Inclusion and Diversity

The title of this blog post is not hyperbole. These two words have become the key company employment driver and target marketing. Just watch any Netflix or Amazon production and commercial television ads; they contain many diverse couples.

Ironically, there is actually a risk of alienation, when diversity and inclusion are not fully defined. I recently reviewed a company’s "team". The 55 members did reveal ethnic diversity, but I could not detect anyone over 40. Is this considered inclusive or diverse? From a marketing perspective, Millennials rule, but GenX and Baby Boomers are still in the workforce and GenZ is now joining the workforce.

The question: Should inclusion and diversity go beyond sexual orientation and ethnicity and include all generations?

Team vs. Individual Structure

Below is a simple diagram of the difference between a team based department or organization verses letting the associates drive the structure. I have witness both environments. Team is not a corporate buzzword, it is a key ingredient to successful company growth. Large teams consist of teams within a team.

Team Based	Individual Based
Develop Leaders	Anarchy
Staff Growth	Power Struggles
Member Contributions	High Turnover
Self-sustaining	Stagnant

Why Teams Fail

Lack of Management Support

Wrong member make up

Lack of correct tools to succeed

These elements are tried and true team based analysis and experience. Let me focus on the Team based structure, as the Individual based structure is counter-productive.

Teams can be functional or cross-functional:

• Functional - Specific expertise
• Cross-functional - Project driven areas

The goal of both teams is goal setting, process improvement, trends sharing, and subject matter collaboration. This list is by no means inclusive of all team elements.

The Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is streamlined operations or process efficiencies. Remember the profit equation contains two sides revenue and expenses. Although a department may not be revenue generating, it can add to the bottom line with performance efficiencies by having less overhead costs, i.e. fewer associates required output the current workload, or handling more workload, contributing to the revenue side of the profit equation.

I hope this blog entry will encourage you to recognize the benefits of a team base structure or review your current teams’ structure.

Lifelong Learning

One of my favorite inspirational leaders is Peter Drucker. I first learned about him, during my very first class in college. Decades later, I am still gathering his leadership insights. Peter Drucker lived during multiple wars, economic up and down turns, the industrial and digital age, always staying relevant.

On a recent vacation, I came across this quote from Peter Drucker, "We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn."

In my career, I had the advantage of working closely with consumer product trainers. I leaned a lot about learning styles. I, myself, am a lifelong learner. This is evident by reinventing my own career, transferring my marketing agency operations to the financial tech industry. In both industries, I mentor Project Managers.

This century requires a lot of soft skills, in addition to the required position hard skill sets, including technical acumen. I believe lifelong learning is required to be relevant, just as Peter Drucker demonstrates.

There are four steps of learning, I have developed, applicable to any type of learning - academic, life, the workplace, seminars, online, anywhere.

• Receive – read or listen, gathering the lesson’s content
• Absorb – processing and understanding the information
• Retain – know the information for the relevant time
• Apply – provide the knowledge/skill where beneficial

The last step may not come immediate. Some lessons provide a foundation for future lessons or teaching others.

Lifelong learning should be in people’s DNA that want to grow and/or succeed. The more you grow, the more value you possess, in any situation.

Break the Routine and See What Happens

Occasionally, I come across an article that speaks to my management philosophy and compelled to share on my blog. The article below is from the Smashing Magazine Editor, Vitaly, and can be found here.

[Article Start]

Daily routine is wonderful — predictable, efficient and comfortable. But when we need to find that one spark of a genius idea, breaking out of the regular schedule can do wonders. In a way, that’s also because we’re used to following patterns in our lives. It’s perfectly reasonable to go to a cinema on a Friday night, but it seems to be a bit off to go on a Monday morning. It may seem fine to be burning the midnight oil, just to realize the next morning how terrible the output of the work was. Last but surely not least, it often feels strange to take off early on a Tuesday, as it’s the beginning of the work week. It doesn’t have to be.

Some of the most profound ideas that I have discovered for my work and life stem took place whenever I broke my daily routine and got away from the hustle bustle of everyday life. I often felt that I have to beat the entire world by working more and working harder, and sometimes even felt awkward when I took a few more days off. However, every now and again we need to step away to see the big picture, so that we can recharge when diving into fine details and keep ourselves going. It’s outside of the comfortable day-work-time when wonderful ideas emerge.

