Category Archives: Motivation

My employee inspires me

June 10, 2010 By in Building teams, Employees, Leadership, Motivation Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

I saw something today at work that truly inspired me. I was in casual conversation with two testers in the hall. A co-worker joined us and requested that one of the testers attend a meeting. The meeting is designed to improve collaboration for all QA testers across the various sprint teams in our organization. All testers attend in rotation; but this employee’s consistent attendance is desired by the employee’s peers.  This person is the “unofficial” leader of our QA  team. Seth Godin would describes this person as a linchpin, someone who is indispensable to the organization.

My nickname for this tester is “Peter Panic”. The de Paor siblings called my mum Peter Panic because try as she may, she could never stop worrying! Like my Mum this tester never stops worrying about peers and the project. Now that I think of it perhaps the employee could be considered  the mother hen of our department. Someone who is always looking out for us. The interaction today got me thinking. What are the qualities the employee demonstrates that has earned them the privilege of being requested to lead the QA team?

Here is what I came up with;

  • The employee is honest. The person speaks their mind when they have concerns. You know where they stand on an issue.
  • The person is independent.They will support an idea if they think its right. They support management publicly if they think we are right (even if the team thinks otherwise). They challenge the management team publicly and constructively if they have concerns. This is tough to do but they pull it off.
  • They see the best in others. They don’t align their perspective with a self-serving perception of what might be in it for them. When an employee was struggling I asked this person to mentor the employee. When things didn’t work out they continued to gently remind me that we needed to do the right thing by this employee even though they had left the organization.
  • This employee really cares about their work. They are totally committed to the product, project and their team. Sometimes, your strengths maximized become a weakness. Sometimes one can care too much. Give me this challenge to work through with someone any day over another who is ambivalent about their work.
  • The employee is  a true team player. They are happy to lead or support depending on the value they bring to task at hand.
  • This person is human with flaws like the rest of us. They are wonderful but not Mother Theresa. They don’t make me feel inferior in any way.
  • They acknowledge an error if they perceive they have made one.
  • The employee plays to my strengths and weaknesses which I really appreciate. If I am weak in an area (example – attention to detail) the employee manages that weakness for me and leverages their strength to compensate for me. The employee leverages my strengths when it makes sense to do so. I am willing to take risks and speak publicly at a higher level which they don’t feel comfortable doing.
  • The employee holds me accountable. If I say I will do something they remind me if I don’t. (which I like)
  • The employee regularly takes initiative to propose solutions to problems.
  • The employee is tenacious. They continue to follow-up until the issue  receives the appropriate attention.
  • This person demonstrates a sense of urgency. Once they raise an issue they want to ensure this issue is fixed.
  • The employee has patience. They are willing to explain a scenario multiple times until I understand it. As I had no background in R&D this was particularly helpful when I first joined the team.

Sometimes change is happening right before our eyes if we are perceptive enough to see it. The QA team is starting to self-organize, share information and slowly drive change. Employee empowerment is becoming a reality. How exciting. Now, how do I get invited to that meeting …….

Donal

Do you understand your company’s strategy?

May 29, 2010 By in Agile Development, Building teams, Employees, Leadership, Management, Motivation Tags: , , , , 1 Comment

I came across a very funny story as I was reading Gervase Bushe’s new book “Clear leadership“. He says his student’s told him about it and is unable to cite the author. Never mind this story is worth telling. It’s called the plan…..

The Plan

In the beginning there was the plan and then came the assumptions, and the assumptions were without form, and the plan was completely without substance, and darkness fell upon the faces of the workers.  And they spake unto their supervisors, saying: “The plan is a crock of sh*t and it stinketh.”

And the supervisors went unto their department heads, and said: “It is a pail of dung, and none may abide the odor thereof.”

And the department heads, went unto their group managers, and said unto them, “It is a container of excrement, and it is very strong, such that none can abide it.”

And the group managers went before their general manager, and said unto him, “It is a vessel of fertilizer and none may abide its strength.”

And the general manager went before the vice-presidents and said “It promoteth growth and is very powerful.”

And the vice-presidents went to the CEO and said unto him: “This powerful new plan will actively promote the growth of this company and all its business units.”

And the CEO looked at plan, saw that it was good, and the plan became policy.

