The Vargas Group

“Try not to become a success, but rather try to become a man of value.” Albert Einstein

In my management development program, “The New Management Reality,” I lead participants through a simple exercise. I ask them to name:

• The highest paid CEO’s of the past 3 years
• The winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Literature over the past 3 years
• The last 3 winners of the The Academy Award for Best Actor 

No one has ever gotten them all right. In fact, they can seldom name even one in each category and, if they do, they get the year wrong! Few of us can remember yesterday’s famous (or infamous!) people past their 15 minutes of fame. What was reported on all the news channels and featured in full-color entertainment magazines quickly becomes yesterday’s news.

The second part of the exercise is to create a different list altogether. I ask them to name:

• 3 teachers who had a positive impact during your school years
• 3 people who have been there for you during difficult times
• 3 people who make you feel valued, loved and appreciated

Ah, this is a much easier task; one we all have a wealth of experience and knowledge to draw from. The reason is very simple: the people who have the most profound and lasting impact in our lives are rarely the ones with the most money, the biggest names or the largest entourage. Instead they are those who saw something of value in us and made it their responsibility to bring it to fruition.

Great leaders have the ability to bring out the best in the people around them. They know that no one succeeds alone, that the journey, task or project is greatly enhanced with collaboration and mutual benefit. Rather than settling for infamy, they count the cost of the quick win or a sullied reputation and consider that cost too high. The greatest leaders are those who both provide value to and derive value from those they serve.

“Change is hard because people overestimate the value of what they have—and underestimate the value of what they may gain by giving that up.” James Belasco and Ralph Stayer, Flight of the Buffalo (1994)

There is a difference between change and transition. And some companies begin with one and never make it to the other.

Change involves disruption and often frustration, confusion and anger. Transition is an internal human process – a gradual reorientation to the change. The goal is to not get stuck in the world of change but to move into transition where the real work can begin.

However, that is optional!

Author Steven Denning has a new book coming out in fall of 2010, titled: The Leader’s Guide to Radical Management: Re-inventing the Workplace for the 21st Century.  I can’t wait. I got a hold of some pre-release notes where he discusses why it is so hard to make organizational change stick. Personally, I think the primary cause for the failure of change initiatives is a lack of commitment on the part of management. Organizational change is difficult and often the challenges are more than they anticipated. When bad behavior erupts or the process just seems to take too long, I’ve seen managers or sponsors be the first to lead the charge back to the status quo.

Decisions, decisions ...

Change management experts caution against that lack of commitment. When an initiative is launched, move quickly, swiftly and decisively. As Denning puts it, “Once organizational change takes off, it will happen rapidly. The process is viral in nature. The idea is a virus that is either growing and spreading and propagating itself; or dying and de-energizing people and spawning new constraints.”    

What appropriate symbolism. Organizational Change that is well planned and actively managed leads to a workplace transition that is truly viral in nature. It’s energizing, even to those who may not have agreed in the beginning. There is nothing worse than launching a change initiative and then losing your nerve – but continue to slog through it year after year, inflicting pain and suffering on everyone involved. Well, maybe there is something worse – to abandon it altogether and then launch the “flavor of the month” change initiative a year or so later.

Moving from change to that place of transition, where those involved in the process evolve from observers to active participants, is the sign of success – the sign that the change has taken hold and will spread to other parts of the organization.

Make a plan, make the commitment and move!

Sometimes you do what’s right and things just don’t work out. Or maybe it’s just that they don’t work out like we think they will.

For any professional who tries to conduct themselves in an ethical manner, seeking to provide the appropriate solution for their clients, this can be a challenge. Often the client will be pressing for a quick solution when the problem has been in the making for many years. Or your solutions partner will be urging you to sell a higher priced system than what your client truly needs. Other times it’s simply a difference of opinion on what the root cause issue is and this one can be the most difficult. To keep the engagement going it can be very tempting to agree with the client and spend valuable time and resources on a secondary issue or a symptom of the root cause, knowing this is not the most effective course of action. It’s far more difficult to adhere to that role of trusted advisor and point your client to the areas of their business that need the most attention, especially when they don’t want to hear it.

There is a Biblical principal that says we don’t always see the completion of an effort, rather we may be the one that begins the effort while another comes along and completes it. I use this principal to encourage myself when I don’t, as a consultant, always see the fruits of my labors. When I begin an engagement, sometimes there are partially completed artifacts from previous work efforts that I am able to build upon. I find this both exciting and discouraging – exciting when it indicates there is still interest in an improvement process, and discouraging when it seems you may be just “the flavor of the month.”

