A Standing Ovation

I saw a great post this week of a leader receiving a standing ovation and as he walked down between 2 rows of his team heading for the exit on his last day. The celebration was warm, genuine and emotional. People were cheering, slapping him on the back, hugging him and crying as he walked the guard of honour. I know nothing of the man or his work, but he had clearly made a massive impression and impact on his colleagues and team. I suspect he was a master at some of the core ingredients of building trust and psychological safety in a high performing team.

• Competence - in a professional environment, connection is important, but you also need to be able to get the job done.

• Warmth - we judge people in a heartbeat, way faster than they can demonstrate their competence. Warmth means you care and genuinely connect with people as people, not assets or resources. The easiest and quickest way to do this is make eye contact and smile.

• Integrity - do what you say you will do, when you say you will do it. Competence and warmth won’t be enough to continue building trust and psychological safety if you don’t follow through. (PS, this also means being good at saying “No” - more on that later)

• Connection - beyond your warm smile, is connection. Getting to know team members, what they care about, what they aspire to, what their challenges are, where they shine and where they need support not only show you care, but also help in building high performance.

• Clarity - Great leaders add clarity to everything- roles, boundaries, timeframes, measures of success, standards and more.

I reckon that standing ovation was built on these ingredients. And the beauty is they are all skills which means they can be learnt and improved by anyone. Which of them could use some attention in your world?

Inviting Response

An Executive leader recently noticed something in one of my workshops. He asked “When someone in the room asks a question or makes a comment, you seem to either agree or say something positive before commenting or answering, even if you don't agree with them. Is that deliberate?”

I love this kind of question from someone who is simultaneously engaging with content, plus observing the detail of what is happening in the room. That’s a useful skill to cultivate. And his observation was spot on. Some of the things I might say are:

• That’s a really interesting story, thanks for sharing it.

• Thanks for your question.

• Tell me more about…

• I can see how (reflect observation) would be potentially challenging in your context.

• Thanks for your insights.

• Thanks for your thoughtful response.

• I see, help me understand more about the impact of that.

Even when I strongly disagree with a perspective, it’s rare that I will immediately take an oppositional perspective without exploring further. For leaders, whatever the context, we have an overweighted share of creating (or damaging) psychological safety. I want people to interact, ask, challenge, respond. If I immediately disagree with them, or take a black and white opposing view, I immediately degrade the likelihood that others will speak or ask anything. Inviting dialogue can be challenging when we directly disagree, but if we shut people down, it doesn’t change their point of view. It shuts the gate on open participation, driving the real conversation underground and out of view.

How do you encourage open dialogue in your context? How do you handle contentious perspectives?

Thanks Paul for the thought provoking observation and question.

Chunking up

Finding Unusual Links

What have financial forecasting, survival and leadership capacity got to do with each other? This Friday I’m joining Michael Ford, CEO of Castaway Forecasting on Nick Samios’ Lunch Money podcast.

We’ll be exploring what leaders can do in messy, unpredictable and uncertain times. Among other mindsets, we’ll be talking about the value of forecasting possible outcomes to the situation you are in. This isn’t about predicting the future. It’s about maintaining mental flexibility to deal with a range of possibilities. Let’s take a doomsday prepper and an athlete who is sure they will win. Both are forecasting.

The pessimistic prepper invests time and resources to be ready for a bleak future. If their scenario comes true, it’s the best ‘I told you so’ story in history (assuming there’s anyone left to tell). Any other scenario will likely see them completely unprepared.

The athlete’s envisaged win is way more positive than the prepper, but if reality strays from their perfect outcome, they may be just as stuck.

Leadership includes the capacity to imagine many different outcomes, play them through and anticipate what you might do differently. The key is not to buy into them. Winning forecasts add pressure if you are losing. Doomsday forecasts add pressure if something unanticipated comes along. Consider many possibilities. Hold them lightly and accept whatever reality throws at you.

If you’d like to listen to the Lunch Money podcast episode here’s the link.

It's their job!

RANT ALERT!!!

I can't believe I'm still hearing some leaders say, “They are just doing what’s required of them in their job. Why should I thank them?” Really? How’s that working out for you?

