#7 … Top Posts from 2015 — 37 Barriers to Change

February 11, 2016March 3, 2016 / Justin Irving / Leave a comment

Photo Credit: Barrier 4 – Love Wins, by hji, Flickr

In a previous post I shared some observations on my top blogs posts from 2015. In the coming weeks I will be taking time both to share new content and to share some of the top viewed posts from the past year.

The #7 post from 2015 was …

37 Barriers to Change

Change is an unavoidable reality in organizational life. Like death and taxes, change is part of life whether we like it or not. As a normal part of life in organizations, leaders must understand well but common barriers to change and how to effectively negotiate these barriers.

Continuity & Change

One of the key thought leaders on managerial theory in the 20th century was Peter Drucker. Peter Drucker regularly emphasized the importance balancing continuity and change in thriving organizations.

Organizational leaders have the responsibility of guiding their organizations in such a way that communities both benefit from time-tested practice (continuity) as well as creativity and innovation (change).

Facing Barriers to Change

Because change is a reality leaders must engage, it is vital that leaders understand not only their goals in a change process, but also the forces that are working against change.

In this top post from 2015, I present 37 barriers to change that leaders regularly face. Take some time to familiarize yourself with these key barriers.

Here’s a link to the Purpose in Leadership #7 post from 2015:

37 Barriers to Change

Authentic Collaboration — Avoiding Collaboration Overload

February 8, 2016January 10, 2016 / Justin Irving / 1 Comment

Photo Credit: collaboration, by Jennifer Leonard, Flickr

I’m a fan of teamwork. Team leadership was an area of focus for me in my Ph.D. dissertation research entitled Servant Leadership and Team Effectiveness. See some of my positive affirmations of teams in the following posts:

While teams have many benefits, there are challenges associated with teams as well. See a previous post in which I highlight and discuss the following 6 Challenges of Teams (subtitle…Removing the “I’s” from Your Team):

Ingrown
Indecision
Inaction
Inefficiency
Inequity
Inconsideration

Collaborative Overload

In a recent HBR article, Cross, Rebele, and Grant take up another important challenge in an article entitled “Collaborative Overload: Too Much Teamwork Exhausts Employees and Saps Productivity.”

In their article they provide several important cautions surrounding team member exhaustion, and in so doing remind us to not overload on a good thing. The core of the identified problem in the article is expressed in the following manner:

“Although the benefits of collaboration are well documented, the costs often go unrecognized. When demands for collaboration run too high or aren’t spread evenly through the organization, workflow bottlenecks and employee burnout result.”

Cross, Rebele, and Grant go on to recommend solutions to this problem that are focused on better managing collaboration through efficient organizational and team practices. This is good advice.

Authentic Collaboration

As I engaged their work, I also began to think of another solution that I’ll label “Authentic Collaboration.”

From my experience with teams, groups, and committees, the problem is not too much collaboration, but rather too much of the wrong type of collaboration. Let me explain.

When participants in a collaborative process are playing a role on the team, group, or committee that is authentic and meaningful, this type of collaboration tends to be energizing. When participation is inauthentic and merely procedural, this type of collaboration tends to be energy draining and feel like wasted time.

Meaningful Participation

Often from positive motivations, leaders and administrators tend to draw people into a collaborative experience because these leaders and administrators need a representative from diverse divisions or interests in their organizations.

When this practice is about wanting to authentically hear voices from these unique perspectives, this can lead to meaningful and authentic collaboration. However, when this practice is simply about wanting to placate an organizational perspective or voice, and the voice at the table is not authentically desired by leadership, this can lead to unproductive and inauthentic collaboration.

Again, I would argue collaboration is not the problem, but rather the wrong type of collaboration. When people are invited to the table of collaboration, the invitation needs to be authentic. Help people to be good stewards of their time by facilitating meaningful participation for all involved on the team, group, or committee.

