As we think about creating change, often we wish for a clear path or significant movement. This thought may help you put things in perspective:
Seldom do we have the whole football field wide open. We need to be content moving the ball down the field, a yard or so at a time. We also need to become comfortable with the fact that we may not be the one making the touchdown; that our role may be to become a blocker or passes, but not the one who scores.
As a leader, one of your roles is to help people see the goal — and understand their role in heading toward it. Sure, there are the breakaway returns, where the lone player runs the ball back for a touchdown, but more likely the players are all in a tumble and the ball moves only a few feet. The play can even result in a net loss instead of a gain. Align the expectations with reality, and everyone will feel more comfortable about how the game is progressing.
— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com
Thanks to Al DeCiccio for the original idea
Category: supervision
#275 ears
When a colleague was preparing to become an interim department chair, this is the advice the outgoing chair gave her: “Most days, what is needed is a big, plastic ear on the desk.”
While his advice may be an exaggeration, I am sure that the sentiment rings true for many occasions. Often a good supervisor becomes the sounding board — for venting, for ideas, for problems that work themselves out as they are expressed, for success stories and for personal travails.
Whether you acquire a literal prop from the science department or keep a mental image in your mind, I’ll bet your work will be most effective if you heed the advice to do more listening than talking; more asking of questions than answering.
— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com
Thanks to Trudy Cunningham for sharing
#273 thank you
I have written in the past about the proliferation of “holidays” — days that commemorate every occasion (and pseudo-occasion) imaginable. My sister who works in HR sent me another one to note: today is Employee Appreciation Day.
I have been an employee for many years, but had never heard of this one. Why is it that Boss’s Day is widely celebrated and the employee side of recognition is not?
If you seek out ways to appreciate and recognize employees, several themes emerge:
> Noticing the small things that people do at work
> Saying thank you for a job well done
> Providing a climate where people know each other and can form a team
> Bringing food and treats
> Allowing people opportunities for input and professional development
> Providing challenges for continual learning
> Allowing time off or flexible scheduling
I have had many employees during the years and try to create an environment where many of these things happen. If I would assess one where I could improve, it would be to explicitly say “thank you” more often than I do. Chances are high that I noticed the good things my current and former employees have done, but I don’t always comment on them. Nor do I express my appreciation for those who have become like family and shared more than workloads with me.
In which area could you improve? Are there things you aren’t doing that you could work on to provide meaningful appreciation today — and the other 364 days of the year? Your colleagues are employees too. Could you “show the love” to some of them today and take the strategies above to heart in going forward? We all wear our “employee” hat for more waking hours than about any other role. Do your part to acknowledge the good work all employees do to make your work life the best it can be.
So to all my current (and former employees with whom I am still in contact) — THANK YOU for all you did for me and our institution. I know you often go above and beyond, and I do offer my gratitude for your contributions, today, and on all the days when I didn’t say it.
— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com
#242 grunt work
As part of our major scholarship competition over the weekend, we lined the entranceway with a “red carpet” to make our scholars feel like VIPs when they arrived. It made a wonderful first impression and was a great idea. But we secured the carpet with industrial strength double sided tape — which we learned too late was a big mistake.
I came in to work yesterday armed with Goo Gone and set about to remove the tape residue. An hour later, three of us were still working on the task. It was ugly.
But the silver lining in all of it was how many people stopped to offer unsolicited help. I did not ask a single person to join in my efforts, but as people arrived for work they were curious as to what was going on. Many people — in facilities, in other offices, some who work for me and some who don’t — offered to pitch in for a bit or to suggest other remedies to speed up the process.
I doubt any of them would have felt compelled to contribute if I was not actively engaged myself. It surely gave a new meaning to “scrubbing floors” — my blog #134 was more hypothetical on that topic — but it reiterated how important it is to play an active role rather than to stand by and supervise.
The next time you find your staff or someone else facing grunt work, you can turn the groans into grins by offering to toil beside them.
— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com
#231 early
The act of creating capacity in others requires involving them when things are in the listening stage vs. when they are in the telling stage. If you have a new program or idea and it is fully formed before you share it, you end up telling the potential partner about the program. But if you share things when they are new ideas or still a drafty concept, then you are open to listening what they have to say about how they can shape its formation.
I like to involve large groups of people when we host a consultant on campus — then they can hear the ideas directly, understand their context and have input into how they are ultimately shaped — vs. just being told afterwards that X change needs to occur.
Involve others early in the process. You may be amazed at how much better they make you and your ideas look!
— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com
#225 one-to-one
Due to a recent staff departure, I have three new direct reports. As we were meeting to discuss items to be addressed in the interim, I raised the question of one-on-one meetings. They had not regularly done this in the past, but I assured them that they would while they were being supervised by me.
I am a firm believer in regular, one-on-one meetings. I have no doubt that without them I would still be kept abreast of most things that were happening. Email or “doorway conversations” — where people pop in your office and let you know about a problem or ask a question — serve to keep me in the loop for most of what is going on.
But in one-on-one meetings I have the opportunity to chat about what isn’t going on — what the long term needs are, what should be on the radar screen and what is important but not urgent. I use my one-on-one time to do development of my staff and to really engage in planning conversations.
