Month: August 2018

leadership dot #2248: rangers

August 11, 2018August 3, 2018by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

The Gateway Arch grounds cover 192 acres, making it difficult for the Park Rangers to be visible and present at all times. To help expand their presence, the National Park Service instituted a Bark Ranger program where trained volunteers and their canine companions can walk the grounds provide service and observations when the official Rangers are unavailable. At the Arch, Bark Rangers monitor the ground and answer questions for tourists. At Glacier National Park, the Bark Rangers keep visitors away from the goats!

Apparently, many downtown residents routinely walk their dogs throughout the park, and this is an ingenious way to capitalize on their willingness to be a resource. For the price of a bandana and t-shirt, the Park Service unleashed dedicated fans to help them. Who is using your service already that you could more formally deploy to assist your organization?

leadership dot #2247: technically

August 10, 2018August 3, 2018by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

There are rules, and then there are ways to get around the rules. In Missouri, all casinos must float on the Mississippi or Missouri rivers. The original regulation envisioned “riverboat gambling” but did not require the boat to be operational. This led to floating casinos – either on boats or barges — that are literally on water but are anchored to the riverbank and essentially function as permanent land structures.

But Lumiere Place Casino pushed the letter of the law to the limit. This gaming facility is located 1,000 feet inland and was built on a foundation that floats in a man-made moat. Water is pumped in from the Mississippi River, satisfying the requirement to be located on the river, but the “river” is purified river water in a surrounding basin. The net effect is that the casino is a stable structure, several blocks away from the water, but technically legal.

I’m not advocating that you always test the boundaries to this degree, but it is more likely that you give in too easily. The next time you are thwarted by a rule or regulation, think about Lumiere Place. If they could build a floating barge on a moat and make it happen, maybe there is a way for you to avert your barrier as well.

leadership dot #2246: scope

August 9, 2018August 7, 2018by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

As a new supervisor, it is sometimes difficult to prioritize where to spend your time. In addition to completing all of the tasks that have short-term deadlines, you must keep a focus on the future and dedicate time to things in preparation for “tomorrow” (even if that is years down the road.) And if you’re a visionary thinker, you’ll probably have some ideas that impact other departments or those outside of your supervisory purview.

One way to frame your work is through a matrix that considers supervision scope (whether it is within your area of responsibility or outside of it) and ease or difficulty of implementation. You should consider where your tasks fall on the matrix to assess whether you are spending your time in the proportion that you desire.

If you spend all of your time on things that are easy, it’s likely that you are not considering the long-term as much as you should. If you only work on tasks within your direct scope, you may wish to adopt a more external focus for some projects. By evaluating your responsibilities and where you spend your time, this matrix can help you assess a holistic view of the work ahead of you.

Thanks, Brian!

leadership dot #2245: choose

August 8, 2018August 7, 2018by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

While I shared many lessons at the supervisor workshop, I learned some things, too. One of my favorites was the concept by Andy Stanley that helps to frame a culture of trust, whether that be in a marriage or in an organization.

“Occasionally there are gaps between what we expect people to do and what they actually do,” teaches Stanley. How leaders respond to that gap serves to create the culture of your organization. Stanley outlines two choices: people can “assume the worst” or “believe the best”. He maintains that if a leader chooses to believe the best, that a culture of trust will develop.

Note the word “chooses.” Stanley acknowledges that leaders may not always feel that benevolent, but he maintains that they can still choose to act in a way that supersedes their emotion, believing that there is something unknown that caused the person to act as they did and that once it is discovered, it will lead to understanding.

His premise does not demand blind acceptance when performance creates a gap. When the leader initially believes the best but evidence is to the contrary, the leader must choose to confront the situation rather than continue with concealed suspicions.

If your organization or any relationship is looking to create or strengthen a culture of trust (and hopefully you are!), Stanley’s message provides strategies and rationale to help you on this journey. The residual benefits to the individuals and the overall health of the organization warrant the effort.

Thanks, Brian!

Watch the full 45-minute message here.

leadership dot #2244: pocket of greatness

August 7, 2018August 3, 2018by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

At the supervision workshop, we received some questions about how to implement the strategies we discussed when their boss wasn’t a great supervisor, when others had lower standards than we were suggesting or when the previous supervisor had not established expectations. My answer: “pocket of greatness.”

It is a term used by Jim Collins in the uber-influential book Good to Great and the accompanying Good to Great and the Social Sectors. Collins writes that “It might take decades to change the entire systemic context, and you might be retired or dead by the time those changes come. In the meantime, what are you going to do now?” He goes on to write: “Every institution has its unique set of irrational and difficult constraints, yet some make a leap while others facing the same environmental challenges do not….Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice, and discipline.”*

To all the aspiring superstar supervisors we had in the workshop – and to all the readers of this dot – I would urge you to heed Collins’ advice and focus on what you CAN do and start there. You can have a great department, even if the rest of the organization is dysfunctional. You can become an influential boss, even if yours isn’t. You can change lives, even if you are the only one doing so.

We often become overwhelmed thinking about how big the problem is when we would be better off focusing on the small steps we can take to make things even a tiny bit better. Consciously choose to start today toward creating your own pocket of greatness.

*p. 30-31 Good to Great and the Social Sectors – A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great by Jim Collins, 2005

leadership dot #2243: supervision

August 6, 2018August 3, 2018by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

I recently had the privilege of co-facilitating a workshop specifically targeted at new supervisors. One of the things I love about those new to supervision is that they genuinely want to do the right thing but just have not received training on what that is. Sure, everyone had examples of good bosses to emulate and bad bosses to model the opposite behavior, but few had been given the opportunity to learn supervision in a formal way instead of via trial and error.

