There are moments I understand why organizations do not always work to build trust, to develop effective communications, to create transparency, honesty, and ethics as cultural standards. Doing business right is not for the faint of heart.
It takes time to talk about values and ethics and tell the stories necessary to translate those belief systems to others. There is nothing quick about building a culture of trust and of holding each other accountable. Some of the conversations you need to have to clarify expectations, set appropriate boundaries and ensure all parties are heard are frankly not a lot of fun.
It is a lot of work, mindful, hard work, to do business right.
But along the way the richness of the learning and the dialogues, the depth of understanding and the quality of work produced are nothing short of amazing. The outcome of putting your heart, your intelligence, your experience, your values and beliefs into the work is that you can trust that what you do for your clients and customers is solid, your decisions are based on the right influences and that at the end of the day you can review all that has happened with pride and satisfaction.
If you want a quick fix, a fast solution, a band aid approach to business, doing the right thing is not for you. If you are willing to consider the alternatives, think through the motivations, have the conversations, keep open communication flowing-- not only will profit follow but you will have earned every penny of it in all of the right ways. Your employees will be proud to work with you. Your customers will want to keep you coming back. And you will enjoy the time spent with a spirit of fulfillment and pride. It's hard work and worth every bit of effort spent.
Thursday, November 04, 2010
Tuesday, November 02, 2010
The Power Of Expectations
I am constantly reminded about the power of setting expectations. As we work together inside and outside of organizations, and as we get to know each other, we think we understand what is expected of us, and that we are clear with others what we expect of them.
I believe that is actually rarely true. Clarity around expectations is critical but not frequent.
For example, recently I was observing a conversation with a small group of clients who were meeting together to kick off a new project. One of the most talented leaders (let's call her Helen) talked about her expectations of others. She said there were 3 levels of expectations in her mind.
Immediately, her colleague, (let's call him Bob), another well respected leader, agreed. They both smiled and nodded as they acknowledge what they believed were their common thoughts about the 3 levels of expectations they held. Ahhh, alignment.
Or at least the assumption of alignment, which held until Bob began to discuss what he obviously thought they both agreed to: "Yes, three levels: a) not meeting needs b) satisfactorily meeting needs c) super pleasing-- above and beyond meeting needs."
The attitude in the room began to shift.
Helen's relaxed body language changed as she realized that somehow she had not been heard or understood. She became uncomfortable. That led to the group feeling uncomfortable without yet understanding why. Helen stopped the conversation, tipped her head and said "No, I'm not sure you heard me. As we both agreed to, there are three levels of expectations: a) satisfactorily meeting the needs b) above and beyond c) way above and beyond--integrating new pieces even the client would not have thought of. There is no expectations of not meeting needs. And there is an expectation of going above and beyond what people think is above and beyond."
A third colleague, Greg, was standing near by listening in, joined the conversation with, "No really, I think both of your expectations are a bit high." As Greg listed his expectations, the other two began to look aghast. And the sudden realization hit them that they did not share common expectations but held each other to standards no one agreed to. There was no alignment. They had worked together for a long time, and assumed they understood and agreed to expectations held.
This could have been a recipe for disaster. Instead it was an opportunity for honest dialogue and communication. As we all began to talk about the assumptions we make that we are not aware of, the colleagues realized there may be many places they assume alignment but only because they do not check their assumptions. When experiences and values differ, even by a few degrees, that creates a set of beliefs and expectations in each of us that we need to illuminate as we deal with others.
Aligning expectations can seem like it takes time, like it is yet one more way of holding hands and singing folks songs. In truth, aligned expectations can save vast amounts of time and money as resources can be quickly targeted toward agreed to goals, employees are working toward the same objectives with clarity and confidence. Trust is built. People understand clearly what is expected of them and are able to work towards those expectations without mayhem.
What a powerful tool, expectations. What we expect of ourselves, what we expect of others, and what we believe they can expect from us. There are few tools more useful or more impactful in business and yet completely overlooked. Targeted, focused effort toward communication and collaboration around expectations pays back over and over again.
I believe that is actually rarely true. Clarity around expectations is critical but not frequent.
