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…).

  • When striving for a culture of “collaboration” kills your business

    When striving for a culture of “collaboration” kills your business

    We conducted a focus group about a year ago with a group of business leaders around the idea of organizational values and culture.   In this focus group, we presented seven key values, based on research that defined organizational culture.   The goal was to see what these professionals thought about these seven values in the context of a broader assessment product.  And whether this values set could predict a company’s culture in order to match candidates to cultures that align with individual the candidates’ values.

    Often things like this come down to semantics, but one piece of feedback where there was agreement was that the value of “collaboration” is something all companies want. Is this really what we meant or did we need to change the name of this value to reflect more of something that could be seen on a continuum?  Many of the others values we presented were viewed as a continuum that didn’t lend the value to be seen as right or wrong, just different in different work environments.

    We haven’t changed the name of this value yet and maybe we will, but in reflecting on the feedback and on experience working with a variety of companies that try to promote a collaborative culture, I have seen the dark side of it.

    The dark side of a focus on collaboration comes in the form of it sabotaging organizational health.  It flows something like this from a behavioral perspective:

    1. In the name of collaboration, we have to have “everyone” involved in order to make a decision big or small.
    2. Because “everyone” has to be involved to make any decision, it takes forever.  Never mind that we already passed a budget that has built in decisions in it or adopted a strategy that everyone agreed upon, we still need to meet on the minutia of those efforts.  And, oh by the way, if you want to get everyone together in a meeting to decide on this minor detail, it will have to be in a month because everyone’s calendar is full from the other small decisions that it was decided needed everyone’s involvement that came up two months ago.
    3. People get frustrated because everything takes so long and they begin to feel like they have no control over what they were hired to do.  They don’t have any decision-making authority even if their job title warrants it.
    4. It looks like everyone needs to be involved in the decision-making process in the name of collaboration, but everyone still knows who makes the final decision or whose voice is heard the most.  So, a lot of political posturing takes place in preparation for those meetings that have to be scheduled for months out.

    In the end, what is couched as “collaboration” is actually the complete opposite of it.  And the results that the “collaboration” is designed to lead to ends up being missed opportunities and high turnover because of frustration and stalled decision making.

    When have you seen “collaboration” go bad?

  • What to do if ICE knocks on your door…

    What to do if ICE knocks on your door…

    Immigration is a hot topic whether you have an opinion on it or not.  And most people do.

    This isn’t a post to comment on to build or not build a wall, but to deal with the reality that immigration scrutiny is on the rise for businesses.  Are you prepared as a business leader for what that means?

    One reality is that it is harder to get and keep visas for those who are not U.S. citizens.  One proposed change being discussed to H1-B Visas is to limit them to only positions that have a minimum salary of $130,000 a year.  

    And while this is scary, especially for companies that rely on foreign labor to meet their business objectives, another scary reality is that ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) audits are on the rise.   

    According to ice.gov:

    In fiscal year 2018, HSI opened 6,848 worksite investigations compared to 1,691 in FY17; initiated 5,981 I-9 audits compared to 1,360; and made 779 criminal and 1,525 administrative worksite-related arrests compared to 139 and 172, respectively; all of these categories surged by 300 to 750 percent over the previous fiscal year.

    In addition, fines for audit violations have gone up.  You can see the fee schedule here.

    So what should you do to have things in order in case ICE shows up at your workplace for an audit?

    1. Know that you will have three days (see caveat below) to produce all I-9s for all employees and all terminated employees back three years.  In addition, you’ll be required to provide payroll records.  Keeping an accurate I-9 file and purging this file regularly when the record retention period ends is important.
    2. Make sure your contractors are actually contractors per the IRS standards.  Use this checklist here.  If they aren’t, and ICE views them as such, you could be required to provide an I-9 for them.
    3. Know who the key record keepers are for this information and make sure they understand the audit process and what will be required of them if ICE shows up.

    So if ICE shows up, what should you do?

