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Accountability - I Stand Corrected

5/15/2014

One of my clients allows me the luxury of a bi-weekly, one hour team development “Round Table” discussion. It’s proving to be a great little mechanism to build team awareness and culture in a start-up environment. In one recent meeting, we tackled the topic of “accountability”.

I approached the meeting with immense personal bias and asked this group of highly creative people to help reframe, what I consider to be a mostly punitive word, with another that instills pride and responsibility. For years now, I’ve wrestled with the consequential implications of “holding one accountable for their actions”. The mere mention by political or business leaders has always sounded to me like a fear - based form of motivation and one that does not address the upside

Interestingly, as the discussion began to work its way around the table, one by one each person took a turn at putting my pejorative opinion in it’s place. The youngest team member hawked, “I believe that accountability is credibility”. Odd, I thought coming from a millennial but precisely what company leaders hoped to hear. Asked to expand upon what he meant - and with the help of others - a message of one taking responsibility for their work, their performance was identified as the manifestation of pride and ownership in their respective positions. Following up on this upbeat momentum, the CEO took his turn to expand saying that accountability is the underpinning of a young company - like this one - gaining traction, building internal pride, deploying hard skills, and achieving results. “It’s the expectation of work being accomplished that creates a sense of trust and common intent”.

This highly energetic conversation resulted in the awareness that, used in the proper context, “Accountability” is a very real, tangible quality that some people actually strive to own. And, in this case, having had this very real discussion, “accountability” was seated in the cultural mindset of a young company. Win - Win!

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It's Not About the Nail - Empathy At Work

4/14/2014

“It’s Not About The Nail” went viral a few months back. It generated quite a bit of discussion around empathy, the value of just listening, and “Women are from Mars, Men are from Venus” debates. The very first thing to note in the video is that the male character (John) is not without empathy; his first inclination is just to do something about what he considers to be an obvious problem. He brings an objective, practical solution to the table. Proffering his solution does nothing to sooth the concerns of the female character. In fact, it generates a highly subjective reaction. Fortunately, he is “instructed” to just listen and the female character feels momentarily better about her issues.

In the workplace, empathy gets little attention until leaders are reminded of the concept of Emotional Intelligence, or the ability to read and adjust to the emotional needs of self and others. Birkman defines empathy as how people utilize emotions - not whether they have or do not have emotions. People with high scores in empathy have a preference to talk through their concerns. They tend to solve their own problems by hearing themselves think through issues. A close colleague or a patient supervisor can be subjectively supportive - allowing the other person the space or appropriate questioning that results in a solution free discussion. People on the opposite end of the spectrum will bring issues to their manager’s attention as a means to generate practical, experienced solutions. They actually seek the other’s opinions and wisdom as a guide.

Please do not make the common mistake of believing that this is isolated to male - female communications. It is not. I’ve worked with many male C- Level executive clients with high empathy scores who solve problems and innovate while speaking directly with their advisors, peers and reports. They do not enjoy being shut down with practical concerns for restrictive budgets or technological roadblocks. Doing so may infuriate them (also indicating that empathy is not just about the soft side of emotions). I have also known quite a few powerful executive women who leave their emotional selves at home while being called upon to make rational, pragmatic decisions on the job. They tend to be tough minded yet fair.

There is any easy way to know the empathic tendencies of your peers and direct reports. Have them take the Birkman Method Assessment. It literally tells what level of emotiveness that a person is likely to offer others or need in return. Quite simply, if you know another person’s Need for Empathy score it changes the way you are likely to communicate with that person. Call or email me to find out more, please!

Pro-Bono Coaching?

4/10/2014

A couple of years ago Rebecca Eaton, producer of the the famed TV series “Downton Abby” was in town to keynote WTCI’s “Be More Awards”. She opened her speech with a quip, “I had no idea Chattanooga Tennessee was such a city of ‘Do-Gooders’. I was in the crowd, as a nominee - but not a winner. No matter. To me, sitting in a room full of nominees was rather inspiring. A gathering of hundreds of people who volunteer their time, energy and talent to others through an amazing array of non-profit and civic organizations. From a Birkman Method perspective, that’s pretty much the definition of the Area of Interest known as Social Service. My score is a 66 - my third highest. It provides an underpinning to most of my work - a desire to be beneficial to others through my chosen profession.

