22Aug/14

Situational Influence

August 22, 2014BlogBrainstorming, Decisions, Influence, Leader, Manager, StrategyVictoria

Direction of Influence©

V. A. Brown Consulting

Understanding the role influence plays in your decision making is key whether you’re leading a small team or a large corporation. As a new manager it may be difficult trying to figure out when to lead and when to follow but one thing is sure. Gone are the days of “my way or the highway”.

Today’s workforce is a collaborative one. People want a say not only in what they do but how they do it. That’s where influence comes in. As a leader, you’re responsible for achieving the company’s objectives through your team. As their manager, you’re responsible for providing the resources and direction to make the team successful. It’s a balancing act with you in the middle. By understanding that the direction of influence flows in both directions depending on the situation, your job becomes much easier.

Bar 1: Everyone on the team has strong influence over the situation. The arrows point towards each other demonstrating a movement towards center goal. This model is appropriate for issues that require brainstorming or groupthink to see different sides of a problem before the manager (or the team) reaches a conclusion.

Bar 2: The manager has greater influence than the team. The arrows move in one direction with the stronger influencer pushing towards the goal while the weaker side loses the ability to weigh in on the decision. Use this when giving direction, implementing company policy or other giving information. Team discussions serve to clarify the situation, not reach a decision.

Bar 3: Here the arrows are reversed and the team has greater influence than the manager. While this may seem counterintuitive to managing a team, remember that it is not necessary to be in charge of everything your team does. If a manager tries to exert influence in this situation, it becomes micromanagement. This works well with self-directed teams or teams where the manager and the members have reached a consensus using Bar 1.

Bar 4: In this case, no one has any direct influence over the outcome. Use this when the objective is to react to the evolving situation without much thought. This works well in emergency situations when health and safety are concerned but even then, it cannot be used as a stand-alone process. One example is a fire fighting team. All fire fighters have an assigned role that kicks in automatically on scene. There is no “influence” in how they do their assigned role; they just do what they have been trained to do (Bar 4). However, there is a Captain in charge who develops the strategy for the fight based on the unique characteristics of the fire (Bar 2).

11Aug/14

Meeting Basics

August 11, 2014BlogAgenda, Facilitating, Icebreaker, Instruction, Meetings, TipsVictoria

Senior staff meeting By George Armstrong

By George Armstrong (This image is from the FEMA Photo Library.) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Ever find yourself in the endless meeting? You know the one I mean – you have no idea why you’re there and nothing is getting accomplished. You’re there simply for the sake of checking off the weekly to-do list. The truth is that you can have a productive meeting if you know what to do. If you are responsible for the weekly staff get-together, here are some tips that may help you be more successful.

Make sure your meeting has a purpose

This may seem like a no-brainer but oftentimes people have no idea why they are meeting. One way to help set expectations is to decide before hand what type of outcome you want to achieve. Your expected outcome will help define what type of meeting to hold. If you have information to give but want to hold off discussion at a later time; let the team know that. If you expect a group decision, let them know their participation is welcomed and expected. Do you want group input and feedback? Will there be activities involved? These questions will help determine not only who needs to attend but also things like: room layout, resources needed and how long to meet. The point here is that the better prepared everyone is – the more successful you’ll be.

Publish an agenda

Now that you know why the meeting is happening, let others in on the secret. Prepare an agenda and hand it out before the day of the meeting. If the agenda is presented the day of the meeting (or worse yet, at the meeting) it is too late for the participants to prepare. Lack of preparation means lack of engagement.

Vary settings for a change of pace

Do you have to hold your meeting in the conference room? Your setting can influence your outcome. Do you want an open discussion when managers are in the room with direct reports and senior leaders? Get rid of the conference room and place the chairs in a circle (Remember the legend of the Knights of the Round Table). If you are giving instruction – use a traditional classroom setup with you at the front and chairs in rows. But what if you want to brainstorm and foster creativity? Try taking the meeting outside. Another tip to get participation going? Bring snacks. You don’t have to go all out. I’ve seen a bowl of candy in the middle of the table work wonders for the simple fact that people are more comfortable talking when they’re breaking bread together.

Increase participation by using icebreakers

If you’re looking for participation and creativity, start your meeting with an icebreaker of some sort to loosen people up. While the activity can be tied to the meeting topic, I suggest you go with something completely unrelated. The idea is to get people interacting and thinking.

Start and end on time

Assign a timekeeper and stick to your schedule. People will love you for it. Leave time at the end for a quick debrief. Ask people what they liked and didn’t like about the meeting and the way it was conducted. Use the list to improve your style and you’ll find that your meetings will become more energized and maybe even enjoyable.

01Aug/14

Go Out and Play

August 1, 2014BlogCreativity, Discovery, Innovation, Play, Self-absorptionVictoria

What exactly is play?

Play, according to Dutch Historian and cultural theorist, Johan Huizing is a ” A free activity standing quite consciously outside ‘ordinary’ life as being ‘not serious’, but at the same time absorbing the player intensively and utterly”. OK it’s a mouthful but what Huizinga was trying to say is that play allows us to become totally absorbed in things that are not really important to our everyday life. Not only is the objective to have fun, but our self-absorption in something frivolous gives us the opportunityto unleash creativity and innovation and to engage our sense of discovery.

What’s interesting is that as adults, we take our “games” seriously which is in direct contrast to what Huizinga suggests. As adults, we play to compete because we want to win. For whatever reason, victory becomes the goal. Sometimes the reason is money. Other times, it’s and fame; and face it, the public admires and tries to emulate the winners. Can you say celebrity shoe endorsements? One of the ways we move our sense of play from outside of our ordinary life right smack into the middle of it is in the arena of professional sports. Think about it. We pay athletes tremendous amounts of money simply to watch them play.

Reclaim your sense of fun

I suggest that as adults, we reawaken the 5 year old inside and open ourselves to discovery through genuine play. I’m talking about the rolling in the mud, puddle jumping, and butterfly chasing activities that allowed our imagination to turn a box into a car as a kid. Do the things that could later becomes the catalyst for the next revolutionary engineering marvel. Play revitalizes us. It opens us to the simple, uncomplicated task of just being. When we do, we are more receptive to the world around us and by extension more receptive to growth and creativity. In short, we lose that overwhelming sense that if we don’t get it right things will come crashing down around us. And even if that does happens, play gives us the chance to see it as an opportunity instead of a setback. So here’s my challenge to you – go out and chase butterflies. You may be surprised at what you discover.

Ref: How play and games transform the culture of work: An interview with ross smith. (2012). American Journal of Play, 5(1), 1-21.