Guy Harris: The Recovering Engineer

Reflect, Respect, Reengineer, and Reinvent

This blog is about learning to take a close look at your thoughts, feelings, responses, and reactions to find better and more effective ways to resolve conflicts, lead teams, and clearly communicate to build and maintain both professional and personal relationships...[Read More]

New Supervisor Skills – People Must Feel Empowered to Act Empowered

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empower

Empowerment is a great thing.

Empowered employees show greater commitment, stay more engaged, and create better results. Empowered employees take more initiative and get more done than employees who work in a fear-based, command-and-control environment.

As a new supervisor, you hear and read about these organizational performance results, and you decide that you want to empower your employees. So, you go tell them that they are empowered. You watch and wait for them to act empowered. And you wonder why you don’t get the results you expected.

What went wrong?

Before I offer the solution, I’ll ask a question:

Is a person empowered when you tell them they are empowered or when they feel empowered?

The full answer is that both must be true to get the results mentioned above. You must give people the authority and freedom to act – you must empower them. And, people must feel empowered before they will act on that empowerment.

Most leaders get the first part.  Telling people that they have authority and that they can act on their own initiative is a pretty obvious first step towards creating an empowered work force.

The second part is a bit more difficult to quantify. It is more difficult to put into specific action steps. In fact, the second part is outside your direct control. It is, however, something that you can influence. There are things you can do or say that undermine your efforts to empower the members of your team. Likewise there are things you can do or say that will support your efforts.

If people live in fear that you will criticize them, condemn them, or complain about them, they will not feel empowered. They will feel controlled. If they feel controlled, they will not deliver the results of an empowered workplace that I mentioned above.

To create a feeling of empowerment, do everything in your power to foster a positive workplace with little or no fear as the motivating factor in people’s actions. Here are two ideas to consider as you work to achieve a fear-free environment that supports and encourages empowerment:

Compliment more than you condemn.

Seeing what people do wrong is easy. Looking past it to see what they did well can take some effort – especially when you are under tight time and budget constraints.

Remember that any negative comments you make will have a much stronger impact on people than your positive ones. Look for and comment on anything that people are doing well. This simple act will do more to create a feeling of empowerment than any spoken or written assignment of responsibility you will ever make.

Coach more than you critique.

When you trust people to do things, they will make mistakes. That is just a fact of life as a leader. How you respond to the mistakes people make has a big impact on the feelings people have about you, their work, and how much you trust them.

When a person on your team makes a mistake, you need to correct it. When you do, remember to use more positive feed forward – what you do want to see in the future – than any comments about what you do not want to see.

Your Now Steps: Identify someone on your team who you want to behave in a more “empowered” way. Before the end of the day, find an opportunity to praise something he did well – even if it is a very small thing. Over the next week, hold a coaching conversation with him where you focus primarily on his behaviors that you want to see more of in the future.

Flexible With People and Rigid With Timelines

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At different times and in different roles, I have had the opportunity to observe, work on, plan, and implement projects of various sizes and types. They include construction, computer system, computer software, marketing, web development, book writing, process improvement, and plant expansion projects.

I have also attended workshops and read books on project management. Many of them focused on the checklists, charts, graphs, and planning tools necessary to plan and track project progress and milestone completion. I have used task lists and planning tools that include PERT and Gantt charts. I have worked in Microsoft Project. In short, I have seen the ins and outs of many types of projects and project management tools, and I have worked with many project managers.

The roles, projects, and project managers have varied in size, scope, type, and approach, and one thing has been constant through them all: people did the work.

Regardless of the project management tool, type of project or scope of work, people are always involved. When I reflect on the approaches and styles of the various project managers I have known and worked with, the most significant difference I see between the successful and the unsuccessful ones is that the successful ones understood that people do the work.

Successful project managers get work done on time and within budget because they know how to work with people and not because they know how to create a perfect Gantt chart. They understood how to use project management and tracking tools, and they kept their focus on connecting with the people responsible for the many tasks.

Unsuccessful project managers focus on the tools and checklists and ignore communicating and connecting with people.

The best project manager I had the chance to observe was a master of both the technical requirements and the people needs of leading his projects. He kept track of the timeline. He knew exactly what needed to be done, by when, and by whom. And he had a way of connecting with people that allowed room for input and discussion about how to accomplish the various tasks while still holding people accountable for their commitments. As I watched him lead projects, I noticed that he had the ability to simultaneously remain flexible with people and rigid with timelines.

He was highly effective with planning and tracking tools, and his strongest skill set lay in the way he connected and communicated with people. He did it in a way that people wanted to meet their timelines rather than feeling like they had to meet them.

As a leader (supervisor, manager, parent, or coach), you will likely get the opportunity to lead many types and sizes of projects. When you do, remember the idea of remaining flexible with people and rigid with timelines. Stay open to dialogue, engage people in conversation, listen to their concerns, give them room to solve problems in their own way, and push for adherence to deadlines and quality targets.

Your Now Step: Think about a current project you are leading. Schedule a project update meeting with the people who must do the actual work. Do more than check on the status of their task lists. Listen to their frustrations and struggles. Identify one thing you can do to improve their ability to get their tasks done more quickly and effectively. Do that thing.

Keep Moving Forward

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As a watch officer on a submarine, I got to “drive the boat.” During my six-hour watch (shift), I led the team that charted course, controlled direction and depth, coordinated atmosphere controls, and a number of other activities.

A submarine at sea never sleeps. There was always someone on watch both before and after me.

When I took the watch, I reviewed logs, looked at instrument settings, and discussed with my predecessor what happened during his watch. We then looked over the Night Orders to see what the Captain wanted my team to accomplish during my watch.

