Horizon Point Consulting

Category: Beyond Leadership

Beyond Leadership is Horizon Point’s line of resources for managers of people. Managing ourselves is a distinct set of behaviors from managers the work of others, and we are here to help. Read stories in this category if you are ready to take the next step into people leadership (or if you’re looking for articles to send someone else…).

  • 4 Ways to Apply Quality Time at Work

    4 Ways to Apply Quality Time at Work

    “Would you rather me 1) give you a high five or 2) work on a puzzle with you?” I asked my five and nine-year-old over the holiday break.  

    It was one set of about twenty force choice questions from the Five Love Languages for Kids quiz I was giving them in order to explore how my husband and I can continue to be mindful of how we can best customize our parenting to each child. 

    Both easily answered, “Work on a puzzle with you.” 

    The Love Languages quiz started in romantic relationships and describes five primary love languages: 

    1. Physical Touch
    2. Receiving Gifts
    3. Words of Affirmation
    4. Quality Time
    5. Acts of Service

    It helps us to build self-awareness of how we like to give and receive love.  

    We continued through the questions and discovered that both our children’s primary love language is quality time. 

    My husband stumbled into the quiz with the kids, so he and I also both took the couple’s quiz. Turns out, both of our primary love languages is also quality time. 

    So being mindful of this, we have started family night on Friday evenings which consists of making homemade pizza or some other simple meal together, eating, and either playing a game or watching a movie together.  We are trying to be mindful of how to give and receive love in a way that is meaningful, and we are fortunate that we all have the same primary love language. 

    Turns out love languages are also applicable in the workplace.  The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace and the corresponding Motivating by Appreciation (MBA) Inventory assessment help colleagues better understand how to customize appreciation towards others in order to build successful and empowering relationships at work. 

    Quality time may be your language of appreciation, but at work, it doesn’t have to be expressed through pizza and game night, and that isn’t actually how most people at work want or need it to be expressed.  

    From the book, “Our research indicates…. The employee simply wants to feel that what they are doing is significant and that their supervisor values their contribution.  Taking a few minutes to check-in and hear how things are going communicates genuine expression of interest in what they are doing and makes them feel valued.” 

    So if you are a supervisor or colleague is someone who values quality time, how do you express this at work?  Here are four ways to express quality time, grounded in realizing that by giving away time, you are giving away your most precious resource.  And your time is not about proximity to someone but about personal attention. 

    1. Focused attention:  On our first family game night, I started cleaning up the kitchen about ten minutes into the game while my husband was resisting the urge to look at his phone.  This new “tradition” wasn’t going to be successful if we didn’t focus all of our attention on it, and our kids quickly reminded us of this. “Mom, it’s your turn. Why are you cleaning up now?” they asked.   

    If we want to be good at giving quality time, we have to focus our attention on specifically that.  Stop multitasking, give undivided attention, and listen to give away true quality time.

    2. Quality conversation: The book states that this is “dialogue in which two individuals are sharing their thoughts, feelings and desires in a friendly, uninterrupted context.”  This is why and where regular one-on-ones with those you manage are so important.  And this means your one-on-ones have to comply with number one above- focused attention.   Your phone, email, etc. should be put up during quality conversations.  

    Quality conversation requires empathetic listening by maintaining eye contact, resisting the urge to interrupt, listening for feelings and thoughts, observing body language and affirming feelings even if you disagree with their conclusions. 

    It also requires asking good questions.  Even though we don’t have a game or movie night every day of the week with our kids, we do try to sit down as a family for dinner most nights of the week.  Quality conversation is started by everyone having to answer three questions: 1) What was your high of the day? 2) What was your low of the day? and 3) What is your hope for tomorrow?  This has led to meaningful dialogue and a better understanding of each other. 

    3. Shared Experiences: Connecting inside and outside of work through shared experiences is an important way to express quality time.  Research by the authors of the book indicates that “men whose primary appreciation language is quality time often prefer to share experiences as opposed to sit-down conversations.”  A round of golf anyone? 

