Scott Airitam's Leadership Systems, LLC

Partners

Scott Airitam — Fri, 18 May 2012 20:35:54 +0000

Leadership Systems uses tools provided by our Partners:
Pfeiffer and RightPath Resources

12 Reasons Bosses Lose the Trust of Employees

Scott Airitam — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 22:32:42 +0000

It’s not a stretch to say that most people in a position to be someone’s boss recognize the importance of developing trust for long-term success. In talking to a group of bosses at one of my client organizations, it became obvious that their world was a minefield of ways to inadvertently undermine the trust that they’d built up already.

Here are 12 common mistakes bosses make that cause them to lose the trust of their employees and thereby limit the amount of discretionary effort they get from their employees.

Failing to practice what they preach. If employees get in trouble for being a couple minutes late for work, the boss can’t be late simply because there isn’t anyone of authority watching them. Bosses have to be ready to do the things they say are important.

Not following through. When the boss says they are going to do a performance evaluation and they don’t, employees remember. When the boss tells employees they’ll get them the new equipment they need if they fight through the hardships of the current bad equipment, employees remember if they do what they say or not.

Playing favorites. This one is often based as much in perspective as it is reality. If the boss has good friends that are employees and it seems that they can slack while the rest of the team has to pick it up, trust will waver. Trust will die if it’s true.

Not listening. A normal, everyday conversation to the boss might be something different entirely for the employee. Employees aren’t always involved in the crucial conversations to which bosses get conditioned. A conversation initiated by an employee might have taken every ounce of courage for that employee. If the boss doesn’t properly listen, it will be received by the employee as the boss blowing them off.

Being a “stealth boss”. Not being available when employees have a need is bad, but frequently not being found is beyond frustrating for employees.

Mood swings. When employees cannot predict, with any accuracy, the boss’s possible reactions to specific situations, they will feel that they do not really know their boss—even if they’ve worked together for years—and trust will diminish.

Providing no protection from organizational politics. In order to do their best work, employees need to be freed from worrying about politics among the organization’s management. If their boss does not provide that, it simply limits their ability to do their best work and reduces the boss’s credibility with her employees.

Taking credit for your employees’ work. When employees work hard and invest their sweat equity in their work and the boss uses that hard work for their own professional gain, well, trust may never recover.

Lying. Bosses sometimes are faced with situations where the result will not be ideal no matter what they do. If a boss cannot say what needs to be said, and, instead sacrifices the truth to avoid discomfort, it becomes very difficult for trust to exist.

Trying to please everyone. This one is a trap for many bosses. By trying to please everyone, this could actually gain the trust of everyone. For a short time. Unfortunately, nobody can sustain the level of energy it takes to please everyone indefinitely. When the boss burns out trying to accomplish this, it often backfires, and the trust of everyone is lost.

Abusing title power. The use of title power must be used carefully and judiciously. I usually tell bosses that if they have to use title power to get someone to do something, they’ve already critically failed somewhere along the line. Personal power is much more effective in both the long- and short-term, but personal power takes time to build up.

“Killing the messenger”. Bosses who cannot stand to hear bad news will find, very quickly, that there isn’t any. Nobody will trust the boss enough to tell the truth. In this case, the boss has created artificial filters and will often not get good information.

“Capital L” Leaders know the importance of trust as the foundation of the relationship between their employees and them. With trust, possibilities open wide and employees want to do what the boss needs them to do. It’s not magic, it’s work. Bosses who are “Capital L” Leaders have put in the work and are now reaping the benefits.

12 Dos and Don’ts of Conflict at Work

Scott Airitam — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 22:21:32 +0000

We all have times at work when we have a great idea that we know will work, but for some reason someone else doesn’t like it. Or, maybe we want to confront that person who doesn’t work as hard as they should and you’ve been picking up their slack for months! Whatever the reason, conflict usually hurts productivity. It often turns into baggage that affects future interactions and, even when we try not to affect others, it usually does.

Here are 12 ways to prevent conflict from turning into something negative in your workplace.

1. Don’t play the games. Avoid making assumptions about other people’s intent. Until you are able to verify intent, try to take people’s actions, decisions, and words at face value.

2. Do clarify the issue. Before participating in an actual argument, make sure that the issue that is at the heart of the conflict is openly stated. When this doesn’t occur, people frequently find that they get sidetracked on separate, peripheral issues, sometimes to the point of not solving the original issue.

3. Don’t allow your buttons to be pushed. Prior to being in any conflict situation, know what your hot buttons are and prepare an alternative reaction when they are touched.

