In recent months, one of my clients invited their employees to complete an online and confidential survey that captured how they think and feel about working for the company. First off, conducting such a survey is brave for any organisation. After all, they are setting themselves up to be told things they might not want to hear. It is also a very scary prospect for managers in the organisation because whatever employees say is going to reflect on them. Furthermore, it is scary for the respondents. What if it turns out that their responses are not so confidential after all? What if their managers don’t like what they say? Any anyway, is there any point? Will what they say have any impact whatsoever?
It has been my experience that the first time an organisation conducts such a survey it has been catalysed by a sense (at senior levels in the business) that the organisational climate or leadership culture is not what they want it to be. Embarking on such a survey then has the objective of setting the baseline – the starting point that will form the basis of whatever work will be done to get the climate or culture aligned with their vision for the organisation. From my perspective, this is exciting – but then I am not inside the organisation, and the survey makes no comments about my own leadership style!
For many, in fact MOST, managers in such an organisation, the delivery of the results of such a survey is very stressful and threatening – especially if the results are critical of the climate or leadership culture. It is particularly stressful and threatening if there is a strong theme of fear and blame within the organisation. Do you remember the THREAT – ANXIETY – DEFENSE response I have described in previous articles? The results of the survey create a THREAT of appearing incompetent (as a leader); this provokes immense ANXIETY and the resulting response is likely to be DEFENSIVE.
This DEFENSIVE behaviour could take the form of:

• Dismissing the feedback and criticising the instrument as being poorly worded or misleading;
• Dismissing the feedback and criticising the respondents or blaming the timing;
• Trying to figure out who said what and going after them.

All of these responses are going to destroy whatever fragile trust there was that made so many employees respond to the survey in the first place. Their reaction is likely to be something like: “Well you asked for the feedback. You said you really wanted it. You said it would be safe to be honest. Now look what you do. I will never fall for this again.” And they all go back beneath the parapet and seethe with resentment – the exact opposite of what the survey was intended to achieve.
I’d like to offer another perspective. What if we accept that there is nothing to be gained by debating the merits of the feedback? There is nothing to be gained by hunting down whoever said what. Whatever flaws the instrument may have, the feedback is the feedback. It is telling us how people think and feel about working here. We wanted to know, and now we know. We may not like it – but at least we know.
The next questions are:

• How do we want people to think and feel about working here?
• What do we leaders need to change or do differently to make sure that happens?
• What is our action plan?
• When will we run the instrument again to see how we are doing?

Imagine how your teams would respond if they saw you responding in this way. I would anticipate the following:

• Huge relief that there is not going to be a backlash;
• Increased trust;
• Admiration and respect for the leader who is able to take it on the chin non-defensively;
• A willingness to work together to create a climate that is in alignment with the vision;
• Greater transparency and openness;
• A real improvement in organisational climate and leadership culture.

If you do not believe your organisation will do something constructive with the results of an employee survey, it may be better not to do it at all. Handling the results badly will obviously do damage, but don't underestimate the damage that ensues when NOTHING useful is done with the information. Doing nothing is the best way to get employees to disengage - it indicates that management just doesn't care. It is a real gesture of contempt towards employees.
John Gottman, the world-renowned expert on relationships, calls contempt one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse (along with defensiveness, flooding and stonewalling) - it absolutely ALWAYS results in relationship breakdowns - whether it is in personal relationships or working relationships.
Employee surveys should really be seen as integral to the organisation's approach to organisational and leadership development, with the intention being to grow and develop the organisation and its people towards ever greater alignment with the vision and values. In this sense it can be a really growthful experience for everyone.
So what is to be done if you are about to embark on an employee survey, and you are concerned about ensuring that managers ALL handle the feedback well and respond to it appropriately? I have found coaching to be a profoundly valuable resource to managers in the following senses:
1. It helps managers to process and make sense of feedback that they might be disappointed, upset or confused about;
2. It is a forum in which they can think through and decide how to discuss the results of the feedback with their teams;
3. It is a developmental environment in which they can attend to their own growth areas so that they can become the leaders they need to become - if the feedback was not what they would have wished;
4. It is a place where they can decide how to regularly check in with their teams on how they are progressing.

So if this resonates with you and you'd like to consider how to rollout your next employee survey, drop me a mail on belinda@leadershipsolutions.co.za and let's talk about it.

Does this sound like you? There is a leadership paradox which says that leaders need to manage the tension between trusting their team members and keeping an eye on things. Many leaders step way over the line on this one. Instead of collaborating with their team members and checking in with them regularly, they spend much of their time checking up on their people, and the balance of the time holding themselves aloof from the team. There is a distinct difference between checking in and checking on.
Managers who check on their team members make four kinds of mistakes:

• The first is that they fail to allow team members autonomy in carrying out their work. Micromanagers dictate chapter and verse of what must be done and how it must be done.
  The more empowering version of checking in would involve giving the team a clear strategic goal, and respecting their ideas on how to meet that goal.
• The second mistake that micromanagers make is to frequently ask team members about how the work is progressing, but fail to provide any real help when problems arise.
• Their third mistake is to look for someone to blame when mistakes happen or things go wrong.
  They would be far more empowering if they guided team members through an open exploration of causes and possible solutions. The consequence of this is that team members end up trying to look good (or at least not look bad) rather than honestly discussing problems and how to overcome them. They live in a permanent Threat (of appearing incompetent) → Anxiety → Defensiveness pattern, and team members’ perceptions of their manager settle into a permanent low place.
• The fourth mistake of micromanagers is that they rarely share information about their own work with their team members. This often includes withholding information that would help them in their work – and this feels remarkably like an over-controlling parent, which causes team members to feel infantilized, and their motivation and effectiveness plummets.