Mark Sanborn said, “Integrity is what you do when no one’s looking. It’s also what you do when someone’s pushing.” As a service provider, this quote has always had great relevance for me. It isn’t that my assessment and suggested approach is the only solution – I try to remain open to alternate opinions and maintain an attitude of continuous exploration and learning. Rather, it’s the challenge to remain true to what I know to be right and not change direction simply to keep the contract and appease the ego of the client. The challenge is to lead, rather than simply play the game. Their business is important. It should be important enough to me as a collaborative partner to give them good advice.

“Never does the human soul appear so strong as when it foregoes revenge and dares to forgive an injury.” Edwin H. Chapin

I am a huge NBA fan and, despite the lackluster performance of my favorite team this past season, I will continue to watch, cheer, groan and coach from the comfort of my living room.

I have learned a great deal from watching basketball – lessons about teamwork, winning and losing with grace, leadership, and so on. But nothing frustrates me more than when I watch grown men resort to infantile behavior when a call doesn’t go their way. We often see professional athletes who are making more than anyone I personally know, who have the eyes of millions watching their every move, who possess an amazing talent and the opportunity to use that gift, throw temper tantrums, get into fist fights, refuse to play fair and, basically, threaten to pick up their ball and go home if they don’t get their way.

Rudy Tomjanovitch, legendary NBA Coach for the Houston Rockets and the LA Lakers, learned a hard lesson about holding a grudge. When he was a forward with the Rockets he got into a very physical altercation with another player, one that resulted in him taking a number of extremely hard hits to his face. It had taken several security guards to hold Rudy back and, as he sat in the emergency room of the local hospital, he was still angry and couldn’t wait to get back to the stadium to continue the fight. Forget the game, never mind his team that had to play without him, certainly give no thought to the fans that paid good money to see a basketball game not a boxing match – the taste for revenge was strong in Rudy’s mouth.

At that point, the doctor told him, “That’s not revenge you taste. That’s spinal fluid. Go back into that fight and you won’t come out alive. You gotta let this one go.”

Those words of wisdom brought a reality check for the young player. He realized that whatever else he might think about the unfairness of the punch or the way the other player behaved, he had to let it go and get on with his life. His injuries required five surgeries to correct, keeping him out of the game for the rest of the season. But had he pursued his desire for revenge, he would have been out of the game for the rest of his life.

When we put things in perspective, let go of a grudge, and move on to better things, we find life and healing. Refuse to move on and we could be forever stuck in a cycle of negativity, pain and victim behavior. We are never so strong as when we take the higher road!

None of us can do our jobs alone. Let me rephrase that – there may be some jobs that only require the work and input of a sole individual but I wouldn’t want to work that way. And in corporate America today, most of us find ourselves dependent on others to successfully accomplish our tasks. So what if they weren’t there? Or what if they decided to be extremely difficult or obstinate and simply refuse to do what you need them to? Worse yet, what if they sabotaged you and went out of their way to be sure you failed?

So if you aren’t working with creepy people like the above-mentioned, what are you doing to show your partners how grateful you are for their help and cooperation? In today’s lean workplace, everyone has more than enough to do and if, you want to be sure your needs remain a high priority with your co-workers or cross-functional team members, it helps if you show a little old-fashioned gratitude. Yes, turns out your mother was right – saying “Thanks” on a regular basis improves the relationship!

If you lead teams or staff, set the example. Thank them first. This doesn’t have to be a costly endeavor – in fact, most of my suggestions fall in the free or almost free category. Leave little notes of gratitude on the desks of your team members. Recognize some specific thing they did: “Thanks for getting that email out to the client before you left last night!” or “I appreciate how you always lend a hand to the newer employees.” Nothing fuels commitment and loyalty like an unexpected pat on the back. Leave other surprises such as a candy or a cupcake on each person’s desk or bring in cookies for the team. You’ll know you’ve set a good example when your team members begin to do this for one another. One of my former employees became known for his surprise thank-you ice-cream sandwiches!

Next, thank those who help your team succeed – the Quality Assurance staff, the IT people, the managers of people serving on your cross-functional team, etc. Your gratitude should be tangible but, again, not costly. When I managed technology teams, we would assemble baskets made of baked goodies and candies, all of us would sign a personal thank you note and then I’d deliver them to the Operations Center, Help Desk, Network Support and even our internal customers. That small expression of our gratitude for their hard work and support reaped many, many rewards in their willingness to go the extra mile for us.