Why do I share this story with you? Here is a question worth pondering. Do you know what your company’s strategy is? If you do, do you really understand it and the role you play in adding value to the “plan?” If you are a manager and find yourself in this situation be scared. Your ability to lead and drive the necessary changes are pretty limited. Even worse your employees are probably more confused about the strategy then you are.  In organizations with seemingly endless appetites for re-orgs employees get cynical quickly about  another change effort doomed to fall short of the promises of management when they don’t understand the context behind the changes.

Another interesting dynamic I often see is the parallel universes and perspectives of people at various levels of the organizations when discussing change efforts. For example, at work I believe we have made important strides in becoming a more agile organization which is critical to our future success. In a few years time I think we could become the leading innovators of Agile at Sage. I was surprised and disappointed when a couple of valued employees advised they were pretty skeptical about the benefits of agile on Friday. From their perspective the benefits we had promoted as part of our agile transition were far outweighed by the greater overhead, coördination and confusion that goes with more delegation to employees unclear about their roles in this new world. As managers we are eager to promote the win’s without speaking candidly enough about the many challenges that our employees experience as well when we meet as a team. We need to be positive about the future but realistic about the present. Employees must feel safe to raise their concerns publicly without feeling they are undermining management. That said employees should not publicly undermine management either! This can be done, they are not mutually exclusive objectives.

I came across a very interesting group recently called RLG International. This consulting company based out of Vancouver focuses specifically on connecting company’s from top to bottom, aligning strategy at all levels of the organization and helping employees see how their performance matters to the organization. Their methodology reminds me of many of the core principles of agile development with a focus on operational rhythm, improved visibility, communication and relevant metrics. As Patrick Lencioni reminds us in the Three signs of a miserable job employees will only ever feel fulfilled in their work if they believe their efforts really make a difference to their organizations, they feel valued and there are realistic metrics to quantify  and evaluate their contribution. Apparently RLG grew 20% in the midst of the brutal recession last year which is an impressive achievement. Although it seems like they operate in a niche market I believe this is becoming a greater issue for organizations as we struggle to survive and thrive in these turbulent times.

If your organization  is unlikely to hire an organization to help communicate your company’s strategy what’s the number one thing you and I can do to address this pressing organizational problem? Be curious! Ask questions. Be constructive but highlight the discrepancies and have some solutions to offer to move the situation forward. If you do have a solid understanding of your organization’s strategy be sure to share your wisdom with your colleagues. Context is huge in helping people succeed with change.

As always, if anyone has any comments I’d love to hear from you.

Thanks,

Donal

Are you a good colleague?

May 22, 2010 By in Leadership, Management, mba, Motivation, Personal development Tags: , , , , 1 Comment

I attended a three and a half day self-management course last weekend as part of my MBA program. It was by far the most intensive course I have ever experienced. Gervaise Bushe has designed a simulation that helps identify your strengths and weaknesses in meeting the challenges and possibilities of working and managing in ambiguous, fast paced organizational environments. I highly recommend this course for organizations that are struggling to manage change. If you would like to learn more about it you can check out this link.  A few weeks ago I discussed Kolb’s learning style inventory assessment. I learn primarily by doing. Simulations are an optimal learning environment for people like me. I loved it!

The cohort was given a brief overview of the principles of the simulation and some key barriers that get in the way of our learning. One of the key points Gervaise made was that there is a difference between what we know and what we do, particularly when levels of stress increase. We often know the correct principles to handle a situation but all types of external and internal factors limit our ability to execute successfully. Our challenge over the course was to evaluate our performance against the six characteristics of a great co-worker identified by Gervaise (I think).

1. Makes A Contribution

  • Sees what needs to be done and does it
  • Notices when you need a helping hand
  • Hard working, good work ethic
  • Competent and organized
  • Good time management
  • Committed to the team’s success
  • Goes above and beyond the call of duty

2. Dependable and Takes Accountability

  • Makes and keeps agreements
  • Meets deadlines
  • Able to own problems and accept responsibility
  • Able to prioritize
  • Makes and owns tough decisions
  • Coordinates with others
  • Ensures what they do integrates with the big picture

3. Straight-talking and Fair

  • Objective and fair
  • Tells you the whole truth
  • Means what they say and lives by their values
  • Won’t lie just to make it easier for themselves
  • Brings up hard issues that need to be discussed