When you micromanage your people, it poisons their perceptions of you and the organisation, causes them to feel resentful and frustrated, and saps them of their energy and motivation. Furthermore, it stifles creativity and productivity – the consequence is a team whose output is lacklustre and whose ideas are nothing better than ordinary. This naturally causes managers to panic, with the consequence that they breathe down their team members’ necks even more obtrusively and criticise them even more harshly. The result of this is that team members hide problems from their managers, causing problems to become crises.
 
So what is the solution? The following guidelines will help:

1. Give the team/team member clear strategic goals that clearly describe the outputs required, any specific standards that the output must meet and any deadlines that must be met.
2. Check in regularly to establish how the team (or team member) is progressing and to ask what support they need in order to continue to make progress. Then provide that support.
3. Use your systems and management processes to monitor output. When it appears that there are problems with output, check in with the team/team member with a view to understanding what is getting in the way. Establish where your support is needed (information; clearing systemic blockages; skill; tangible assistance) and provide it.
4. When problems arise, explore what may have caused them (not who) and possible solutions. Use a problem solving process such as GROW in a disciplined way (see http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_89.htm or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GROW_model ).
5. Share information generously – all information that will help with the work, as well as information about your own work. The less people know about their work, their manager’s work and the company, the lower their perceptions of their manager and their company.

 
Given that we are now working in a world where teams will increasingly be working remotely from each other and from their manager, this is the perfect time for micromanagers to learn to let go of the need to constantly know what is going on (which is all about you and your insecurities) and focus on two really important things:

1. Care for your people - they are all having a VERY stressful time (this article being written during the time of Covid-19) in both their personal AND their professional lives. They need to know you are in their corner and that you genuinely care.
2. Satisfactory output and NOT perfect input - are they getting the work out well enough? This is not a time for constantly insisting on excellence - as honourable as that may be. This is a time for people to ask themselves "when is good enough good enough?"

If this article speaks to you and you’d like to make some personal changes in order to better lead your team and your business, look at this great offer: http://www.leadershipsolutions.co.za/coaching-offer.html​

Of course, many new managers make the mistake of micro-managing their new teams in their zeal to demonstrate that they have it all under control. If you have a newly appointed manager in your team, check out this great online self-study programme that will help them to set things up right with their new teams: https://bit.ly/2NE1AqH 

This article is based on the ideas of Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer as contained in their book “The Progress Principle”, published in 2011, Harvard Business Review Press).

I've called this a myth because if you think you can get away with this you are in for a nasty surprise. If this is you, I am pretty sure you are experiencing immense frustration with some or all of the following:

1. The performance of the team (or individuals in the team) is inconsistent and not where you would like it to be.
2. People are not making decisions and not solving problems effectively;
3. People are pulling in opposite directions, not supporting one another or even getting in each other’s way;
4. There is gossip, dissatisfaction and grumbling;
5. People are disengaged and appear uncommitted.

 
We simply cannot get work done effectively through our teams if we never meet with them. I wonder if we never meet with them because our meetings have seemed so pointless in the past. Meetings must be purposeful and effective if they are to have the desired effect. The purpose of regular meetings includes the following:

1. To set direction and ensure the team is clear on what it is trying to achieve – in other words to discuss and reach agreement on where we are going and how we are going to get there.
2. To review progress – to reflect on what we are trying to achieve and what we are actually achieving;
3. To learn – what are we doing well; what are we not doing so well; what can we learn from this;
4. To correct course – what do we need to do differently or pay attention to going forward;
5. To collaborate in finding solutions to problems affecting the team and making decisions that require the engagement and commitment of the team.

 
So how can you make sure your meetings are effective? Here are some ideas:

1. Have a clear agenda with items phrased as questions to be answered or decisions to be made (e.g. How is our actual performance tracking against our targets?) Invite input from the team for the agenda. Assign a specific amount of time to each agenda item. Circulate the agenda with any documents team members must read in preparation for the meeting.
2. Have a clear starting and finishing time. Start on time. End on time. Manage the amount of time spent on each agenda item. If you don’t finish your agenda by the end of the allotted time, schedule another meeting. Do not run over time. It is inconsideration. Team members have other commitments and plans for their time.
3. Get the team to agree on some meeting ground rules, such as:
   • Stay on track. If we go off track we all share the responsibility to bring things back on track – even if the boss is the one who has taken it off track.
   • Everybody must speak once before anyone may speak twice. (It is a good idea to go around the table from person to person giving each person an opportunity and a responsibility to give input on the agenda item. This ensures that everyone contributes and makes sure your meetings don’t turn into a talking competition. This will make the discussions shorter as well.)
   • Don’t indulge stories – once we get the picture move on.
   • Keep your contributions relevant to the agenda item.
   • Agree on what you will do with topics that need discussion even though they are not on the agenda. Will you set another meeting or have time for “Other business”?
4. Make sure the agenda item is dealt with – the question must be answered or the decision made. Ask the questions:
   1. Who will do what?
   2. How?
   3. By when?
   4. What could get in the way?
   5. What will you do about that?
   6. How and when will we get feedback on progress/completion?
5. Make it possible and necessary for everyone to participate. If they have no contribution to make, why are they there?
6. Make sure the team finds the meeting effective. End meetings by asking the team:
   1. What did we do well in this meeting?
   2. What did we not do well in this meeting?
   3. What must we do differently next time?

If this is a challenge you experience and would like to consider working with me as your coach, email me: belinda@leadershipsolutions.co.za. We will set up a time to talk about your challenges. If the chemistry works, we can get started within a week!