4. Do listen. Instead of arguing your points, ask questions to thoroughly understand the other person’s points on the issue and wonder why they believe so passionately in those points.

5. Don’t try to win. Instead of having an agenda to “win” the conflict, make your mission to get to the best possible solution. This mindset aids listening.

6. Do express your emotions. If you are angry, express that you become angry when certain conditions exist. If you become frustrated, excited, saddened, or irate, express which conditions enable you to power up that emotion and why they trigger you.

7. Don’t tear down, do build up. Look for ways to be constructive. If your argument degenerates into simply trying to tear down the other person instead of get the best possible result with their help, then you’ve become the problem.

8. Do take breaks. If you recognize an escalation of emotions, call a break and declare a specific time to resume the argument.

9. Don’t avoid real issues. If there is an issue important to either party and it isn’t dealt with, it won’t go away. Prepare to address the conflict in the most productive way possible.

10. Do know your audience. Understanding the people that work around you help you to be more tolerant and to understand when something that seems like a real issue might not be. For example, there might be someone who, when things are going bad at home tends to take it out on his or her co-workers. Knowing this is the case might allow you to handle the situation differently than you otherwise might.

11. Don’t knee-jerk. When a conflict arises, take a moment to breathe and think about your approach. Don’t just react with emotion that could inadvertently start things out in the wrong way and make matters worse.

12. Do pick your hills to die for. Not every conflict is meant to be a battle. There are issues that whether you get your way or not, in the end, it simply doesn’t make any difference. Sometimes you’ll want to value the relationship more than winning the argument. Be judicious in when you “fight” for your way.

By being smart at conflict, you create more power for yourself. You gain influence instead of force and you’ll find that you gain in the respect of others affecting future interactions for the better.

Organizational Readiness

Scott Airitam — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 19:27:09 +0000

One of the things that I know I must say often is, “Leadership Systems is pretty picky about the clients it takes on.” How do I know I say this? People I talk to tend to remind me that I’ve said it. Now, I don’t mean it from the perspective of us looking down our noses at another organization. Quite the opposite is true. We will spend quite a bit of time looking at a potential client organization to determine if they would be ready to handle having us partner with them on their development and improvement.

So, to be clear, we look at a number of variables when determining if we’ll take on a client. We look at their industry. We look at the culture that has formed within the organization. We look at the strategy the organization has adopted to bring them down the road to success. And, we look at organizational readiness.

Readiness, for us, is simply the capacity for the organization to do what it takes to be successful at achieving the goals we were brought in to facilitate. For example, we frequently talk to organizations that speak of debilitating elements in their culture or the limiting abilities of management to bring them beyond the ceiling they’ve reached. Sometimes, in this scenario, the people we are talking to are adamant about prescribing their own cure and having us administer it. If we can look at the cure and see success, then that is a knowledgeable potential client for whom we will work diligently to form a relationship. Often, though, we can easily see the many pitfalls the prescribed solution contains. If the potential client insists on mixing poison with the cure, for their own good as well as ours, we will decline to be the administers of that concoction.

Organizational readiness happens when a potential client that knows it needs some outside assistance, is willing to work with a professional organization like ours to mutually agree on what the root problem is and what the solution looks like, and is willing to help remove obstacles for its people to make the solution happen.

Readiness is a key component. Without it failure is almost certain, close behind it comes the blame game. For doctors, an ill patient that is unwilling to participate fully in their own recuperative process is a patient that might not ever get better or is at risk for a devastating relapse.

Our business is making things better. So, yes, we are not ashamed to say that we’ve turned down business because of a lack of organizational readiness on behalf of the potential client. It’s not a bragging point and it certainly isn’t meant to be offensive, but it undeniably is in everyone’s best interest that we’re willing to do so.

Solutions for the People-Side of the Business #3

Scott Airitam — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:45:13 +0000

Solutions for the People-Side of Business #2

Scott Airitam — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 17:28:16 +0000

The Price of Not Developing Employees

Scott Airitam — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 17:58:55 +0000

When I talk with people about the learning and development efforts of their organization, I always feel a little bit bad for those who say that “there is no budget for training.” Employee development is the foundation for long-term viability in any industry. Conversely, largely undeveloped work groups are the ones that tend to fall behind, reinvent the wheel with each new project, and generally have a difficult time keeping the best employees.

