Archive | July, 2005

More On The First Month Of A New Job

by on July 30, 2005 in Career, Work

This week I celebrated my first month anniversary at my new gig. Prior to starting at my organization, I wrote a
post called Seeking Input: First Week of New Job where I asked for thoughts on how to best begin my new work. In addition to some of my own ideas, I received some suggestions that were very useful. They really helped me consider how to bring an immediate impact to my work and my relationships.

Perhaps David Batstone at Worthwhile Magazine was influenced by my post. Earlier in the week, he wrote a post called Five Tips for Thriving in Your New Job (could just be coincidence, but his post was one day short of my actual one month anniversary; could be that I’m just a tad self-absorbed). While David drew some criticism for these tips, I’m on the side of agreeing with them. Here’s the tips and my experience with each:

1. Put all the expectations on the table. When you’re hired to fill a position, there are expectations and hopes (often tacit) that need to be understood and managed. My position was open for quite a while and my CEO had certain expectations for what I would accomplish; my staff had their own expectations for how I would help facilitate and guide their work; I had my own expectations and hopes for what I could deliver. Rather than making assumptions, I scheduled meetings to get all these things out in the open. Nobody likes guessing what is expected of them. The best part of knowing is that it helps set priorities for accomplishing tasks. I walked into a challenging circumstance where much still needs to be done. However, rather than trying to guess which initiative needs my attention, I can consult our shared expectations and determine where my efforts can best be focused right now.

2. Identify a relatively simple problem and fix it within the first 90 days. I happen to believe that this is a solid piece of advice. Kevin mentioned this in his comment to my initial post and it has stuck with me. This has nothing to do with showing people up (if it’s so ‘low-hanging’ why didn’t it get fixed before?) or ignoring the root causes behind a problem. I believe the core principle here is that folks need to know that a leader can bring something new to the table and make things happen. Whether we like it or not, all new employees are in a position to explain their reasons for being around. This is even more critical for new executives and leaders.

I like Kevin’s rationale for the importance of this tip: "A quick victory establishes credibility you can bank for bigger things
later on. It buys time you need to research, learn, build longer-term
plans." I have a couple of changes in the pipeline that, when completed, will address a couple of key concerns shared by my staff and make a dramatic impact on their daily work. They probably will take 90 days to complete, but knowing that these issues are important and in the process of being addressed builds my credibility as a leader. If I didn’t do these things, I wouldn’t blame anyone for being suspicious about my abilities and cynical about my intentions.

3. Make yourself invaluable. This tip ties into the previous one and I can see how the language might put someone off. Rather than taking a defensive stance as a way to avoid a layoff or a "reassignment," let’s turn this one around to read: Constantly focus on bringing value to your work. We’re still talking value, but in a more active way. This tip requires us to think of what we bring on a couple of different levels.

One, what unique value do I bring to my organization? We all have talents and it might take some time in the job to figure out which ones are most beneficial to the organization’s core objectives. After a month, I can now see that I provide high value through my philosophy of creating passion-provoking member experiences, my ability to see patterns and apply a systemic mindset to organizational issues, and my belief in the benefits of creating a Soulful Workplace.

Secondly, what value do I want to deliver today? At the beginning of each day, I think about what value I intend to bring throughout the day and then at the end of each day, I reflect on how I did. Sometimes I get it right, sometimes not. In the end, my personal efforts to deliver value are mine to keep. Even if there is a layoff or I decide to move on, I have crafted a portfolio of work that markets myself as valuable.

4. Fit into the firm’s culture. This is a challenge. You want to integrate into the culture, but there are areas where it might be in the organization’s best interests to push back a little. If your new company has a tendency to allow conflicts to fester, a new perspective on confronting interpersonal relationship issues is important. I guess the point is to fit in, but don’t do it blindly.

5. New hires must establish credibility while sharing credit. This connects back to tip #2. Nobody needs a new boss or colleague who immediately comes in, gets things moving, and then pats themselves on the back without sharing the accolades. However, anyone who has read my previous post on being a savior knows that it can be easy for me to slip into a kind of messianic role. I’m working on this.

Thanks again to all commenters and well-wishers who helped me through this first month. Be well.