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What has been your experience with collaboration? What problems and challenges have you faced? How have you engaged these problems and found meaningful solutions? Take a moment to share your experience below.

Leading Emotional Culture in Organizations

February 1, 2016January 9, 2016 / Justin Irving / 2 Comments

Photo Credit: Emotion, by Joe Shlabotnik, Flickr

I’m in a mini-series engaging the importance of organizational culture.

I began by engaging Why Organizational Culture Matters (“Why Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast”). In that post, I engaged the questions…

What Is Organizational Culture? And,
Why Does Organizational Culture Matter?

Based on answers to these questions I concluded that leaders must focus on both smart strategy AND healthy culture in their leadership work.

Next, I presented a case for Engaging the Emotional Side of Organizational Culture, and discussed the following:

Why emotional culture matters for organizations, and
What leaders can do to positive create and shape a healthy emotional culture.

At the end of that post I noted recommendations from Barsade and O’Neill — three key steps in this process:

“Harness what people already feel”
“Model the emotions you want to cultivate”
“Get people to fake it till they feel it”

At this point I want to take some time to provide additional reflections around these points and encourage you regarding how you can positively shape the emotional culture of your team or organization.

Here are reflections on each of these steps.

What Can Leaders Do about It?

“Harness What People Already Feel”

Because organizational members are already experiencing and exhibiting, this also means that many are likely already exhibiting the desired emotional culture. The key from a leadership and managerial perspective is to “catch” these individuals doing the right thing.

On this point, Ken Blanchard argues that one of the most effective managerial practices is to focus on what employees are doing well—catching them doing the right thing. This practice can be applied to nurturing healthy emotional culture. One example from the Barsade and O’Neill article was a “kudos board” used in an ICU hospital unit. It was board used to celebrate how the hospital staff embodied the desired emotional culture in their unit and organization.

“Model the Emotions You Want to Cultivate”

In addition to harnessing what people already feel, leaders and managers modeling the emotions they want to cultivate is also vital. Barsade and O’Neill provide the following managerial example:

“If you regularly walk into a room smiling with high energy, you’re much more likely to create a culture of joy than if you wear a neutral expression. Your employees will smile back and start to mean it.”

“Get People to Fake It Till They Feel It”

Authenticity is important. But it is important to not only express present feelings, but to nurture other positive and healthy feelings that are productive for employees, customers, organizational constituents, and the organization as a whole. I see the authentic way of talking about this is around the language of aspirational emotional culture.

It is okay to recognize the gap between where individuals are presently and intentionally or strategically working toward the aspirational reality. Both spontaneous and strategic emotional expression is meaningful and valuable.

In many ways, this is what emotional intelligence is all about—the appraisal and expression of emotion. Emotional intelligence begins with recognizing what is happening at the emotional level in ourselves and others, and then responding to and out of these emotions in ways that are healthy and productive.

Social psychologists support the idea that conformity to group emotional expression norms is a common reality in life. Such conformity to emotional norms benefits both the individual and the organization. Based on these realities, Barsade and Olivia O’Neill recommend approaching emotional expression through what they call deep acting. In contrast to surface acting, deep acting may be used in developing long-term solutions: “with this technique, people make a focused effort to feel a certain way, and then suddenly they do.”

Emotional Cultures Do Not Improve
without Focus at All Levels

The above strategies are practical recommendations for how to proactively create and shape a healthy organizational culture in your organization, division, or team. Consistent with the above, it is important to emphasize that no organizational level is exempt from this work—especially top level management and leadership.

On this point, Barsade and O’Neill note:

“Just like other aspects of organizational culture, emotional culture should be supported at all levels of the organization. The role of top management is to drive it. …it’s up to senior leaders to establish which emotions will help the organization thrive, model those emotions, and reward others for doing the same.”