So often I hear managers say, “They’re only doing their job. Why do we need to thank them?” Well, here’s why: It’s the right thing to do. Most of us work hard and would do so with or without a thank-you but we all like the occasional recognition of a job well done. So during this Thanksgiving season, make a new tradition in your workplace. Say “Thanks!”

It’s a challenging economic environment – ok – I get it.

What I don’t understand is how so many companies adopt a “one-size-fits-all” approach to cost management and expense reduction. The common actions seem to include across-the-board-cuts whether it makes sense for their type of business or not. When companies fail to plan carefully and deal ethically, they can seriously damage their reputations in the business and employee community. “This too shall pass” – how we manage today has everything to do with how well we recover when the time comes. If I could be so bold as to make some suggestions:

1. Look at cost management first. Where could you streamline, consolidate and eliminate in terms of operating costs? One company I worked with was able to eliminate more than $100k in software maintenance and licensing costs since they weren’t even using the software any longer! Another realized they had two applications that basically did the same thing and settled on one of them, again eliminating those costly annual support fees.

2. Could you change your method of operations? By considering alternative work practices, one company closed one of their locations, implemented a telecommuting strategy for those job functions where it made sense and redeployed the employees from the closed office to the home office.

3. Take a close look at some of your projects. Do you have projects that go on and on and on with no end in sight? This is common with internal projects – often they have outlived the business necessity and continue because no one remembers why they were doing it. Re-evaluate and redeploy your valuable resources.

4. Finally, once your expenditures are as lean as they can get, consider workforce reduction. Since this is often the FIRST place companies cut, I purposely leave it for last. Downsizing requires careful planning and an eye to the future – you do not want to cut the wrong people, in the wrong areas, at the wrong time. This is where alignment is more important than ever. Consider this:

*Which job functions have a direct impact on your ability to serve your customers and deliver product? If you are a manufacturer, for example, you probably don’t want to eliminate production staff.

*Who are your poorest performers? If you do performance reviews you should have the data that will tell you who should be the first to go. (If you aren’t doing performance reviews, we’ll talk about THAT at another time!)

*Do you have well documented process flows that indicate the inter-dependencies among departments? Example – one company I know of eliminated a Database Engineer in their IT department and a finance associate in the accounting department in early April. Come July, the sales division started screaming for their pipeline reports. Turns out the Database guy extracted the data and staged it on a server somewhere and the finance associate would retrieve the data and turn it into reports for the Sales team. Who would have known – until they were both gone!

When downsizing is inevitable, apply ethical, fair and consistent methods. One well-known company targeted those closest to being fully vested in their retirement plan – certainly not ethical or fair, and likely illegal. Contrast it with another company that based the decisions on job functions and performance and provided a small severance and outplacement services. Which one will fare better in terms of reputational risk?

In times of uncertainty and volatility, the impulse to react is hard to resist. Organizations that apply a strategic and cautious approach with an eye towards future operations will emerge stronger, leaner and more effective than ever!

Personally, I get tired of superstars. Maybe it’s because I’ve never been one and I’m a little jealous. Or maybe because their phenomenal success seems so unattainable. I choose to believe it’s because of what I’ve learned as an experienced manager and an organizational coach – they tend to be a little high maintenance. They start believing their own press and pretty soon they want more money, a better office, special perks – and after all that, shazam! They get a better offer and they’re outta there!

I really like team players. I admire the talented individual who recognizes the power of the collective we – the top performer who applies their expertise and skill to helping the company, the group, the project succeed. I especially admire those who have achieved a senior level in the organization and recognize they couldn’t have done it alone and maintain their sense of balance and humility.

When my sons played youth basketball, they had a coach that stressed assists over points. Following every game, he would acknowledge the points that were scored, but he would spend more time praising those who assisted in making the points. The message was clear – you may have put the ball through the hoop, but two or three other guys were responsible for getting the ball to you. Every step was as important as the previous one. Even Michael Jordan had to learn this lesson when University of North Carolina men’s basketball coach Dean Smith told him, “Michael, if you can’t pass, you can’t play!” Imagine how MJ’s career would have been hampered had he not learned the valuable lesson that, talented as he was, he was a member of a TEAM!

EXTREME managers learn how to extract the very best from each and every person on their team – from every person they lead. In doing so, they encourage top performance and stand a better chance of achieving success. Look at the people you have working for you – have you been focusing on your superstars to the exclusion of others? Are you inadvertently creating little prima donnas that suck the inititaive out of the rest of your folks? If so, go back to basics – encourage the assists!

