Team Taskmaster

It’s been a tough year or two for most of us, what with the economy imploding, jobs getting slashed, and home values plummeting. But for a few, it’s proven too much too handle.

According to The New York Times, workplace suicides rose significantly from 2007 to 2008, to a series high of 251 nationwide.

The Times reported that:

• 94 percent were committed by men
• the suicide rate was highest for workers ages 45 to 54
• white workers were most likely to commit suicide (78 percent)
• employees in management positions accounted for the largest group of suicides

And keep in mind these numbers don’t include suicides that were committed outside the workplace.

What can managers do to make sure one of their team members is not in trouble? Educate your employees on the risk signs of suicide, says Workforce Management, and create a workplace culture that lets workers feel comfortable seeking help from the company’s Employee Assistance Program or other resources.

As a manager, cultivate an open-door policy and encourage your employees to let you know if they’re having difficulties.

Recognize, and be prepared to respond to, the warning signs of suicide. According to the Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC), these may include:

• Talking about suicide or death
• Making statements like “I wish I were dead.” and “I’m going to end it all.”
• Less direct verbal cues, including “What’s the point of living?” “Soon you won’t have to worry about me” and “Who cares if I’m dead, anyway?”
• Uncharacteristically isolating themselves from others in the workplace
• Expressing feelings that life is meaningless or hopeless
• Giving away cherished possessions
• A sudden and unexplained improvement in mood after being depressed or withdrawn
• Neglect of appearance and hygiene
• Sudden unexplained deterioration of work performance or productivity

It’s okay to approach an employee directly and ask, “Do you feel like you want to die?”, says the SPRC. Be ready to offer EAP assistance or help your employee find outside counseling. If you feel that the person is in immediate danger, don’t hesitate to call 911.

For more information and resources:

• Download the SPRC’s handbook on what employers can do to prevent suicide
• Call (or direct your employee to call) the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
• Read ValueOptions’ guidelines for creating a comprehensive suicide prevention plan for the workplace

Here’s a simple thing you can do to improve your management skills: Listen effectively.

All too often, says management consultant Jennifer Ledet, we’re so busy barking out directions, delegating, and giving instructions that we don’t take the time to really hear what someone is trying to tell us.

When you tune in to the conversation, rather than equating listening to a pause while you compose a retort in your head, you’ll find that your staff will respond with better engagement. Truly listening to someone makes them feel valued and respected, relaxes them, and helps their creativity flow.

It’ll help you, too, says Ledet. How? Well, becoming a better listener will:

• increase your productivity
• improve your ability to persuade, influence, and negotiate
• help avoid conflicts and misunderstandings
• help resolve problems with customers, co-workers, and bosses

Ledet offers some do’s and don’ts for good listening in her column in the Lafourche Parish Daily Comet. Give it a read — and then put your new skills into practice.

Have any tips on how to be a better listener, or why it’s important? Add a comment! Because of course, I’m listening.

(image by Menage a Moi via Flickr, CC 2.0)

It’s been my son’s first week of kindergarten and let’s just say Mom was more stressed about it than he was. And unfortunately, anxiety and panic appear to be incompatible with coherent blogging, so apologies for the radio silence the past two days.

But I’ve regained my equilibrium and am able to view this past week with some perspective now. I’ve even managed to notice the ways in which the school leadership exceeded, met, or missed our parental expectations.

It’s the missed expectations, of course, that really got to the moms and dads sending off their wee ones for the first time. Amidst the playground grumbling, I noticed three common issues that seemed to get everyone’s goat: poor communication, a lack of collaboration, and no commiseration.

It struck me that these three C’s are crucial to anyone managing a team or directing a group, whether in the boardroom or the classroom. Here’s my Monday (Friday)-morning quarterbacking on what was could have been done differently, and how these lessons apply to your leadership role.

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Communication.
As of the morning of the first day of kindergarten, I did not know exactly when the school day began. That information wasn’t on the school Web site, in the manuals and handouts we’d received, or posted at the school. Word of mouth gave me three different answers. In the end, we showed up 20 minutes before the earliest time I’d heard, just in case.

Frustrating, right? And that’s how it feels for your employees when they aren’t sure what the deadline is, why they’ve been assigned to a project, who is responsible for a deliverable, and so on. A good leader always communicates with his team and clearly explains expectations and parameters. He should answer the who/what/when/where/why/how of any issue before anyone even needs to ask. It doesn’t take much to proactively keep people in the loop, and it pays off big time with a calmer, more prepared team.