The Spirit Has Been Willing…

by on July 28, 2005 in Media

…but the flesh has been oh so weak. I’ve got all this really good stuff swimming around in my head, but this week has been a wild one for me. Busy, but good in all the right ways.

Look out for some blog posts exploring the nature of commitment and trust and my learnings from what is turning out to be one of the most useful books I’ve read in quite a while, How the Way We Talk Can Change the Way We Work : Seven Languages for Transformation by Robert Kegan & Lisa Laskow Lahey.

And for those of you who read The Custo/Member Experience, I’m working on some ideas around change management, the slippery essence of the personal experience, and some contrarian perceptions of traditional association tactics. And for those of you who worry that it’s turning into an association-focused blog (okay, I’m getting worried about that), don’t fret. I’m in the process of developing some concepts that can easily be applied across for profit and non profit businesses.

Have patience with me. I promise that it will be worth the wait.

What’s Your Ministry?

by on July 20, 2005 in Creative, Work

I’m doing some reorganizing in my home office and I found a stack of Fast Company magazines. I started looking through them and and discovered that I read only the first half of the May 2005 issue. Toward the end of the issue is an article called God and Mammon at Harvard and discusses how the Divinity School is producing some top level business leaders.

What struck me was the story of Tom Chappell, CEO of Tom’s of Maine, and his soulful path:

[Chappell] had come to the divinity school at age 43, after an aggressive
growth period in his company that had left him emotionally and
spiritually drained. The business was thriving, but he was finding more
emptiness than fulfillment in success, he says. Many entrepreneurs
would argue that when you reach that point, it’s time to flip the
business, buy a sailboat, and travel the world. But Chappell was
haunted by a comment from his pastor’s wife: "What makes you think
Tom’s of Maine isn’t your ministry?" she asked.

We can read ministry in any number of ways (personally, I don’t think the ministry has to be religious), but I think Chappell was being challenged to reconsider and transform himself and his purpose. He was being asked to think about his Soulful Work. I thought about that line a lot today. Some interesting and perplexing issues surfaced at work today that might have caused me to feel discontented and disillusioned with my job role. And yet, I was equally haunted by the notion that my work in my current organization is my own ministry. I believe that my Soulful Work is to encourage a joy-full work attitude, cultivate a positive organizational culture, inspire new leadership qualities in my colleagues,  and strengthen the organization so that it can achieve its core mission.

Do you have a ministry?

Accepting Constructive Criticism Is Always Hip

by on July 20, 2005 in Business, Work

Sue at Face2Face has been challenged to give her blog a title transformation. What I dig is how it all came about. She, like me, finds the use of Xtreme in ASAE’s Annual Conference title Xtremely tired and unhip (actually, it all reminds me of that old Simpson’s episode where they try to hip up Itchy and Scratchy by introducing Poochie; not so good idea then, definitely not so good idea now).

Well, a humble reader submitted that Sue’s use of the ’2′ in her blog title was just as old. The really neat part is that she agrees and has risen to the challenge to find something new. She’s opening up the floor to suggestions.

It all just reminded me of the beauty of the blog and the potential for our associations and businesses. All it took was one person to suggest a change to set the wheels in motion. As leaders, can we be open to any and all comments (even those that strike us as xtremely negative…sorry) from our custo/members and consider making changes?

Managing The Custo/Member Experience With Aloha

by on July 19, 2005 in Business, Media, Work

I’ve written before about my dear friend Rosa Say and her book Managing With Aloha. While it is largely intended for organizational managers who want to create vibrant values-based relationships with their staff, I’m beginning to re-read it again from a slightly different perspective.

As an association executive, one of the more challenging relationships we have can be with our volunteer leaders. For instance, there is a different type of connection between executive-volunteer than there is between executive-employee. With the latter, there’s a kind of institutional setup that facilitates an adherence to policies and agreement to action (in other words, you know who to report to and how to get stuff done). On the other hand, in associations the executive understands that the organization “belongs” to the volunteer. That doesn’t mean that the association staff are unimportant and that volunteers make all the decisions. As any association professional will confess, it’s way more complex than that.

Yet, the ability to effectively manage a diverse group of volunteers and member leaders is an essential skill. Enter Rosa’s book and the brief, related Manifesto at ChangeThis. It’s a powerful guide to using some of the best of Hawaii’s values to help recreate the executive-volunteer relationship. There will definitely be more to come.