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How Leaders Can Help Their Remote Workers

By Dr. Francis Eberle

What can we do when it feels like inertia is holding us back? These days, I have noticed during recent video calls that some of the people who are normally high energy seem to have much less energy. Staying motivated when working remotely involves more than just setting up a work area and logging into a video call. The stresses of accomplishing tasks without your colleagues close by, distractions at home, news of the world, fear about safety when going out, and the desire to do something other than sit at home can be exhausting. In addition, some people are also experiencing uncertainty about future wages.

When I first decided to write about motivation, I didn’t want it to be all about working from home because of the COVID-19 virus. Remote work existed before all of this. It’s just more widespread now.

From An Inventor to Becoming a Master Innovator

By Evans Baiya, PhD & Ron Price 

Being an inventor is a great achievement. After all, you are the one who comes up with the ideas, or a new discovery. From incandescent light bulbs to the internet of things (IoT), inventors have made untold numbers of improvements to our lives.

We have been privileged to work with many people who are truly world-class inventors; scientists, engineers, and other forms of disrupters or technical experts. Confidentiality agreements prohibit us from sharing details, but we have been awestruck by some of the advances we have watched emerge into the marketplace by people we were privileged to coach.

The Elephant in the Room

Two Activities for Working Remotely

By Trish Candler

For those normally working in an office setting, you may be working remotely, somewhere other than a designated office building setting. Your remote location may be full of different people these days. Perhaps it’s one or many children in your “new office” or maybe a partner, or perhaps you’re completely alone, actually remote-remote.

All the news outlets and online resources, even celebrities, are highlighting what it’s like to work remotely. And it looks great, doesn’t it? You’re getting a glimpse into their homes, perhaps checking out their décor for some fresh ideas for your own home.

Befriending Measurements

By Jalene Case

I recently had a meeting with a colleague during which I was vigorously sharing my detailed analysis of 2019 and a clear plan for 2020. My colleague paused, starring at one number and said, “Wait. Did you say all of this is income going away?” I flippantly said, “Yes, but look at what I have planned!” Suddenly I saw that even though I had looked at the numbers, I hadn’t truly seen the one with the negative impact.

My enthusiastic nature leads me toward highlighting positive progress, and even hiding negative indicators so I won’t see them and feel like a failure. This is nice of my inner cheerleader but not helpful in the long run.

Is Your Bias Showing?

How to spot and change unconscious bias in the workplace

By Ron Price and Stacy Ennis

Unconscious bias matters. Greatly. Not just for the people on the receiving end of bias, but also for the leaders, teams and companies who are missing out on a team that is diversified through age, race, gender and other factors.

Where is the diversity?
During a session at a recent leadership training afternoon that was focused on hiring practices, the presenter spent the better part of an hour laying out his strategies for attracting and retaining top talent. These processes, he said, were effective beyond his company. They were attractive: online forms, spreadsheets, detailed reports, company transparency – all the latest and greatest in finding and keeping the best of the best.

Then he pulled up a slide.

The slide contained an organizational chart with about 30 employees. Rather than just names, it also included faces. The trouble was, nearly everyone in the company looked alike. It was like a carbon copy of the same person with slightly different smiles and hair colours. With some exceptions, nearly everyone was the same gender and about the same age.

Finding Opportunity in Times of Worry

By Dr. Evans Baiya

We can all agree that we are facing challenging times. COVID-19 and public precautions to slow the spread of it have left businesses in a space full of unknowns. And for many people, unknowns equal worry. It is natural for leaders (all people in fact) to feel overwhelmed during moments of crisis, especially crisis that is unpredictable and with many factors they cannot control.

Yet there is possibility, even in times of uncertainty. In times like these, we encourage leaders to work through a very simple model that helps to identify priorities and define proper resolutions within those priorities, which ultimately leads to successful outcomes. It is the Worry-Opportunity-Barrier Model.