Healthy Emotional Culture and You

As with most leadership endeavors, the best place to start is looking in the mirror and seeing what positive steps you can take to influence others around you. Here are a few questions to trigger your thoughts on this topic:

As you consider the insights on nurturing a healthy emotional culture in your organization, what can you do in the coming days, weeks, and months to make progress on your organization’s emotional culture?
Are there emotions you can express even tomorrow (e.g., nurturing joy through regular smiles)?
Are there systems you can set up that provide opportunity for individuals and organizations to better pay attention to the emotional climate and culture in your organization?

For some, this work will be natural and easy. For others, this will be hard work. In either case, healthy organizational culture includes healthy emotional culture. Take time to prioritize the emotional health of your organization’s culture in the coming days.

Engaging the Emotional Side of Organization Culture

January 25, 2016January 9, 2016 / Justin Irving / 3 Comments

Photo Credit: _Emotions 02, by SeRGioSVox, Flickr

In a recent post I discussed the following theme: Why Organizational Culture Matters. In that post, I engaged the questions…

What Is Organizational Culture? And,
Why Does Organizational Culture Matter?

Based on answers to these questions I concluded that leaders must focus on both smart strategy AND healthy culture in their leadership work.

The Emotional Side of Organizational Culture

Providing an expanded and clarifying conversation on organizational culture, Barsade and O’Neill argue that while emotions are a vital part of the organizational culture this dimension that is often overlooked.

In their HBR article on the topic, they note that, “most leaders focus on how employees think and behave—but feelings matter just as much.”

Barsade and O’Neill provide additional clarity on this point:

“Cognitive culture is undeniably important to an organization’s success. But it’s only part of the story. The other critical part is what we call the group’s emotional culture: the shared affective values, norms, artifacts, and assumptions that govern which emotions people have and express at work and which ones they are better off suppressing.”

Why Is Attention to Emotional Culture Important?

In their article, they note that attending to the emotional culture of an organization involves looking at what motivates employees and learning that which makes organizational members feel excited about their work and feel that the belong to the organization and its mission.

For better or worse, emotions play an important part in the overall organizational culture. The article highlights that positive emotional culture is not just a good idea, but that emotions impact important employee metrics such as retention, work quality, and employee commitment. In short, “you can see the effects [of emotions] on the bottom line.”

What Can Leaders Do about It?

If emotional culture is important, what can leaders and managers do to help positively shape the emotional culture of their organization?

Get a Handle on the Current Emotional Culture

Barsade and O’Neill argue that it begins with simply getting a handle on the existing emotional culture. Whether through employee surveys, employee engagement apps, or other creative means of gathering relevant data, the starting place is understanding the current emotional culture. In such surveys, it may begin with capture basic emotions such as joy, love, anger, fear, and sadness.

Proactively Create and Shape an Emotional Culture

Once the current emotional culture is identified, it’s time to start thinking about how leaders and managers may take the next steps of creating and shaping a healthy emotional culture in the organization.

Barsade and O’Neill present three key steps in this process:

“Harness what people already feel”
“Model the emotions you want to cultivate”
“Get people to fake it till they feel it”

I will stop here at this point. However, more can be noted about these so I will continue to unpack each of these in the coming post in this series next week.

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For now, consider a few questions:

Are you considering the emotional culture of your organization, or are you, as Barsade and O’Neill suggest is the case with many people, only focusing on the cognitive and behavioral dimensions of organizational culture?
What steps can you take to gain perspective on the current state of your organization (or team’s) emotional culture?
What steps can you take to positively shape the culture of your team or organization in future days?

I’ll pick up more with emotional culture next week.

Leading Organizations Fit for People

November 16, 2015 / Justin Irving / 1 Comment

Facescape, by Viewminder, Flickr

Organizations are increasingly utilizing data-based approaches to decision making. These approaches provide helpful insights for organizational leaders aiming to be responsive to their constituents and markets.

Losing Sight of People

Noting this trend from a marketing perspective, the following quote from a recent Harvard Business Review article identifies a hidden danger such approaches:

“As marketers continue their love affair with analytics,
there’s a danger that they’ll lose sight of their customer’s humanity.”

