Is a recall the answer? A response to Yahoo's end of the telecommute

With CEO of Yahoo Marissa Mayer’s recent recall of all her telecommuting employees, the news has been buzzing about whether or not this was a wise decision. Critics of her decision are calling the action hypocritical as she builds a nursery next to her own office at Yahoo. They list the different burdens that this will place on telecommuting parents who don’t have the same privilege and call the action unreasonable. Those who support her decision argue that she is a CEO and her position requires difficult decision making; if she went to this sort of extreme there must be a good reason behind it. Water cooler conversations, brain-storming sessions, and team interactions don’t occur naturally in the virtual world.

As a company, Innovations has “virtually collaborated” for a number of years. In response to this recent news, Dr. Guillory has published a while paper entitled “Telecommuting and the Human Touch!” He argues that telecommuting is “obviously here to stay and will become a more comprehensive part of our day-to-day working arrangement.” The issue at hand is the fact that creativity is best sparked and realized through interpersonal human interactions.

So the question is, “How do we make it work virtually?”

There are four critical skills outlined by Dr. Guillory that are absolutely necessary for any employee to be able to work out of the office:

1. Personal responsibility and accountability,
2. High competency,
3. Continuous learning, and
4. Self-management.

You may not even realize it, but even in the traditional office, communications are virtual up to 90% of the time. With this in mind, planning a few in-depth, in-person meetings several times a year could be all the difference that you need to make with your telecommuting workforce.

Dr. Guillory has taken his 30 years of experience consulting Fortune 500 companies on performance management, and put together the “Golden Rules of Virtual Teaming and Collaboration”. Read them at the following link to his recent article: http://www.scribd.com/doc/137550451/Telecommuting-and-the-Human-Touch.

Do you agree or disagree? What are your thoughts on virtual teaming?

At Innovations, we are passionate about improving client performance, profitability, and people. If your organization could use a fresh perspective or a boost to your current objectives, please contact us. http://www.innovint.com/about_us/contact_us.php

Coaching and facilitating others--talk less, matter more

Whether it is a youth soccer team or a group of people in a corporate seminar, I have always subscribed to the philosophy of "talk less, matter more"  Here is a great blog on this by Daniel Coyle who authored the Talent Code.    It truly captures that essence of our philosophy in the exercises we deliver and the emphasis on interactive exercises and peer learning, rather than the focus being on a trainer/facilitator.

http://thetalentcode.com/2011/11/08/a-word-of-coaching-advice-talk-less-matter-more/

Tuning in to your most creative period

One way to truly leverage your creativity is to be tuned in to your own personal rhythm.   And it is not always static.  For me, I have noticed that my new period has become early in the morning, between 3am and 5am.   Sometimes if I am experiencing a particular block on a topic, I will purposely go to bed around 8:30 PM to increase the likelihood that I will get up early.    For me, in addition to the fact that everything is quiet at that time and I have no interruptions, I also find that I am probably a little more connected to my subconscious at that time since I am still somewhat in that zone between the awake state and the sleep state.   For myself, this has also changed over the years...in college, I definitely worked later into the night, so it is important to remain aware as to how your rhythms change.

By contrast, my wife much prefers the energy of working on something late into the night until it is complete.  Her creative process flows quite well as a function of her own self imposed deadlines.

Try to recognize when you are most creative, and when first getting started using creativity try to leverage your most natural periods in addition to other periods that you may want to focus on.

Networking with competitors

Recently, a friend mentioned to me about how he spent time on a regular basis networking with his competitors.  I was surprised by this, but when I questioned deeper, he explained that:

1)  It is a great way to discuss in general terms the challenges or opportunities you are facing (without revealing anything confidential).

2) Sometimes you may refer each other business if it is not in your area of expertise or you have over flow

3)  There may be back office practices where you can assist each other , without feeling as if you are giving someone a competitive advantage.

4)  There is probably enough business out there for everyone, so it will probably not hurt to simply have a dialogue.

I have just begun my experiment , so stay tuned and I will keep you appraised of the results.