    We have quarterly planning meetings as a team at Horizon Point, which usually involves a full day of sitting around a table focusing attention and engaging in quality conversation to plan for the next three months.  I decided to begin 2020 by adding the element of the shared experience to this. We took the first part of our meeting where we shared our 2019 accomplishments and brainstormed on goals for a walk on the Wheeler Wildlife Refuge. The Sandhill Cranes are out in full force this time of year, and it was great to get outside with everyone and experience something together.   

     

    4. Working collegially with coworkers on a task and small group dialogue.  “Research shows that millennials and even Gen-Xers highly value working collaboratively with others,” states the book.   Working in groups is a way to engage learning and small group dialogue along with it helps to generate ideas and suggestions in a way that may help people feel less intimidated than by sharing one-on-one thoughts with their supervisor. 

    The key to applying love languages of appreciation at work is to make it personal.  By tuning in to what people need and giving them that- as opposed to what we need or what is easiest to give or what we can give in one blanketed way to everyone all at once- is the best way to show appreciation and motivate towards positive results. 

     

    How do you want to be appreciated at work? 

  • 6 Ways to Help Create Caring Instead of Callous Leaders

    6 Ways to Help Create Caring Instead of Callous Leaders

    I have the opportunity to coach a lot of middle managers. Quite often they are middle-aged men, and I’m working with them because there is some issue with how they lead (or actually don’t lead) others.   

    Through some type of feedback mechanism, these men are described mildly as “aloof” or “disinterested” (always related to how they are with people, not necessarily the tasks or functions of their job) to more extreme words like “jerk” or “a**hole”. 

    I’m brought in most of the time to try to fix their “personality”. Making them more caring and a better leader of people is my assignment.  

    If the goal is to help them grow and care, I’m up for the task. But the reason they are described in these unappealing ways is often not what it seems. It’s not a personality issue or another fixed trait issue where someone is born less or more caring because of their disposition.  

    Sometimes it’s a skill issue, meaning they just don’t know what they don’t know.  They want to be a leader of people, but they’ve never been taught how to do this.  This means I often help by providing tools, questions, and activities for self-reflection and awareness to help them facilitate positive leadership practices with others. 

    It’s never personality. It’s sometimes skill.  

    But it is almost always an issue of time.  

    You see, middle managers are often pulled in a million different directions. They are hurrying to do something for their boss, to be at the next meeting of which two-thirds or more of their scheduled workday is packed with, to complete a project, to approve someone’s PTO in an inefficient system.   Or trying to make it home in time to help their spouse, care for a child, or make it to another meeting of an organization they are involved within the community. 

    You see they aren’t callous, cold, or a jerk because they are born that way or don’t know how to be caring, they are these things because they are ALWAYS in a hurry and their task list is NEVER done.  

    Quite simply, they don’t have time for their people or don’t feel like they do. So when someone that reports to them comes in and needs to talk to them about an issue with the project they are working on or an issue with a co-worker, or to check on their PTO request for next week that hasn’t been approved yet, they appear at the best aggravated with the person, and at the worst, they act like a downright jerk to him or her. 

    In a classic study aptly titled “The Good Samaritan Study” Princeton researchers examined what conditions impact a group of seminary students actually helping someone. Personality and religious evaluations of each individual in the study were included. Some participants were told they were late for the task they were assigned to do (which was either to talk about the parable of the Good Samaritan or to talk about seminary jobs).  Others were told they had a few minutes to arrive where they needed to across campus for their assignment. 

    In route to give the talk, participants encountered a man obviously in distress. Some helped him, some didn’t. 

    Which ones helped the least?  Personality didn’t impact helping behaviors and neither did “religiousness” like a Samaritan.  Those that helped the least were the ones in a hurry.  In low hurry situations, 63% helped compared to high hurry where only 10% helped. That’s a huge difference. 

    Found in a summary of the conclusions of the study are some key insights: 

    Ironically, a person in a hurry is less likely to help people, even if he is going to speak on the parable of the Good Samaritan…. Maybe that ‘ethics become a luxury as the speed of our daily lives increases’. Or maybe peoples’ cognition was narrowed by the hurriedness and they failed to make the immediate connection of an emergency. 

    Many subjects…. were in a conflict between helping the victim and meeting the needs of the experimenter. Conflict rather than callousness can explain the failure to stop.”