For example, recently I was observing a conversation with a small group of clients who were meeting together to kick off a new project. One of the most talented leaders (let's call her Helen) talked about her expectations of others. She said there were 3 levels of expectations in her mind.
Immediately, her colleague, (let's call him Bob), another well respected leader, agreed. They both smiled and nodded as they acknowledge what they believed were their common thoughts about the 3 levels of expectations they held. Ahhh, alignment.
Or at least the assumption of alignment, which held until Bob began to discuss what he obviously thought they both agreed to: "Yes, three levels: a) not meeting needs b) satisfactorily meeting needs c) super pleasing-- above and beyond meeting needs."
The attitude in the room began to shift.
Helen's relaxed body language changed as she realized that somehow she had not been heard or understood. She became uncomfortable. That led to the group feeling uncomfortable without yet understanding why. Helen stopped the conversation, tipped her head and said "No, I'm not sure you heard me. As we both agreed to, there are three levels of expectations: a) satisfactorily meeting the needs b) above and beyond c) way above and beyond--integrating new pieces even the client would not have thought of. There is no expectations of not meeting needs. And there is an expectation of going above and beyond what people think is above and beyond."
A third colleague, Greg, was standing near by listening in, joined the conversation with, "No really, I think both of your expectations are a bit high." As Greg listed his expectations, the other two began to look aghast. And the sudden realization hit them that they did not share common expectations but held each other to standards no one agreed to. There was no alignment. They had worked together for a long time, and assumed they understood and agreed to expectations held.
This could have been a recipe for disaster. Instead it was an opportunity for honest dialogue and communication. As we all began to talk about the assumptions we make that we are not aware of, the colleagues realized there may be many places they assume alignment but only because they do not check their assumptions. When experiences and values differ, even by a few degrees, that creates a set of beliefs and expectations in each of us that we need to illuminate as we deal with others.
Aligning expectations can seem like it takes time, like it is yet one more way of holding hands and singing folks songs. In truth, aligned expectations can save vast amounts of time and money as resources can be quickly targeted toward agreed to goals, employees are working toward the same objectives with clarity and confidence. Trust is built. People understand clearly what is expected of them and are able to work towards those expectations without mayhem.
What a powerful tool, expectations. What we expect of ourselves, what we expect of others, and what we believe they can expect from us. There are few tools more useful or more impactful in business and yet completely overlooked. Targeted, focused effort toward communication and collaboration around expectations pays back over and over again.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Ok, I admit, virtual KM is not easy!
When I first started this blog, I thought this would be a way for me to share nearly real time my learning and insights from the KM work I was doing. Never, of course, revealing any client information, names, data but rather talking about the challenges and opportunities that are faced by everyone.
I did not think I'd be experiencing these things within my own organization.
As some of you know, my own group is growing quickly. I have added a few people and may add more in the near future. Everyone is busy and though we have great office space at this point, we also work virtually much of the time.
It is now my responsibility to share with my team, keep them up to date, ensure they have all the knowledge they need, teach and mentor, communicate, collaborate, celebrate their successes...and to do that virtually.
This is not unlike my Fortune 100 clients who are working hard to learn how to be a truly international company. We, as humans, do well to look each other in the eye and talk. We can work virtually well, when we have some of the trust I discussed in yesterday's blog. But that takes time and effort to build.
The crucial components I believe in sharing knowledge virtually is to be persistent, consistent and transparent. You need to continue to communicate, work towards collaboration, get people motivated to do it themselves and not lose patience -- new behaviors around communicating and sharing virtually take time. It will not happen in a week, a month...it will happen when it is repeated, rewarded, recognized-- new behaviors take practice.
I am grateful to get the opportunity to learn these things again, leading such a dynamic team. I'll continue to share those learnings. With patience, consistence and persistence! And a great amount of respect for what we all do to work in the ways our new world requires us to do. These are exciting times!
I did not think I'd be experiencing these things within my own organization.
As some of you know, my own group is growing quickly. I have added a few people and may add more in the near future. Everyone is busy and though we have great office space at this point, we also work virtually much of the time.
It is now my responsibility to share with my team, keep them up to date, ensure they have all the knowledge they need, teach and mentor, communicate, collaborate, celebrate their successes...and to do that virtually.