Creating your own advisory group--a valuable resource

Last week, I attended a conference in Mexico City for entrepreneurs, and in the group of attendees were two people that I have known for six years.   In between sessions (and sometimes during sessions admittedly), I worked through a new business idea with them.  For 3 days straight I was able to present, get feedback, revise, present again, revise and on and on...through multiple iterations.  I quantify the value of these discussions, and even better, neither of them are from my industry.  Sometimes we tend to get a bit of tunnel vision in sharing with people only in our business--drawing on bright people outside of these circles is also valuable.   And just because they give feedback doesn't mean you have to use it--but sometimes feedback you get may lead to other ideas you had not considered.  Characteristics to look for are people who:


1)  Question things

2)   Tend to look at the world a little differently

3)  Are from a different industry than your own (they do not see the same limitations you might)

4) Won't be offended if you don't use their advice

5) Have demonstrated that they have your best interests at heart

6) You respect


Make up your own personal advisory board, and see if you can find an opportunity to spend some time with them.

FuturePerfect Leader--Adapting to rapid change

The FuturePerfect Leader is one who on a regular basis projects themselves ahead in order to adapt to rapid change.    To do so successfully requires a few key characteristics:

1)  Questioning--on a regular basis, are you asking yourself where you and your organization are, what your customer needs are.  Are you also asking variety of people--those who may be both inside and outside of your immediate network--to get their perspectives?

2)  Associating--For new disruptive, ideas to manifest themselves, we also need exposure to a variety of inputs.  Inputs can come from reading, hobbies that we may have, or other pursuits.   Do we expose ourselves to activities that put us out of our comfort zone, and force us to view the world in a different way?

3)  Innovation--once we have a new direction, do we make it into something tangible?   Not just thinking and creating for ourselves, but in a way that becomes usable for those around us?

4)  Risk taking--Are we prepared to put our new idea out for public consumption, whether the feedback is positive or negative?   Any leader who is projecting and innovating with a mindset toward the future needs this characteristic.


A futureperfect leader is constantly pushing to identify the next set of disruptive changes in their industry.

Why don't we want to look within?

Recently, I have had discussions with some customers who have said that they were interested in a significant change in results, but only want to spend time on behaviors.  I truly wrestle with this one, as it is has been a long held principle of the work we do at Innovations that behavior change is necessary but not sufficient for long term impact.   For that, we have always come from the perspective that to have significant impact, we need to look at our beliefs, attitudes and mindset first, then move to behaviors.   On a number of occasions, clients have told us that they agree with our model, but they do not believe that their employees are interested in personal reflection.

I believe that people do in fact look for personal growth--as students, they may take on a challenging internship or spend a year abroad.  As adults, we learn new sports, start businesses, take on new hobbies, quit smoking--all activities which at some point will take us our of out traditional comfort zone.   I know it is difficult sometimes to do, but once you take that step, it is truly refreshing and invigorating and opens up new avenues that previously did not exist.   Ultimately, if we want to grow as leaders, become more creative, or truly create inclusion, looking within is our beginning point.

Break Your Patterned Thoughts and Open up to Creativity

I read an article recently this week about bilingual people, and how on average Alzheimer's impacts them 4-5 years later than people who are monolingual .  The researchers in the article discussed the fact that a greater amount of their brain is being used on a regular basis than than that of monolingual people.   It also made me wonder about whether or not creativity and using multiple parts of the brain might have the same impact--whether or not that is true, increased creativity is something that we could all benefit from, so here are a few tips for breaking patterned ways of thinking:

