Tag Archive for reflections

| April 30, 2013
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Toughest Leadership Situation For Me Was…

I was with some friends the other day and one of them asked, “what was the toughest situation you faced as a manager in your 20+ years of leading your work teams?”  Talk about putting you on the spot, without any notice to prepare for answering that question. After taking a few moments to think back, the toughest moment came to me quickly and really clear. There are situations that you remember both quickly and clearly because they left an impression, either good or bad.

I need to set the stage a bit. In any work environment, you have cycles of good, great and bad times. This particular situation happened during the companies down cycles. Basically, the company was redeploying employees. Redeployment means that one group is having to downsize the total number of employees and hopefully another group can use that skill set and employee for their needs. In theory, it sounds like a good idea. There have been some employees that have done well in redeployment. Most of the time, the employees just don’t find another group that can use their skill set. Having to leave the company! With the statistics the way they are most employees would rather chose to separate from the company, rather than try their luck at redeployment. In my career, as a manager, I have administered (and have happened to me) three cycles of identification of employees for redeployment. Three times having to downsize (or eliminate) my team.

I will be honest with you, every one of these situations had tough moments in them. You are dealing with people! I have always tried my best to be an outstanding manager and leader for my teams. Relationships were built with each employee. I felt that my teams have always performed well in their given area. Those teams have stepped up and delivered some amazing results. Getting back to the question… The toughest situation was the second time that I went through the redeployment process.

Why the second time was tougher than the first (or third)?

  • In most organizations, there is always a level of “fat” built-in after the company has been in a growth (and great financial results). Downsizing was required and we all knew that it was best for the organization. Standing up and presenting to the team, was tough because we were going to lose some team member(s). The who was the white elephant in the room. Processes were followed to identify those that did not have the skill sets that were necessary to move forward. When the redeployment hit the second time, well, now we knew we were going to have to make big changes, both in workload and what we had to do to accomplish our work.
  • The first time, was all new to everyone. When I presented out the process of redeployment, many folks thought this was a good thing, as it would give potential opportunity to folks that wanted to do something different. In theory, the process look and sounded good. When the second time (one year later) hit, we all witnessed the actually reality of the redeployment process. Less than 50% of the folks that attempted to find work in a different group were successful. The theory was replaced with real data…
  • The third time through the process and I hate to even say it, I had become numb to the complete process. Numb! While I was going through the process with my teams, I was having it happen to me as well. I got to “feel” and experience it 2x.
  • The second time was the toughest!
    • I was actually having to tell some pretty awesome employees that they were being selected for redeployment. I lost sleep the nights before each discussion. I was being asked to make a radical change to the team and how we were going to accomplish our work moving forward. I had to put on a positive exterior when inside I was hurting.
    • I had built a very strong team. They all stepped up after the first redeployment and made the team even better. We were actually doing more with less. We were an example to all of the teams. We were going to stop doing some work, shift our focus and basically going to tell our internal customers that we will not be doing much of what they needed. Customer service was not a focus. It was all about cost and nothing else. If the company wanted to downsize, then everyone needed to feel the pain. You can not expect customer service focused individuals to not care about customer service. My job was going to get really tough. I was going to be put in the middle and the challenges were going to be huge.

What do you do? As their leader, you have to make sure that you are being providing your team with the right level of balance. Make sure to communicate everything. Make sure that when you are speaking you are being yourself. Tell them everything! For me, I was always upfront with what is happening. I made sure to tell them that  the only thing they can control now, is the work on their desk. I know times are scary, but we still have our jobs to do. I put on the company hat as needed. We all will take time to react to what is being communicated to us, just make that time moments and keep the focus on what we control. It was the toughest situation I faced in all of my 20+ years. As a leader, it is about your people and having them do some amazing results… We all knew that people and the work at this particular point in time, was not the focus. So, I tried to make sure that my focus was with the people and their amazing results. It was the only thing, that we could feel good about!

Category: Leadership, New To Management | Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
| April 25, 2013
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Navigating the Personal Insurance Maze

For the past month or so, I have been working on getting personal health insurance. Where do you start? A simple Google Search on health insurance Arizona just gives you way too much information. Narrowing the search down, really did not help much either. What I found were broker houses and the insurance companies directly. Which approach is best? There are lots of questions and the answers to those are sometimes hard to find. I want to share my experience…

I am not one to just pick something and go with it from the start. I like to research, read reviews and even posted some Twitter questions to my followers. Lastly, I reached out to the 3 doctors that I could not be without. Getting help from as many folks as possible. So, all of my initial discussions narrowed down to 3 particular insurance companies (United Healthcare, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Az and Cigna).

Time to go shopping on-line. I pulled up their sites and their information on what insurance plans they offer, what cost per month is and how usable their website was. Taking a straight cost approach, Cigna was significantly higher per month than the others. Not even close.