Some leaders seem to believe that employees should be grateful that they have a job, and just get on with it. And while you’ll never hear me say a bad word about gratitude, (It’s a powerful way to shift mindset and even body chemistry for the better) this just doesn’t cut it.

Employees are the absolute engine room for success in business at any scale beyond sole practitioner. When they have clarity about what they are doing and why, and feel it’s genuinely appreciated, it makes a world of difference.

If you even remotely think “Why should I thank them?”, run an experiment. For a month, just try it. Go out of your way to catch people doing good work, showing good intent, contributing ideas, effort or leverage to your enterprise. Notice them doing it and thank them for it. See what a difference it makes. If you can’t find anything, thank them for showing up. See the differences in happiness,

CAUTION: Don’t even bother trying this if your thanks are not genuine. People can spot that BS from over the horizon.

For the rest of you leaders who genuinely get this and already make a habit of it - Thank you! Keep up the great work. How you make your employees feel contributes to my community!

OK. RANT over. Soap box returned to storage.

The way things are done around here

Most sectors are experiencing higher than normal turn over at the moment. Coupled with already high workloads for many, this adds load and fatigue. Under those circumstances it can be challenging to welcome new team members and set them up for success. A couple of clients have intentionally paused to plan beyond the formal induction process. Together we have explored creating a really warm welcome for their new team members, giving the best chance of rapidly reaching high performance together.

If you are in a similar situation here are some elements you might like to consider:

• How your team works together - What holds the team together, creates momentum and cohesion?

• What is important to the team? - Are there values, targets, standards, expectations or priorities that set/maintain direction?

• Are there significant things to know about the organisation and its status right now?

Are there significant things to know about the organisation and its status right now?

Also consider whether there are any challenges for people that have been on the team for a while. For example, they may be feeling disappointed at the loss of previous team members, or a ‘bit over’ inducting yet another person. Ideally, the team doesn't want these ‘past facing’ issues rubbing off on new staff.

It can be challenging carving the time out to make sure people are welcomed well. It’s more essential than ever in the current market.

Field of Play

“The ideal solution is re-stump the house. That would cost around $80K. I don’t think it’s worth it. We can stabilise the structure and achieve a reasonable result for way less, but It won’t be perfect. Let’s discuss the compromises and consequences of the cheaper version to make sure you’ll be happy with the result”

Harry the Chippy

“We have clarity about the features that must be included at launch. These cannot be compromised. If needed we’ll delay launch until we can deliver them. Then there’s features that are essential to long term success. It would be great to have them at launch, but we won’t delay for them. We’ll likely release them over the first few months of the platform being live. Finally there’s our wish list, features that would make the product match our dream. For now we can’t be distracted by these. We can build them as we build success.”

Mike the Software CEO

Both these are examples of a leader doing one of the most effective things to reduce uncertainty - they are bringing clarity to the field of Play. Imagine a sporting team trying to focus its effort without knowing the rules of the game or boundaries of the arena. It would be chaos.

As a leader, especially in uncertainty, one of your main roles is to clarify the field of play.

Like a Lighthouse

My mate Jeremy Watkins reckons we have the wrong idea of clarity in leadership. People commonly think of clear glass or water when picturing clarity. Jeremy says a lighthouse in heavy fog is a more useful concept. The lighthouse can't help you see in the fog, but it can show the way and mark the rocks. Good leaders do that by distilling purpose and challenges down to a few clear pieces that their teams can action.

In a recent workshop with senior leaders I saw this in action. We generated a large page of current challenges. Some impact their whole sector, some unique to their organisation. It was a lot. The page was overwhelming. But they can't afford to ignore any of it. Every item is mission critical in some way. Ignorance, far from being bliss, could spell ruin.

One leader had a lighthouse moment. “This all boils down to 4 themes”, she said. She nailed it! The page didn't change but there was a palpable sense of relief and clarity about what they needed to do about it. That clarity will flow on to the whole organisation. It's much easier to make and communicate a clear plan for 4 themes than it is for the 100 plus items on the original page.

Could your organisation benefit from clarity like that? In what areas? What would the impact be of achieving it? How will you create the time and space to reach it? It’s unlikely to emerge from the fog on its own. Be the lighthouse.