This is not unlike my Fortune 100 clients who are working hard to learn how to be a truly international company. We, as humans, do well to look each other in the eye and talk. We can work virtually well, when we have some of the trust I discussed in yesterday's blog. But that takes time and effort to build.
The crucial components I believe in sharing knowledge virtually is to be persistent, consistent and transparent. You need to continue to communicate, work towards collaboration, get people motivated to do it themselves and not lose patience -- new behaviors around communicating and sharing virtually take time. It will not happen in a week, a month...it will happen when it is repeated, rewarded, recognized-- new behaviors take practice.
I am grateful to get the opportunity to learn these things again, leading such a dynamic team. I'll continue to share those learnings. With patience, consistence and persistence! And a great amount of respect for what we all do to work in the ways our new world requires us to do. These are exciting times!
Saturday, October 30, 2010
How Trust and Blame Affects Knowledge Transfer
Trust is one of those concepts, like organizational culture, that most of my clients react to by saying..."Yes, this is critical but too big to tackle". Often that means they ignore the issue, thinking somehow magically it will take care of itself.
The truth is that the longer we wait to identify and address issues in these areas, the more ingrained they become and the harder they are to shift. From a business perspective, not addressing issues like trust can impede speed, decrease the ability to collaborate and enhance organizational silos. Employees who work in a culture of little trust keep knowledge to themselves. Why shouldn't they? If they share, they may not be taken seriously. The knowledge they have to share may be wasted on those who believe they have to know the answers themselves and are therefore not willing to listen or learn, much less be involved in good, rich dialogue.
One of the signs or symptoms of lack of trust is the 'blame game.' Yes, you recognize this, I am sure. And, I am sure you realize what a powerful detriment to innovation and collaboration the blame game is. To be honest, I not only witness the blame game in many client organizations, but have seen it evolve to the 'shame game' as well.
Somewhere along the line some organizational cultures have shifted to where employees forget that they have a business arrangement with their companies, a contract, to provide their working hours, time and skills to increasing success and share price while upholding the values and ethics of the organization. When the culture allows or encourages people to put their own success ahead of the good of the company, employees are not fulfilling their obligations to their employers or to the shareholders. In truth, this is not a win for anyone. This is not the formula for sustained success.
The blame and shame games make it quite difficult, and certainly not safe, for innovative thinkers to come up with new ideas, new ways of addressing persistent and critical business problems. If the price of implementing a well considered new idea might be public criticism or humiliation by fellow employees, why would anyone take the risk and try something new, no matter how important it might be to the sustained success of the company?
I am deeply concerned that behavior such as talking behind people's back. feeling like for you to win someone else must fail, being rewarded for keeping yourself both safe and visible is allowed. how do we move forward, create agility, enhance collaboration and innovation in a culture of such deep distrust.
And how do we share the critical knowledge needed for our organizations to survive and thrive?
To that end I have now intertwined the great work being done around trust into the practices and processes for transferring knowledge. These issues can be addressed but they must first be acknowledge. Integrating work of such talented practitioners as Paula Love and Richard Hews allows me to create even more impactful and practical practices to help my clients sustain success. I am committed to being honest about the trends and patterns I see, and working with great collaborators to develop practices and processes to help clients address those patterns. We are all in this together.
The truth is that the longer we wait to identify and address issues in these areas, the more ingrained they become and the harder they are to shift. From a business perspective, not addressing issues like trust can impede speed, decrease the ability to collaborate and enhance organizational silos. Employees who work in a culture of little trust keep knowledge to themselves. Why shouldn't they? If they share, they may not be taken seriously. The knowledge they have to share may be wasted on those who believe they have to know the answers themselves and are therefore not willing to listen or learn, much less be involved in good, rich dialogue.
One of the signs or symptoms of lack of trust is the 'blame game.' Yes, you recognize this, I am sure. And, I am sure you realize what a powerful detriment to innovation and collaboration the blame game is. To be honest, I not only witness the blame game in many client organizations, but have seen it evolve to the 'shame game' as well.
Somewhere along the line some organizational cultures have shifted to where employees forget that they have a business arrangement with their companies, a contract, to provide their working hours, time and skills to increasing success and share price while upholding the values and ethics of the organization. When the culture allows or encourages people to put their own success ahead of the good of the company, employees are not fulfilling their obligations to their employers or to the shareholders. In truth, this is not a win for anyone. This is not the formula for sustained success.
