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…).

  • Rounding- It’s Not Just for Doctors

    Rounding- It’s Not Just for Doctors

    By guest blogger: Steve Graham

    “Rounding” is a term most people associate with doctors. Doctors make rounds to check on patients and engage with those involved in patient care. This practice has existed for decades in healthcare. In most business environments rounding is not as common, but it should be!

    In his best selling book, Hardwiring Excellence, Quint Studer comments on how leaders tend to be task-oriented, however, most people desire a deeper level of connection. According to Studer, almost 40% of staff leaves due to a poor relationship with their supervisor or manager (Studer 2003). One great thing about rounding is that it’s not expensive, and can help with employee engagement and talent retention.

    Leaders who hide in their offices, and are rarely visible, are missing prime opportunities to strengthen their relationships with team members. “When leaders round, it is key for leaders to recognize the employees’ needs. Rounding is powerful in meeting the basic needs of your team.” (Studer, 2003) Rounding is not a micro-managing tactic, it is a people strategy. Exceptional leaders understand the value of connecting with their teams, seeing them in action, and being visible in good and bad times.

    When I was in high school, I witnessed rounding first hand, even before it was a popular people management topic. This leader, who was a hospital administrator, started most days with visiting every unit of his facility. Ok, I know what you are thinking “every morning!” Yes, it is time consuming, but the return on your investment is worth it. You do not have to do this every morning, but at least once per week. On one of these mornings, I was invited to round with him. It made a lasting impression on me. Seeing the staff faces light up as he visited each floor, I noticed a genuine sense of happiness as they saw him approaching. Rounding was as routine to this leader as brushing his teeth. When he was not able to round, the void was obvious. Team members would call his office to make sure he was o.k. They cared-because he cared.

    If you are not rounding, start! Be authentic in your approach. Do not approach rounding with a “to-do” list or formal agenda. Let the interactions come naturally. You are rounding to observe needs not activity. Part of leadership is establishing trust. Rounding is beneficial in breaking down barriers and becoming more connected to your team.

     

    About the author: Steve Graham serves as Vice President for Marketing, HR Business Partner, and college instructor. He holds graduate degrees in management and higher education. As a life-long learner, he has additional graduate and professional education in executive & professional coaching, health care administration, and strategic human resource management.

    He is a certified HR professional with The Society for Human Resource Management, certified coach with the International Coach Federation, and a Global Career Development Facilitator. His professional memberships include: The Society for Human Resource Management, the American Society for Healthcare Human Resources Administration, Association for Talent Development, and International Coach Federation. LinkedIn.com/in/hstevegraham

  • Why? Again.

    Why? Again.

    I’m back to being asked why again about 200 times a day.  Thus is the life of a parent of a two, almost three, year old.

    I do not have a conversation with my little girl EVER these days without the question of “Why?” coming out of her mouth. While she was stalling on bedtime the other night, I began to take a tally and we got to 16 Whys? before I finally shut her down.  I couldn’t take it anymore!

    But the irony of all of this is that I’m now reading Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action. The key take away is:

    “Great leaders are those who trust their gut. They are those who understand the art before the science. They win hearts before minds. They are the ones that start with WHY.”

    I’ve watched my mom live this quote when I hear her speak to groups about the work she does leading a hospice organization. She always tells a story about a real patient that addresses the heart before the head and answers WHY she, and the people she leads, do what they do.

    I wonder if I was a Why? fanatic questioner as a two, going on three year old?  Maybe my mom started by answering Why? for me before I even had to ask it.

    So, think I’m going to try to switch my methods and cut my little one off at the path by answering her Why? before she even asks it.  And maybe we will all get to bed a little earlier, or maybe I’ll have to wait out her development and continue to answer Why for now, even when I’ve already answered it. But I know from the example I’ve had, I’ll start with Why as both mine grow. Hopefully this will help them to become leaders.

    Do you start with why?

  • The Best Way to Show Your Employees the Love on Valentines Day- And Every Day

    The Best Way to Show Your Employees the Love on Valentines Day- And Every Day

    Ahh, Valentine’s Day. The day of love and all things chocolate. Is it a special day for you at the office or just another work day? I hope you place a special emphasis today, and really any working day for that matter, on loving your employees and coworkers in the agape love kind of way. That servant leadership kind of love (not the sappy romantic kind that could lead to a sexual harassment complaint) that helps you achieve positive organizational results.

    As I think about the best way to show employees love, I’m reminded of the high of my work week last week. Well maybe it was my 2nd high given that I spent two days in sunny and warm San Diego for work last week, but I digress….

    We’ve been working with a fabulous company to help them form company values and then drive all of their talent management initiatives out of these values.  Well last week, I got to watch the owner give out two of the first three values awards from the company. We found out from the award recipients’ managers and themselves what their favorite things are, and each value award was customized to that individual.   One girl, on top of several things she got for award, got the biggest jar of pickles the owner of the company could find.  Pickle lover she is.

    Watching the smiles on the faces of both the giver and receivers of this was divine. After they received the award, I watched one shuffle through his loot and mumble to himself softly, “Man this is great.”