In marketing circles, the “4 P’s” of marketing are often emphasized: Products, Price, Place, & Promotion. In my MBA program, my Marketing Management professor emphasized that those leading in the realm of marketing must not forget about a fifth “P”—People.

Servant Leadership in the Organization

Whether in the realm of marketing or in broader discussions of organizational leadership, such insights are vital. Leaders must remember the priority of people in the work of lead. Leaders must never lose sight of the humanity of their followers, team members, customers, and constituents.

From a servant leadership perspective (Find my blog series on Servant Leadership here), the core of effective leadership involves putting the needs of followers before the self-interest of leaders. But such principles of leader-service are not just about certain leadership roles. It involves looking at the totality of the organization and working hard to keep the focus on people.

Management 2.0

Gary Hamel discusses such principles around the concept of what he calls Management 2.0. At the heart of Management 2.0 is asking the question of whether or not our organizations are fit for human beings.

The industrial revolution brought about significant management strides that contributed to increased levels of organizational performance. But such strides often came with a cost of dehumanizing organizations.

Within the Management 2.0 movement, organizations are again seeing significant change in management that contributes to increased performance. In contrast to previous approaches to management, these recent changes focus on advancing organizational goals while also recognizing and working with people’s humanity. They focus on making organizations that are fit for human beings, not just fit for organizational output.

Principles of Management 2.0

Principles often associated with Management 2.0 often include the following:

Openness
Community
Meritocracy
Activism
Collaboration
Meaning
Autonomy
Serendipity
Decentralization
Experimentation
Speed
Trust

Leading Organizations Fit for People

As you consider the role you play in your organization, how are you using your leadership and management responsibilities to move toward principles that take the humanity of your people seriously? Are you working to help create organizations that are fit for humans?

Perhaps you see other principles that help to nurture this type of culture. I’d love to read your thoughts. Please take a moment to share below.

Taking the Next Step — How to Improve Individuals and Organizations

January 12, 2015January 3, 2016 / Justin Irving / Leave a comment

Photo by Justin Irving; new Vikings Stadium in process.

Photo by Justin A. Irving; new Vikings Stadium in process.

One of my favorite quotes from W. Edwards Deming is “Your system is perfectly designed to give you the results you’re getting.” What a great reminder. And, this helpful reminder raises a key question: What are your results telling you?

Deming is a key figure in operations management and the pursuit of continuous improvement within operational systems. Management theories like Total Quality Management (TQM) and beyond have been significantly shaped by Deming’s key principles. While Deming’s work is primarily designed for macro operational settings, the lessons are helpful for both organizations and individuals. What are your results telling you organizationally? What are your results telling you individually?

Here are a few highlights from Deming I offer for your consideration

Deming’s 14 Key Principles

Deming is known for 14 Key Principles in his approach to management. I will not review all of these here since they get into specific dimensions of organizational operations. However, here are a few high points of these principles from Deming’s book Out of the Crisis.

Prioritizing the Creation of Constancy of Purpose: “Create constancy of purpose toward improvement of product and service, with the aim to become competitive and to stay in business, and to provide jobs.” Improvement at the organizational and individual level does not come by constantly changing focus. Deming’s first point reminds us of the importance of staying the course, remaining focused, and keeping our aims before us. Are you constantly changing your aims, or are you maintaining constancy of purpose and staying focused on what matters most?
Committing to Improve Constantly: “Improve constantly and forever the system of production and service, to improve quality and productivity, and thus constantly decrease costs.” Whether at the organizational or individual level, what problems or challenges exist in the system? If “your system is perfectly designed to give you the results you’re getting,” then what problems need to be addressed and are you asking this question regularly?
Taking Action toward Transformation: “Put everybody in the company to work to accomplish the transformation. The transformation is everybody’s job.” If, as noted above, we have identified the problems holding us back, then it is time for action based on these identified problems. Deming’s final point is a call to action. If at an organizational level, this means focusing everyone’s attention on the problems that need to be addressed and the transformation that is desired. If at an individual level, this translates into prioritizing desired outcomes and shaping our decisions and actions toward this desired transformation.

