Horizon Point Consulting

Author: Mary Ila Ward

  • How to Create a Great Day in Your Neighborhood

    How to Create a Great Day in Your Neighborhood

    You know me, I oblige my husband about once or twice a year and watch a movie with him.  He told me he’d gotten It’s a Great Day in the Neighborhood especially for me, knowing it would be “my kind of movie”. It was.  

    The movie is based on a 1998 Esquire cover story titled “Can You Say…. Hero?”.  In the movie, the journalist Tom Junod, fictionalized in the film as Lloyd Vogel, undergoes a transformation of world view through Mr. Rogers played by Tom Hanks.   Lloyd sets out to uncover Mr. Rogers as a fraud, and Mr. Rogers ends up changing his life in the process. 

    About 50 minutes into the movie (46:03 to be exact if you want to watch it) Lloyd has a chance to meet Mr. Rogers’ wife.  He asks her, “So, how does it feel to be married to a living saint?”

    Her response is profound, and I think it is the linchpin of the whole movie.  She says:

    “You know, I’m not fond of that term. If you think of him as a saint, then his way of being is unattainable. He works at it all the time. It’s a practice. He’s not a perfect person. He has a temper.  He chooses how he responds to that anger.”

    “That must take a lot of effort,” Lloyd says.  

    She goes on: “He does things every day that help to ground him.  He reads scripture.  He swims laps. He prays for people by name. He writes letters-hundreds of them. He’s been doing that since I met him.” 

    Mr. Rogers approaches and gives his “love” a kiss and tells her he will be a few hours. Then he turns to Lloyd and says,  “Lloyd, I thought we’d spend some time together.” 

    Throughout the rest of the movie you see him spending time with Lloyd.  Talking to him, helping him reconcile with his dying father, and coming to terms with what it means to be a father who didn’t have a positive father figure in his life.   

    And you see him swimming his laps, praying for Lloyd and his family members by name, and writing letters. 

    In almost all leadership training series that we do, we cover a portion called Personal Leadership.  It’s about being able to lead yourself before you can lead others. This allows you to serve others and influence them through your behavior.  In this, we talk a lot about what you can control (your behavior) and what you can’t (almost everything else) through the lens of Stephen Covey’s circle of control versus circle of influence.  We talk about focusing on what is important, not just urgent, and focus on creating habits and maintaining them in order to produce outcomes and results.  

    I think from now on, I may just show It’s a Great Day in the Neighborhood instead of talking through all these concepts to illustrate the impact that personal leadership can have on our ability to influence others. 

    It may not be swimming laps or reading scripture, praying for people by name, or writing letters.  But, I would venture to guess that there are probably three to five things you can do daily that will have the greatest positive impact on your life, and in turn, will help you have the greatest positive impact on others. 

     

    What do you need to do today and every day to create a great day in your neighborhood? 

  • 4 Ways Leaders Can Keep Remote Work Pros from Becoming Cons

    4 Ways Leaders Can Keep Remote Work Pros from Becoming Cons

    I may be the only person in America that actually considered getting office space instead of ditching it in 2020.  Having run a business for almost ten years totally remote, I was beginning to question whether that was the best option for me and the business.

    As a company, three of our core values- people first, passion, and productivity- are guided by this statement: “To help drive passion and productivity, we don’t care how or where work gets done, just that it gets done in a way that meets client needs. This coincides with our desire to put people first by allowing them the autonomy to make decisions based on their personal preferences. We believe this stimulates passion and productivity.” 

    I believe this guiding principle has led to my productivity and the productivity and retention of our team and echoes what has been found in research from Harvard Business Review, among others, that workers (specifically knowledge-based workers in the HBR article) are more productive remotely. 

    So what gives?  This chart found at ventureharbor.com might provide some insights: 

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Like many others, I’ve been working largely from home with kids also going to school in our home on and off for the last year.  Unplugging after work has also been a challenge when the to-do list is long and the interruptions are large (“Mom, my teacher can’t hear me, something is wrong with the sound on my computer!”  “Mom, how do you spell contagious?” Mom, I’m hungry!….” It never ends…. Especially when there is also an 18-month-old that isn’t in school but is very BUSY all the time underfoot too.) 

    In addition, people seem to be working longer, or at least working on very different schedules.  From a LinkedIn report on what WFH means: “Workers in Austria, Canada, the UK, and the US are logging 2.5 hours more each day on average, according to Bloomberg, with a longer workday becoming the new normal globally. But while many have more meetings and emails to catch up on, having a longer workday doesn’t necessarily mean more hours working, per The Washington Post. Some people have adopted new work schedules in which they work later but have longer breaks throughout the day.” 