During my watch, I consulted with the Quartermaster (he tracks position and course), the Diving Officer (he controls direction and depth), the Chief of the Watch (he controls many systems), and others. It was exciting, tiring, interesting, frustrating, scary, and fun. And, it taught me a whole lot about how to work with a team.

The Quartermaster and I spoke about our position and our intended course. We used a chart that showed where we were and where we were going.

The Diving Officer told me what he observed in the way the submarine handled. We talked about trimming the boat and course and depth corrections.

The Chief of the Watch told me what he saw in the systems he monitored. With his help, I made decisions and gave instructions about announcements to the crew, changes in system settings, and other watch management issues.

At the end of my watch, I had a conversation with the person relieving me that was similar to one I had with the person I had relieved earlier.

In reflecting on those many conversations that led to hundreds of decisions, I see a common thread running through all of them that illustrates a powerful concept for leaders.

Once you know where you are; chart a course for where you want to go, and keep moving forward.

We might take a moment to figure out how we got where we were, but we didn’t focus on that. Every conversation quickly turned to the future: where are we going, what do we want it to be, etc.

We were all different: college boys, college dropouts, farm boys, inner city boys, high school honor students, and high school trouble-makers. We were a team of people from nearly every state, educational background, and race.

We did not care where we had been; we only cared where we were going. That common focus on the future drove us together so that we could get past our many differences and work together productively.

Employee Motivation Tips: The Why Matters

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There are two musical instruments I would like to play. One is the saxophone and the other is the guitar.

When I was in the fifth grade, my parents placed an order to rent a saxophone for the following school year so that I could join the band and learn to play. Over the summer, we moved to a different city where band started in fifth grade. I was out of sequence with the school system, and I wasn't able to take private lessons.

I didn't learn to play the saxophone that year.

Somewhere in my teen years, I thought about playing the guitar. I eventually got one — I think I was about 18 or 19. It sat in my closet until I was in the Navy and I had a roommate with a guitar.

With my roommate's coaxing  and help, I learned to play — a very little bit. We were assigned to different submarines, and I put down the guitar. I have no idea where that guitar is or what happened to it.

That was about 25 or 26 years ago.

This past Christmas, my youngest daughter asked for a guitar, and she got one.

She will be leaving home this fall to attend the residential honors high school that her older sister graduated from a few weeks ago. In short, both of my girls will be out of the house starting in August.

As I thought about my youngest daughter leaving home to attend school, it occurred to me that she would only be with me full-time for about eight more months. If I wanted to do something with her to build memories and relationship, the time was short.

When she got her guitar, I also thought about my goal of learning to play the guitar.

Suddenly, the goal that first surfaced over 30 years ago had a new meaning.  It was now about something I could do with my daughter.

The “why” of the goal moved from the sort-of-a-neat-idea category to the I've-got-to-do-it-now-because-it's-very-emotional category.

The guitars in the picture with this post are ours. My daughter's is on the right. Mine is on the left.

For leaders of any kind — managers, supervisors, business owners, coaches, teachers, or parents — the lesson in this story is key to understanding what might motivate someone to take action.

It's the “why” not the “what” that gets people moving.

I had a new guitar in my home as quickly as I could make it happen when the emotion behind the goal got big enough. That emotion wasn't about money, recognition, or any other externally applied consequence.  And buying the guitar was not, ultimately, about the guitar. It was about time with my daughter and memories.

When you find ways to communicate with people about issues bigger and more emotional to them — to them is the key point here — they will move to action to accomplish the goal.

I am not suggesting that external motivators have no impact.

I am suggesting that looking for the personal, emotional hook and clearly communicating the connection between the task or goal and that emotional hook will get you more high-energy, discretionary effort than anything else you can do as a leader.

In a  post about finding what motivates other people, I shared some insights that might help you in the process of finding that emotional hook. It's not always easy. It can often be done.

By the way, I still don't own or know how to play a saxophone. I guess the “why” isn't big enough yet.

Employee Motivation Tips: Their DISC Behavior Style

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In previous posts, I have written about a model for understanding what motivates behavior and three clues you can use to find what motivates another person.

Today, I'll share some quick insights about what motivates people based on their DISC behavioral style.

A person who has outgoing and task-oriented (Dominant) traits is often motivated by:

  • Solving problems
  • Conquering challenging situations
  • Getting results

And they will often prefer to work at a fast pace with a focus on quick results and direct action.

A person who has outgoing and people-oriented (Inspiring) traits is often motivated by:

  • The opportunity to interact with others
  • Public recognition
  • Varied activities

And they will often prefer to work at a fast pace with a focus on doing things in a fun way that does not require high attention to detail.

A person who has reserved and people-oriented (Supp0rtive) traits is often motivated by:

  • Teamwork
  • The opportunity to help others
  • Feeling appreciated for their contribution

And they will often prefer to work at a steady pace with a focus on doing the work process in a way that minimizes risk and strengthens relationships.

A person who has reserved and task-oriented (Cautious) traits is often motivated by:

  • Structuring or organizing things
  • Researching or searching for information
  • Finding the “right” solution for a problem

And they will often prefer to work alone with a focus on details and proper structure.

As you work to apply this information in your personal and professional life, remember that people have varying degrees of all of these traits in their behavioral style blends and that you are likely to observe at least two of the four styles to a significant degree in most people.

The information in this post is only intended to give you a basic framework for understanding what might motivate another person. It is not intended as a complete and exhaustive description of how the DISC model might reveal motivational patterns and preferences.

Find Your Conflict Style