Enter my latest pro-bono tale. I was asked to run a Birkman assessment on a young man struggling to identify himself and begin a successful career path. Seth (not his real name) comes from a corner of Appalachia that prides itself on resisting 21st Century American progress on most fronts. This little corner is at the intersection of Northeast Alabama, Southeast Tennessee, and Northwest Georgia. There are no major corporations, few middle income jobs, making for a very traditional blue collar region. Seth’s story begins to warm the heart when one hears that rather than accept the less-than-desirable public high school education that was his right, Seth went to work in a local grocery store to pay his own tuition to a private christian school in Chattanooga - yes, he paid his own way through high school. While at the store, he progressed from bag boy to bookkeeper. He also worked at the local Chiropractor’s office and at the local newspaper in assistant roles. Seth is currently working on a degree in Business Management at North Alabama Community College and, true to form, working his way through school. He reluctantly states that he works at the closest Walmart where he started as a customer service associate but has recently been called into the office to be an accounting associate - he’s responsible for making deposits and reconciling each day’s revenue.

Seth’s Birkman Career Management profile showed him to be a young man who is strong willed, demanding, and expects much of himself. He has strong interests in administrative roles that may involve finance and persuasive roles within either a high tech industry or in the healthcare industry. He also has managerial potential. But Seth is young, yet somewhat hardened, and as you might have guessed, independent. He’s well spoken to strangers but shows signs of his foothill’s childhood. He moderates his southern accent. During his initial Birkman review, I asked Seth what his dreams were regarding his career - what unspoken visions he has for himself. He smiled, embarrassed of what I may make of his answer. ‘I don’t know what the career would be per se, but I’ve always wanted to work in a gleaming high rise building, where you ride an elevator to your floor and have your own office and do something that matters’. He’s only seen these types of buildings on the internet and during short trips out of the region.

In my latest correspondence with this busy young guy, he noted reviewing the many links provided in his Birkman Career Management Report. These links take the user to the United States Department of Labor’s O-Net, or occupational network. Seth’s scores have been scientifically mapped to job families and titles such as Finance, Accounting, and Healthcare environments. He agreed with the results but there was an exasperated tone to his email, …”but HOW do I take the steps to find myself in one of these careers?” I took this as a call for help - that he didn’t know what else to do besides work hard.

RedPoint Management offers professional coaching - to mid level managers and corporate executives. It’s effective in helping to improve productivity, job satisfaction, and engagement but it’s expensive. Yet career coaching is exactly what Seth needs. Whatever guidance he received in high school was minimal, leaving a smart, ambitious guy to figure things out for himself.

Seth is maxed out, he works, goes to school, and has limited access to a computer - at the local public library. He has obstacles, no doubt, including the mindset of the local culture that says he is likely to go no further than his blue collar roots.

Whenever I have a Birkman profile on a person and have been through the review process, I cannot help but walk in their shoes, if only for a moment. In turn, I become endeared to their life and work goals. Seth is going to get some much needed professional career coaching, no charge. To start, Seth has been given a list of assignments. He will create a personal elevator pitch that captures his story and indicates to anyone who asks -in 20 seconds - just where he is headed and why the other person should be excited too. He will be researching the full array of business finance related jobs, isolating a few in the context of specific industries. That will become the basis of his keyword search terms. He’ll find industry specific job boards. He will identify career fairs and attend industry related conventions - even if he has to slip in the back door. He will build out a thorough and attractive resume. He will learn to write compelling and relevant cover letters. Through these seemingly common-place activities, he will find a way to believe in himself and in his capabilities to perform work that matters. Using an NBA analogy, Seth is going to take his own road, land a spot in the D-League, work hard for a bench position in the pros, and with luck and hard work, be a valuable and contributing starter as a professional in his chosen field. Or at least that’s the goal of a do-gooder, or two, or many. Remember, it takes a village...

Magnetic Attraction and Your Career

2/25/2014

A proper review of your Birkman Method scores and reports almost always begins with a fun and engaging look at your Areas of Interest scores. I like to refer to this section as a Google Earth image at 20,000 feet above the professional you. There are 10 broad career areas encompassing tons of different occupations and interests. The image here represents my interests and the associated strength of interest in that particular area. My 97 “Outdoor” score indicates a need to be in an occupation or role that involves hands on work in the outdoors. For 12 years I was an experiential educator and adventure guide with my own company. Now, I volunteer time to build and maintain hiking and biking trails. Secondly, my strong interest in “Literary” encompasses many aspects of my life including the enjoyment of writing but even more so, the love of presenting to individuals and groups.