    So even though remote work can and has brought about significant positive outcomes, including potential productivity gains, reduced office space costs, and employees having more autonomy, there are always two sides to every coin. What side of the coin someone is landing on is largely an issue of their current and specific personal circumstances and the realization that too much of a good thing is, well, bad. 

    Leaders need to be mindful that everyone’s situation is different and be aware that the advantages of remote work also lead to challenges. Once this is done, leaders can support their people at the individual level and provide resources to help support productive work.   

    Much of Microsoft’s research on what makes a great manager, which was published pre-pandemic, still holds true in a remote working world.  This guides some ideas for practicing strong remote work leadership: 

    1. Set guardrails around communication, productivity, and working hour expectations.  Many of our clients have talked extensively about the need for manager training around the new way of working, particularly respecting boundaries around work time and response expectations.  One client told me, “I don’t want to go back into the office full-time, but I feel like I’m expected to be checking email before 7 am and I am often called routinely after 6 or 7 pm about unimportant work things by my boss.  Most types of calls would not have been urgent when we worked in the office and could have waited until the next day, but now for some reason, these non-urgent issues seem to need to be resolved before the end of the day. The new expectation is, you’re right there by your computer all the time, so let’s just handle this now. There has got to be a healthy balance.”  As a leader, make sure you are guarding people’s line between work and home when the home is now the office.

    2. Realize these guardrails may be unique to each person.  One person may need to be sending emails before 7 am because they are also a schoolteacher from 8 am to Noon when virtual school is taking place for their kids.  They need to be productive first thing in the morning, take a break, then return to the “office” for an extended time than when the standard workday takes place.  Talk to each of your employees (see number three, hold regular one-on-ones) and see what they need and how you can effectively communicate their needs and working arrangements to all team members that rely on and collaborate with them. 

    For example, I may need to work on the weekends (as I’m doing now writing this post) because this past week my kids were home all week due to the winter weather.  But that doesn’t mean I’m expecting my entire team to be working on the weekends too.  One of our team members has a lot of commitments with her family over the weekends, but her kids are older than mine, so she isn’t interrupted by their needs as much during the week even if they are home. Her regular schedule is working intensely Monday-Thursday so she can have time on Fridays to get personal things done and/or travel with her family for kids sporting activities.  I don’t try to schedule anything for her or with her on Fridays.  We have yet another team member that is a night owl.  The girl can crank out some good work well after I go to bed and it is in my inbox the next morning.  Yet another person has volunteer commitments that are meaningful to her and our work, so I try to be mindful of her commitments there when considering her workload and times for the meeting. 

    3. Hold regular one-on-ones but avoid virtual meeting overload.  In a virtual setting, request that your people turn their cameras on while you are meeting one-on-one.  This provides the needed context for what can be learned by what is not being said through people’s expressions and body language.  You can do this while assuring them that you are not at all bothered by a kid/spouse/pet coming into the picture at times and that if they need to pause the meeting to handle something, that is fine.  In addition, one guardrail to manage is to make sure that just because it is convenient and easy to convene a virtual meeting, doesn’t necessarily mean you need one.  Make sure a meeting is the best way to facilitate communication. Don’t meet when an email will work just as well. 

    4. Provide specific resources based on each person’s needs.  This may be office space for someone to utilize, not all the time, but at certain times when distractions at home seem to be the highest.  As seen in the chart, loneliness is one of the biggest struggles with remote work. What can you do to support human interaction needs in a remote world?  One simple thing may be encouraging people to turn on their camera while in virtual meetings so people can be seen, not only heard.  Likewise, another may need to keep their camera off because their office is also the classroom and their six-year-old is working beside them. The chart also describes a problem, you may need to simply tell someone on your team to take a vacation.  If you’re holding regular one-on-ones and understand people’s unique situations, you should know when someone is approaching burnout. 

    All in all, I’m still on the fence about whether office space is necessary for me and my team.  But if it ever does become something we invest in, I know I’ll make sure that my team knows that the office is available for them, not a requirement of them.  When clear expectations and a mindset of service excellence are set, I still firmly believe that people get their best work done when they get to decide how, when, and where to do it. 

    How are you managing the pros and cons of remote work? 