The economy was bad in 2008. Not only that, but many budgets were tighter than usual due, in large part, to those budgets having been created during a time where two very distinctly different leaders were vying for the White House. With uncertain Leadership and a tumultuous fiscal situation, it was no wonder that organizations weren’t spending as much. However, ASTD (The American Society for Training and Development) estimates that U.S. organizations spent approximately $134 billion on employee learning and development in 2008, in spite of all the logical reasons not to make this investment.

Imagine an author who refused to learn to use a computer. Picture an athlete that never worked to build endurance. Think of a doctor that didn’t understand medical equipment. The hardships they would face are similar to what it is like for an organization that doesn’t invest in employee learning and development. Can that author, athlete, doctor or organization be successful? Technically, you’d have to say yes, although, realistically, the statistical odds would be astronomically long. In today’s world, it is too difficult to compete against others that make themselves better–especially with self-inflicted growth and development issues.

Every organization should be investing in learning and development for it’s greatest asset–it’s people. Every organization, based on the ASTD research shared above, should assume that the competition is making that investment. There is definitely a cost associated with that. With that kind of price associated with not doing it, doesn’t it make it logical to use that same money to make the organization more competitive and effective?

The Power of Recharge

Scott Airitam — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 17:58:13 +0000

So, now I know how my cell phone must feel every time I plug it in and give it some juice. There is no use in having all of that new power if there isn’t a phone call to be made, an email to retrieve and respond to, or directions to be mapped out. All I’m saying is that when you get recharged, you want to do something.

Well, it was not easy, but all of the people that touch our clients were certified in a new tool over the past two days. We all left there feeling like the wheels were spinning and we just needed to gain that small bit of traction to propel us forward at an intense velocity.

I imagine that phenomenon occurring with any team. Something new that helps them to be better at their jobs comes along and, when the boss feels compelled to make sure they get it, they receive both the new tool or skill set and new motivation.

Our new tool is a product called RightPath. While we love Myers-Briggs, DiSC, and Social Styles, it’s always been a struggle for us to help clients turn that into sustainable action. They’d always leave with knowledge and awareness–which is important–but it was hard for people to see what they should be doing. RightPath is truly a “Hired to Retired” set of tools that has application for every stage of a person’s career and every level of an organization. It was created specifically for business and it heavily draws upon Emotional Intelligence (how we deal with ourselves and others) which is important. It cannot be “gamed,” meaning that a person cannot take this assessment and project what they’d like to be or what someone else wants them to be–it has a great “safety net” that prevents this type of manipulation. Best of all, it is a great tool for one-one-one executive coaching, teams, succession planning, promoting, hiring, conflict management, change management, assembling committees or teams, and a slew of other applications. It’s not a magic bullet, but it is enough to get us all excited a fired up.

One thing I’ve learned from the past couple of days is that enhancing the team’s ability to do their jobs affects confidence and competence. It affects both willingness and ability.

If you haven’t tried it in a bit, you should. Get your employee or team that shiny new multi-tool to put into their toolkit and, if it really helps, watch the dynamics change.

Solutions for the People-Side of Business #1

Scott Airitam — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 17:30:46 +0000

Curriculum Development

Scott Airitam — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 22:29:24 +0000

Many organizations, and indeed, the training and development industry seem content to perpetuate the false notion that curriculum development is 80% PowerPoint presentation and 20% courage to stand in front of a group for an amount of time. Unfortunately, what that gets you is ineffectual training and a large expense shown against the budget.

Leadership Systems takes curriculum development seriously. It requires an in-depth knowledge of adult learning principles and a blended learning strategy that affects every learning style.

Also, we are aware that the material has a correlation to behavior change. The more generic the material, the more reluctant the class participant is to believe that it truly relates to his or her situation. When the material is customized to use the language, difficulties, accomplishments, and situations of the participants, the easier it is for them to believe that the material applies to them and can help. When we work on customizing courseware for a client, we go out of our way to maximize the learning experience for your people.

Because we are working with topics on the people side of business, we have to understand the myriad of variables groups bring to the table. And we understand them intimately. We aren’t working with a programming language or a piece of machinery where repeating certain actions will always net the same result. Instead, we have to teach people to think. We have to help people understand what signs can be read from person to person and give them approaches and courses of action that are reliable. All of this is what curriculum development entails for Leadership Systems

Leadership Systems has created major custom designed courses for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, Medical Media Holdings Inc., Goodwill, Centennial Medical Center, The City of Las Cruces, AMX Corporation, and many other organizations with topics ranging from New Employee Orientations to Executive Development to Professional Sustainability.

We build training and development programs to fit your needs, your circumstances, and your culture.