4. Finds Creative and Innovative Solutions

  • Comes up with new ideas
  • Doesn’t get caught in assumptions
  • Is open to trying out new ideas
  • Encourages experimentation
  • Thinks out of the box
  • Looks for ways around problems
  • Doesn’t accept limitations

5. Self Aware and Continuously Learning

  • Open to learning
  • Accepts criticism
  • Gets curious when something doesn’t make sense
  • Asks for feedback and suggestions
  • Is willing to learn from their failures and move on
  • Can describe what is going on in them
  • Sees and acknowledges their part in problems
  • Challenges self and others to grow in difficult situations

6. Creates a Positive, Motivating Atmosphere

  • Encourages and motivates others
  • Stays cool under pressure
  • Enthusiastic
  • Takes a hit and stays focused
  • Doesn’t gossip or bad mouth others
  • Relieves tension
  • Sees the best in people
  • Sees the opportunities in challenges

For my sins, I have a fifteen page paper to write about what I learned from the course this weekend. I won’t bore you with all the details but there are some nuggets that are worth sharing.

  1. We each create our own experience. Our experience is not what happens to us but what we do with what happens to us. This is a very powerful idea. If we are mad, we choose to be mad. There is an alternative to how we currently view our situation. If we are checked out, there are options to re-connect and opportunities to make a difference if we so choose. I think this is very relevant given the malaise in employee morale across so many organizations after the distress of last year.
  2. In order to learn from experience we need to pay attention to our results(not our intentions). The most powerful stance for learning when I don’t like my results is: I created that result, probably because of thoughts, feelings and/or wants I’m not aware of. What’s in it for me to create that result? I experience this challenge at work occasionally. I take a course of action with what I perceive to be noble intentions yet others experience this a very different way.  A big part of my challenge is that I am too focused on solving the problem rather than gaining consensus that a problem in fact exists. I attended an R&D management excellence program recently at work with a useful framework to tackle problems from a problem vs solution approach. I’ll keep readers posted on my progress with this.
  3. Perhaps the most interesting insight was the idea of “competence compulsion”.  At work, we are all compelled to act and to make sense of every situation in a way that ensures we appear competent to ourselves and we appear competent to others. Unfortunately, when we are learning, we can appear less than competent. I spoke with a peer only on Friday who was opposed to managing employees outside of her core area of expertise for this reason. Here is the challenge though. Our environment is changing so fast now that we MUST continue to upgrade our skills or face obsolescence. How do we create a working environment where people feel safe to “fail forward” to improve their professional capabilities?

I will wrap up for now. As always, if you have feedback I would love to hear it. It’s time to get started on that paper I was telling you about.

Thanks,

Donal

Flawed career perceptions

April 24, 2010 By in Building teams, Employees, Management, Motivation Tags: , , , , Leave a comment

Career development conversations fascinate me. They are a great opportunity to explore hidden employee assumptions, perspectives, concerns and aspirations. For example, one would likely assume that most employees would like to get promoted. That may have been true in the past. I was surprised to learn that some of our most talented and dedicated employees are reluctant to go for promotion. They fear a promotion will make them more vulnerable if future lay off’s occur. Talk about a total disconnect between organization and employee! Don’t think for a second this is only happening where I work. After the traumatic experiences of last year what many employees crave now is employment security. This begs an important question. If employees are reluctant to earn promotions how does management motivate the team to deliver improved performance? My conversations with employees went along these lines. Promotions help don’t hurt your career. The only protection that you, me or anyone you know has is to continue to develop our professional skills these days. The best way to protect our jobs from being outsourced to a low-cost location is to become a “branded” employee; an employee who is well-respected and highly regarded across the organization. The company needs to understand the value you bring to the team. An important part of my job as a manager is promote my staff’s accomplishments and value to the rest of the business. Help me, help you!

Some employees share with me that they prefer to remain anonymous for protection and an easier life. Employees ask, why deal with the headache of identifying the organizational roadblocks and inevitable people issues that go with it? They get paid the same salary regardless from their perspective. This is a dangerously flawed perspective that is no longer appropriate in today’s challenging environment. Seth Godin wrote an excellent post on this topic. Get involved! In many organizations, the uncomfortable conversations did not happen for too long. As Michael Watkin’s points out in his book “The First 90 days” delivering this change is particularly difficult when an organization was once quite successful but now must reinvent itself to compete effectively in a changed market. Anonymous employees will likely no longer be tolerated in the medium term in larger successful organizations. Are you part of the problem or part of the solution? Are you a change agent?

