Transform Your Relationships:
Give the Gift of Undivided Attention

Think back over the last two weeks. How many times did you experience someone as listening to you in a way that let you know he/she really, truly heard you – not just your words, but the feeling and meaning behind them? Whenever I pose this question to a room full of university students or workshop participants, the majority of people consistently report 0 -2 instances of feeling heard. Yet human beings have a need to feel acknowledged and valued. Regardless of our rank, position, or status in life, we all want to know that somehow we matter.

Dr. Howard Tuckman had a rare gift that went far beyond his stellar academic credentials: giving people his undivided attention. I discovered that gift many years ago during a Christmas party hosted by the Economics department at the University of Memphis, where he was a newly arrived distinguished professor and I was a part-time lecturer. As we engaged in conversation amid dozens of festive party-goers, I experienced a new and heady sensation: that I was the most important person in the room to him, and he couldn’t wait to hear what I had to say.

I have no recollection of what we talked about, or how long the conversation lasted. No doubt it was only a few minutes. Yet during that brief interaction he transformed my world through the message conveyed by his undivided attention: that I am a highly valued person whose presence matters in this world.

Fast forward several decades to today’s world, where people pride themselves on multitasking, where social media and other forms of technology have largely replaced personal contact, and where there never seem to be enough hours in the day. Imagine the positive impact you can have on your staff, your customers, and your family and friends by taking just a few minutes to call a figurative time out. It doesn’t matter what you say; what matters is that you stop everything to focus on the person in front of you. Perhaps it’s a colleague or employee faced with a challenging project, or a customer who feels unappreciated, or a teenager suffering the angst of growing up. Imagine the difference you would make in their lives if you took a few moments to let them know you hear them.

Giving one’s undivided attention is a skill that can be learned and improved with practice. Here are some tips to get you started:

1. Stop whatever you’re doing.
2. Whether you’re standing or sitting, position yourself so that you’re facing the other person.
3. Make eye contact as appropriate (remembering that in some cultures, making eye contact is considered disrespectful).
4. Act as though there are only the two of you in the entire world by remaining focused on the other person. Do not look around to see who else is there or what else is going on.
5. Engage in active listening – e.g., nod your head, ask relevant prompting or follow-up questions, paraphrase what was said, lean slightly forward.
6. Use body language and behaviors to convey the message that you’ve got all the time in the world for this person – e.g., refrain from looking at your watch or checking your phone, relax your body to indicate you’re not going anywhere until the conversation is over.
7. Discern the meaning behind the words by noticing the person’s body language and tone of voice.
8. Remember: you’re not there to solve a problem. You’re there to acknowledge the person’s value by listening deeply and respectfully.

By following these steps, you can be the person who gives a priceless gift to others. Your cost: a few minutes of your time and attention. Your rewards: more respectful, trusting, and collaborative relationships, and the satisfaction of knowing that you have made a tremendous difference in the world.

I leave you with this challenge: give the gift of your undivided attention at least once a day throughout the coming year. See for yourself how it changes your life and those of others.

Best wishes for a happy, safe, productive, and healthy 2015!

To find other articles and resources that may be of value to you, I invite you to visit my web site at www.BusinessAlignmentStrategies.com and my blog at www.OptimizeBusinessResults.com.

Alignment Solutions is a concise, bi-weekly newsletter written specifically to help organizational leaders optimize their business results. Your e-mail address is never shared with anyone for any reason. You may unsubscribe by clicking the link on the bottom of this e-mail.

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© 2014 Pat Lynch. All rights reserved.

How to Identify Key Positions in Your Organization

One of the persistent myths about succession planning is that it should address only positions at the executive level. In fact, there are key positions throughout the organization, which I define as those that represent critical jobs, functions, skills, and/or competencies. Think about it: unless your organization is comprised of all volunteers, how many of your employees would come to work every day if they didn’t get paid? Thus payroll is a critical function. Who knew that the payroll clerk is a VIP in your organization?

Identifying the key positions in your organization is like triaging victims after an accident: emergency personnel prioritize their injuries against pre-defined criteria, then treat them in order of most to least critical. Although setting up an organizational triage process takes some time, and usually much soul-searching, the result is that you know exactly how and where to prioritize your efforts and direct your resources – i.e., on the positions that would leave the organization most vulnerable if they are not filled with capable staff.

Here are the three organizational triage categories for identifying key positions. They are defined according to their impact on the organization’s survivability – i.e., its ability to achieve its mission:

For each position, function, skill, and competency, ask and answer TRUTHFULLY the following set of questions. What is the impact on our mission if we:

• Don’t fill the position?
• Delay filling the position?
• Omit some aspects of the position?
• Reduce the qualifications of the position?