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Collaboration.
On the first day of school, we newbie kindergarten parents were excited, engaged, and looking forward to contributing to our classrooms and the school. But for most of us, this week has been a splash of cold water. The principal allowed parents five minutes in the classroom for farewells on the first day and then shooed us out. The teachers have been harried and hurried and seemed to have little time to answer our timid questions. By Friday, our excited group had become cynical, complaining in the parking lot about how shut out we felt.

“They act like we’re a bunch of cats they just want corral in the sandbox,” noted one mom, “yet they expect us to contribute money and volunteer our time to the school.”

If you aren’t collaborating with your team — working together to solve problems, encouraging give and take, respecting their comments and concerns and valuing their contributions — then you’re actively disengaging them. If it took just four days to turn a bunch of gung-ho supermoms (and superdads) into a crew of kvetchers, how long would take to turn your employees into clock-watching, bitter, bored workers? No one wants that. So acknowledge them, respect them, and work closely with them, even when it’s not convenient for you. You expect plenty from them, so make sure you give back in return.

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Commiseration.
A uniting factor for all first-time parents: We were nervous. Yet the staff seemed impervious to our fears (and tears). It would have gone a long, long way to get some reassurance from the principal and the teachers.Yes, as my teacher friends note, it’s the most stressful day of the year for school personnel and all of them had their game faces on. I get that. But just a small comment (”I know this is a big day for all of you, but parents, don’t worry; we’ll take good care of your kids”) could have alleviated a lot.

The same goes at the office. If your team is busting a gut on an intense project, take a minute to tell them you know it’s been rough. If someone is having a personal crisis, let them know you’re there if they need you. When you’re asking a lot of your employees but can’t reward them with raises, tell them you know it stinks but you appreciate their hard work. Put yourself in their shoes on a regular basis and ask yourself what you can do to show you care about them.

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Did the first day of school (yours or your kids) teach you any leadership lessons? Share your thoughts with me in the comments section.

Fill in the blank: When the going gets tough, your boss gets _____.

What word or phrase did you choose — cranky? Stressed? Unavailable? More demanding?

Any one of those adjectives could apply to the lion’s share of bosses I’ve had. But there was one boss (yes, Mr. H-S, I’m talking about you) I’d have to describe with a different adjective:

Nicer.

Seriously. We were working insane hours getting ready for a site launch? He’d take the whole team out to an afternoon movie. Company going through a tricky merger? Surprise: free pizza in the lunchroom. Everyone freaking out about layoffs? He’d drop by with a joke, a compliment, a kind word.

Don’t get me wrong, he was also great when it was smooth sailing. It’s just that when work life gave us lemons, he didn’t get sour along with the circumstances. Not only did he make lemonade, but he served it to us in lovely mugs topped with decorative parasols.

Yes, I’m speaking figuratively, but that kind of inverse reaction is something that good managers work hard to create. They know that how bosses react under stress has a huge impact on a team. If a manager is feeling the heat and in turns sends flames toward the rank and file, employees become resentful, more detached, and less productive. This makes his job harder — and voila, more stress. What a vicious circle.

But if a manager practices counterintuitive generosity — that is, the worse things get, the better he treats his staff — he gets rewarded with employees who are loyal, engaged, and willing to slog through the mud with him.

So think about how you act on those tough days. And make sure it’s not as tough for your team.

Sure, the recessions stinks. But for employers, the silver lining has been that it’s created a deeper talent pool. More unemployment = more top-notch people looking to land at your company — often, at a significant discount.

But what will happen when recovery hits?

According to Jack Welch, many hiring managers are going to get acquainted with an unpleasant reality: They’ll be dealing with a newly wary workforce.

“Many people have come to the conclusion that they don’t want to work for ‘the man’ anymore. They want to work for themselves or someone they know and trust…From coast to coast—and through hundreds of e-mails to our Web site and conversations on Twitter—there’s a tidal wave of emotion. To be someone else’s employee, people are telling us, is to be at someone else’s whim. The impact of this growing attitude could be profound.  When the economy recovers, most companies might, for the first time, have to deal with a candidate pool that’s not particularly excited to work for them.”

That’s not good news, because last thing most employers want is an apathetic workforce. Real productivity and progress come from people who are engaged and who look forward to getting into the office and tackling new challenges — people who get positive reinforcement (other than a paycheck) from doing good work.

So brace yourself: Your days of picking from an endless array of skilled and supplicating labor are coming to an end.

How to adjust? Welch says employers need to make their people feel needed and valued. Bureaucracy needs to give way to innovation and an entrepreneurial mindset. Companies should mimic the upsides offered by small companies and embrace candor and informality. And they must realize that their top performers will no longer be content to toil away without reward.