Flight Test

“Suddenly the plane dove straight toward the ground. Pulling on the controls made no difference and we were quickly gaining speed. I methodically reversed the last thing I did and reduced the flap. The plane levelled out immediately.” This was one of many hair-raising stories an old mate of mine told about his time test flying aircraft. I’m building a plane in my back shed. Test flying is one of many things I need to get my head around. 

There’s a lengthy process of checking and double checking everything before the plane ever leaves the ground. All of it is designed to make the first flight as safe and effective as possible. Launching without a plan could definitely be a career limiting move! 

Psychological Safety is like that too. It creates a workplace people want to be part of and where great results can be achieved. When we can minimise the surprises in how people act/react, we can work more closely. A couple of good starting points are:

• Treat each other kindly regardless of how difficult the issues you are facing.

• Play the problem, not the person.

Behaving this way creates certainty between people, even when the operating environment is uncertain.

What others would you add?

Grinding the Gorge

“If we are where you say we are, that wall should be north of us,” he said.

I agreed, it was an obvious statement. We’d been looking at the map, confirming where we were. He pulled out the compass and pointed it at the wall. South! My brain did back flips as I assimilated the info. I was horribly wrong about where we were, and we were way off course!

How did it get so bad? We’d been walking for a while assuming everything was OK.

In hindsight I caused it all. I’d set up an environment where there was little opportunity for input from others and low incentive to offer it. Even though the mistake cost everyone effort and miles of walking, it was a long time before anyone spoke up. Perhaps you’ve been in leadership situations like that… Wishing someone had said something earlier. 

So what were the causes

• Arrogant overconfidence. I’d been navigating on land, sea and air, plus underwater for years. I taught classes on the topic. I knew my stuff and was technically good. I felt like I couldn’t go wrong and that got me fixated on my assumptions rather than open and curious. 

• Man with the plan. People defaulted to me as the ‘guy with the answers’ because I quickly took control and started moving.

• No Space. The pace left no room for questions. Even if people were unsure, stopping to ask a question would have felt like impeding forward progress (we had some ambitious destination targets). If the ‘question’ was a niggling uncertainty rather than a clearly formed concern, it would risk looking foolish in front of the group. When we stopped for a break, someone had time to look, think, examine the map and ask a question, but before then it would have been hard.

• No feedback loops. As a group we did nothing to establish how we would work together. We just flew into action. Spending some time doing this would have saved us hours of pointless walking.

If your people are not contributing ideas, voicing concerns, suggesting improvements and bringing their best, it’s worth asking:

“What am I doing to make it difficult for people to do that?”

If you have a trusted advisor you might like to ask them the same question and listen to the answer.

Leaders set the tone for the team.

Creating a Sense of Safety and Connection

Have you ever had a moment where 4 small words had the potential to dramatically change your experience? Back when planes were a regular part of my work and life I had one of those moments. 

I was seated halfway along a smallish plane. 

The aircrew were moving along the plane from the back opening all the overhead lockers as they came. There seemed to be a sense of urgency.. 

I wondered what they could possibly be looking for. Aircrew know where things are. If they needed some piece of equipment they would go get it. 

It also seemed unlikely they were looking for something for a passenger.

If we want something from hand luggage in an overhead locker we stand up and get it, not call the aircrew for a systematic search!

And yet, here they were systematically searching lockers along the whole plane… Strange.

Eventually the crew arrived at my row.  She opens the locker, stands on tip-toe to peer in and appears to be subtly sniffing the air. 

I couldn’t help but ask, “Are you looking for something?”

Her response amazed me. It was very low on the list of things I would ever expect aircrew to ask a passenger. 

She looked me straight in the eye, smiled as only air crew  can and asked, 

“Can you smell smoke?”

Her question didn’t especially bother me. I couldn’t smell smoke, and I’m very comfortable on planes

For a less comfortable passenger the question could well be enough to have them clawing for the handles on the nearest emergency exit!

It’s a great illustration of psychological safety. For the crew, the situation clearly wasn’t of great concern, and she was in an environment very familiar to her. When we are familiar with our environment, we can inadvertently do or say something that deeply disturbs someone less familiar.