    1. ICE will ask you to sign a three-day waiver, requesting you produce the documents requested within three days.  Do NOT sign it.  This can be negotiated.
    2. Call your attorney.  This is not something where a do it yourself approach is recommended.
    3. Keep ICE being on site as confidential as possible.
    4. Realize that if there are findings/violations, handling these can take years.  It isn’t a quick process.
    5. Know that once you get a response about findings, you can negotiate with ICE on the fines. Call your attorney about this.

    In this new age of immigration hyper-focus, it is not an issue of ICE isolating certain industries that are suspected of having a high population of non-authorized workers.  The scrutiny is across industries.

    Are you ready for an ICE audit if you are subject to one?

  • Using Your Heart Not Your Head

    Using Your Heart Not Your Head

    I’m pregnant. With our third child.

    We are beyond excited and joyful about this new life coming into existence.

    But when you have an 8-year-old and almost 5-year-old, you and your husband both have demanding yet rewarding careers, and you are what the doctors call old enough to be of “advanced maternal age,” you get some interesting comments when you tell people this news. Some of my favorites have been:

    “You know, they say women with three kids are the most stressed.”

    “Well, when did that happen?” (I’m not sure if they were asking about conception or the decision to have another child, so I stayed away from answering it. Awkward.)

    And my favorite, “Oh no.”

    Of course, the overwhelming majority of what we have heard is a heartfelt “Congratulations!”

    But the truth is, we logically have had some of these less than positive thoughts. What are we doing? Or more accurately, how exactly are we going to do this?

    But my heart has been telling me something different than what my logical brain has been telling me. This started almost two years ago. And the same feelings (not logic) seemed to have struck my husband about mid-summer of last year too.

    We are both driven by logic in our work and are called to make decisions using logic not emotions. But in this big decision, we became all emotion.

    And that emotion came out of a place of our hearts. The fact that we have more love to give was the simple answer. We believe our two kids have the same kind of more love to give and this decision will strengthen them, not harm them.

    So we are having a baby.

    The heart often leads us to the best decisions. It doesn’t mean they are the easiest ones. They often lead us to uncomfortable questions from others, sleepless nights, extra work, and rollercoasters of highs and lows. But, often, they lead us to the best possible decision and the best possible place to be for ourselves and for others.

    On this Valentine’s Day, whether it is at work or in another aspect of your life, where do you need to follow your heart not your head?

  • 4 Leadership Habits to Schedule

    4 Leadership Habits to Schedule

    During my bout with the flu when my husband was proceeding to tell me about how busy his calendar was, he showed it to me on his phone later.  He actually did this while we were in the emergency room while I was hooked up to an IV that was administering fluids and nausea drugs to me while I waited to be admitted.  Hey, there is only so much you can talk about in the ER.  I was somewhat out of it (go figure) but talking about his schedule for the week reminded me of some good habits we ought to schedule as leaders:

    1. Write one handwritten note to thank someone each week.  His calendar had “write notes” scheduled in a fifteen-minute time block one day a week. I didn’t ask but I know this is a reoccurring “appointment”. I know this means he is to write two notes thanking someone on his team or one of his colleagues at work for a job well done. He started this habit several years ago and has stuck with it.

    Go order a box of fifty personalized notecards and write one a week each week through the year. You’ll know you’ve met your goal if you run out before the end of the year.

    2. Check in with your team regularly in group and one-on-one sessions.  He starts his day off at 6:30 am every morning with a fifteen-minute meeting with one of the departments he manages. It helps them know what happened the previous day and night (he works for a hospital, so they are never closed) and to make sure everyone is on the same page for what needs to be accomplished that day.

    He also had a couple of one-on-one meetings with direct reports on his calendar. These are scheduled monthly in one-hour meetings.  He also had his one-on-one meeting with his boss on his calendar. I like that this is the standard that all leaders follow in the organization. He also had a bi-weekly executive team meeting on his calendar that is also the standard for the organization.