How To Break Patterned Ways of Thinking — and Open Your Creativity

1. Do things with your left hand if you are naturally right-handed (and vice versa); brushing your teeth, combing your hair, shaving, showering, bathing, etc.
2. Drive to work by an alternative route.
3. Eat only when your body tells you it is hungry. Forget about the three meals a day at prescribed times. Learn to know the difference between “patterned behavior” and “body talk.”
4. Pretend you are a tourist in your own city and visit all the sites you would recommend to visitors.
5. Experiment eating foods you think you don’t like, but have never tried—therefore, there is no proof of an adverse reaction. You might extend this to anything you think you don’t like that does
not injure the well-being of yourself and others.
6. Ask your kid(s) (or young relatives) what they would like to do for a Saturday or Sunday outing. You may be surprised. Just Do It!
7. Drive under the speed limit for one week. If you exceed the speed limit (“even by accident”), pay your kid(s) or a friend $10 for each infraction.
8. Create one day each week that is unplanned and unscheduled— then “create” that day “moment-by-moment” as it evolves.
9. Compose a piece of music; write a poem; paint a picture; create a story—you never know what you are capable of until you try.
10. Sleep on the opposite side of the bed.
These are steps for breaking patterned ways of thinking.  I will have some tips to in my next post once you have taken these first steps!

Danny

Small Acts of Inclusion Challenge

Take the Small Acts of Inclusion Challenge - Celebrate with us!

The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation dedicated the second week of February as the week to celebrate charity and inclusion. On their website they offer tips and stories that show how a little kindness goes a long way. We invite you to utilize their challenge this week and then we offer one of our own.

Innovations would like to propose a similar challenge to you. This will demonstrate how our Small Acts of Inclusion program utilizes a breakthrough method for achieving inclusion. The Small Acts of Inclusion program encompasses the true meaning behind Diversity and Inclusion and is driven by the charity and understanding that this program promotes.
The Small Acts of Inclusion Challenge:
·        Monday - Write a Thank You card to someone who has helped you in the past
·        Tuesday  - Have lunch with someone new
·        Wednesday  - Offer 15 minutes of help to someone in need
·        Thursday - Take treats to a department different than your own
·        Friday - Compliment someone on a job well done
·        Saturday - Ask someone to teach you the basics of a skill they do well or teach someone the basics of a useful skill you know well
·        Sunday - Spend 10 minutes just listening to someone without the need for reciprocation
The Small Acts of Inclusion Reward: At the end of the week you will have a few great stories to share. The greatest reward is the difference the challenge makes! However, to thank you for your participation Innovations will send you one free e-book of your choice

To receive your free e-book simply share your story through one of the following:
1.       Reply to this email or send a message to moreinfo@innovint.com
2.       Tweet your story on our twitter page at http://www.twitter.com/innovint or http://www.twitter.com/DiversityTweets
3.       Comment on our facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/innovint or add us as a friend and change your status to your story
4.       Comment on our blog at http://www.innovint.com/blog

Our staff will then contact you to inquire which book you'd like a free copy of.

Take Our Small Acts Course Online - The Virtual Learning Experience
Dr. Guillory has created an online version of this program which can be tailored to an organization's needs. Below you'll find links to our two Small Acts Virtual Learning Experiences. These are brief examples of what this program offers.
http://www.innovint.com/services/small-acts-of-inclusion.php

Good luck with the challenge, and please share with us all your results!
Danny

Talent Management – Holding on to your most innovative employees

I recently read an article in the New York Times about some of the challenges Google faces in holding on to its most innovative and entrepreneurial employees.   This is something that we face at Innovations ourselves, and also see our clients face every day.   Here are some of the keys I'd suggest you consider:

1)  Cut out the red tape--Creative people really don't enjoy going through process for the sake of process.  That of course does not mean that collaborating with other people in a way that adds value to the creative process is not something that they enjoy...in fact, to the contrary, most creators find it exhilarating to create with others.  But checks and balances that don't add value to the process can be demoralizing.

2)  Creativity within your own job--For our most creative people, about 50% of their job based on internal and client needs, while the other 50% is really created independently by them.  Of course, their projects are consistent with their roles and our organizational goals, but at the same time it gives them the ability to create  and to continue to develop their own personal brand.

3)  Give them the resources they need--I have found that much more so than monetary reward, our most creative employees want either the technological or human resources that they need to do work on their projects.  Not that they don't appreciate monetary reward, but their requests for resources have far outnumbered any requests for money.

Those are a few of the items that we have found important.  Please feel free on your comments to share your experiences retaining your most entrepreneurial employees.