“Perhaps most important, companies will need to understand that when the recovery arrives, stars will no longer wait around to be given the authority to make decisions or to be promoted. The alternative—running their own show—has too much appeal.”

I think Welch’s views dovetail neatly with what I’ve often written about engagement, management, and motivation. Treat your team like a valued asset. Make people matter. Care about what they think and feel, and if they’re not sharing that as a matter of course, ask them. Help foster work/life balance. Recognize both effort and achievement.

As Welch says, we know the recession will eventually be over.

And when it is, a brave new type of employee will rule the day. And only brave new companies will be able to entice them back.

Read the full post to get Welch’s complete take, and share your own opinions in the comments section.

Are you frustrated with your team’s performance? Do they seem to be just going through the motions, not putting out their best work, and actively resisting your efforts to improve their productivity?

Then maybe some advice doled out by Ron Heifetz, Alexander Grashow, and Marty Linsky of Cambridge Leadership Associates might help. Responding to a new manager seeking advice on how to handle a staff “addicted to complacency,” these experts offered spot-on suggestions for how to stop hating — and start motivating — your employees.

First, realize that if you mentally condemn them as a lazy pack of losers, you’re shooting yourself in the foot. Ever heard of a self-fulfilling prophecy? If you approach them as if you’re managing a pack of slackers, no doubt they’ll respond in kind.

Instead, try to look at it from their perspective. They don’t think of themselves as complacency addicts. But maybe they feel you’re looking to trade off quality for check-box achievements. Or, if you’re a new manager, could be they think you don’t understand all the inherent conflicts and difficulties of their jobs. Or perhaps they think you’re treating them like a number on a spreadsheet rather than a member of an office family.

The point? Haranguing them from your moral high ground won’t work, because they think they have the moral high ground as well.

So take a different tack, say the experts:

“Start by engaging these folks where they are, not where you are. Be curious. Listen to their stories for clues as to what they really do care about, what their most noble values are, and what they are afraid of losing. I’m not suggesting that you buy into or accept their behavior, but you do need to understand the reasons behind their resistance to you.”

To read more about handling a culture of complacency, read the full post. And share your own ideas in the comments section.

Think flexible work arrangements are just a perk of flush times in corporate America? Think again. According to Workforce Management, there’s been a 25 percent increase in flexibility programs among companies of more than1,000 workers.

A report entitled The Impact of Recession on Employers by the Families and Work Institute in New York found that 81 percent of employers have maintained flexible work arrangements such as telecommuting, compressed workweeks, phased retirement and voluntary reduced hours; 13% are increasing it during the recession; and only 6% have reduced flexibility.

I say, hooray! I think flexible work arrangements in many instances are a win-win scenario for both employer and employee. Nothing says “I trust you and value you” more than being told your hours are your own business, as long as the work gets done.

Yes, you naysayers, I know it’s not for everyone. I can’t imagine how flex time would feasibly apply to hourly workers, or in industries where having someone present at set times is crucial for doing business. But for a large percentage of the companies that employ knowledge workers, flex time is a nearly cost-free benefit for employers and can reap fabulous returns by boosting morale, productivity, and loyalty.

So give it a thought. Even in lean times, flex time can pay off — big time.

Yesterday, I wrote about the challenge of knowing when to speak up or shut up. But chances are, you’ve had your share of uncomfortable situations in which something had to be aired out, and neither you nor the target of your talk enjoyed it.

No one claims that addressing a problem face-to-face is easy. But there are ways you can defuse the situation and approach nearly any issue without creating a bigger conflict.

As you may know already, I’m not a big fan of the compliment sandwich — you know, the old “stick the negative inside two positives” approach. Happily, I’ve stumbled across what I consider a much better approach.

Sarita Maybin, author of If You Can’t Say Something Nice, What Do You Say?, suggests you “A.I.R.” it out during workplace confrontations. The nifty acronym (easy to remember, yes?) stands for awareness, impact, and request — three simple steps to guide you through the encounter.

Step 1: Awareness. Start by assuming that other people aren’t aware of the trouble their actions are causing, says Maybin. Most likely, no one has told them and they’re genuinely unaware of the impact. To begin the conversation, choose an “awareness” phrase. Maybin suggests some of the following:

• “I don’t know if you’re aware of it…”
• Perhaps you didn’t realize that…”
• “I’m sure it wasn’t your intention to…”

Step 2: Impact. This is where you explain how the other person’s behavior is negatively affecting you, the team, or the workplace. Impact phrases may include:

• “I’m concerned that…”
• “I feel that…”
• “When you do/say ____ the way it affects me/the team/the office is ___.”