Deming’s Wheel (P.D.C.A.)

In addition to Deming’s 14 Key Principles, another helpful lesson from Deming’s thinking is Deming’s Wheel. Deming’s Wheel is a four stage process focused on (1) planning, (2) doing, (3) checking, and (4) acting, and helps to simplify core steps along a path of continuous improvement.

Plan: Plan an improvement
Do: Do the activity planned
Check: Check the results of this activity
Act: Act on these results in order to make future improvements

Whether at the organizational or individual level, Deming’s Wheel of Plan – Do – Check – Act provides a memorable model for engaging in continuous improvement. Consider what transformation you desire in your life or in your organization. (1) Make plans for an improvement. (2) Do the planned activity toward this improvement. (3) Check the results of the activity you did. (4) Act/Revise your future planning based on the observed results.

“Your system is perfectly designed to give you the results you’re getting.” What are your results telling you? Perhaps Deming’s approach to continuous improvement will provide you with some practical insights on how to take the next step toward improvement both organizationally and individually. It’s time to Plan – Do – Check – Act.

Where to Look for Better Performance in Your Work

October 29, 2014January 3, 2016 / Justin Irving / Leave a comment

Photo Credit: “Here’s looking at you, kid” – Jaskirat Singh Bawa, Flickr

I read about a unique and interesting study recently. The primary aim of the study was examining the impact of various combinations of employees and customers seeing or not seeing each other while work is performed and how these combinations affect customer satisfaction with the product provided.

An Eye on Cooks and Diners

Researchers Ryan Buell and Tami Kim set up scenarios in a live cafeteria environment:

Scenario One: Cooks and diners not in view of one another
Scenario Two: Diners only could view cooks
Scenario Three: Cooks only could view diners
Scenario Four: Diners and cooks both in view of one another

In each of these scenarios, diners would rate the quality of the food. The key finding in this study was that cooks who could view diners while preparing their customer’s food had the highest food quality ratings.

The Extra Ingredient in the Recipe of Work

Of this finding, Buell notes:

“We’ve learned that seeing the customer can make employees feel more appreciated, more satisfied with their jobs, and more willing to exert effort. It’s important to note that it wasn’t just the perception of quality that improved—the food objectively got better.”

Though not difficult to understand, this is a powerful finding from a unique study.

Who Are You Serving through Your Work

Most readers likely will not identify with the specifics of the cook-diner relationship. But all of us can think about the people we serve through our work, whether we are paid or not. Who are the customers, students, members, friends, family, and colleagues who benefit from our work?

The takeaway is the importance of focusing on these people while we work. And, if at all possible, to create an environment where we can regularly see those we serve through our work.

Keeping Your Eye on Your Customer

If you care about adding value to the lives of your customers—those you serve—find ways to keep these people in mind and in view while you do your work. Buell and Kim’s research suggests that you will perform best and provide the best products and services when you do.

Keep your eyes on the people you serve!

8 Practices of Effective Executives — From Knowledge to Action to Accountability

October 27, 2014November 18, 2016 / Justin Irving / Leave a comment

What makes an effective executive?

Responding to this question, Peter Drucker wrote that great chief executives in history often did not have stereotypical leader charisma or similar personalities, attitudes, values, strengths, or weaknesses. Drucker argues that what they do have is commitment to eight core executive practices.

They asked, “What needs to be done?”
They asked, “What is right for the enterprise?”
They developed action plans.
They took responsibility for decisions.
They took responsibility for communicating.
They were focused on opportunities rather than problems.
They ran productive meetings.
They thought and said “we” rather than “I”.