Insist on very specific answers: “we’d go out of business” is not acceptable. Truthful and realistic responses collectively will enable you to prioritize each position. Assess all positions, functions, skills, and competencies using the above process. The assumption is that every position must be at least important to achieving the mission. If you find any that are not, ask yourself why they are there? How can you justify their existence? The result will be a prioritized list of positions throughout the organization. For succession planning purposes, you have a clear picture of your vulnerabilities and where you must focus your efforts and resources.

Just as is the case during an emergency, the first responders’ work is not done when they have made their initial assessments. They must TAKE ACTION based on their findings. Just as they wouldn’t think of leaving victims at the scene of the accident or emergency, so you too must take action to address your organization’s known vulnerabilities.

To read about this organizational triage process in slightly more detail and from a resource allocation process, take a look at my article Guidelines for Allocating Scarce Resources.

To find other articles and resources that may be of value to you, I invite you to visit my web site at www.BusinessAlignmentStrategies.com and my blog at www.OptimizeBusinessResults.com.

Alignment Solutions is a concise, bi-weekly newsletter written specifically to help organizational leaders optimize their business results. Your e-mail address is never shared with anyone for any reason. You may unsubscribe by clicking the link on the bottom of this e-mail.

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© 2014 Pat Lynch. All rights reserved.

Efficiency or Effectiveness:
Do Words Really Matter?

During a conference I attended last week, I was reminded again that using words imprecisely can have dire consequences. As part of their presentation on cost efficiency, two speakers stressed the need to balance two related yet different concepts that often are used interchangeably: efficiency and effectiveness. Although both are critical to an organization’s ability to survive and thrive, their respective desired outcomes often are in conflict.

The speakers defined “efficiency” as doing things right – i.e., using resources the best way possible. They suggested examining the ratio of outputs to inputs would help assess the degree of an organization’s efficiency. “Effectiveness,” on the other hand, means doing the right things – i.e., achieving the desired outcomes. The reality is that few, if any, organizations have unlimited resources. As a result, there must be a balance between the sometimes contradictory concepts of effectiveness (the WHAT) and efficiency (the HOW).

The problem arises when people use these two terms interchangeably. To the extent that decision-makers focus solely or primarily on cost efficiency when allocating resources, for example, they cause the organization’s effectiveness to suffer.

Let’s use public safety as an example of how using “efficiency” and “effectiveness” interchangeably may play out. Most people want to live and work in communities that are safe, healthy, and economically viable. Since the recent recession caused local governments to slash their budgets, including the funding for public safety agencies, the focus has been almost exclusively on efficiency – i.e., how much can we cut from the budget? Although most organizations generally can find ways to become more efficient, beyond a certain point there are no resources to cut without degrading service effectiveness. This result may manifest as slower response times when people call 911. Services previously available, such as community policing, gang enforcement, and fire prevention education, also may disappear. Failing to distinguish between these two terms has added to the significant decrease in the level of public safety in many communities across the U.S. and other countries.

Is that outcome okay? The answer is up to the residents of the affected communities. However, for them to make informed decisions about what they are willing to trade off, they must understand the implications of an imbalance between efficiency and effectiveness. That is, if we cut back on resources, what will be the impact on public safety? On the other hand, if we focus on effectiveness to the exclusion of efficiency, are we being realistic?

The bottom line: for the health and well-being of your organization, distinguish clearly between the concepts of efficiency and effectiveness. Focus first on the end result you want to provide your customers and stakeholders (the WHAT), then address the ways you might achieve that outcome most efficiently (the HOW). Maintaining a balance between the two concepts will serve your organization and its stakeholders well.

To find other articles and resources that may be of value to you, I invite you to visit my web site at www.BusinessAlignmentStrategies.com and my blog at www.OptimizeBusinessResults.com.

Alignment Solutions is a concise, bi-weekly newsletter written specifically to help organizational leaders optimize their business results. Your e-mail address is never shared with anyone for any reason. You may unsubscribe by clicking the link on the bottom of this e-mail.

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© 2014 Pat Lynch. All rights reserved.

What Major League Baseball Can Teach
Organizations about Succession Planning

Organizations of all sizes in the public, private, and non-profit sectors can achieve their goals and missions more quickly and easily when they implement an effective succession planning process. So why is it that too few of them choose to do so?

My definition of succession planning is an on-going, long-term process to systematically develop talent so there is a readily available, qualified pool of candidates to fill critical positions throughout the organization as they become vacant.

Whatever the reason for its absence – e.g., perceived lack of time or resources, lack of knowledge about how to develop a plan, failure to implement a plan, mistaken belief that small organizations don’t need such a process – a solid succession process is not a high priority for many leaders and business owners despite the real benefits that would accrue to their stakeholders and to themselves.