So, what about a little experiment? What if you asked your team members to do something that makes them happy on a Thursday morning? What if you gave them a few extra vacation days, or asked them to work outside of the office on Wednesdays? Or perhaps consider introducing ‘no-meetings-on-Fridays’ or ‘do-what-you-love-Wednesdays’?

But most importantly, perhaps take a bit of time off. You are smart, helpful, and hard-working — so take at least a day or two to step away, and maybe do something kind to yourself and to people around you, or the people you’ve never met. And guess what: the world will keep spinning, and you might finally catch that idea you’ve been chasing in vain all these years.

[Article End]

Here is a practical application example: During a client challenge, which required very long days for the team and accompanying stress, I bought a case of silly string. I literally "forced" the team out of the building, into the parking lot, and spray away! A great tension break and any pent up energy release.

Now, it's your turn.

Project Manager Traits

Having been a Project Manager and managing Project Managers, I have identified three critical traits to be an excellent Project Manager. Currently, I have the privilege to train a team of Millennials, whom have never been Project Managers. I appreciate their anxiousness to learn. Below is what I have imparted on them, not only as a starting point, but also for performance evaluation.

• Meet Deadlines
• Raise flags when any element is jeopardizing the timeline
• Be pro-active on approaching deadlines (internal and external)

The first two bullets seem obvious, but to a new Project Manager, not so much. They bear full emphasis on their key responsibilities.

The third bullet requires the most attention. Without it, inexperienced PMs will wait for the responsible party to fulfill their duties on-time. This is a major process fail point, with potential, and substantial, penalties.

Here is one more piece of wisdom to impart on a new, or experience PM for that matter, that coincides with the third bullet. An acronym that should be a poster on every Project Managers wall.

P - Push

U - Until

S - Something

H - Happens

Ensure your Project Managers lead the schedule and connect with each area on the project, before the deadline!

If Project Managers follow these basic guidelines, the projects' success is assured.

FOCUS

Are you inundated with communication? Emails, IMs, meetings, and if it still exists, phone calls. On any given day, I receive 30 emails an hour, averaging 1 every two minutes, a meeting every hour, sometimes every half hour and lately every 15 minutes, lastly a constant flow of IMs. I’m exhausted just writing about it. Maybe your day is not as bad, but I bet it can still be filled with over communication.

This blog post compliments my tagline, "People plus Process plus Technology." All three elements must blend to be successful at anything, manager, project management, educator, builder, everything. We must learn to balance them. I put the elements in order of importance, so don’t let today’s communication technology override the most important element - People.

Here are few of my communication rules:

• Emails – all cc’s do not require my response and may not even get read
• IMs – you really need a response now or used for multi-tasking (listening in a meeting, but not participating)
• I may, or may not, answer based on my role above
• Meetings (Skype or live) – require an agenda to determine priority and/or attendance
• Phone – if someone calls me, it is definitely a priority (and a preference)

Roll all these communication rules into one theme – FOCUS

Only a Super Human can satisfy every communication received, during the day.

Now, a message to management – consolidate information.

• Plan to send out your communication once a day, at a regular time would be best,  every morning or end of day even better to cover routine items, like process
• Advise your reports to prioritize their communications
• Assign specific areas of expertise to qualified associate(s) to reduce irrelevant communications to everyone (focus your team)

In the long term, productivity will increase. I promise.

Management's Role and The Dreaded Performance Review

Management’s Role

In an earlier blog, I described the traits of supporting and non-supporting managers. Today’s blog repeats some of those supporting manager traits and augments them to further define management’s role in providing their reporting associates the necessities to succeed.

• Disseminate company goals and objectives
• Provide the tools to execute above
• Mentor for growth
• Enforce training:
• Basic – business writing, presentation skills, communication, process. as needed
• Advanced – career specific education
• Exemplify and subject associate accountability
• Motivate

The Dreaded Annual Performance Review

Everyone dreads writing evaluations, including your self-evaluation. Unfortunately, it is a requirement by most companies. The goal is to provide performance feedback and a guide for future improvement per the bullets listed above. But we all know from a company perspective, it’s to satisfy HR’s legal reasons in order to promote or dismiss an employee. From an associates’ perspective, they just want to know if they’re going to get a raise and how much.