Danny

Virtual Learning Experiences

Innovations over the past year has begun to deliver its seminars using over the internet, through what we call Virtual Learning Experiences (VLEs). They are much more interactive than webinars, using devices such as polling, case studies, and interactive exercises to create an experience almost parallel to that of the classroom. We deliver them usually over the course of about an hour to and hour and 15 minutes. You can visit a couple of examples of them at the following page http://www.innovint.com/services/small-acts-of-inclusion.php . The idea is that it is a lower cost way where people can experience sessions from the comfort of their desktop. This will never replace live classroom training, but is a nice tool to use in addition to the other efforts your organization is making in a given area.

Diversity, Inclusion and Employee Engagement Part I

Diversity, inclusion, and employee engagement--what do all three of these initiatives have in common? People. More specifically, the extent to which the inherent differences people bring to the workplace are embraced in such a way that employees experience inclusion and full engagement in their work. Studies by the Gallup Management Journal indicate that only 29% of employees are actively engaged in their jobs.
Diversity is a an inclusive environment wherein differences—human, cultural, and systems—are leveraged as a competitive business advantage in order to:

• provide exceptional customer service
• ensure the physical, mental, and spiritual well-being of employees
• achieve exceptional workplace and business performance
• deliver the highest quality products and services
Inclusion is an environment where there is “equity of opportunity” for personal and organizational success, as well as pride in the organization.
Employee Engagement is a level of “employee commitment” to the organization that ultimately results in greater discretionary effort in his or her work—beyond the expected or compensated level of performance.
The Roles of Leadership/Management and Employees
All three of the initiatives cited above have two dimensions: The Role of Leadership/ Management and The Role of Employees.

1) The Role of Leadership/Management

• Create an environment of integrity and trust.
• Provide employees with career and growth opportunities.
• Establish an environment where employees take pride in the organization
and communicate that pride to others.
• Provide opportunities for personal and professional development.
• Establish quality interpersonal relationships, communication, and
problem resolution.
• Create an environment for work-life quality, balance, and integration.

2) The Role of Employees

• Request, ensure, and design engaging work that is personally
satisfying.
• Ensure that your work is aligned with the organization’s or business
unit’s goals and objectives.
• Assume a natural leadership role among peers as greater delegation
occurs (Leadership is the ability to influence others).
• Design a career development plan inclusive of the experiences and
learning you will require.
• Establish quality interpersonal relationships, communication, and
collaboration among your peers.
• Define and create a plan for work-life quality and balance.

The role of leadership/management is to proactively provide an inclusive environment and management practices that support the development, learning, and well-being of employees. An inclusive environment is an organizational context where all employees experience being wanted, appreciated, and valued.

1. Wanted for their diverse membership as part of the organization.
2. Appreciated for the unique contribution they make in creating the culture of the organization.
3. Valued for the unique perspective they bring in terms of creativity, innovation, and high-performance.
It’s also an environment where an employee feels commitment and passion for their work, beyond the expected or compensated level of performance.

Transformational Leaders and Leadership

In this time of economic uncertainty, having transformational leaders is crucial to the success of our organizations.
Leadership is the ability to influence the thinking, commitment, and behaviors of others.
Transformational leaders are able to:

• Facilitate the proactive adaptation to change on the part of others;
• Understand and manage the relationship between the human dimensions of work and exceptional performance;
• Understand and manage a spectrum of people, competencies, and styles;
• Understand that the external results one produces is a direct consequence of one’s inner motivation;
• Have an in-depth understanding of one’s self.

Leadership/Management Support—A Personal Assessment
Instructions: Take five minutes to evaluate yourself in terms of your overall workplace performance in a leadership and/or managerial support role. Use a scale of 0 (lowest) to 10 (highest) for each statement with respect to employees under your supervision or those you work with.

1. I am skillful at facilitating both the professional development and personal growth of employees I lead/supervise.
2. I am comfortable working with people who have beliefs and values divergently different from my own.
3. I ensure an environment where high performance is expected and achieved.
4. I ensure, by measurement, a “worker-friendly” environment where employees experience work-life quality and balance.
5. I proactively engage in personal and professional growth.