One of the quickest ways to build trust and psychological safety is to anticipate possible perspectives and issues for those around you, especially if they are new to the environment.

Time spent setting their mind at ease strengthens their trust and regard for you.

The challenge is to be aware enough of what those concerns might be, especially if the environment has become routine for you.

Where could you more effectively build trust and psychological safety for those around you?

Reduce the Policy Load

Things had been dodgy to say the least. The organisation was losing money, and while it was never proven it was pretty likely that some was being internally skimmed. A new CEO was appointed and she was met with a tangled web involving people at all levels right up to the board. Had the organisation continued “as is” it would have been broke in 18 months and likely facing a number of legal ramifications. People were suspicious and guarded. It was an emotionally charged and manipulative environment. There was very little trust. The organisation was far from unshakeable and on the verge of being shaken to the core.

As the new CEO uncovered the extent of the chaos, the organisation slipped further with people running for cover behind blame. Factions began making threats in an attempt to ensure compliance or silence. Threats ranged from minor to very serious. 

In the aftermath there was very little trust. In rebuilding the organisation there was a strong swing to creating policy and procedure (P&P) for everything. It’s an understandable reaction - an attempt to lock the doors and bar the windows.  

However the higher the quantity of P&P, the lower the effectiveness:

• Higher quantities of P&P increase the likelihood  that some or all of your staff are operating outside the ‘rules’. The more there are, the less it is possible to know, understand and apply them all. In fact, time and effort will be spent finding work-arounds and short cuts.

• High volumes of P&P increase the annual workload of review and update. If the team takes the task seriously, it requires a detailed look at each document and how it is serving the organisation (or not). High volumes tend to result in a ‘tick and flick’ mentality that does nothing to contribute to the security that P&P are trying to create.

• People who will do the wrong thing will find a way, regardless of how thick the P&P file is. 

• P&P is a great killer of innovation and improvement.

• High volume P&P implies staff aren’t to be trusted and need every element of their work guided by the organisation.

• It raises the centre of gravity, by taking decisions and processes up the hierarchy. In turn, this restricts thinking and creativity at the coal face.

• High volume becomes addictive, as every little gap in P&P is hunted down and filled. It’s like  rabbits or those wire coat hangers from the dry cleaner.

Unshakable organisations are lean on Policy and Procedure, but do not leave the organisation without guidelines. Ray Dalio’s book “Principles” is a great example of detailed guidance that leaves heaps of room for flexible approaches to changing conditions.

A great principle for organisations who want to be unshakable is to reduce P&P as much as possible.

When reviewing documents, ask yourself “Is there any reason why this document could not be deleted or shortened?”

Buildings, Births and The Beat

100 years. Depending on how you look at it, it's either a long time or a short one. In cosmic terms it's less than blink of an eye. In lifespans it's either one really long one or around 1.3 average length ones. In career terms, it's about 3 working lifetimes (unless you are a professional sports person in which case it's a lot more).

So much has changed in 100 years. Back in 1917 The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower. More than 95% of births happened at home. There was no such thing as Mother's Day. Pneumonia was still the leading cause of death.  The average life span was around 50! Perth wan't even connected to the national phone system until 1930.

In 1917 Helen Dugdale (L) and Laura Chipper (R) made history. They were the first women in WA's Police Service. I'm privileged to present tomorrow among some other awesome speakers to mark the 100 year anniversary of Women in Policing in our state. As I have prepared for the event, I'm humbled by the number of "firsts" that continue to happen as pioneering women stand up and tackle roles that are traditionally male.

“The day before something is a breakthrough, it’s just another crazy idea”

— Peter Diamandis

Firsts take effort. You have to make your own road. There's no chance to follow or learn from others, only to do the best you can with what you have got. Often there's a lack of resources and active opposition. We've got a lot of pioneers in this state. It's a line from well before colonial times right up to the moment. I'm honoured to be asked to celebrate Women in Policing, and it makes me grateful for all the incredible changes made by courageous people who built their own road.