Performance reviews necessity is not under debate, in the blog post. It is more about what the review contains. Typically, reviews solely describe accomplishments related to associate's job description/responsibilities and/or level of competence. If we interject the Manager’s roles listed, I believe they should contain the associates’ strengths and capabilities, not just related to their job description, but to any area that can benefit the company. People possess variegated skills that include their current function, but many people can provide far more. A good manager will observe, obtain, discuss these additional skills and provide an avenue for the associate to exploit them. It is possible for these discovered existing associate attributes can be used in their current position or promoted to a new position. The associate gains the most valued trait – recognition, and eventually growth. The company wins by subscribing to my mantra, "if the associate grows, the company grows."

Now let’s talk about money. How do you determine the appropriate pay increase? Managers receive their allowable associate awards in two manners: 1) department lump sum to be distributed as the manager sees fit; 2) a percent allocated across all associates. Recently, the later has been between one and three percent. I don’t believe in a 1% raise. A 1% raise is gratuitous. Even 3% is an insult to a high performing associate.

My review approach – if an associate is preforming their job according to their job description, they are paid their standard wage. They have not increased their net worth to the company by just performing their established job responsibilities. Therefore, I see no purpose to increase they wage (the only exception is in a high inflationary economy, so they at least break even to the cost of living (I’m not cruel)). Now, take the complacent associate’s or associates’ allocated increase (say 1%) and add it to a high performer’s increase (4% or more). A high performer is someone going above and beyond their job description and performing the newly revealed additional skill sets. This tactic provides motivation to both the standard performer as an incentive to show more initiative and the exceptional performer, by being rewarded and encouraged to continue at a higher level.

Hopefully, this blog post will provide some direction for manager’s roles and where everybody gains a more relevant performance review.

2019 The Year of Humanity

During my Holiday time, I caught up on some reading and spent time with family and friends. These two events of reading and visits one theme, which my last two blogs covered, was prevalent – humanity. Not once did I read or hear the words "disruptive" or "game-changer." Yet I saw several television commercials using these words. If people don’t really talk this way, why are they so common in the workplace and marketing? As readers of my blog know, buzzwords are one of my pet peeves. 

Truthfully, if I hear the words "game-changer" one more time, I will throw up. "Disruptive" on the other hand, is a very accurate definition of 21st Century marketing. I find all marketing disruptive, from the constant borage of spam emails and social media ‘sponsored" ads in the post feeds. Regarding television, thank God for DVR, the mute button, Amazon Video and Netflix. My ADD rarely lets me finish a broadcast show, as the last 15 minutes of the show are more commercials than content.

If you’re still reading this post, I admit, buzzwords have existed in all decades and generations, probably for millennia. We just have more media channels to inundate our receptors. Thank the Lord we don’t talk to each other personally or in the workplace with colleagues using them.

Let’s make 2019 about people wherever you interact, with humanity, and not let the business world dictate your vocabulary.

Happy New Year,

Jack

People - Part II

People - Part II

As my head spins about all the productivity and measurement programs available to all organizations, listed below, there is one element required in all of them - People.

• Lean
• Kaizen
• Six Sigma
• ISO
• Scrum
• Agile
• Waterfall
• KPI
• Plethora of smaller metric tools

I have worked with startups, small and medium size businesses (SME), and large corporate internal departments and not one of them can exist, improve, or grow without people. Yes, you can use software to measure productivity, output, KPIs, etc., but a person needs to interpret and make business decisions based on the data.

True confession; I love the show The Profit. Marcus Lemonis displays personal strengths and weakness in helping businesses survive, aka humanity. Spoiler Alert: here is the theme prevalent in most episodes - weak and/or change resistant leadership, lack of basic business financial acumen, and most importantly, people skills.

The purpose of this blog post is to repeat my personal business axiom, "If the people grow, the company will grow." Invest in your people, which can be as simple as listening to them. You may not need any of the programs listed above.