While intended to be a celebratory introduction to all of the information yet to come in your Birkman reports, there are occasions where the scores don’t seem to fit, especially in higher scores. A client recently shook her head that she had almost no “Artistic” talent, even though it was her highest score at 94! She had never had artistic outlets, could not draw, throw pots, use Photoshop, nor decorate her home with any real pleasure. So what gives? Why is this score so strong - even to the point of representing a “need” to be involved in some form of artistic expression? First, the AOI’s are not intended to represent skill or talent, just interest in that very broad area. My clients are smart and they often times don’t let me off the hook that easily. The official answer, and one more intellectually astute to the one I offered on the fly is, “The scale values measure the intensity of desire to be involved with these activities; they do not measure the level of expected skill or proficiency with these responsibilities.” (The Birkman Method® Manual, 2008, Dr. Roger Birkman, et.al.)

The intensity of the desire to be involved! This client eventually made the discovery that cooking and presenting beautiful plates of colorful meals to family and friends was one area of expression. She had never considered her cooking as art and is now off to purchase her next cookbook, loaded with pictures, no doubt. Does this change her career ambition? Not at all. In this case the client’s career had taken a different course but this awareness opens the door for extracurricular exploration and an additional life outside of work. In other cases, it starts the discussion of where misguided careers can be righted through strong but unrecognized interests or passions.

RedPoint can help you make these discoveries.

Use this one question to invigorate your company’s regular meetings.

1/21/2014

In the past few weeks, I was invited to sit in on two different regularly scheduled company meetings. They began with rote, ho-hum, run throughs of established agendas. Statements were made, outcomes were predicted, and few employees put themselves out there for any form of give and take discussion. In one of these meetings, the company president appeared demonstrably disgusted at the meeting apathy. “That’s pretty much how they all go (meetings); they’re good people, they get their work done but these meetings are a grind.”

My recommendation was the introduction of a simple question learned through a series of writing workshops I’d taken years ago titled, Write your Mind Alive with Proprioceptive Writing instructor Ann Bright. These classes have much less to do with perfecting your writing style as they are about digging deeper into your own thoughts to discover how you truly think and feel about...everything. The disruptive question that teases out the discussion is, “What do you mean by that?” This open ended gem causes a pause in “socially desirable” responses. What do I mean by that? Many, ok most, of us are preprogrammed to provide responses that we think others want to hear. In many cases we deliver that utterance with confidence that we’ve said the right thing at the right time and thus avoid putting ourselves out there, exposed to any form of depth, showing that we have a handle on things and others need not worry. See how that works; I just elaborated my true thoughts on this matter...you know, because you asked.

Facilitators of meetings have the responsibility of making sure people’s voices are heard. But they can also take that one giant step further by making sure their thoughts are heard. With the careful, well timed - never over-used - placement of “What do you mean by that?” your meetings will take on a refreshing new dimension of productivity.

There are many other means of creating meetings that you wish would never end. Feel free to connect with me to discuss. Mike@redpointmanagement.com

Connect with Ann Bright at The Proprioceptive Writing Center - thewayofwriting.org

Writing the Mind Alive, The Proprioceptive Method for Finding Your Authentic Voice, Metcalf and Simon, 2002.

Team Building vs. Team Development

1/14/2014

Nature demonstrates it’s remarkable powers of growth and renewal in the spring season. Its visible effects are admired and appreciated by most everyone, calling us to plant, trim, play and otherwise spend time outdoors. It is also a time when 50% or more of the RedPoint calls seem to be requests for team building. The manager’s request is typically framed as “we want to do something for our staff, something to bring us together, to work on communication, teamwork”. For 15+ years I answered that call with recommendations for an outdoor adventure event, a ropes course, an outdoor retreat. These events offer strong metaphoric content and can simulate real world behavioral interaction. In most cases however, the effects are short lived. The team returns to work and the event becomes one of common memory of being together and having an enjoyable time. Like an outing of golf, paintball or a nice meal together, the experience is largely a one off perk with some positive social return.