    So, if you are a leader of a middle manager, or honestly anyone this day in age where margins of time seem to be non-existent, work hard to: 

      1. Make sure they know that the most important function of their job is leading those they manage and that the majority of their time should be spent on activities that grow others.  Help those you lead prioritize people over projects.  Quite simply, the best way to do this is by your example. Do you see a man in distress and stop to help? If you don’t, the people who are watching you won’t either. 
      2. Set up conditions that allow people for margins in their day.  Cancel some meetings and give them permission to block time off for focused work where anyone- especially you (the experimenter)- doesn’t bother them or set-up expectations that create a constant state of hurry. 
      3. Give people permission to say no. 
      4. Help people learn and apply proven time management strategies and principles. I particularly like training around Covey’s principles in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and First Things First.
      5. Eliminate as much bureaucracy as you can.  Don’t make people have to get permission from you to do everything. Put systems in place that increase the autonomy and flexibility people have and allow for fluid communication channels where people don’t waste time having to track people down or wait on decisions from above. 
      6. Most of all, model these principles for the people you lead.  If you are always in a hurry you are setting the expectation that they should be too. 

     

    What is the number one reason you become less caring than you should be as a leader? 

  • Don’t Hoard Your Organization’s Wealth

    Don’t Hoard Your Organization’s Wealth

    “Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.” – Robert Boyce

    Organizations contain a wealth of knowledge. Some organizations spread that wealth, and some hoard it. Those that share the wealth of knowledge maximize their potential success. 

    I’m currently reading The Starbucks Experience by Joseph Michelli and even though my brother and sister-in-law are both former partners (that’s what Starbucks calls their employees), I had no idea just how strong of an emphasis Starbucks places on knowledge at all levels of the organization. From formal training and incentives for completion, requiring partners to sample all core products twice per year, providing every partner with one bag of coffee each week so that they stay familiar with products, and encouraging partners to share their knowledge with customers to help educate them on products, Starbucks understands the value knowledge adds to their business, the partner experience, and the customer experience. 

    Starbucks has over 11,000 locations worldwide, and a level of financial resources for training that most organizations don’t have. So how can smaller organizations help employees share the wealth of knowledge? 

    • Encourage a learning and teaching environment. Studies show that up to 90% of what we learn is through informal training. But most organizations focus their attention on formal training such as classes or certifications, with limited funds to support these efforts. When I chose a career in HR I knew very little about it. I was fortunate to work for a company that encouraged a learning and teaching environment. While I was encouraged to get certified, most of what I learned about HR I learned through those that I worked with. When client issues arose that I didn’t know how to handle, I was encouraged to seek the help of senior team members. As I advanced in the organization, I became that senior team member that others sought out for help. Ask yourself “what is one thing I taught someone this week?” and “what is one thing I learned from someone this week?” 
    • Cross-train and up-train staff. Giving employees insight into other areas of the business has many benefits. One way to do this is through cross-training, giving employees the opportunity to walk in other’s shoes so to speak. It helps create an understanding of the various departments and positions within the organization, encourages communication and collaboration, and increases employee engagement. In addition to cross-training, organizations need to plan for their future and up-training is a great way to prepare employees for advancement. As the saying goes, a leader’s job is to help develop their staff to one day take their place. Too often organizations create a succession plan but fail to prepare employees for advancement. 
    • Utilize internal resources. Training doesn’t have to be costly. A great way to reduce training costs is to use the resources you have within your organization. By providing internal training, an organization ensures that the training is relevant to the organization’s business and employees are better able to relate to the training. A great way to provide internal training is to have employees lead lunch and learn sessions. Employees are given the opportunity to share a glimpse of what they really do and share their expertise with their peers. It’s also a great way to help employees understand how the work of an individual or a department contributes to the overall goals of the organization. 

    While the return on investment may not be measurable using metrics, the sharing of knowledge has many benefits for employees, organizations, and their customers. The sharing of knowledge creates a culture of collaboration, improves employee morale, increases productivity, and contributes to organizational growth. Organizations see an improvement in problem-solving, decision-making abilities, customer delivery, and reduction in the loss of know-how due to turnover. 

    Does your organization share its wealth of knowledge or hoard it? 