It's All About People

The title of my website displays the convergence of People, Process and Technology, but nothing can occur without people.

Process and technology cannot function separate from people. People write and follow the process. People write and execute code. People communicate with people to achieve a goal. Teams cannot exist without people. Customers are comprised of people, whether internal or external of the organization. People are the key to any successful project. 

People skills should be the highest valued acumen, in any successful organization.

Leadership’s Role in Lateral Conflict

There is always a vertical manager hierarchy in every organization. Some companies this hierarchy is short, others can be quite layered. When it comes to problem solving protocol, there are typically rules to follow. One well known rule is you never leap frog your direct reporting manager. This is proven political and career ending suicide. I want to address a lessor known, or possibly not practiced, management protocol regarding lateral conflict resolution.

When conflict arises between intradepartmental team members, it’s leaderships’ role to resolve it, while retaining the team member’s relationship.

Here are the steps that have worked in my experiences:

1. One or both of the conflicting team members contacts their direct manager and explains the situation
2. The direct manager contacts the non-direct member’s manager
3. The two, or more, managers involved in the situation discuss resolution, independent of the team members (this does not exclude input from the team member)
4. These managers explain the resolution to their direct reports

The benefit from this conflict resolution approach preserves the day-to-day working relationship of the team members.

This protocol can be effective at any level of management. I would hope the higher up the leadership chain the conflict rises, the quicker the solution, based on all the factors contributing to this level’s position. Too often, conflict resolution is restricted to the team member and reporting manager. This eliminates the other parties involved in the conflict and reduces resolution success, at least in the long term.

Is it real or is it Rhetoric?

Companies love buzzwords. Every industry has them and many are common between them. What is their etymology? Is it generational? What is the purpose?

I’ve been involved with companies where buzzwords we literally comical. In a roundtable meeting with "C" level executives, the CEO would laugh at you, if you used a buzzword in your update. He even created on-the-rock glasses with the current buzzwords printed on them. Other companies have distributed posters to incentivize associates to be "team players" or "innovative."

The real question is "Why do buzzword exist?" In the case of motivation, are the effective? I have an answer, "It depends." I purport the axiom, "Put your money where your mouth is." Take the word "game-changer" or "disruptor" if the company takes an associate’s suggestion and implements it, then it’s real. Take the word "empower". This buzzword has been around for decades. If an associate takes an initiative and gets reprimanded, then it’s rhetoric.

Personally, I prefer quotations over buzzwords. The quote doesn’t need to be from a famous person, and least of all, from an actor. As long as it is positive, truthful, and/or inspires action, I like it. I’ll share two I came across in preparing for this blog.

There are only three measurements that tell you nearly everything you need to know about your organization’s overall performance: employee engagement, customer satisfaction, and cash flow.

Jack Welch

Always treat your employees exactly as you want them to treat your best customers.

Stephen R. Covey

How many companies adhere to these words of wisdom? Only the successful ones!

If you’re up for some more buzzword fun, here are two links I enjoyed researching this subject.

Business buzzwords to watch in 2018

List of Buzzwords from Wikipedia

The Perfect Team

There are many articles on Millennials in the workforce, with some comparing them to Baby Boomers.  To be fair, I read these articles as generalization. People must be viewed for their individual merits, experience, education, most of all, skill sets and company/position fit.

So, what does this have to do with teams? It might be obvious - diversity. Currently, I’m using my decades of project management experience, including managing project managers, from multiple industries, to online banking software. I am teamed with a Millennial. When our team was first formed we were literally inverse ages. Our diversity does not stop with age, we are different ethnicities and gender.

The Perfect Team - Millennial and Baby Boomer. We work extremely well together, which like any team, is based on respect. One of the main differences is our problem solving approach. Having different approaches, which at times is exhausting, augments a collaborative environment providing a sound solution. Our collaboration does not stop with problem solving, but extends to process, customer focus, all facets related to our responsibilities.

This blog post is specific to our skill sets, but I hope to illustrate how diversity can benefit any company, by blending Millennials with Baby Boomers.