For example, you could tell an employee, “When you turn in your part of the project late and we miss the deadline, I’m concerned that it makes us both look unprofessional,” says Maybin.

Step 3: Request. This is where you ask — not demand — that the behavior change. Be clear, specific, and direct: What would you like the person to do (or not do) the next time? You should offer alternative behaviors; for instance, if someone is a chronic complainer, you might suggest they find a more positive way to express themselves, complain to the boss or someone in a position to change things, or figure out solutions, says Maybin.

Request phrases include:

• “Would you be willing to…”
• “Could you please…”
• “I would rather you…”

And if it’s a sticky problem and you’re not sure of the solution, invite collaboration. Ask, “What are our options?” or “How can we resolve this?”, says Maybin.

For more insights on confronting without conflict, read Maybin’s full article about the A.I.R. approach. Or check out her book about practical solutions for getting along in the workplace.

Have any tips of your own? Share them in the comments section!

One of your employees has just done something that drives you up the wall. Maybe it’s a sloppy error on a report. Maybe it’s showing up just “a few” minutes late — for the sixth day in a row. Or maybe it’s the umpteenth repetition of that annoying, braying laugh before you’ve had your morning coffee.

Whatever it is, it’s annoying. But is it worth a confrontation?

The question was prompted by my reading of a short post from Arif & Ali’s Blog that suggested there are times you should remain silent.

Referring back to the book Crucial Confrontations, the duo suggest you hold your tongue if:

• the problem is small, won’t happen again, and you know the other person already feels bad
• the problem doesn’t have a significant impact

Well, that makes sense. But in my many years of struggling to learn tact and to mitigate my tendency to blurt out everything that bugs me, I’ve learned a few other guidelines about shutting up. For instance:

• If a confrontation is unlikely to result in a change, skip it. This includes trying to discuss the aforementioned braying laugh or attempting to modify personality traits. No matter how much you might want to, you can’t force someone to be less bubbly or more talkative or give up their penchant for ’80s slang.
• Don’t confront just because you need to be proven right about something. That’s just a grown-up version of the “I told you so” game and it doesn’t result in anything but resentment. If there’s no other point to the discussion other than you flaunting your superiority, just skip it.
• Don’t confront until you gather all the information. I’ve found myself with egg on my face more than once because I called someone to task for something that turned out not be their fault or their doing.
• Don’t confront someone if there’s a chance of physical danger. This makes my list because of an unfortunate altercation I once had with a disgruntled athlete when I was a sports reporter. I learned that it’s not a good idea to take issue with someone calling you a “nosy b!&@%” if that someone is a 300-pound lineman who just lost a crucial game. No injuries to report, other than my wounded pride as I literally had to run away to avoid his flailing fists.

There are a lot of fine lines here, of course. Do you confront one of your team members because you don’t like his aftershave? Probably not. But if said aftershave is making the rest of your team ill, it’s time to speak up. Same thing with chronic minor lateness. Maybe the person is getting her work done just the same, or staying a little bit late to make up for it, so you haven’t said anything. But if it’s causing resentment in the ranks, it might merit a talk.

Tomorrow, I’m planning to write a bit about how to confront constructively. In the meantime, share your thoughts, experiences, and confrontation horror stories with me in the comments section.

(image by *clairity* via Flickr, CC 2.0)

Plenty of managers (you included?) are starting to pay more heed to workplace wellness, given its impact on employee happiness and productivity. (I wrote about improving employee fitness through workplace changes just last week.)

But what if you’re actually shooting yourself in the foot by offering your employees easy access to Sprite, Coke, or root beer?

That’s the concern voiced by Tanya Barham, writing about work wellness on the Benefits Buzz blog. Barham cites a recent study, conducted by researchers from the University of California, Davis, which found that people who downed fructose-sweetened drinks showed an increase in a type of fat that embeds itself in the tissue between organs.

This isn’t completely unexpected news, of course; a couple of years ago, researchers discovered that fructose can lead to more body fat than sugar.

But it’s not good news. That “belly fat” around organs, also known as visceral fat or intra-abdominal fat, can increase the risks of diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and some types of cancer. Which is definitely at odds with your goal of keeping your workforce healthy and productive.

So you might want to reconsider that employee perk of providing free or discounted sodas, or even convenient vending machines down the hall. Better options would be bottled water, tea, or even a bowl of fruit.

What do you think?

(image by sankarshan via Flickr, CC 2.0)