    The price tag on the gifts wasn’t much but here are the things that stood out to matter:

    1. Find out what the person likes and give it.
    2. The giver matters. What added so much value to the personalized gifts was that the company owner picked them out (I offered to, but he wanted to) and drove over two hours to deliver both of them.
    3. Both 1 and 2 emphasize that giving of your time matters. It takes longer to personalize gifts and it takes time to personally deliver gifts.  Both of these facts may offer more meaning than the gift itself.
    4. The gift should connect or speak to some deeper meaning. In this case, the gifts spoke to these employees’ performance related to the core values of the company. They weren’t being given gifts just because (although I think just because gifts are also needed at times), they were being given gifts because they model the performance that drives company success. And that is appreciated.

    So whether you are giving gifts to your employees today or to your significant other, make sure the gift actually shows your agape love by taking the time to personalize it in a way that makes an impact. You never know, performance might increase in your relationship because you do…

    Which brings me back to my San Diego work trip.  Maybe I didn’t digress earlier. My husband went with me, and although he isn’t prone to like fancy dinners (he was most excited about a trip to In and Out Burger- his Milo’s of the west Coast) this the view is where he took me for our early Valentine’s dinner on the trip. Personalization at it’s finest.

    IMG_0577

     

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    The Best Way to Thank Employees Is to Make it Personal

  • A Holistic Goal Setting Method

    A Holistic Goal Setting Method

    When I think about goal setting from a holistic perspective, Zig Ziglar’s wheel of life concept seems to be best.  When I’m honest with myself, I’m not really a holistic goal setter. I find it easier to set two types of goals:  Business or career goals and fitness goals. Zig’s approach helps me see that in many areas of my life that are important to me- like my spiritual life and my relationship with my friends and my husband- I’m very haphazard instead of intentional.

    The spokes of the wheel are:

    1. Career
    2. Financial
    3. Spiritual
    4. Physical
    5. Intellectual
    6. Family
    7. Social

    The approach encourages you to set a goal for each spoke, with the center of the wheel being your mission or purpose.

    Two important observations about this method that show the strengths and weaknesses of this approach:

    1. This method helps you focus on areas you may not normally tend to set goals in or find it easy to do so. Unless you are in academia or still in school, you might struggle the most with the intellectual area.  We call this our continuous learning and improvement value at Horizon Point.  Viewing it from this lens, we set “intellectual” goals as individuals each quarter around growing in an area related to our overarching business goal  (which is a revenue and profit driven goal each year). Sometimes the goal may not be directly tied to our overall business, but for the purpose of our own enjoyment.   A goal in this area I had a couple of years ago was to read 30 books that year; some of the books I read were directly tied to business, others were strictly for pleasure, and some were spiritually based. Which leads me to the next key point….
    2. Because there are seven areas of focus, things can start to overlap. It never seems to fail, if you set more than about 3-5 goals or values, you end up beginning to wonder how to classify each thing because they could be put in more than one bucket.  For example, my reading 30 books that year incorporated a major spiritual goal and that was reading The Bible in 90 days through a program to do just that so inadvertently, a spiritual goal arose that year because of an intellectual goal.

    Likewise, this year a physical goal was to run a marathon, but with my husband, dad and friends running it with me, it became a social and family goal or focus as well because it was a way to spend valuable time together both in training and in traveling to the race. It was good for me physically, socially, and quite honestly, spiritually and intellectually because when I did run alone, I listened to business podcasts or sermons.

    So using this method to set goals, like others, has its’ greatest strength that leads to its’ greatest weakness- the holistic approach can lead to redundancy.

    If you have trouble with setting goals to impact your life as a whole, this may be the method for you, but if you have adult ADD- aka difficulty focusing- then the simpler approach covered last week, may be better for you.

     

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  • Methods to the Madness of Goal Setting

    Methods to the Madness of Goal Setting

    It’s that time of year.  New Year’s resolutions abound still on this 10th day of the New Year.  We’re sticking to them now.  Will we by month end?

    New Years’ resolutions are quite simply, goals.  They can be set at any time of the year, and there are as many methods for setting and pursuing them as there are failed attempts at reaching them.

    But goal setting is a method that works. Research shows it does if it is handled within certain contexts and parameters. For the sake of full disclosure, I’m all about goal setting as a performance management method. I wish more company’s performance management and evaluation processes were centered around setting good goals tied to company values and strategy. Then, leaders could coach people regularly towards goal attainment through wise action planning and implementation.

    But the method to the madness in goal setting that works, depends on you. The method you choose to determine and also analyze your goal(s) for appropriateness is a matter of preference, not a matter of right or wrong.

    However, three I like and recommend:

    Stephen Covey- What’s the most important thing?

    Zig Zaglar- Wheel of Life

    Michael Hyatt- Pursuing the right thing in the right way

     

    All have pros and cons and cater to different personalities, mindsets and segments of life.  But all can work if you pick the right method and then, most importantly, have a solid plan for reaching them.  The action toward the goal is much more important than the goal itself (or as Nick Saban says, it’s the process)

    I’ll be describing each of these methods above so you can have some fuel for thought on which one might work best for you this year.  Then I’ll round out January with why the action plan and implementation is actually more important than the goal.

    Take the month of January to set sound goals and put a plan in place to pursue them.  The time it takes to do this is will help you achieve success for the rest of the eleven months in 2017.