Long Distance Presentations

In today's world, people travel less and present more using Skype or similar tools to conduct presentations over the internet. I recently did a Presentation on Presenting to a group of new staff members. Here is the outline of that presentation.

Skype Presentation Training

PowerPoint Suggestions

• All type the same font – no more than two; can include italic and bold
• Headlines and subheads – consistent location, size and color
• All type off black – projected on a large screen, the contrast is too stark if full black
• Standardize the format and color scheme – see previous bullets
• Animate by presentation points – if you don’t your audience will always read ahead of you
• Avoid transitions – if used, use only one style
• Use your “arrow” keys, not your mouse. It’s quieter
• Include an opening and closing slide
• First Slide – Company Name you are presenting and date
• Last side – “Thank You” 
• Customize to your audience

Presenting Guidelines

• First Rule – Be yourself
• Be prepared – practice speaking aloud – go in an empty room
• Record and listen to yourself
• Mock presentation with feedback from coworkers
• Be set up early
• Show confidence – even if you’re not
• Don’t be afraid to laugh or goof up – correct yourself and move on
• Have a glass of water available
• Have Pencil and Paper for questions available
• Be conscious of repetitive speech - aaa, you know, um, and the word “like” (if you’re from the 1990’s)
• If you smile while giving the presentation, it will show in your voice
• Know you represent your company and the product
• Pace yourself, i.e. not too fast or too slow – Stay in allocated time
• Explain you will allow interruptions or pause for questions at given time or the end
• Don’t read the bullets verbatim, unless it’s succinct
• By using click animations, the audience will read it
• Avoid long paragraphs, unless you explain why or break it down into multiple slides
• Use a script – but don’t sound like your reading

How to Handle Dead Air – The audience may be gathering and the phone is live

• Telling jokes is very risky – avoid
• Know a little about the audience – location, recent news, traffic
• Weather always works

Overqualified Supplemental

How Do You Communicate?

With all the technology to communicate, email, text, chat, phone (landline or cell), what is the best tool?

I had a rule, when I was in corporate America, after three consistent emails back and forth, I picked up the phone and called the person. After two consistent phone calls , I’d show up in their office. Of course, this was before text and chat. Now, the rule would still apply. Just include text and chat with email.

It seems we have become to dependent on texting. Sometimes I think to avoid face-to-face communication. Don’t get me wrong, I think texting is a good thing (as long as you’re not driving). It can be less intrusive, like email, allowing the recipient to respond on their own time or get a quick answer to an immediate need.

A colleague of mine told me he sends an email and then calls the person. He’s in sales and informed me people have a harder time saying no over the phone. The concept is valid in all communications. Working with someone in their presence has its own dynamics - facial expressions, tone of voice, body language, etc. I think these are positive traits, whether the conversation is positive or negative, typically some result is accomplished.

If we all could adopt a similar policy to communications, as mentioned above, I believe humanity in the workplace can be augmented or even restored if lost. Life is all about relationships.

Work/LIfe Balance

You can't help but to have heard this term before. The tech industry is showing both sides of this cultural spectrum, with Netflix offering unlimited maternity time-off for both the mother and father on one side and Amazon pushing their associates to their limits on the other. Work-Live-Play complexes are sprouting up everywhere.

The operative word here is "balance". Managing a company strictly by data eliminates humanity. Too much flexibility and productivity can suffer. Every humans' needs are different. As I have mentioned in a previous blog, management is responsible to learn what motivates their associates. So how do you create the perfect balance, when no two people are the same?

The basic factors:

• Data - In business you must have measurements, financial and productivity
• Competition - I believe that a certain level of competition is healthy among associates, as well as "constructive" conflict. This country was founded on free enterprise and has thrived on competition
• Family or social life outside of work
• Health - Physical, mental and financial

What's the magic formula for work/life balance? I don't think anyone has developed it, nor do I believe it exists. How can it exist, with so many factors? If I took the time to dig very deep, I could probably write a Doctorial treatise on the subject. This would take years of research on a constantly changing target, as society evolves and companies come and go. Not only are no two people the same; no two companies are the same.

The question that needs to be asked, when choosing a company culture, is, "How much does the company own you." You can state what a miserable workplace exists at Amazon, but they were just rated the most valuable retail company over Walmart. That doesn't mean you should work there. As a company, you may decide your most valuable assets, hopefully after your customers, are your associates.