At the heart of these practices put forward by Drucker is a commitment to getting the right things done in the right way. In order to get the right things done in the right way, effective executives need to:

Get the knowledge they need,
Translate this knowledge into action, and
Ensure accountability for this action across the organization.

If you are responsible for executive leadership in a community, Drucker’s eight core executive practices provide practical insight on moving from knowledge, to action, to accountability. How are you doing on these fronts? Are you refining these practices in a movement toward effective executive leadership?

Leader Resiliency … Face Reality, Find Meaning, Forge a New Path

October 20, 2014January 3, 2016 / Justin Irving / 4 Comments

Photo Credit: Image by Arya Aiai, Flickr

One of my areas of research is examining the role of resiliency in leadership. Here’s a link to an overview of one of my recent academic articles focused on the role that obstacles and resiliency play in the development of leaders (Management Research Review, Vol. 37, Iss. 5, pp.466 – 478).

In our research, we found that a variety of developmental assignments, relationships, experiences, and training were associated with increased levels of leader resiliency. Often, these developmental variables take the form of personal and professional obstacles that build resiliency in leaders.

What is Resiliency

Resiliency is about the capacity to bounce back after difficulty. Resiliency is about the capacity to persist through and overcome diverse challenges in life and leadership.

In this day and age, resiliency is increasingly important for leaders. Our world abounds with uncertainty, and it is individuals and leaders who are able to bounce back and make the best of difficult circumstances who will thrive in the days and years ahead. This is what resiliency is all about—persisting, or even thriving, in the midst of difficulty.

How Resiliency Works

Engaging the theme of How Resilience Works, Diane Couto argues that resilient people possess three defining characteristics.

Resilient People Face Down Reality: “…coolly accept the harsh realities facing them.”
Resilient People Search for Meaning: “…find meaning in terrible times.”
Resilient People Continually Improvise: “…have an uncanny ability to improvise, making do with whatever’s at hand.”

These characteristics are vital for leaders today. Facing down reality means accepting the harsh realities and facts in front of us, but doing so in a way that finds meaning and purpose in the chaos.

The Stockdale Paradox

Jim Collins referred to this tension between facts and faith as “The Stockdale Paradox.” The Stockdale paradox, named after Admiral Jim Stockdale, is based on the observation that those who survived in the most difficult of circumstances (such as prisoners of war) do so by both confronting the most brutal facts of one’s current reality AND retaining faith that one will prevail in the end. It is not merely choosing optimism OR pessimism—it is the experience of embracing BOTH difficult facts along side optimistic hope.

“Brakes Break for a Reason”

My wife took me to a movie last night entitled The Hundred-Foot Journey. It is the story of the Kadam family who left India for a new life in France. As the story unfolds, this new life begins in a French village due to their vehicle breaking down. Overlooking this village, and through the events that follow, the family embraces their reality that “Brakes break for a reason.” Through embracing the reality in front of them, the Kadam family finds meaning in the moment and forges a new and hopeful future for their family.

It was a beautiful movie, and in a simple way depicts this tension between facing down reality and finding meaning in the midst of reality.

Purpose in Leadership

This tension is one of the reasons I’m passionate about “Purpose in Leadership.” Leaders who are able to make sense of the world around them—to find meaning in the face of the mess—often are characterized by a resiliency that allows them and their organizations to thrive in the midst of great difficulty.

Creative Improvisation

This blend of finding meaning in the face of reality sets the stage for Couto’s final observation—the ability to improvise and make do with what is at hand. Resilient leaders face reality from a place of purpose and meaning, and from this place engage the resources around them (human, physical, structural, financial, etc.) to resolutely move forward toward their driving purpose.

Because the future is always being created as we go, leaders learn to improvise along the way. They respond to the needs around them. They collaborate with the people and resources at hand. They find unique and creative pathways forward to accomplish their goals in new ways.

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How are these characteristics of resilient people at work in your life? Are you nurturing this capacity to (1) face reality, (2) find meaning, and (3) forge a path forward through creative improvisation?