Have you ever worked with someone who is happy with the status quo?  The thought process goes something like this. I don’t really want to develop my professional skills any more. I have done this job for a long time, I am good at it. I just want to do my job and go home. This is fine in the short run but incredibly dangerous in the medium term in my view. If you work in software or other industries where out-sourcing is a viable option, especially so. If you don’t continue to upgrade your skills what competitive advantage do you have in the labor market in an industry that is constantly evolving rapidly? You are likely competing against a graduate who is willing to do the type of work that you do faster than you can. They will probably take your job for much less pay locally and even less overseas. Company’s owe their employees many things, good working conditions, fair compensation, equitable working practises etc. A job is not one of them!

Finally, some people want to get promoted but are not willing to put the extra effort in to earn it. A question I like to ask employees who have expressed an interest in or are actively working towards a promotion is, “What have you accomplished since we last spoke that demonstrates that you are ready to move to your desired position?” After a few of these conversations it becomes clear pretty quickly who is really interested in moving ahead. Tenure does not entitle you to a promotion in the software industry.

In conclusion, employee’s are responsible for managing their careers not managers. Managers are ultimately responsible to ensure employees perform effectively in their roles. A mutually agreed, well researched and meaningful career development plan is vital to the future success of employee, manager and organization. Your competition is constantly getting better. Are you?

One more push

March 13, 2010 By in Agile Development, Leadership, Motivation Tags: , , , , Leave a comment

The original title for this post was “Gaining wisdom or giving up.” A decision was made this week that I disagreed with. I was reflecting on whether I should accept the decision and move on or make one more attempt to persuade my colleagues to reconsider. Both strategies are legitimate. By the time I had finished writing I had changed my mind and decided to make one more push. More on that later….

They say “your strengths maximized become a weakness.” I see this often in those who play heavily to their strengths at work. One of my biggest strengths is that I am passionate about what I do.  I really care about the outcome of whatever I do. I can’t turn this desire off and frankly I don’t want to. As I get older I have realized that some issues matter more than others though. Even more importantly in a large company you need to choose your battles carefully. You simply cannot win them all. It sometimes feels like it is becoming  harder to influence decisions where I work at as real power continues to centralize higher up in the organization. The layoff’s caused by the recession last year led to some of my staff questioning whether frontline management really had influence. This perception can make it harder to excite employees or gain buy in for new initiatives. I think I have more influence than they think but not as much as I would like!

I am fortunate to gain a lot of external perspective in my MBA that helps me adapt to the changes I see in my professional environment. The SMB ERP & CRM market is undergoing rapid change as competition increases. Cloud computing is changing the technology landscape.  The core ERP market is maturing. From a strategy perspective it makes sense for large organizations with broad, diverse and geographically dispersed operations to centralize and leverage economies of scale. This enables large companies to compete more effectively and reduces costs.  The opportunity cost of this centralization can be that core competencies become core rigidities that are very difficult to change. Newer competitors with lower cost bases, better technology, engaged workforces and reduced overhead can steal market share when they attack large incumbents in niche markets. New technology entrants typically deliver innovations faster because they have better technology and don’t have technical debt encumbering legacy systems.

How are paragraphs one and two connected? I am a QA manager with Sage Accpac. We have a great product designed with a three-tier architecture that allows us to migrate our existing functionality to the web. We need to do this and quickly to meet the growing competitive threat. I read an interesting article recently that Google believes the desktop will be dead within 3 years. I don’t think it will happen that quickly. I do think the shelf-life of desktop applications is limited.  Our next release 6.0 is an important stepping stone to our next generation web product. Code complete for 6.0 is approaching fast. This is a stressful time for all stakeholders.  Choices made at this stage of the development life cycle have a major impact on the success of the project. If the scope is too large the R&D team will struggle to deliver a quality product on time. Deliver too little and the business will find it difficult to excite the market, generate new sales or encourage existing customers to upgrade.