Companies will continue to push associates. Associates will continue to push back. This is how change works.

Does Your Manager Help or Hinder You?

Over the past month, I’ve been contacted by two individuals complaining about their direct supervisor hindering their work. In one case, to the point of seemingly sabotaging them. Let me include, these are high level positions with C-Level managers. During this time period, I have received two articles on workplace antics, that validate this situation is more prevalent than most realize.

Company cultures are rapidly changing, as the economy improves and hiring is on an upswing. Qualified leaders will be required for success.

Here’s a litmus test to answer the headline question:

Traits of a supportive manager.

• Freedom to perform your duties
• Open to new suggestions for improvement
• Communicates on timely matters
• Gives you the tools you need to succeed
• Gives clear direction

Traits of a non-supportive manager (besides the obvious reversal of the above bullets).

• Critical of your performance without some form of validation
• Interferes or overrides your decisions (applicable to your responsibilities)
• Clearly undermines your tasks
• Evasive or aloof

Consulting on this matter is precarious for me. I end up asking more questions regarding the company culture, than directly applying any advice. Here are my thoughts:

• Job descriptions are becoming more defined with technology maturation. Be sure to understand your deliverables. This applies to an interviewee or a current associate.
• Know your net worth to the company. What would happen if you were not there? Be careful in this review, as everyone can be replaced. Be honest in your assessment.
• What is your impact of error on the company?
• Can you detect a company culture shift? Good or bad? Does it give you hope or is it time to move on?
• Is your performance accurately represented in your reviews?
• If you do not have written reviews, start/demand them immediately.
• Can you compare your performance to others in the company? Again, be careful, stick to performance not personalities.

In conclusion, mentors, inside or outside the company, will help you air your thoughts. Stay informed of your industry trends. Read blogs and articles on this subject to stay current, as times change faster than ever.

Start the New Year with Knowledge

In a recent conversation with a couple line associates, it came to my attention that many managers have no experience managing people. I commented about education and thought maybe they don’t teach management in college. The response I received was “they do in business school.”

Personally, I don’t have a business degree, but my very first college class was management. I have been managing people my entire career. One possibility is the proliferation of MBA graduates has caused the mindset you must have this degree to be a manager. Let me tell you here and now, managers exist in all industries! And most don’t have business degrees. Unfortunately, with or without a business degree there are many bad managers. I firmly believe management of people is an innate skill, either you have it or you don’t. People with marginal people skills can be coached. There is no dearth of management training books, seminars, or courses? 

So why are there so many poor managers? There is a plethora of answers and I can not begin to cover them all. Here are just a few I’ve learned while consulting:

• Haphazardly promoted into management, because the associate was good in their previous position (Peter Principle, of course many managers didn’t learn it)
• Education credentials in their expertise, but without people skills
• Sychophants
• Great sales people
• Age discrimination - the company wanted young managers
• Nepotism or favortism

How can this situation improve, as it is detrimental to productivity, company culture health and creates higher associate turnover? 

• Like the 12 step program, the higher level managers must recognize the problem. To do this they must have an open-door policy or mechanism to hear from the lower ranks. The 360 program is a good tool for this.
• Upper level management must be in touch with operations and human resources
• Provide management training and feedback
• Be bold enough to make manager changes
• When hiring, look for management courses, experience or people skills on the résumé
• Recognize people management skills can come from any industry

If you’re a job seeker or looking to grow in your career, look for ways to develop your management skills. I learned many of my techniques from excellent senior managers. I picked what I saw was effective and ineffective ways to motivate people. The most effective tool, I’ve experienced, is a mentor. A mentor does not have to be within your company. Stay in touch with your mentor frequently to review observed and your own people management techniques.

Start the year off with new skills and knowledge.

Fact of Life

While posting a comment on a website, I realized my statements were applicable beyond that articles subject matter. Later the same day, I had several conversations were this "fact of life" was revealed again. Enough waiting.

Fact of Life: No matter how old you are, what job you have, where you are in life, there will always be good and bad people. How you react defines you.