Rude = Expensive

I looked across the track at the small collection of gear I had packed for this advanced survival exercise. It was nearly dark and I was being patted down to ensure I had nothing other than a pocket sized survival kit on me. I glanced nervously at my eight companions as our gear was thrown into the back of a vehicle. We were handed an envelope and our instructors drove into the gathering darkness, leaving us alone. We opened the envelope and read our instructions, "You are somewhere on one of your 3 maps ... ".

In hindsight the next three days were characterised by hasty decisions and poor communication as we struggled to come to terms with our circumstances. We also lashed out at each other - verbal sparring as we vented frustration about our external circumstances on each other.

Over the 20 years I worked as a survival instructor it never ceased to amaze me how easily individuals and groups could be made to feel they were at threat. In that state, people are more reactive than normal and results definitely suffer. It's amazing how rarely people pause to consider the best course of action.

In the modern work context a sense of threat is not unusual either. Most workplaces experience some level of uncertainty. Mostly it's from circumstances beyond our direct control. One possible reaction is rudeness to the people around us. I can certainly think of more than one occasion when my conduct was not as good as it could have been.

Rudeness in itself is enough to make people feel at threat. It damages psychological safety (How safe people feel). And it doesn't have to be extreme (or deliberate) to have an impact.

• Raised voices
• Harsh words
• Intimidating body language
• Slammed doors
• Banter and sarcasm
• Side conversations and excluding people
• Disregard for people's time
• Sending emails, taking calls, checking watches while you should be listening to someone
• Not following through on things you said you would do

Over the last two decades, Christine Porath and colleagues have researched rudeness in the workplace. They clearly identify many impacts on individuals, teams and bottom line. A recent article in HBR summarises their findings and others in the field. If you want the detail you can find it at hbr.org/2017/01/how-rudeness-stops-people-from-working-together

How we treat each other is largely a choice. We can choose to be civil, even in the most demanding environments. It's one of the few things that we have direct control over which has a massive and positive impact on our team environment. It's an easy way to directly impact cohesion, trust, productivity and engagement. It also takes effort and attention.

All of us have moments where we crack or fray and resort to rudeness out of frustration. Perfect politeness is not the goal. But in situations when we accept rudeness from ourselves and others it gets worse, not better. Increasing levels of incivility become the norm of 'how things are done around here'. Looking at Porath's research, it's way too expensive on almost every measure to allow that. And it's on the rise.

Reflect on how you, your team and your business conduct themselves when some of these common stressors occur:

• Giving or receiving feedback about performance
• A new deadline, or urgent of piece of work
• A customer complaint
• The photocopier crapping out in the middle of an urgent print run
• An interruption when you are in the flow of work
• New (and probably onerous) requirements from an external regulator, customer or market
• A long day to meet a deadline
• Scope creep
• A financial loss
• Personal pressures from outside work like a puking kid, unexpected bill, or relationship problems
• Something not going to plan

Here are four things you can do to influence how cohesive and effective your team is. A single individual can influence others by paying attention to these things. It's even more effective when whole teams (or organisations) decide to remove rudeness from their environment.

1.  Aim - to treat each other well in spite of the pressures you face. Work on respect and integrity. Even when there are hard messages to deliver or receive, do it politely.  
2. Recognise - the kinds of situations that tend to push your personal buttons. What about the team? Start spotting rudeness and noticing its impact. Also recognise that different people have different levels of skill around rudeness. It's much easier to avoid if you have had lots of examples through life of people who handle adversity without getting rude. 
3. Clarify - the kinds of behaviour that you want to see, and the ones to avoid. Also the situations that may trigger rudeness. Be as specific as you can. Discuss it politely away from heated moments. Talk about what you will do when you see, experience or perpetrate rudeness. Discuss how you might raise the bar and hold each other to account. Explore where the line is between healthy banter and rudeness for your team. When people do something you consider rude, give a clear example of both the behaviour and its impact on you.
4. Apologise - when you notice something you did or said had a negative impact on others. Do it whenever you know you have crossed the line, however small the crossing might be. Accept other people's apologies with grace. Remember it is unlikely to be perfect, cut each other some slack.

4 tips for leaders under pressure

I'm kicking my year off with a bang! Next week I'm working with a diverse group of forty leaders. Together they represent State Primary Schools, Oil and Gas, Health, Environmental Services, Not-For-Profits, Human Services. There's a mix of people who founded and own their business, and others who are entrusted to lead it. Some are large, publicly listed companies and some are small. 