6.0 is our first time leveraging Agile software development. Agile adds a new layer of complexity as most stakeholders are still new to this methodology. The process does not lend itself well to metrics either which makes it more difficult to provide a quantitative assessment of our progress in terms of quality.  We  have an even broader variety of perspectives on the status of the project as a result. I share this background with you to provide some context for my dilemma. A decision was made not to include a feature which I did not agree with. I was asked for my opinion. My response highlighted the negative consequences of omitting the feature and was well received by my peers. The decision was made to omit it regardless which is fine. It is Product Management’s prerogative to decide what is and is not included in the product.

My challenge is I believe releasing without this feature is a major mistake. Some colleagues consider me a bulldog, someone who never gives up. This situation makes me question whether I am becoming wiser or “giving up” to ”fit in” corporate life. I challenge our team to share their opinions with me. How can I deliver real change for them if they don’t tell me what they really think? Should I practise what I preach and escalate my concerns higher? Or should I acknowledge a tough decision was made for all the right reasons and move on? Will I be perceived as interfering again if I do? Probably! One last roll of the dice is to go to the team and ask them to sign up for more work and do whatever it takes to include this feature in the release. Is there anyone I won’t annoy with this approach?

As I reflect on my dilemma I realize that the real lesson is not to give up. I need to raise my concerns in the right way to maximize my chances of success. I have a legitimate point and a solution worthy of consideration. I will make one more effort to persuade others of my point of view. If I succeed great. If not, I move on safe in the knowledge that I did my best to do the right thing.

What motivates you?

February 15, 2010 By in Motivation, Personal development Tags: , , , , Leave a comment

 

Sun Tzu famously wrote “Mastering others is strength. Mastering yourself is true power.” A professional psychometric assessment is a very useful tool in this regard. These reports usually provide invaluable measurements of your knowledge, abilities, attitudes, and personality traits. Instinctively I knew most of the feedback was true. There have typically been some useful nuggets of information that I had not considered as well. The reports have helped clarify some of my experiences and perceptions in professional life.

In professional life at a minimum you must know:

  • your core interests, and what they mean for your career success and happiness
  • the kind of organizational culture you’ll most likely enjoy and succeed in
  • the rewards that tend to motivate you most
  • your strengths and weaknesses (as you see them and as others see them)
  • characteristics that may limit your success

I’ll share with you some feedback from a recent assessment I completed late last year before I started school from http://www.careerleader.com . This was also the best assessment I taken in terms of learning more about myself. The report helped me to  identify my main interests, abilities, and motivations

Scale

  • 10-12 range denote rewards that are very important to you;
  •  7-9 are important (though less so);
  • 4-6 may, or may not, be important to you.
  • 0-3 range denote rewards that are not very meaningful to you.
MOTIVATOR SCORE & RANGE MORE DETAILS

Test Date: August 22, 2009
AffiliationYes 2 Low The position offers a setting with enjoyable colleagues with whom I feel a sense of belonging.
AltruismYes 9 High The position offers the satisfaction of regularly helping others with their individual or business concerns.
AutonomyYes 6 Mid-range The position offers considerable autonomy and independence.
Financial GainYes 10 Very High The position provides excellent opportunity for exceptional financial reward.
Intellectual ChallengeYes 5 Mid-range The position offers consistent intellectual challenge.
LifestyleYes 7 High The position allows ample time to pursue other important aspects of my lifestyle (family, leisure activities, etc.).
Managing PeopleYes 6 Mid-range The position offers the opportunity to manage and direct other people.
PositioningYes 12 Very High The position offers experience and access to people and opportunities that will position me well for my next career move.
Power and InfluenceYes 8 High The position offers the opportunity to exercise power and influence (to be an influential decision maker).
PrestigeNo 1 Low The position is with an organization that is prestigious in its field.
RecognitionYes 7 High The position is in an environment where individual accomplishments are recognized with praise from peers and superiors.
SecurityNo 0 Low The position offers a great deal of security in terms of predictable salary, benefits, and future employment.
VarietyYes 5 Mid-range The position offers a great deal of variety in the nature of the work performed.

 

Why is this knowledge crucial to your success?

Your interests are the single most important factor in your happiness and success. You need to know the careers that are most likely to bring you success and satisfaction. Then you need to what actions to take to work toward your career goals.

I’ll speak more to this topic in terms of self-management and employee engagement in future posts.

Donal

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