For the item where you feel as if you rank the lowest, find a colleague or friend outside of work that you trust to give you honest feedback on  two to three Small Acts of Inclusion® might be able to incorporate immediately that would have an impact.
Innovations recommends our course Leading During Turbulent Times—The FuturePerfect Leadership Model as the first step in implementing positive change in the workplace. For more information on transforming your organization please contact us.

If you liked this self-assessment, you might also like our free High Performance Leadership Self Test at www.innovint.com

Dealing with Differences

Dealing with Differences is a challenge whether it is at home or in the workplace.  Here are a few key tips that can help with the process.

1. Realize that how we view the world is through our unique reality— our reality is not necessarily right or superior to others.
2. Be willing to acknowledge that we all have biases and prejudices—tell the truth.
3. Consider the possibility that most insensitivities are unintentional—assume most people are well-intentioned.
4. Be open to feedback when you experience conflict that involves diversity—have the courage to admit that you might have been too quick to judgement or that you might have offended someone.
5. Create experiences and friendships across diversity differences—experiencing others in relationship is the most powerful way to create diversity!
6. Be willing to confront your fears of experiencing differences—have the courage to change and grow, it is key to our survival.
7. Be willing to explore issues of human equality—we all seek to be superior to others in some way.
8. Remember, diversity is a process of continuously learning through experiencing the differences in others--create a relationship with someone with whom you have the greatest prejudice!

Active Listening–An important skill for successful workplace relationships

Here are some quick tips that we suggest for active listening:

1. Maintain an open mind – Make a conscious decision to be open and receptive to challenging dialogue.
2. Focus on the person – Attempt to avoid all distractions and give the person your undivided attention.
3. Control your emotions – Focus inwardly when you experience a reaction to what is being communicated to understand the emotional message of the person.
4. Show interest – Smile or nod when you agree; avoid shaking your head in disagreement even when you are not convinced of their ideas or opinions.
5. Formulate overall impressions – At regular intervals, summarize in your mind what is being communicated.
6. Evaluate the content – Evaluate the content of the communication, not the person or his or her style of delivery.
7. Read between the lines – Listen for hidden messages between the lines using your intuition. (Subliminal communication)
8. Practice makes mastery – Remember, mastery comes with practice; particularly of non-verbal cues or messages.

If you incorporate these simple steps each day, you will see significant improvement in the quality of your relationships with others, both at the workplace and in other parts of your life.

Danny

Talent Managent

Ever heard the phrase, “good help is so hard to find these days”? Any HR manager or executive is familiar with the daunting task of trying to find the perfect fit for their company. Today’s workforce is more demanding than ever and every employee must contribute to the overall success of any organization. In response to this, Dr. Guillory released a white paper this week entitled The Age of Human Potential—Talent Management. This paper is the first part in a two part series on the subject. Dr. Guillory describes talent management as, “an initiative designed to source, attract, recruit, develop, advance, and retain highly competent employees.” In his white paper he proves the cost per benefit ratio of each stage of employee recruitment and retention.
The stages are:

* Sourcing – establishing a system and criteria for identifying highly motivated, multicultural individuals for potential employment.

* Attracting – presenting a compelling case to potential recruits that are interested in your organization.

* Recruiting – the collective effort of an organization to show a potential employee that his or her future is best realized by their employment.

* Developing – providing the opportunity and support necessary to an employee for their continual expanding potential.

* Advancing – providing the opportunity for employees to attain higher positions of responsibility, as a result of mentoring, coaching, and visible opportunities, in proportion to performance.

* Retaining - the result of the proactive, professional development of an employee.

Business objectives have continued to evolve over the centuries as technology presents us with more efficient work tools and more challenging tasks. Dr. Guillory shows this progression over time and suggests that every organization develop a talent management support system that continuously monitors the efforts of employee well being.