  • 3 Tips for Leading Well in 2020

    3 Tips for Leading Well in 2020

    I enjoyed the opportunity to hear Karith Foster speak recently.  If you haven’t had an opportunity to check her out, she is well worth it.  She combines humor and storytelling to make simple, but profound points about leading and living well. 

    In her address, she talked about the ABCs necessary to be a leader in 2020. 

    A. Ask for help & Ask for what you want.   

    Asking for help may seem contrary to what leaders should do, but as I heard Brene Brown say in another keynote speech, asking for help is actually the best way to create trust.  As Karith said, no one totally knows what they are doing, and no one can do it all. The act of asking for help acknowledges this and gives people permission to also ask for help themselves. Seems to me like it creates a place for psychological safety to thrive. 

    One thing my husband loves to say to me is, “I’m not a mind reader.” Of course, I love it when he says this to me, but there is truth in it.  We can’t expect people to read our minds (or our intent) so we can’t expect them to also know what we want and need. Letting people know what you want and need leads to a lack of confusion. When things are clear, things get done to the standard or expectations we have in our minds.  

    One of the biggest sources of disappointment for people is when expectations aren’t met.  This usually comes not from a lack of desire to meet expectations, but from a lack of communication or clarity about the expectation.  You need to make your intent clear.  Taking this a step further, also explain the why behind the want or need.  This further clarifies expectations and helps people not make assumptions. 

    B. Be Kind.

    Speaking of intent, as Karith emphasized, we all need to take a deep breath and set our intention for kindness with both words and actions.  She emphasized 1) we never really know what someone is going through and 2) we never know what the ripple effect of one small act of kindness will be.

    Most notably, she emphasized this has to include being kind to yourself.   It is rather difficult to be kind to others if we can’t first establish personal leadership and become kind to ourselves.  

    C. Choose Community Over Clicks.

    Karith emphasized that it is basic biology for us to be attracted to people who are like us because it gives us the least amount of opportunity for threats to arise, our brain tells us.

    However, we need to recondition our brains to realize that creating exclusivity isn’t good for us as individuals and it isn’t good for workplaces.  Realizing that most of what divides us this day in age is surface stuff and realizing that being around people who are different from us increases our learning and therefore our value, we need to get out of our comfort zones and go to places where people that are different than us reside both physically and virtually. 

     

    Overall, Karith emphasized that leaders are to model the behavior they want to see in others in order to impact the workplace.   By asking for help and for what we want, by being kind to ourselves and others, and by choosing community, especially with those who are different than us, we will move into 2020 positioned to lead by example. 

    What are your key focus areas for leading well in 2020? 

     

  • A Pound of Prevention

    A Pound of Prevention

    “A pound of prevention is worth an ounce of cure” is a phrase I heard for the first time this week.

    I was at lunch with an attorney who specializes in employment law, and she said that phrase as we were talking about clients who don’t see the benefit of proactive, preventative measures and instead just hope everything turns out alright. I immediately wrote it down and googled when I got home, and the internet says it’s a Benjamin Franklin quote. Apparently, Franklin wrote an anonymous letter to his own newspaper in Philadelphia in 1735 about the importance of preparing for possible fires ahead of time versus waiting until the fire is burning to make a plan. 

    How many of us have waited until the metaphorical (or literal) fire was burning to actually do something? 

    One of the common “fires” companies face is invaluable leaders retiring or leaving for other opportunities. Many organizations do not spend enough time proactively planning for succession, and then they find themselves without a VP or other critical leader and have to scramble to find a suitable replacement. We speak to this in our recent blog post “Who Is Your Successor?”. 

    Another fire that can burn quickly is non-compliance – knowingly or unknowingly failing to comply with employment law. This is common for small businesses who see rapid growth and suddenly find themselves crossing the FTE thresholds for various legislation (e.g. the Affordable Care Act typically applies at 50 FTEs). As a business owner and/or leader, you are responsible for ensuring that your organization complies with federal, state, and local employment laws. If you operate your business in more than one state, you may need to take another look at your policies. Having an updated employee handbook – and actually having every employee read and agree to it – is a pound of prevention that every single organization needs to take seriously. 

    We don’t wait until the fire is burning to buy an extinguisher. Let’s not wait until there’s trouble to protect our organizations and our employees.