Together we'll be looking at Leadership Under Pressure! Regardless of sector or size, leaders are facing unprecedented levels of pressure and change. Leaders are dynamic people with a passion for getting great results. Sometimes that has an impact on their own wellbeing. Here are four tips for leaders under pressure.

Breathe - It's easy to get caught up in the rapid fire transitions between all the meetings, roles and responsibilities of the modern leader. We are not well adapted to that, but it's not an option to stop either. It all has an impact - adding stress hormones to our bodies, reducing sleep, gaining weight etc. Slow rhythmic breathing sends a clear signal to your body to switch off the stress response. Unless you are a well practiced monk, it's unlikely that you'll get through a whole day focussed on how you are breathing, so just focus on the transitions. As you are going from one thing to another pause and take 3 long slow rhythmic breaths. It will help shed the stress of what you just did and focus more effectively for your next leadership challenge. It's quick, easy and effective.

Nature - There's piles of research showing that even small amounts of time in nature rejuvenate us in all kinds of ways. Creativity, problem solving and mental clarity all improve, as do wellbeing and resilience. There's lots of other benefits too. See if you can get a small slice of nature every day. Lunch in a park, walk, meet by the riverside, sit under a tree (also a great place for a meeting) watch a flock of birds.

Clarity - A leaders role can sometimes feel like an endless repeat of the same messages. That's a good thing. Investing time making sure people understand vision, direction and expectations is rarely wasted. It's easy to get caught up in endless frenetic doing which can result in a lack of clarity. In turn that breeds confusion and inefficiency. I see so many teams doing work over because of lack of clarity. It sucks energy, motivation and resources. Make it a priority to build clarity. Even if it takes you away from your immediate task list, the result will be more progress in the long run.

Progress - For many of the things we work on, it's hard to feel a sense of progress. Take time each day to acknowledge the achievements of the team. Creating a sense of progress is a great way to inject energy and maintain motivation.

I'd love to hear from you about what sustains you under pressure.

Wishing you a 2017 filled with great leadership moments!

Retreat - Stepping back to forge ahead

I recently spent a few glorious days among one of the best wildflower seasons in living memory. Along with a few people dear to me, I sat on the shores of a beautiful inland lake north of Perth on the fringe of the desert. We walked, talked, gazed at stars, relaxed and explored.

Some of our conversations were serious - exploring the challenges of life. Others were exploratory, creative, or connecting. We laughed and shared great food.

A retreat is a great opportunity to take time out and take stock. Some people I speak to feel they haven't got the time, or that investing in themselves on retreat is not something that they can justify. As leaders, it's easy to get caught up in the constant drive of modern work. We can get to a point of being so focused on getting things done that out view becomes increasingly short and our creativity and enthusiasm wane. I've spoken to several leaders in the past few weeks who are feeling like they are just going through the motions. Some spoke of a grinding sense of fatigue and even burnout.

A retreat creates many opportunities:

• to deeply explore why you do what you do
• to examine and reset habits
• to reflect and consolidate learning
• to seek counsel from mentors and peers
• to make time for strategy
• to gather energy for the next productive push
• to reset your intention and purpose
• to build resilence and wellbeing
• to simply stop and rest

A good retreat will return you to your work with renewed focus, energy and enthusiasm. When was the last time you took time out of the day to day busyness to take stock?

I've joined with a team of four other dynamic and inspirational leaders to bring a two day retreat to Perth on October 30 and 31. Lead By Example is a retreat designed for leaders and owners in all kinds of business. if you would like more information for yourself, a colleague, or a family member you can find it at www.mikehouse.com.au/lead-by-example/ We would love to see you there. 

Expectations kill people!

In every survival situation I can think of it’s the expectations that did it.

The pilot expected to make it through lowering cloud… and flew into a mountain.

The prospector expected to find his way back to his vehicle… and was lost for days.

The lost man expected to find water… and perished from dehydration.

Reality! - No one in their right mind would continue into a situation they expect will kill them. 

