something intrinsically better.

The spirit of the law has an authenticity that drives us toward an envisioned future state with the expectation that the future state will allow our part of the world to function much better than the current state. The letter of the law is just a means to an end, while the spirit of the law is a better way of being and operating.

This distinction applies to acknowledging the people who work for you – and this is a powerful distinction. Many management training courses will tell you that the techniques of acknowledgement narrowly consist of how to say something or how to phrase a letter or note. While useful techniques, they fall flat if they are only applied in a mechanical fashion. If a manager is only concerned with getting what they want, the experience can have a feeling of manipulation.

Many newly minted managers will learn the techniques of praise, feedback, and the various ways they can tell people “a job well done.” Developing these technique is important and will be mastered over time. But as you get more experience and integrate these techniques into your repertoire, you realize they are only delivery systems and not actual authentic appreciation. Employees can spot mere technique without genuine emotion very easily. To have real impact, you have to go deeper by truly expressing genuine appreciation. You can’t fake this feeling nor generate it from technique alone.

Genuine acknowledgement requires examining your real truth by looking within yourself and answering honestly, “Do I really appreciate the people who work for me,” and “Do their efforts, their sacrifices, no matter how large or small, really matter to me?” You can only generate real and authentic appreciation if the answer is an honest yes.

Many managers, often behind closed doors, will grumble things like, “They are getting paid to do their job” and “Nobody ever thanked me…and I still did the job well.” Often times those managers think that no one is appreciating them, so why should they appreciate others? They won’t say these things out loud, but they will think them.

There are various levels of meaning for the simplest of things. When a manager says “Good job!” usually the employee learns very quickly how to interpret that feedback:

  1. Option 1: “Good job, you produced the result I wanted.”
  2. Option 2: “Good job, you went above and beyond and I really appreciate it.”
  3. Option 3: “Good job, you make a difference here and I really appreciate your impact on the team and the results you generate.”

If you can’t generate the feeling state of genuine appreciation, then there are two basic paths to explore. One, you need to do some inner work and clear your own obstacles. Two, you have the wrong people and you really are not getting the kind of performance you want. If you have the wrong team, you can get caught trying to provide positive feedback and not really meaning it.

Don’t confuse demonstrating appreciation with accepting mediocre performance. High standards and deep appreciation are NOT mutually exclusive. True depth of acknowledgment is much more powerful than most leaders realize. The individual before you, at whatever level, decided to work for your organization of their own free will. They probably put in a significant effort on the project, re-arranged personal commitments, worked long hours, worked weekends when their spouse had to cover their children (he or she has a job too). Yes – this is required to be successful in today’s competitive workplace.

All the more reason to acknowledge rather than ignore it because “we all have to do that.” When a leader has that deep appreciation and acknowledgment inside them, it can practically be felt in their presence. It is both as simple and as complex as “they really mean it…no ulterior motive; they just appreciate all I have done.” When a leader goes within themselves and holds a true decision to express the gratitude and appreciation for what their people do – their people will feel it at a gut, emotional level. We all need reminding that most communication is non-verbal. Research has begun to unveil the complexity of the human face and how we are genetically encoded to read the facial expressions and emotions that seem to be universal on the planet. Your employees can often discern what you really feel just by looking at the expression on your face.

So the inner work of the leader, particularly in the changing demographics coming in the workplace, is to learn to hold a clear, clean strong field of acknowledgement and appreciation. The ultimate goal is to recognize the depth of the individual and that they decided, of their own free will, to put in the effort and turn in a solid performance.

Your job as a leader is to fan that flame of individual, free will choice because there is nothing more powerful in organizational life. Encourage them to get better, be clear about where they have to improve, and honor the power of someone’s true internal commitment to turn in a good performance. Do this and next time you will see something even better.

The most powerful competitive advantage in any organization is the free will choice of its people. If those employees decide – because they choose to – to commit to your organization and what it is doing, it is likely to be one of the great companies of our time.

Copyright © 2016 Cameron Hogan, HealingTheCorporateHeart.com. All rights reserved

The Map Is Not The Territory

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In organizations we use models, frameworks, processes, and methodologies to great extent and with effective results. It is a way of modeling our anticipated experience so we can mentally understand what is going on in our world and see how all the pieces might fit together – it is an overview perspective that gives us the lay of the land.

The danger is thinking that the model is the same as actually getting things done. A useful way to think about this distinction is the difference between the cartographer and the explorer. The cartographer creates a map of the place to be explored, which provides an overall view and puts it in context of the known world at the time. It is an excellent visual representation of what exists as we know it today. The explorer is the brave soul who goes out to the edges of the known universe, experiences the territory directly, and actually finds out what is there. At some points the map is useful and accurate, but at other points it fails miserably. The explorer cannot just complain, “Oh it is the map makers fault,” and give up as that is a sure way to death. They find a new way and bring back valuable information to improve the map and grow our understanding of the known universe.