I wonder why that is. There is a host of research that indicates the front-line manager (supervisor) is the key factor in employee retention and departmental productivity, yet organizations routinely promote people with no supervisory experience and expect them to be successful at this key new component of their job.

Because organizations provide so little formal training, those new to supervision sometimes assume that there is a checklist or quick list of actions to take to make them competent in this role. What we tried to teach was that there is no cookie-cutter method to becoming a Superstar Supervisor; that it is as much about diligence and resilience as anything else, and that the STAR framework can serve as a guiding principle to frame behaviors and prioritize supervisory actions.

We attempted to carry the “SuperSTAR” theme throughout the workshop, and on the first day ordered “star-shaped pretzels” as our snack. What we received only loosely resembled a star and lovingly became known as the “octopus pretzels”! On day 2, we fared better, and our star-shaped donut actually looked like the intended design.

I think supervision is a lot like our snack offerings. You can be a supervisor in title only – just as the pretzels were minimally star-shaped, or you can actually learn to be impressive in that role as the giant star donuts were. You choose the amount effort you are willing to invest in the right resources to get you there.

leadership dot #2242: light reading

August 5, 2018August 3, 2018by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

The library has always been known for loaning books – but this library made it even easier to do so. The Dubuque County Library features a selection of “summer light reads” that require no check out; rather it is borrowing on the honor system. This rack is located next to the door and makes it easy for patrons to grab a “beach book” on the way out. It relieves the pressure of returning the book by a timeline or feeling obligated to keep it pristine for the permanent collection.

Summer Light Reads is a low-key investment by the library – all are fiction paperbacks that can be picked up at any Goodwill or garage sale – but they stimulate reading and provide another service for readers. Many people want an easy read for the summer, and the library has done a good job of providing it.

Think about how you can make a service you offer even easier for your clientele. Is there a way to reposition something with a different proximity? Can you provide a “light” version of your traditional service at a reduced fee or no cost? What about functioning as a clearinghouse to allow your customers to exchange goods in your facility?

Summer is a good time to make something light and easy for your base.

leadership dot #2241: bait and switch

August 4, 2018August 3, 2018by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

I’m sorry. To all the friends, family and strangers I met in line at the movie theater to whom I recommended MoviePass, I offer my apology. It was great in the beginning, but never have I seen a company implode as thoroughly as this one has.

When I signed up, it was under the premise that I could watch “one movie/day.” There were no other restrictions. It was such great fun all winter – I saw movies I would have never seen otherwise; I went to great movies multiple times; I could go at whatever time I liked, and it was as easy as using a credit card. Since then, every time I receive a communication from MoviePass it is to make the service more restrictive – without grandfathering in those of us who purchased an annual pass. Now there are only dinnertime options or 10pm (no prime evening showings), you can’t see a movie more than once, new releases are embargoed for two weeks and you have to photograph and upload your ticket stub – all providing that the app is working and hasn’t been shut down due to default or design on MoviePass’ end. I could never recommend them today.

MoviePass will be a business school case study someday – in my class if no other – that highlights the importance of a realistic financial plan and the importance of taking care of your early customers. If they had changed their terms but allowed us to have the original conditions of our contract, I could understand the need to do so. If they had changed the rules once and not grandfathered us in, I could maybe even stomach that. But repeatedly diminishing what we originally signed up for – under the guise of “terms and conditions may change” – is just poor, poor business practice and akin to bait and switch.

I gave MoviePass a free pass after their first two reductions in service, but their latest has sent me over the edge. To all my friends and family, I now say: “Take a pass on MoviePass”. What you sign up for today is likely not what you will receive tomorrow.

leadership dot #2240: marvel

August 3, 2018August 2, 2018by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

Author Clint Smith recently shared the following Tweet: “I went to the post office today & had this moment where I was like wow man the post office is conceptually amazing. You put something in an envelope, lick a sticker, hand it to someone, and they literally bring it anywhere in the world. That’s wild! Shout out to the post office.”

I feel that way every time I fly on an airplane. Some days I can barely lift my own suitcase, yet you can take that weight x 200 and add in 200 passengers and still land it in a precise location with a great overall safety record – and do it thousands of times each day.

I have always been amazed by electricity and now I marvel at by wi-fi. Who would have believed that I could be on a boat ride in the middle of a river, read an email and then send my reply – all within seconds? Or that you literally touch a piece of glass in order to do so on your smartphone?

Technology is moving at a rapid pace – in a few years self-driving cars or Mars landings may become common – but already remarkable surrounds us. Take a moment today to appreciate some of the wonders that you normally take for granted.

*Tweet by @ClintSmithIII, 7/13/18

leadership dot #2239: diminish

August 2, 2018August 1, 2018by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

For decades, Hallmark’s slogan has been “when you care enough to send the very best.” They have positioned themselves as the gold (crown) standard in greeting cards – offering premium products that feature artwork and sentiments that have no rivals.

I am a Platinum member of Hallmark’s Gold Crown Club (meaning I buy a lot of cards) and I can attest that the price may be high, but the quality always matches it.

So imagine my surprise when I went into the Dollar Store and found that they now carry the Hallmark line – offering branded Hallmark cards either 2 for $1 or at the one-dollar price point. They also carry Hallmark notecards and invitations.

I am as happy as the next person to save money, but I was also saddened at how they have cheapened not just their price, but their entire brand. No longer does Hallmark have the same cache when people know you may have paid 50 cents for a greeting. Obviously, the elaborate, 3-D or embossed cards aren’t available at the Dollar Store, so Hallmark loses some of the features that made the cards special and diminishes its overall product line.

You can strive for the high end of the market and compete on quality or the low end where you compete on price, but it is next to impossible to do both. The Gold Crown today feels like it is on Humpty Dumpty instead of the throne.