Team Development on the other hand represents a strategic effort to improve the effectiveness of all players while simultaneously improving the quality of the daily social interaction as well. It is a dynamic and continuous charge to improve relationships each working day. Team development begins with the proper selection of new employees and extends to training for job knowledge and performance expectations. Individual and team awareness training helps employees understand themselves in relation to each other, how to communicate most effectively and to diagnose interpersonal problems. Positive performance appraisals direct employees toward growth. Organizational performance becomes a shared success (or failure) and the cycle can begin anew. In this model, individual and team commitment and responsibility soars and a strong culture of hard work and success are enjoyed by all.

Near term boosts are nice and necessary. Long term performance by all is a requirement for growth. What was once synonymous, team building and team development are now defined by the results they deliver.

Keep Your Birkman From Getting Tied In "Nots"

1/14/2014

To keep your Birkman from getting tied in “knots”, remember these “nots”. Esteem is not your level of self-esteem. It’s how you deal with self esteem issues. Change is not organizational change. (Structure is). Activity is not your level of energy. It is how you express your energy. Empathy is not whether you have feelings or not. It’s how your feelings are expressed. Challenge is not whether you will rise to a challenge. It’s the type of challenges you choose. Your Birkman is not a one-time event. It is a tool that has so many uses that it would surprise you to know!

Business Implications of Birkman Method Results

1/14/2014

One of my recent feedback sessions went particularly well. “It’s so refreshing to have two and 1⁄2 hours to talk just about me,” noted the exuberant participant upon closing. Indeed, The Birkman is a very powerful personal and professional tool. It reveals so much valuable information that it is immediately hard to think about anything else but us. Let’s do, though, consider some of the practical business issues impacted by particular component scores. For example, Activity scores can impact: Urgency in decision-making, competitiveness vs. long range benefits, patience with planning and pacing. Authority: Cooperation or conflict management, listening skills, openness
to others’ ideas, and the use of authority. Acceptance: social enthusiasm, participation in meetings, open lines of communication, and spontaneous expression. RedPoint uses The Birkman Assesment to first understand people, then to guide them toward productive results.

Point of Discussion

1/14/2014

Recently I had a chat with a friend who owns a small (retail) business. After answering many of his management questions without rebuke, one final redirect seemed targeted for the jugular. “Do you always advise that managers take a positive stance versus a punitive one when dealing with problem employees?” Two days later the answers are clear. Managers who take a demonstratively positive attitude when praising “performance employees” are much more likely to see continued high performance and collaboration from these “A” players. Managers who understand the underlying motivations of problem staffers and address those positively, taking a genuine interest in the issues, become the trusted advisor. In such cases, be the teacher.

To be sure, both case take time, attention, and the tools to know what motivates. The active use of Birkman Method reports makes this task infinitely easier by helping managers adjust their style, for the moment, to aid in the further development of their staff. Still, in cases of theft, deception, unethical behavior, and extended sub-par performance, the manager should still strive to a principled and positive dismissal that helps the employee take steps in the right direction with their next employer. They may even thank you later.

Mike Pollock and RedPoint Management are always available to help managers successfully find the right course of action (and sometimes the exact words to use). Try us!

Spotlight on Reversals

11/1/2013

What does it mean to have a “reversal” or a special scoring pattern? Did you know that The Birkman Method™ database cotains over 3 million participants; when you have this many people in your database you can do a lot of cool statistics. For example: the general population pattern on “esteem” is 23.36% usual and 54.45% need. These numbers are then rounded to 25/50/50 for usual, needs and stress. A reversal simply means that your stress score goes in the opposing direction from your need and is generalized as either 25 or 75. If this happens on your Birkman it means that all we can see is your usual behavior and your stress behavior. We don’t have a clue as to what you need. In this case you either show up as having a good day or bad day, no in between. For those of you who have reversals, you are just a bit harder to read and therefore must communicate your needs to us. We’d appreciate that, thank you.

Author

Mike Pollock is the Chief Motivation Office at RedPoint Management. He has over 20 years experience guiding, teaching, motivating, and inspiring - both indoors and out.

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Since 2004 Mike Pollock and RedPoint Management have been motivating and inspiring individuals and organizations. Our ultimate purpose is to help create more productive working relationships in companies and to help individuals and teams realize their true potential.

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