    Schedule time to regularly check in with your people at intervals that make sense for you and your team. I do a monthly lunch with each person on my team, and we have quarterly group meetings. Daily meetings aren’t needed for the type of work we do, but they are needed in short intervals for the work one department my husband manages. Figure out what is right for you and put it on your calendar and stick to it.

    3. Professional Development Time. When I was in the hospital sick, one thing my husband was trying to get out of going to was a training on time management. Granted, he had a valid excuse to not go because I was in the hospital, but all he had to do was walk down the hall to attend and I didn’t need him.  I actually wanted to go listen in more than he did to calibrate the training content he was getting against what we use for time management training content. Nevertheless, he has quarterly two-hour professional development trainings that are incorporated into his calendar.

    Professional development often gets pushed aside in our schedule, but it is necessary for so many reasons and it can be done in so many different ways. We schedule one major conference for professional development for everyone on our team each year and then talk quarterly about “continuous improvement and learning” (one of our company values) goal for each person.  It could be as simple as researching certifications in a field of interest to reading a book to attending some type of formal training or class.  Just like your cadence of meetings with your team, figure out the professional development cadence that works for you and schedule it.

    4. Planning Time. My husband had time blocked off on his calendar to prepare and plan for certain things. A meeting on a Friday, for example, might prompt an hour time block on the Wednesday before to gather materials and prep for that meeting. He is diligent about not walking into anything unprepared.

    I’m not as good as scheduling these prep blocks of time, but I find sitting down on Friday afternoons or Sunday afternoons and plotting out the three main things I need to get done for the week and the other tasks that need to get accomplished is important. The week goes much better when I keep this habit. I put the goals/to-dos on a calendar for the week while looking at what meetings are scheduled. This helps me to mentally block adequate time off to get the important things accomplished. If I’m not best suited to do it or I don’t have time to do it, this is the time that I delegate tasks and schedule time for follow-up with the person I’ve delegated the task/goal to if necessary. We also use a CRM/Project Management system Insightly to help with this.

    Start scheduling time to express gratitude, to lead well, to grow professionally, and to plan – all habits that a leader should have on their calendars. And quite possibly, in that order. If you aren’t doing any of these things now, start with gratitude, then add the next habit once you’ve made gratitude a reflex.

    Where are you lacking in one (or more) of these areas when you look at your calendar? Where are you excelling in scheduling these leadership habits?

  • Have an Employee Bored as a Gourd? Not an ideal employment state!

    Have an Employee Bored as a Gourd? Not an ideal employment state!

    What’s one thing that is extremely detrimental to both employers and employees? Boredom at work!
    I once worked with an adult client wanting to make a career change.  She was an extremely talented individual, and in talking with her about her then current employer she says she felt like she was just a “warm body”.  One of the main reasons she wanted a change was because she was bored as a gourd at work!  She worked for a government contractor (a waste of taxpayer money as she sat there bored) and none of her talents and skills were being utilized in that role.
    Also consider a quote from a book, Tribes by Seth Godin:
    “Consider the receptionist at a publishing company I visited a week later. There she was, doing nothing. Sitting at a desk, minding her own business, bored out of her skull. She acknowledged that the front office is very slow and that she just sits there, reading romance novels and waiting. And she’s been doing it for two years.” 
    Two thoughts come to mind on boredom at work:
    1. What a waste of money! As a leader, why would you pay people to be bored?
    2. What a waste of talent!  This may even be more of a shame.  Leaders should be making more leaders, and leadership isn’t cultivated through boredom.

    What if you are an employee and bored?

    Two courses of action exist:

    1.  Change your work environment. You may want to check out these two posts to discover if there is a better fit for you in the workplace:
    2.  Proactively ask for challenging or varied tasks.  Does your boss seem overloaded and stressed, but you are reading your romance novel?  Simply ask him/her if there is something you can help with.   If they don’t volunteer anything (why they aren’t volunteering, is again, a topic for another day) pay attention to what they are spending time on and see if you can help them without being asked.  Prove your worth and your talents by proactively getting things done without being asked to do so.