The Need for Work Life Balance in Today’s Economy

Recently the subject of work life balance has found a new awakening. The concept of balancing our personal and business needs isn’t a new phenomenon however it’s become an increasingly growing trend with the development of information technology. Business week recently released a report on the demand for and necessity of work life balance during a recession.

http://www.businessweek.com/managing/special_reports/20090326work-life_balance.htm. Recent studies have shown that even with the technological breakthroughs that have helped make daily tasks simpler, we can still find ourselves stressed and time crunched. These studies also show that in a stressful environment, productivity and employee wellness progressively decline, killing an organization’s profitability. These recent finding have spawned the new age of work life balance. Where employees work in their most productive time scales and shift their focus to the appropriate task at hand.

Some of the steps that Fortune 500 Companies are implementing include:

1. Telecommuting - When employees work from home, they not only create more work time by saving the daily commute, but they also save the overhead cost of a rented or owned business facility. One of the biggest innovators in this is Capital One who is promoting a work from home option to all levels of management.
2. Flexible Schedules - The Corporate Executive Board conducted a research survey asking employees what the most important aspect of their employer was. They found that “In the current economic environment, work-life balance now ranks as one of the most important workplace attributes—second only to compensation.” Their article describes this balance as “The gift of time.” Many large companies offer their employees free time for education, physical fitness, or personal errands. Or they may offer company gym memberships or discount meals as a way for employees to make the best use of their daily time.
3. Education – Many of us just don’t know where to start when it comes to balancing our lives. What is the most important activity we do every day? What activities will help me be more productive? These questions are all addressed in each of our Work Life Balance Workshops. We recently added a resource to our website called Creating Sanity. This is a free self evaluation that we offer workshop participants to help them balance their priorities.

This month Innovations International celebrates its one-year anniversary in becoming a virtual organization. Our employees all balance their home and work life while assisting our clients with successful initiatives in leadership, diversity, creativity and work life balance. The learning we experienced has given us the in depth knowledge that we bring to each of our clients as we assist them in making a similar transition.

Kathleen DiFrancesco
Director of Marketing
Innovations International

Virtual Teams and Virtual Organizations

Our organization moved to a virtual office last year and the result for us has been better than we anticipated.   However, along the way there are a number of different things that we learned:

1)   Overcommunication is necessary--When we are in a traditional office environment, we tend to pick up many things just by osmosis...spontaneous conversations that come up, impromptu meetings that are called, etc.   Even though it may seem like overkill, it is absolutely vital to be very clear on your meaning, and ask questions if there is any doubt.

2)  The technological tools--Before going virutal, we took a great of time exploring different options for tools that we could use to replicate our communication patterns, and also to save money.   Most of the tools we identified were either free or low cost, and all are internet accessible.   For free applications, we selected Skype for our in house calling/chat tool, Gmail for our email addresses, and Google Calendar for our organizational calendar.  For low cost tools, we chose Egnyte as the virtual server, Ring Central for our virtual PBX, Highrise for our customer database, and Basecamp for project management.   We also have begun holding virtual conferences, and now use Webex as the tool for those events.  Switching to this internet based system has probably saved us 15% in operating costs.

3)  Connecting with other resources--We have also opened up to using Elance as a resource to help us staff up on projects that require skills outside of our core competencies.  Many clients have needs that now cannot be filled by their in-house teams and are looking to us to fill the gap in related areas.  As a result, we now have a trusted team of people that we have identified through Elance who are able to ramp up quickly on our projects.  We have been happy overall, although I would add that our best experiences have been when a project was clearly definable in terms of a result, rather than a result that was more subjective.

4)  Flexibilty--Our team loves the flexibility and the ability to balance work and home life.   Some employees do their creative work at 5am and begin sending in the results of their work, while others make work late into the night.  I am able to work in between taking my children to school, and then soccer practice in the afternoon, fitting things in both before and after. Life unfortunately does not fit neatly into boxes, so this flexibility has made us view our work and our lives in a different way.

5)  Relationships are still the key--Being virtual actually has made the need for quality relationships even more important.  Being isolated with time to reflect on something can result in thoughts running wild, so picking up on cues in someone's voice or tone can serve as a guide in figuring our someone's emotional state.   Don't ignore your instincts....if you think you "hear" something, ask them, because there is probably something to it.
It has been a great experience, and I will share more thoughts on this soon.

Danny