Effective leaders embrace the mindset that crises are guaranteed, but how you deal with a crisis is an integral part of leadership. Ultimately, great leaders learn through crisis. The situation either gets better or it gets worse, based on how you handle the most stressful moments. Every crisis brings with it some stressors. It is common for leaders, especially those who feel the added weight of responsibility on their shoulders, to worry. But you cannot worry yourself out of a crisis!

Are You Too Busy to Recognize the Talent That’s In Front of You?

By Lori McNeill

It is all too common for managers to have busy schedules to the point of having back-to-back meetings all day long. Deadlines have to be met. Unexpected issues arise that need to be addressed. Does this sound like an average day or week for you?

When over-packed days become the norm, leaders may not take time to develop the talents of their employees or even recognize the potential of individuals when it is right in front of them.

What’s at stake if this occurs? Great ideas may not be heard. Employees may not feel valued and may become disengaged. Talent is wasted because employees are not coached to reach their full potential.

The Washington Post did a social experiment a few years back by asking Joshua Bell, one of the world’s most talented violinists, to play in the D.C. Metro Station. He was dressed in regular clothes and the performance was unannounced. Anyone passing by may have thought he was just some guy off the street trying to make a quick buck but consider this: he was playing a violin valued at $10-$15 million, and the music he played was some of the most complex arrangements composed for violin. In fact, he was scheduled to perform those exact songs just days later to a sold-out crowd.

Times That Try Our Souls

By Ron Price

One of the advantages of being 66 years old is that I don’t get as anxious I used to when unexpected, negative events occur. Depending on how each event is interpreted, the current coronavirus disruption is, at a minimum, the seventh crisis I have experienced over the past 45 years while in a variety of leadership roles. These crises have included a major fire, negative front-page press coverage, a debilitating breakdown in our supply chain, regulatory abuse, major contracts broken, the great recession, and the tragedy of 9/11. And we have survived every one of them!

What to do? How are we to respond when our world is disrupted so dramatically? As I reflect on this and shift gears into problem-solving around a seventh major crisis, here are things that guide my thinking:

Get above the noise. There are businesses (such as the media and others) that thrive on crisis. It actually increases their “product inventory” and compels their customers to engage. I’m not one who thinks everyone in the media is evil with ill-intent. However, it is a fact that they get better ratings (and more income) the more we engage with what they are selling.

The Problems with Problem Solving

By Ron Price

One of the primary jobs of a leader is solving problems. We often joke that if all the problems went away, we would be unemployed. Some problems are quick and easy to solve. Scheduling conflicts, customer complaints, and equipment failures are examples of problems we can often fix quickly and move on. However, there are also many problems that are much more complex and tedious to solve. It is these tougher problems that test and demonstrate our skills as problem-solving leaders.

In The Complete Leader, Randy Lisk and I wrote about two basic kinds of problems that leaders encounter on a regular basis. The first are linear problems. These are problems that have a clear root cause. By applying a scientific approach, whether asking “why” over and over again until you uncover the original cause, or by completing a more complex root cause analysis such as the fishbone model of identifying several potential contributors, one or more causes can be identified and solved. This is often the work of process engineers and is most effectively applied with problems are primarily connected with tangible parts, processes and results.

My Team Isn’t Working Together Well

By Dr. Francis Eberle

I have heard some version of this many times from clients over the years. Leaders often tell me that a team isn’t as effective as they once were, team members don’t want to participate, or they need more cooperation so they can move faster.

Many leaders forget that teams are fluid. What I mean is they change over time due to variable factors. These can be things like someone joining or leaving the team, projects changing dramatically, tasks becoming routine, fear about job safety due to changing market forces, or more. All of these dynamics impact the people on a team and their performance.

Teams are more important now than they have been in the past, partly because problems are more complex than they have been in the past. Solving them requires multiple perspectives and experiences.

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How Leaders Can Help Their Remote Workers

From An Inventor to Becoming a Master Innovator

The Elephant in the Room

Befriending Measurements

Is Your Bias Showing?

Finding Opportunity in Times of Worry

Are You Too Busy to Recognize the Talent That’s In Front of You?

Times That Try Our Souls

The Problems with Problem Solving

My Team Isn’t Working Together Well

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OUR THINKING

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