  • 4 Exercises to Enhance Your Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Efforts

    4 Exercises to Enhance Your Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Efforts

    I sat down to watch The Social Dilemma with my husband this past weekend. OH.MY. Netflix describes the show as a “documentary-drama hybrid [that] explores the dangerous human impact of social networking, with tech experts sounding the alarm on their own creations.” 

    Besides the realization that our every move and word, maybe even our every thought at some point, is being tracked by our smartphones and computers for the purpose of benefiting a profit machine, I was most fascinated by the premise that social media is one of the key factors polarizing us as a people and growing divides in our world.  Basically, social media and search engines perpetuate our divisiveness by the stuff it “feeds” us. 

    How do we combat these engines? How do we overcome the us versus them in so many aspects of our lives? 

    We’ve always focused on intentional leadership and team development at Horizon Point, but the last year has brought about a hyper-focus on making explicit how it ties to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the workplace.  How do we overcome the us versus them mentality in the workplace has been a question we are continually asking ourselves and seeking to help our clients tackle. 

    Much of what is out there now focuses on training interventions that educate people on conscious and unconscious bias, seeking to build self-awareness and change behaviors. 

    But as a recent Forbes article focused specifically on racism articulates, the head and the heart have to be engaged before the hands- or behavior- can follow.  And a key piece of this is self-awareness but it is also other awareness.  We are polarized because we don’t actually know people.  The Forbes article articulates this so well: 

    I’m constantly surprised to learn that people who work closely together and literally log thousands of hours side by side in the workplace don’t really know each other. Until we close the distance, our relationships remain superficial and transactional. In that closeness—in living, working, eating, and breathing together—regard and affection don’t automatically result unless we deliberately connect and mutually invest in our relationships.

    So what do we do? 

    Using an Encounter Group format (also referred to as t-groups), we can begin to engage people in talking to each other and listening to each other in a psychologically safe way in order to direct the head, heart, and eventually, the hands to embrace each other instead of despising each other despite all the things out there that seem to be programming us to tear each other apart.

    As the Neuroleadership Institute states in a blog post, we have to activate insights to change habits which is necessary for behavior change. “Insights are the breakthrough moments that change how people see the world, and our research shows they are highly motivating — when we have “Aha” moments, we really want to act on them.”

    We can do this through the encounter group format.

    Here are some ideas for exercises within an encounter group or similar group format that you as a leader can facilitate or hire an outside facilitator to conduct: 

    1. Sharing Story.  “To initiate connecting, model and assign your team members the task of sharing their stories with each other. Be the first mover by sharing appropriate background and experiences about yourself. After demonstrating your own vulnerability ask, ‘Would you tell me your story?’” states the  Forbes article.  

    We do this in a group format by giving participants a sheet of paper that has up to seven sections where they can write up to seven experiences that have shaped their life and who they are. We ask them to share stories that are not just work-related and that incorporate not only adult but also childhood experiences.  We give them time to reflect on this and then they come back together and verbally share their stories with the group.

    When done right, people share openly and you can usually hear a pin drop in the room while one person shares the experiences that shaped them.  I’ve never seen people listen as intently to others as when we’ve done this exercise with some groups.  It is also amazing to see how many shared experiences happen amongst the group between people that on the surface seem to share none. There are also many “aha” moments that happen where people say, “Oh, now I understand why you behave that way!” and come to appreciate that behavior that they may have once resented. 

    2. Reading Story.  Assign readings that emphasize the stories of individuals in marginalized groups and have your group discuss them. Our previous blog post can help you with some memoirs to start. 

    3. Living Story.  Get the group to engage with a marginalized group for at least a day-long project. I’ve seen some of these projects last up to a year.  For some thoughts on how business leaders can and should do this, check out this post here.

    4. Critiquing the Story.  Put major news network names (CNN, Fox, NBC, etc.) up separately as labels on the wall.  Get participants to stand/sit by the network they watch the most. Then get them to critique their own source of information with the group they are sitting with.  What leanings and biases do the networks have? Then, what might the impact on their personal conscious or unconscious thoughts and therefore decisions and behaviors be based on due to their news source(s)?  

    You can also do this for social media channels and consider how actually showing The Social Dilemma to the group might enhance the session discussion and opportunities for insights to take place. 

    When we engage in these types of activities, we get to know people. We build relationships.  And when we know people it makes it much harder to hate them, or people that are “like” them.  

    As Abraham Lincoln said, “I don’t like that man. I must get to know him better.” 

    What do you think is creating the polarization in our country and what can you do as a leader to impact DE&I efforts for your organization? 