If you don’t have regular times for your direct employees on your calendar, I would encourage you to add them. You would be surprised at what you learn when you actually sit down and have thoughtful conversations instead of just hearing bullets of what is going on.
— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com
#223 alignment
A very helpful exercise to conduct with direct report staff is what I term as an alignment questionnaire. I ask staff to complete four questions and use their answers in future conversations to gain alignment of our priorities, expectations and style. Later I refer what evolves from our conversations for use in the evaluation process.
The questions are as follows:
1. How do you conceptually see your job and your role in this organization? One way to frame this is to pretend you are presenting this to the board to explain your unit. Another way to look at it is to acknowledge that if you could be cloned, you could keep both of “you” busy in this job. Since there is only one of you, what parts are most important? This can be shared through a model, story, statement, etc. — anything to help me understand your philosophy about how you define your work. (in writing, one page maximum)
2. A maximum of five, specific priorities for the next year. These can be your priorities or priorities for your office, but absolutely no more than five specific items.
3. Part of my role as your supervisor is to help you facilitate change and help you to be successful. What do you want me to know in this respect:
— What ideas are in the incubation stage?
— What is your key strength as a unit/department?
— What needs do you have (now and in the future)?
— What challenges/barriers do you face?
— What do you need from me?
— What seeds do you want me to plant to support you/your work?
4. What advice would you give me to help me be an effective supervisor for you?
Many productive conversations have been stimulated by these questions, the first one in particular. I can recall several situations where the employee had one idea of what the job was (eg: individual ombudsperson/problem solving role) and I had another (eg: systemic changes and data sharing). Our conversations led to alignment and employee success going forward.
Whether you do it formally or informally, I recommend that you spend the time aligning philosophy with your direct report staff. The stars will shine more brightly if you do.
— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com
2. A maximum of five, specific priorities for the next year. These can be your priorities or priorities for your office, but absolutely no more than five specific items.
3. Part of my role as your supervisor is to help you facilitate change and help you to be successful. What do you want me to know in this respect:
— What ideas are in the incubation stage?
— What is your key strength as a unit/department?
— What needs do you have (now and in the future)?
— What challenges/barriers do you face?
— What do you need from me?
— What seeds do you want me to plant to support you/your work?
4. What advice would you give me to help me be an effective supervisor for you?
Many productive conversations have been stimulated by these questions, the first one in particular. I can recall several situations where the employee had one idea of what the job was (eg: individual ombudsperson/problem solving role) and I had another (eg: systemic changes and data sharing). Our conversations led to alignment and employee success going forward.
Whether you do it formally or informally, I recommend that you spend the time aligning philosophy with your direct report staff. The stars will shine more brightly if you do.
— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com
#218 the bottom
A consultant friend occasionally does long-term assignments that result in staff changes (aka firings). It always improves the organization to have the low-performers or toxic personalities out of the system.
Yet I am reminded of a mantra that he and I shared in when doing some work together: someone is always at the bottom.
Just firing people and moving select people out is never the long-term answer. Even when the deadwood is gone, someone else automatically assumes the lowest rung.
Supervisors need to pay attention to getting the full potential from all of their staff — coaching the weaker performers into achieving closer to capacity; allowing their stars to thrive in an intrinsically rewarding way.
There are clearly people who are detrimental to the organization and whose performance or attitude warrants a departure. Just don’t rely on that as your sole strategy or it will be a continuous revolving door.
— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com
#203 plowed in
The much-anticipated blizzard did in fact come, and dumped about a foot of white stuff in my yard. I dutifully was out in the morning and shoveled my driveway and sidewalks.
Just as I was admiring my handiwork, the snow plow came by and blocked my egress with another large, back-breaking pile. Grr! And then the thought occurred to me that he was just doing his job. His job negatively impacted my “job”.
I wonder if there are similar situations that occur in my actual workplace. Are there things that I do that have an adverse effect on other people or offices? The impact may not be as immediate or visible as the plow blocking in my driveway, but they may be there nonetheless.
Take a moment to consider your processes and timing. Ask questions and seek feedback before making procedural or policy changes. Think about who is the recipient of your work and who is the next step in the implementation. Don’t unintentionally plow in your colleagues, even if you do so in the process of just doing your job.
— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com
#201 cave days
I don’t really like the word “retreat”. It conjures up either literal images of armies retreating and being pushed back in defeat, or the more modern-day images of sitting in long meetings with flip charts posted throughout the walls. I do, however, believe in the power of going off-site and changing the environment in order to do some strategic thinking or more intentional planning.
So we call our version of deep thinking “Cave Days” — as in going away to hide in a cave to escape the daily distractions. I spent yesterday afternoon out of the office at such a Cave Day experience –clarifying the transitions and processes of new staff. The informal environment allows people to be more focused and candid and, as a result, we were able to have discussions that could have never occurred sitting around a table in a meeting setting. By dedicating a significant chunk of time to this topic, it signified the importance of it. I hope it also heightened everyone’s commitment to achieving results and then implementing them.
I encourage you to think about the key things you need to discuss and commit to a Cave Day-type environment in which to process them. Sometimes we need to alter our routine in an effort to alter our thinking — and changing when/where we broach the topic can have an immediate impact on that.
— beth triplett