The blame and shame games make it quite difficult, and certainly not safe, for innovative thinkers to come up with new ideas, new ways of addressing persistent and critical business problems. If the price of implementing a well considered new idea might be public criticism or humiliation by fellow employees, why would anyone take the risk and try something new, no matter how important it might be to the sustained success of the company?
I am deeply concerned that behavior such as talking behind people's back. feeling like for you to win someone else must fail, being rewarded for keeping yourself both safe and visible is allowed. how do we move forward, create agility, enhance collaboration and innovation in a culture of such deep distrust.
And how do we share the critical knowledge needed for our organizations to survive and thrive?
To that end I have now intertwined the great work being done around trust into the practices and processes for transferring knowledge. These issues can be addressed but they must first be acknowledge. Integrating work of such talented practitioners as Paula Love and Richard Hews allows me to create even more impactful and practical practices to help my clients sustain success. I am committed to being honest about the trends and patterns I see, and working with great collaborators to develop practices and processes to help clients address those patterns. We are all in this together.
Thursday, October 07, 2010
A Site That Grabs You By Your Curiosity
The caution was 'be careful, once you enter this site you'll want to spend a lot of time there'-- and it is oh so true.
Nearly every day I hear people say they are challenged to get people to be interested in the information/knowledge they want to share or perplexed about how to present what people really want to know.
The answer, they proclaim, is that if it is not immediately usable, people will not be interested in the information
WARNING: This site will debunk at least some of those ideas.
The site I reference here is 'Structurae: An International Database and Gallery of Structures' http://en.structurae.de/index.cfm
In knowledge management we spend a great deal of time talking about immediate relevancy and how important it is to make the information usable at the moment people want it or they will not take the time to look.
Well folks, I am no architect, nor am I a structural engineer and I have no desire to build or remodel a home. Yet I am fascinated to learn about the structural details and construction methods of everything from a refurbished apartment building in Paris to the Pyramids.
Why? Because we are all curious, at least to some extent, about the world around us.
We forget that people are people and that around the globe we DO have some common experiences. One of those is that we are surrounded by structures that peak our curiosity or grab our attention. Those structures we do not experience in person, we see in pictures and this is a place to learn about them in a level of detail that feels as though we are voyeuristically looking in on a personal database, something we are not usually allowed to see.
Is it perfect? No. Do I care that it is not perfect? Not in the least.
Let's do more in our own work to tap each other's creativity and curiosity and let go, just a bit, of the immediacy we are so addicted to. We all need to look up and look out-- look at our world not just at what sits on top of our desk or is articulated in our goals. Let our goal be to explore the world around us. This site is a great place to begin that journey.
Nearly every day I hear people say they are challenged to get people to be interested in the information/knowledge they want to share or perplexed about how to present what people really want to know.
The answer, they proclaim, is that if it is not immediately usable, people will not be interested in the information
WARNING: This site will debunk at least some of those ideas.
The site I reference here is 'Structurae: An International Database and Gallery of Structures' http://en.structurae.de/index.cfm
In knowledge management we spend a great deal of time talking about immediate relevancy and how important it is to make the information usable at the moment people want it or they will not take the time to look.
Well folks, I am no architect, nor am I a structural engineer and I have no desire to build or remodel a home. Yet I am fascinated to learn about the structural details and construction methods of everything from a refurbished apartment building in Paris to the Pyramids.
Why? Because we are all curious, at least to some extent, about the world around us.
We forget that people are people and that around the globe we DO have some common experiences. One of those is that we are surrounded by structures that peak our curiosity or grab our attention. Those structures we do not experience in person, we see in pictures and this is a place to learn about them in a level of detail that feels as though we are voyeuristically looking in on a personal database, something we are not usually allowed to see.
Is it perfect? No. Do I care that it is not perfect? Not in the least.
Let's do more in our own work to tap each other's creativity and curiosity and let go, just a bit, of the immediacy we are so addicted to. We all need to look up and look out-- look at our world not just at what sits on top of our desk or is articulated in our goals. Let our goal be to explore the world around us. This site is a great place to begin that journey.
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