So, I went the route of going through the process with both BCBSAZ and United Healthcare. The costs were pretty much the same for their plans – one was cheaper but the deductible was a little higher. A wash in my mind. I filled out the  on-line forms. Plenty of additional information on you health status is needed. So, if you have had surgeries or other healthcare throughout the years, keep records. Makes filling out the forms much easier.

After a few weeks, I got an answer from each of them. Since I have had some surgeries, 2 full hip replacements, knee cleaned out and some minor other items, I was told that my premiums were going to have to be increased to cover what they felt were risks. Here is where you don’t realize how different the process is. I found out from one of the reps, that by law the raising of the premiums can be 15 – 80%. One company came in with a 22% increase and the other was 80%. Same information provided, much different result. My initial reaction to the 22% was no way – that is crazy. When the 80% came in, I almost fell over.

I have always felt that health insurance (or insurance in general) is a necessary evil that really is black magic. Now that I am my own employer, I see the black magic up close and personal. I don’t want to debate healthcare reform that many refer to as Obama-care. We all as consumers know that something needs to be done to fix a broken healthcare system. Just look at the example of trying to purchase a premium. That is screwed up. Add the other many well documented issues from patients. Talk to your doctors about their experiences with the healthcare insurance companies. Something needs to be done!

For those that asked me to share my experience – here you go! I hope in the years to come, we actually fix healthcare.

 

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Category: Observations | Tags: , , ,
| April 23, 2013
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Is NHL Hockey Leaving Arizona?

The Phoenix Coyotes have been owned by the NHL league for about 3 years… We have had 2 failed attempts of new ownership during the past 2 playoff seasons. Are the Coyotes leaving? I am afraid if I don’t get the last game, then I will not see another NHL game here in Arizona.

Is a team really necessary? Since I am a die hard hockey fan, I would immediately say, “hell, yes!” Let’s look at it a different way, we are one in the top 10 in largest cities in the US. We currently have all 4 major league sports teams. Just makes sense…

Why so much struggles?

  • Good intentions that have gone terribly wrong. Needed a new arena to actually see games. Got that, drawback it is in Glendale. Making it out to games on weeknights is tough, makes the actually getting back to my place around 11pm. I am okay with getting up the next morning, but if you bring your family… The kids and school are a difficult chore.
  • Team ownership was in Real Estate. We all know what happened in that space. Our home values are still recovering. Lost that owner, NHL steps in and keeps the team running on a budget. The team performs well, and the past 2 years we had potential owners come forth.
  • 2 Owners step up and leave… What are the real reasons as to why those owners left? I don’t know exactly, but a simple view of everything shows that City of Glendale, The Goldwater Institute and NHL are not ever going to workout a good deal. City of Glendale is under new leadership that frankly is not in favor of being a “sports” city. Everything they want, is in favor of improving a very bad deal that the city is under. The Goldwater Institute likes to think of themselves as the watchdogs for the people… Not sure what they actually do! Don’t really care, they don’t represent “the people” as much as they do “themselves.” Can someone enlighten me on what that group does, really? The NHL wants a team to stay in Phoenix in words but their actions don’t quite match. All three parties are not really working together for the best possible outcome. They each have their agenda’s and they are sticking to them.
  • Players want to play! We have been very fortunate that our players have done well, despite the overall team ownership and future is concerned. Last season we were just a bad no call away from going to the Stanley Cup. The city was on fire… The players played well. This season, we get a lockout shorten season. I think the worries of the teams future is on everyone’s mind.

Will we have a NHL team next season? I doubt it! I don’t see anyway that the NHL can and will sponsor the team after this season. They will have to entertain all of the ownership options that include which cities the team will move to. I hate to say it… I will miss the team and many of the players that have been more than open with the fans. Phoenix will be losing their last sports city fine representative in Shane Doan.

I have a solution.. New owner from Phoenix, that will move the team to a central location for all of the metro Phoenix fans to enjoy the games. One can only dream.

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Category: Hockey | Tags: , , , ,
| April 10, 2013
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Incentive Programs Working or Not?

Copyright (c) 123RF Stock PhotosWith experience or being around a long time, you get to see lots of programs come and go. One of those programs that seem to change frequently are incentive programs. Wikipedia puts, “an incentive program as a formal scheme used to promote or encourage specific actions or behavior by a specific group of people during a defined period of time. Incentive programs are particularly used in business management to motivate employees, and in sales to attract and retain customers.” Can you think of some? I know quite a few (well, lots). It is one of those tools to help the organization to instill a continuous improvement in performance. Think back on those programs, did they work? How did they make you feel?

When I look over the many incentive programs that I have experience with there are some common themes of those that have been successful.

  • The incentive program was well thought out. Answering the questions of what behavior are we going to reward. That behavior has to be above the expectation of all employees. Going after the top of the class. Hopefully inspiring others to what to reach the top.
  • The program awarded past performance.  The program has a timeframe that is long enough to help develop a better picture of a sustained performance.
  • The reward is timely, specific and impactful.  What is the award that is given? Debate around money, plaques, pat on the back and public recognition need to be considered before implementation. Setting the award will be critical in how well the program is received by the employees.