Major League Baseball’s (MLB) farm club system is, in effect, a succession process. Teams hire promising athletes, train them, provide opportunities for honing their skills, and if/when they are ready, move them up to the major leagues. Here are ten reasons this system works well for MLB:

1. There is a process – i.e., teams implement their staffing plans.
2. Teams search for good talent, candidates whose skills fit their immediate and future needs.
3. Teams train their players and give them lots of opportunities to practice their skills.
4. Players get specific, timely feedback about their performance.
5. If a team mistakenly calls a player up to the majors before he’s ready, causing the athlete to struggle or fail, he’s sent back quickly for more training and/or experience.
6. Players on the major league roster may be sent back down to the farm team for remediation.
7. Teams staff their positions with the best person for the job, even when it means a long-time player, or one who is solid but not quite as good, gets moved out or down.
8. Teams hold players and coaches accountable for meeting stated performance criteria.
9. Coaches make staffing decisions based on what’s best for the team, not for individual players.
10. Teams let players go when it becomes evident they cannot or will not meet the job requirements.

How many of the above elements exist in your organization? Where can you make improvements?

To learn more about important elements of succession planning, take a look at my article Succession Planning Myths and Realities.

To find other articles and resources that may be of value to you, I invite you to visit my web site at www.BusinessAlignmentStrategies.com and my blog at www.OptimizeBusinessResults.com.

Alignment Solutions is a concise, bi-weekly newsletter written specifically to help organizational leaders optimize their business results. Your e-mail address is never shared with anyone for any reason. You may unsubscribe by clicking the link on the bottom of this e-mail.

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© 2014 Pat Lynch. All rights reserved.

Business Lessons from a 3-alarm Fire

For millions of people in the U.S., July 1st was memorable because it marked the highly anticipated World Cup soccer game between the U.S. and Belgium. Here in Long Beach, CA, thousands of excited fans crowded local streets and businesses well ahead of the 1 p.m. local starting time to party and cheer for their team. For the Long Beach Fire Department (LBFD), however, 1 p.m. on July 1st became memorable for a different reason: it marked the time of the first call alerting them to a fire at a local business. After assessing the magnitude of the situation, the first units on scene called in a second alarm, followed quickly by a third alarm. In addition to the multiple fire engines, trucks, and ambulances dispatched to the fire, the hazardous materials and search and rescue teams also were summoned as flammable materials fueled the blaze and the roof collapsed.

I happened to be at the LBFD dispatch center that day, which gave me a front-row seat to observe those who choreographed the emergency response. I watched in awe as the dispatchers quickly and expertly directed the appropriate apparatus to the scene, responded to radio questions and requests from the field, sent additional equipment, and re-positioned the remaining fire engines to other stations so that all parts of the city would have some coverage during this incident that suddenly demanded most of the available resources. To the public, nothing seemed amiss: both 911 and non-emergency calls continued to be answered promptly. Even the person who called 911 to demand that a fire marshal be sent to a local bar that was so crowded that she couldn’t get in (!) had no clue that the dispatcher simultaneously was handling the immediate demands of a 3-alarm fire.

Although such emergencies are rare, when they do occur, first responders must be on top of their games in order to prevent a catastrophe or mitigate its effects. Even with single alarm fires, the damage can be alleviated IF both dispatchers and firefighters are properly trained and have the appropriate resources. Whatever your organization’s equivalent of a 3- (or 2- or 1-) alarm fire, here are six observations about how you might apply the lessons demonstrated by this incident:

1. The successful resolution of an emergency situation depends entirely on the knowledge and skills of the people involved. Are your employees properly trained to handle an emergency?

2. Having enough people can make the difference between success and failure. Have cutbacks in personnel left your organization vulnerable?

3. There is no substitute for having the right people in the right jobs. Do you have a sound succession process that ensures you have qualified employees in key positions throughout the organization?

4. Institutional knowledge is irreplaceable. Do you have a process in place that ensures valuable knowledge is passed on to other employees?

5. An emergency highlights the difference between employees who are committed and those who are not. Are your employees dedicated to providing professional, seamless customer service regardless of the larger emergency at hand?

6. Exceptional communication skills enable more effective, timely, and accurate responses. To what extent would your employees’ communication skills help or hinder in an emergency?

Hopefully your organization doesn’t experience many emergencies. When it does, your employees’ abilities to respond effectively will test the strength of its foundation. Being able to address the above points positively will go a long way toward making sure you can recover quickly.

To find other articles and resources that may be of value to you, I invite you to visit my web site at www.BusinessAlignmentStrategies.com and my blog at www.OptimizeBusinessResults.com.

Alignment Solutions is a concise, bi-weekly newsletter written specifically to help organizational leaders optimize their business results. Your e-mail address is never shared with anyone for any reason. You may unsubscribe by clicking the link on the bottom of this e-mail.

Click here to Join Our Mailing List!

© 2014 Pat Lynch. All rights reserved.