In the business world, creating a map is called strategy and it is an analytical skill. Exploring the territory is called implementing the strategy and it is an emotional skill. Successfully implementing a strategy is often like finding your way in the wilderness – to which anyone who has successfully traversed organizational change can attest.

To actually be able to adapt in today’s world, a leader needs both analytical and emotional skills to successfully design and implement any change that an entire organization is willing to commit to following. These are fundamentally different skills and it is essential to understand the differences between them.

Everyone tends to be more dominant in one vs. the other – and everyone can increase their skill in either. Most leaders tend to be strong on the strategy/analytical side, but a little less so on the emotional side. Implementing strategy requires a deep appreciation for the risk employees take in trusting their leaders when they can’t see the big picture. As humans, every one of us has experienced being let down or led astray by someone we trusted. These are the real emotions you must help your people work through during periods of significant change – the uncertainty and the fear.

Leaders often use a fairly common protection mechanism, which is simply to brush employees’ concerns and say “get over it, this is just business.” Of course, it is not just business and you can’t program people’s emotions like computers. This reaction usually reflects the leader’s own discomfort with everyone’s fear and anxiety. As leaders, when we make decisions about change we impact people’s lives. For leaders there can be a real fear about screwing up and negatively impacting people on a large scale. Many deal with that fear by emotionally shutting down. The problem is that effective implementation requires the opposite response.

Times of change are much like exploring the territory. You don’t know what to expect and you are discovering important places where the map is not accurate. First and foremost, employees want to know that their leaders care. They want to feel a genuine gratitude for all they are doing to make the strategy a reality.

The inner work for the leader is to truly appreciate the challenges their employees face every day in the territory while trying to create a more accurate map. The leader’s journey is to generate a genuine internal state of gratitude and appreciation for their people. And to be able to openly express it while not being overwhelmed by everyone’s changing emotions. This balance requires a deep centeredness. The goal is to really care, show it, and stay focused on the key elements of implementing the strategy. In short, it is about being analytical and emotional at the same time.

Imagine the difference between a map of the Grand Canyon and actually being there – the experience, the heat, the tiredness, the emotional awe, the sense of wonder. Maps are extremely useful, but not to be confused for the experience itself. A map gives us a perspective of what is going on in an analytical framework. The experience on the ground is much different.

It is the ability to move seamlessly between the two perspectives and not confuse one for the other that is critical to effective leadership. Stay focused on the strategy, while deeply appreciating the impact on the people and letting them know it.

In the end, people know if you care or not. It is that simple. If you really appreciate what they are doing; it will be reflected in every communication, every comment, your body language, and tone of voice. Leaders have to sit with themselves and ask the central question – “Do I really appreciate what my people are doing? Do I really care?”

If the answer is “no, not really” then you will probably run into major problems.

If the answer is “yes” – then the next question is, “Am I expressing that clearly? Am I demonstrating that?” If not, then the inner work of taking a chance on communicating your appreciation is in order. When you communicate your appreciation, you may not always get the positive response you expect at first. It is a leader’s inner strength that matters here. If it is genuine, just keep doing it. It will eventually get through. The larger the organization, the longer it takes for people to get the message and more importantly, to trust the message.

In the end, as a leader, you must have a strategy and be able to execute it. That will take a map and a lot of analytical thinking. Successful implementation is all about your people’s commitment. It is amazing the depth of commitment you will get when you simply, genuinely appreciate what your employees are doing every day and they know you care.

When you demonstrate that you actually care about what they do every day you will have built the crucial bridge between the map and the territory. Once that happens, you will have a team that will surprise themselves, and probably the rest of the world, by what they can accomplish.

Copyright © 2016 Cameron Hogan, HealingTheCorporateHeart.com. All rights reserved

If You Want The Truth, You Have To Make It Safe To Speak The Truth

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The speed and success of an organization can be measured by the comfort level of telling the truth. Most leaders will acknowledge that the speed at which they get negative information is related to the effectiveness of the organization. Typically, the CEO or senior person will say “I want everyone to get the truth on the table”.

But everyone knows what happens when they do that. Either they get attacked for saying what the top brass really doesn’t want to hear or they get targeted and their performance in some other area will get criticized directly or their decision making will be called into question.

The second possibility is a bit less overt – and sometimes even worse. Top leaders will say they want the truth and want to create a safe environment but their body language, tone of voice, and demeanor will tell a different tale. How they unconsciously act will speak volumes about how they do or don’t want to address the topic raised. Their team will get the message loud and clear. Pay lip service to telling the truth – but don’t actually do it. All the various ways we as leaders can say one thing but actually do something else to prevent the outcome we request is amazing and difficult to stop.