The other day I decided to take a 24 hour sabbatical from the news: I had reached my tolerance limit for irresponsibility. Bad news doesn’t bother me – sad news doesn’t even bother me – but a constant barrage of bad business decisions, followed by even worse “solutions” left me feeling powerless and in need of a mental health day! Fortunately I was able to attend a couple of chat sessions later that day with like-minded business professionals who value innovation and forward movement – and helped restore my faith in the future.

But I began to wonder, what are others feeling? Like I said, I have a pretty high threshold for pain but I also have a strong support system around me. Considering the economic climate and the workforce uncertainty around us, leaders should be asking themselves how their employees are doing. Tough times can lead to errant behavior – even the best worker can fold under the strain of challenges both at home and at work. Take a look around: are you seeing an increase in absenteeism? Are you having to mediate more interpersonal disagreements than usual? Has productivity slipped? How many of your employees have spouses who are unemployed?

In light of the 24/7 information overload we all live in, it’s easy to feel a loss of control – decisions are being made all around us that we have little or no say in. Pay attention to the impact this may be having – no, probably IS having, on your workforce and be sure step up your communication. Be as open and honest as possible about the current financial state of your company. Ensure everyone is aware of your Employee Assistance Programs or other benefits available to them such as Health Fairs or Fitness Center memberships. Take note of your employees who are maxing out their vacation time due to decreased staff and encourage them to take a day off – they likely need it and you can’t afford to burn them out.

Empathetic, intuitive leadership will make a significant difference in the way we progress through the coming months. How are you doing – and even more – how are those around you doing?

I recently read a great article on bnet.com called “The Five Ways Managers Breed Incompetence” <a href=”http://blogs.bnet.com/bnet1/?p=1604&tag=nl.e713

I have long contended that many employee problems are really management problems. Now, before all you managers and executives get your knickers in a bunch, I am one of you – and I still believe this. And I said many, not all.

One of the ways cited in the article was “Rewarding Mediocrity.” Hear, hear. An organization I once worked for had this process down pat. As I was leaving a meeting where one of the senior product managers had tap-danced his way through a late schedule, incomplete deliverables and cost over-runs, I cynically thought to myself, “He’s in line for a VP position.” Even though I was half joking (gallows humor, you know) my premonition came true within the week.

And just as cited in the article, the impact his promotion had on me and other employees was surely not the behavior senior management hoped to foster. I read the announcement in my morning email, among all the customer issues, employee questions, SPAM, industry requirements, and last, but not least, new requirements from HR for performance measurements. I carefully read the new Employee Review form but couldn’t seem to find the one I had just witnessed: How to reward my charming bottom feeders.

Do you want to encourage Excellence? Set expectations and then manage to them. REWARD BASED ON PERFORMANCE, period. Whatever your organization’s Performance Measurement process may be, don’t allow your managers to skate through it, or worse, ignore it. Set the expectation for them, too. What gets measured, gets attention.

Welcome to my blog. I know, I know, why in the world would anyone want to read yet another blog …. well, here’s why. I’m a gud riter. No seriously, I’ll not inundate you with a daily update of my comings and goings. At best, I’ll write once a month – maybe every few weeks. And my topics are usually centered around the workplace – what’s working, what isn’t, and what we can reasonably do about it.

Here’s what’s on my mind today. I heard an essay on NPR last week during the “This I Believe” segment. It was titled “Work is a Blessing” and the writer was talking about the lessons he learned from his father and grandfather about the virtues of hard work and self-support. I found it very inspiring and so in line with my own thinking.

As I continue to pour though the stimulus package (http://appropriations.house.gov/pdf/PressSummary01-15-09.pdf) I find myself becoming more concerned. You see, I truly believe that people are better than we give them credit for. I don’t think most Americans need a bailout plan. I don’t believe the government needs to take care of me. I believe that, left to our own devices, we are brilliant – talented, hard-working, able to address serious issues and hardships. Somewhere along the way, the government has become too interested in MY business.

What does this have to do with business? If you can’t run your business like you would if the money was coming directly out of your pocket – then step aside and let those more responsible than you have a hand at it. You simply cannot spend more than you make. (Hmmm… that goes for the government, too.) Didn’t we learn this as kids? Or, at least, that first hard lesson as young adults when you realized credit had to be paid back????

We are better than this. But with a “stimulus” bailout like this, we’ll not find out anytime soon.

Today’s rant has come to an end. The next one will be more focused, I promise.