In a survival situation the feedback is rapid. When you make a mistake the consequences are quickly experienced, sometimes in a matter of hours.

In our fast paced modern life, consequences may take days, or even years to arrive, but they are just as inevitable:

They expected the boom to go on and on...

He expected his staff to care as much about his business as he did…

So how can expectations lead us so far astray?
The fact is that our amazing brain treats memories of actual events and expectations of the future in exactly the same way.

“[Expectations] are stored in memory just as past events are. To the brain the future is as real as the past.”
L. Gonzales in ‘Deep Survival’ (2003).

The impact is that we tend to become fixated on our expectations, and then continue to blunder forward with a kind of blind optimism that believes the expectation will come to pass. That serves us well until there is a conflict – either between our expectations and those of another; or when reality begins to diverge from what we expect. At that point we have the choice of reformulating our expectations. If we don’t we are destined to encounter disappointment, conflict and friction.

The biggest challenge is being aware of what your expectations actually are. Most are formed without any conscious thought. for more on that see recent post http://goo.gl/dHZydF

I use a couple of great questions to clarify my own expectations:

1. What do I expect in this situation?
2. What is the impact on myself and others if this expectation is not met?

Once you are clear about your own expectations, one of the greatest gifts you can give to others is to clearly communicate your expectations with them, and seek to understand theirs.

The beginning of a new financial year is a great time to intentionally discuss your expectations in business. Are your strategies sound in the current reality? Are you tuned in to the expectations of your clients or customers? Does your team have a clear picture of what is expected of them, including how success will be measured or judged? Have you spent some time exploring the plausible "what if" scenarios for your business? 

Beauty, Sandflies and Friction

Last week I took a short break with a good mate. We spent a few days camped on a beautiful and remote freshwater lake. These lakes only fill on occasional years in the arid outback, and they dry up fairly quickly, so the opportunity was fleeting. The photo captured part of a 100 strong flock swans relocating for the night.

We were surrounded by ephemeral beauty, far from the distractions of everyday life, and yet there was a real risk of missing it all. We were distracted by agents of torment - millions of sandflies making the most of ideal breeding conditions. 

A sandfly bite is not initially painful and the insect is tiny enough to go almost unnoticed, even in their droves. But there's a catch. After a while the bites itch beyond belief, the kind of itching that has you lying awake at night, tearing at your own flesh and teetering on the edge of madness. The level of discomfort steadily builds over multiple days.

The key is to notice the sandfly early. If you pay attention to the first minor bites, and get some good quality repellant on, the later torment can be minimised and almost avoided. The trouble is, at the moment of most effective action, the issue doesn't seem big enough to bother with.

Many issues in life and business are like that - starting small and insignificant, and building in intensity. One of my Thrive and Adapt principles is "Treat the Hotspots". It's about the discipline to notice and deal with issues while they are still small. 

The indicators of a potentially building issue are tension, friction or conflict either within yourself, or between you and/or others. This short (just under 4 min) video talks about how to deal with friction effectively.

What are the minor niggles you need to get onto this week?

Healthy Change

Change is a complex process. Mostly, that is because there are people involved. The mechanics of change are usually fairly straight forward. As long as you know what needs to change, why it needs to change, and how you will change it, the rest should go well. Unfortunately, change is rarely that smooth. We run into resistance, confusion, lack of skill, fatigue  and sometimes downright sabotage. We run into issues when we treat change as a purely mechanical process.

Often leaders articulate the mechanics of a coming change very well, and are then surprised when people are not immediately on board. People are actually quite good at change. It's one of the things that has driven our technical and social evolution as a species. We are hard wired to find better and easier ways to do things, and to get more with less. But our inherent ability to change only kicks in when we have a sense of control over it, and when it has a positive meaning for us. Many organisational changes push us into short term situations of less competence and control. Often it significantly increases workloads and stress before the positive results are felt. When change feels threatening or out of control it's much more likely that people will not deal with it well. 

It's not enough to just articulate the mechanics. Leaders need to find ways to connect the change to people in ways that matter to them. Recognising and supporting people in the resulting stress are also important elements to success.