So how do you really make it safe?

As a leader you have to do the inner work so that you can truly be willing to hear people’s truth. The inner work in this case is being aware of your almost unconscious reactions and learning to either release your damaging beliefs or at least delay the knee jerk response. Begin to see if you can catch the very quick thoughts that probably sound something like this “If I allow people to disagree with me I am losing authority” or “I am the leader – people will do what I want whether they like it or not”. Starting to catch these almost subliminal thoughts is the first step.

You don’t have to agree with the ideas presented by your team – but you want to work towards being neutral to what is presented without blame or judgment. It is OK to say – “That may be true and if it is I am willing to act – but I need more proof/data”. However, you actually have to act if the data supports the presented point of view.

In the end, as leader it is safe because you really make it safe. People know you will listen without judging them – even if it is just internally. Here is the tough part:

  • Can you hear the truth without blame or judgement?
  • Can you put a higher value on the truth than being right?
  • Can you stand in front of your leadership team and own your own stuff? Can you say things like:
      • “Yep – we didn’t do that well”
      • “Wow – I really dropped the ball on that”

The next step is critical. You don’t actually look to blame anyone. Instead, focus your team on solving the problem. When you, as a team or leadership group, are working together on how to solve the problem then you are truly making it safe. Assuming in this case everyone has the requisite skills – then it is all about collectively focusing on the best approach and intent.

If you are collectively focused on solutions, you have shared intent and a frequency alignment that is both powerful but also acts like a modulator for the larger organization’s behavior. When an organization drops the need to blame and instead focuses on solving the problem or creating a different outcome it is powerful. However, not everyone is comfortable functioning in an environment without blame. If a leader consistently comes back to creating a genuine place of safety to tell the real truth and work to solve problems, then slowly an energy field is created to which people will either entrain or they will self-select and voluntarily leave the organization.

If You Want Commitment, You Have To Give A Real Voice

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One of the biggest challenges and the biggest opportunities in organizations is dealing with people. The conundrum is that people have free will. They choose what they want to believe and only they can choose to what they will give their energy, drive, passion and commitment….and as a leader you don’t have any control over that.

In a traditional, hierarchical management system what you have is the illusion of control. In the end, you can coerce people to do certain things –ultimately through the threat of being fired…but that is not the same thing as commitment. Real power comes from people who are committed to the goals of the organization because they have decided to do so of their own free will – they are “all in”.

Will you get everyone to commit? In short “no”… but that is OK because you don’t need everyone. However, your top leaders and their top leaders do need to be all in. So what is the cornerstone of building to that?

Of course there are several pieces to solving this puzzle and include trust, consistency and demonstrated behavior – they all play a factor. What we are going to explore in this post is the concept of having a real voice.

Typically, goals are delivered down from on-high. “Here are your targets – go get them”. Top leaders will argue – we really think it through, we debate, and we are realistic about what the business needs and what is expected. However, there is rarely a real conversation with the operational leaders to actually change the goals and therefore the trajectory of the organization. Remember – it is the operational leaders who have to actually achieve the results.

Sometimes growth will come at the expense of required investment of infrastructure, methodology development, or systems required for the next stage of growth. The people who will have to actually implement solutions to customers never get a chance to voice the trade-offs especially in terms of the human impact. What you rarely, if ever hear, someone say is:

“Yes we can make the numbers but we will also damage the home life and personal lives of our employees and will see significantly higher attrition in 18 months – but we will hit this year’s numbers”

If you want someone all in they have to be able to push, challenge, contradict…everything…in a safe space. That doesn’t mean they get what they want but they have an opportunity to challenge, honestly, what the organization is doing and how that will play out.

If you set goals in this fashion, and get leaders comfortable really speaking the truth and really connecting the dots, you will typically get a committed team focusing on goals they believe they can really hit…and then they will often outperform. The reason for the outperformance:

When you feel respected and when you feel heard…. honestly – you will bring more of yourself to the work and the combined energy is powerful.

What is crucial for the top leadership to understand is that this can’t be a check the box exercise – you have to mean it. You must, at a deeply felt level, really believe in and want your team’s commitment and be patient and focused on uncovering the truth until the resonance is achieved.

This brings us back to the overall theme of this blog and this approach. Top leaders must do their inner work and really understand what they truly believe – not just what they think they believe. People feel before they think. Your team will instinctively pick up the difference between what you say and what you actually believe. It is only when there is a coherence between what you say and what you do that committed goal setting and solid performance can become a consistent reality.