  • A Look Back at 3 Things Leaders Don’t Do in Times of Crisis

    A Look Back at 3 Things Leaders Don’t Do in Times of Crisis

    As we continue to plan out this new year, we thought we would take a look back at the #1 post from 2020. You see, with this pandemic and political turmoil, we could all use a reminder of how to behave as leaders.

    Here are 3 Things Leaders Don’t Do  In Times of Crisis:

    We are still in the midst of an unprecedented time in our country and world, with so many unknowns related to COVID-19 and its impact on quite literally everything. Last week, I wrote about 4 things leaders do in times of crisis based on my observations of leaders in action.

    Well, we’ve been on this train of crisis for over a week now locally, and just like there are observations about how to behave as a leader, I’ve been exposed to how not to behave as a leader during times of distress.

    Through further observations, here are three things leaders don’t do in times like these:

    1. They don’t make the crisis about themselves. It has almost become laughable as one person has described to me how an appointed task force leader has responded to his newly appointed role as leader given the crisis. Every day, there is a new story about this leader being anything but a leader through his actions, all of which are tied to him making everything about himself.

    From the pronouns he uses (I, me, my) when he addresses a group or individual about the situation, to the fact that not even a week into the situation he said he had to “take some time off” because of the impact the situation was having on him (while everyone else on the task force and those he is leading remain at work 14-16 hours a day). I am constantly amazed at how some people have no perspective on the bigger picture of a crisis of this or any proportion. They instead choose for it to be an opportunity to draw attention to themselves and their position instead of modeling what it means to be a leader through their own behavior.

    In addition, organizations that are not on the forefront of fighting this epidemic don’t come out and act like the largest martyrs of this situation. Yes, this is going to hurt all businesses and peoples’ livelihoods and this is tragic. But when I get an email from a vineyard I’ve visited while traveling where I bought one bottle of wine and their email basically implies that the tragedy is theirs and theirs alone to bear, it makes me want to vomit (and never buy wine from them again). Kris Dunn has some similar thoughts in one of his recent posts. Check it out.

    To be a leader in a crisis, realize it’s all about everyone else, not you.

    2. They don’t neglect their own health. Having said that leaders realize it isn’t all about them may make this second point seem counterintuitive, however, you can’t lead if you are so sick or burnt out. Being sick or so exhausted you can’t function takes away from your ability to help others. When you can, sleep. When you can, exercise. When you can, eat right. And realize that doing all of this really happens before a crisis even hits. Instilling healthy habits when there isn’t a crisis helps to ensure they will continue even in times of crisis. This gives you the reserves to manage the crisis when you don’t have time for the things that you normally do to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

    In this situation given a pandemic, this also involves following the proper protocols to not contract and spread the illness.

    To be a leader in a crisis, you have to take care of yourself in good times and bad.

    3. They don’t check their humanity and the humanity of others at the door. Leading during a serious time calls for serious thoughts and actions. However, the things that make us uniquely human and make living worth living through difficult times are our ability to laugh and love. True leaders during these times don’t neglect the small points of holiness that are demonstrated through laughter and love.

    I’ve enjoyed more funny videos this week as people have sent them trying to lift others out of the anxiety this situation is creating, even if it is only for a few moments.

    Some of my favorites:

    I’ve taken more time to enjoy the sheer joy in our seven-month old’s giggles this week.  There really is nothing better than a baby laughing and smiling.  So I’ll leave you with a glimpse of that here:

    To be a leader in a crisis, you have to still live, laugh, and love. 

  • The Point’s Top 5 Posts of 2020

    The Point’s Top 5 Posts of 2020

    2020 has been an interesting year. Despite the challenges that the year has caused due to the pandemic, we have continued to provide insight on a wide variety of topics on The Point. To put it simply, every post we’ve written and shared, we’ve strived to inform you on subjects that will help you professionally. We’re always glad to help you on your quest for knowledge to better your career, your work environment, or your organization!

    Here is a look back at The Point’s Top 5 Posts of 2020:

    1. 3 Things Leaders Don’t Do in Times of Crisis

    2. What the Dog Saw During the Crisis

    3. 4 Keys to Leading through Crisis

    4. 4 Ways to Apply Quality Time at Work

    5. Defeating the Kobayashi Maru, the No-Win Situation

     

    Thank you for a great year. Please visit us in 2021. We promise to keep you informed and entertained in the new year!

    If you’d like to subscribe to The Point, you can do so here.