Let’s face it, this is a touchy area that managers have to navigate carefully. I have seen many a program start off with the best intentions, but fail shortly after implementation. Why? The list is long. The critical ones that pop up quickly are the incentive program is not focused on top performance. Many programs are focused on getting “all” to do what their expectations are normally (attendance). Some programs are set up that the employees can work the system to be eligible for. This has a huge effect on the employee base, as they will “see” the gaming going on and the program could demotivate many folks. Lastly, the award has to be meaningful. Some expects say that money should not be a motivator, that just the recognition should be enough.

Over the last couple of years, I am seeing some new incentive programs that will be interesting to see how well they will work. Those are the incentive programs for lowering health insurance costs. Those particular incentives to be healthy. Helping add money to the flex spending accounts for employees that are not overweight. For employees that attend health seminars or complete a company sponsored information session. There are many examples. With the raising cost of health care, these incentive programs are popping up everywhere. Is it too early to tell if they are working? Are they fair? Time will tell.. I know for me, I got healthier by increasing my exercise and diet, so that I could get some additional funds to help offset my health care costs.

Do you think incentive programs work? As a manager, I know I spent more time dealing with the incentive program than maybe the organization planned. Please share the good, bad and ugly…

Image courtesy of: Copyright (c) 123RF Stock Photos

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Category: Leadership, New To Management, Observations | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
| April 3, 2013
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Long-term Volunteering 411

I have been doing a lot of thinking about my volunteering and how to make sure that I get the most out of my opportunities. I shared, in my last post, about making sure that you do your homework about getting into a volunteer opportunity. That post was for the more event-driven volunteering. Those items that are really short-term. I got a call from a friend that was asking me more about the longer term volunteering. I really did not have an answer to the question off the top of my head. In the spirit of getting to learn more and sharing those experiences with my readers.. Here we go – long-term volunteering!

Long term volunteering is really those opportunities that you get to work with an organization to help out beyond an event activity. Some people volunteer on boards of organizations, others help out with training or just want to come into the organizations workplace and help out doing whatever is needed. The fact is, these opportunities are always available, but organizations are seeing that those volunteer numbers are going down, significantly. I asked those folks that I volunteer with and they said recruiting long-term volunteers is harder than ever before. I guess it does not take too much to see that in olden days, back in the 50′s and 60′s, many adults dedicated their lives to volunteering. They were able to be home with the family, but had time to spend helping out. Today, most families are two incomes and there is little time to volunteer for a longer period of time. I definitely can use my example here. I was working full-time, helping raise my family, involved in my kids sports and just could not spare any time left to volunteer differently from the occasional event. Now that I have semi-retired, I have more time and have been working with 2 different organizations for almost two years. Simple fact, the baby boomers (and the everyone else) is getting older. The baby boomers have over represented themselves in volunteer opportunities for 30 years. Long term volunteering has suffered lower enrollment for quite some time, it may never get back to the good old days.

What can be done to help organizations improve longer term volunteering?

  • Organizations can definitely improve their overall recruiting, training and use of volunteers. My experiences with this subject, highlight that many organizations are not setting up these engagements for success. They do a great job of communicating the passion and what is needed, just don’t show that same level of passion for making (it) happen. I was asked to help develop training material for one organization to improve the productivity of their employee base. I was excited! Jumped in and started working on it. Developed and ready to go. Six months later, I am still ready to go. Start, stop, pause and start again is frustrating. Making the experience positive for the volunteer is no different from what the organization should do for their paid employees.
  • Organizations should break the long-term volunteer opportunity into shorter engagements. It maybe easier for someone to sign up to six months than forever. I did an engagement based project for one organization that was supposed to be two months (was four months ). Any long-term volunteer opportunity could be looked at and broken down into more manageable pieces. Looking at some of the stuff that I am working on now – I have a sales cycle, relationship building cycle, and admin throughout. Breaking that up, could add additional volunteers that can focus on each cycle. Potentially  improving their number of volunteers and the overall effectiveness.
  • Organizations need to take advantage of the 24×7 mindset. If you want volunteers, you may have to be open to having them on “their” time. Having them work within “your” business hours, maybe too difficult for most working adults. Technology has improved accessibility to information. Make your information accessible to your volunteers. Set those volunteers up with the necessary access.
  • Organizations are going to have to get creative with their volunteers. Baby boomers are getting older – they are the ones with the overall experiences of being there, done that. Those entering the workplace today, are demonstrating that volunteering is going to be something that they want to do. They only lack the experience. So, setting up volunteer opportunities in a team will help everyone. For me, I really enjoy teaching and sharing my knowledge with others. So, if I get to work with someone who is new and has a passion for what we are doing… I can get an extra dose of fulfillment – getting the job done, helping the organization and helping someone learn.
  • Organizations need to insure that they are staffing properly. The org needs to insure that they are not burning out their volunteers. Insuring that they have enough volunteers to cover the task(s) at hand.
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