Tasha Broomhall at Blooming Minds gives some great tips in her latest ezine about managing change well. There's plenty of other good stuff in there for creating, maintaining and promoting mentally healthy workplaces. Check out the ezine here or click on the image.

Next week we'll get into some of the hidden aspects of change processes.

Back Tracking

Once a survival group has decided to move, and which way to go - they get moving. In situations where there is a track to be followed, this is easy, but in wild bush it's a constant negotiation between the group and the terrain. As in life, there is seldom a well paved and clear path ahead. Making your way requires effort, thought and consistent forward movement.

The most effective groups will use game trails where they can, because the animals have cleared the way a bit. Walking on a game trail is always easier than pushing through bush. In the absence of a game trail, effective groups will negotiate obstacles by looking well ahead and choosing the route that takes them as close to the right direction as possible. A straight line in the bush just doesn't happen and sometimes the best way is longer but easier. 

The very best of groups will make every step a step forward if they possibly can. They'll go sideways if they have to, but they'll avoid going backwards at all costs. Having to turn back is energy sapping and mentally tough. You quickly feel like you are going nowhere.

Less effective patterns see groups charging ahead, getting stuck and having to back track, sometimes over the exact the same ground they have just walked. Sometimes it's unavoidable, but that's rare. Usually back tracking is caused by these factors which have strong parallels in business:

• Not having a clear enough plan.
• Taking action too quickly resulting in confusion.
• Spreading the group and resources out so far that they lose touch with each other and have to invest time getting back together.
• Not looking far enough ahead to anticipate potential issues.
• Taking short term easy options, that reduce or eliminate options further along. (one group walked down a wide sandy river bed, rather than cross a 50 metre mess of tangled trees at a river bend. 500 metres on they were stuck between a gorge wall and a 300 metre tangle of the same kinds of trees - it was back track or fight through.
• Wanting to confirm in great detail exactly where they are, rather than just heading for the next obvious check point.
• Not being proactive with resources - filling water bottles whenever it is possible, takes a little time, but avoids having to backtrack for water. 
• Leaving critical gear behind.

Sometimes it is worth deliberately backtracking. It's useful when you want to learn more about something you have passed along the way, or want to avoid making a similar mistake in the future. Otherwise the most effective pattern is to keep moving forward.

Decisions, decisions.

My last blog post stirred up a few questions from readers. People wanted to know what specific loops of behaviour were more or less effective. Over the next few weeks I'll unfold some of the more common ones.

The group sat around their morning camp fire. Debate raged back and forth about which way was the best way to go. They were partway through a 200km survival walk. Fatigue and hunger were beginning to play a part. Over the past days, the group had worked out that wasting effort took a toll on their energy and motivation. This morning's debate was about the most efficient route to take to their next check point. They had two clear options and opinion was divided about which was best.

It's a classic ineffective decision making loop. Just when a decision seemed to be made, the alternative was re opened for exploration. The decision making process dragged on and on. Neither party had enough information to mount a definitive case. By the time the group had settled on a decision, the day was heating up. They ended up walking through the heat, taxing their energy even further. The discussion had used up the cool of the day - the ideal time for action.

By the end of the walk, the group was operating as two fractured sub groups. They were making decisions by default, and sometimes taking action without even being clear about what they were doing, or why. The more decisions they made, the less decisive they became. People began second guessing themselves, and some pulled back from the process entirely.

They definitely did it tougher than they needed to.

By contrast groups that have effective decision making loops show these attributes.

• Explicit discussions about how they will make decisions, and resolve differing perspectives. They revisit these discussions often to ensure their process is working.
• Clear priorities. For example, taking action while it was cool always beat discussion at that time of day.
• Listening, openness and curiosity. They had ways to hear the quieter participants. Rather than just arguing they were keen to know what others were thinking and why.
• Deciding in advance. If the plan was to walk at first light, all decisions were made the night before, enabling action as soon as there was enough light.
• Reviewing decisions on the fly. In any situation, as you move forward, you get more information. Some of that sheds new light on your decisions, and may even mean they have to be changed. Rather that regretting the old decision, they simply made a new one and moved on.
• Group commitment. This is perhaps most important of all. Once decisions were made, the whole group committed to executing it. Whether they ultimately agree or not, effective groups take action together.