Why Street Workers Need to Add the “People Component”

By Carolyn Vreeman | June 17, 2019 | 0 

Our street is under construction.  In three months, they say, it will be a totally new, wonderful, perfectly working street that will solve all of the neighborhood’s water problems (OK, they didn’t say it would solve ALL problems, but…)

We have had workers of all sorts pound on our door at 7:00AM asking us to move our cars.  We have had panicky neighbors at that early hour asking if they can park in our driveway for an hour while they figure out how to get their morning tasks done before work.

We lost cable for two days – and being a “work from home” family, that was tough:  meetings had to be rescheduled and even the library was full of patrons when we needed it most!

All day long, we hear beeping – vehicles backing up.  I hear it in my sleep now…beep, beep, beep….

Getting to and from our house is sometimes impossible by car and parking options are slim.

And the DUST…is everywhere.  EVERYWHERE!

The workers are perfectly nice, hard-working, I-want-to-bring-them-a-beer sort of folks.  Their job isn’t to think about the people impact.  Their job is to get the work done, and do it as safely and efficiently as possible.

In a perfect world where this project has a “people component,” a team would plan for the impact on the families.  They would seek to understand the possible challenges each family would face, and would work with representatives of the neighborhood together to develop a solid plan to mitigate these challenges.

Below are some examples of what an Organizational Change Leader or “People Leader” would probably do in a project like ours:

1. Each family would be provided a rough timeline for the project so they can see what’s completed and what’s coming next.
2. The Association Board (neighborhood leaders) would be utilized to proactively plan for possible inconveniences or challenges for the project.
3. The project team and Association Board would coordinate with the cable, internet, and phone companies and other utilities to ensure that the impact, if any, is explained, planned for, and short in duration.
4. Each family would receive a list of “what to expect” and basic recommendations:  “There will be dust and loud beeping sounds…we recommend you close your windows when possible.” “You may need to move your car into a temporary parking spot:  Here is a map of parking areas that are authorized during this project.”
5. Families would have a number to call to ask questions- where they would get real, up to date information about the project quickly.
6. If cars need to be moved or couldn’t be parked in the driveway, families would be notified in the evening, perhaps by postcard in their door or text…or both.  Then, a knock on the door in the morning would serve as a reminder.
7. Notification and update messages about the project would be shared on the neighborhood Facebook page.
8. Homeowner calls with the project team would be scheduled at regular intervals to discuss the project plans and provide risk management where necessary.  These calls would share information about the project and provide opportunities to receive feedback and answer questions from the people in the neighborhood.

Of course, these are just a few ideas of what would work in our neighborhood, and we all know each neighborhood is slightly different and might require a slightly different approach.  It would, however, be a better experience for the homeowners (us!) if some of the activities listed above were put into place during this project.

What other ideas do you think would help the homeowners (People!) prepare and live through a project like this?  

Why Your Continuous Improvement Efforts Are Not Working

Many organizations insist continuous improvement is at the core of their values.  They build programs, hire business improvement and innovation experts and wonder why their business is still behind in their field of work. 

What’s wrong with these efforts?

A simple answer: the people.

The people don’t want to send their novel idea into the abyss where they will never associate with it again.

The people don’t want to participate in discussions that result in lists of great ideas that go nowhere.

The people don’t want to experience a leader crediting their idea fully to management without thanks to the brilliant mind who submitted the idea.

The people don’t want to send their idea off and have no further investment in making it become a reality.

The people don’t want to hear that it is not their job to improve how the organization functions.

The people don’t want to share an idea and have it blasted down or dismissed.

The people don’t want to implement someone else’s idea when theirs are ignored.

It’s the people who must live out your organization’s core values and for an organization to truly value improvement efforts, the following leadership skills must actively encourage the people living out the value:

1) Leaders understand what makes a core value a “core value.”  Core values are carried out by all employees in every day activities.  If your organization values continuous improvement, people would be engaged in improvement efforts as a regular, expected, core part of their work.

2) Leaders empower employees to ask “why.”  Context is an invaluable tool in achieving creative, innovative ideas.  When employees ask why, they are provided context that leads to sensical and sensible work solutions. Leaders also ask, “what can we do better?” and work with their team to plan large and small changes.

3) Leaders ensure all people are engaged in improvement activities. Ideas are shared and implemented at every level.  It’s an ongoing expectation for individuals to express new ideas about process improvements, training ideas, collaboration and communication, leadership expectations, and workforce culture.  New ideas are on agendas for team  meetings, strategic planning and achievement celebrations.  

4) Leaders facilitate improvement activities.  All leaders are trained to coordinate improvement efforts and flesh out new ideas with employees.  They understand what decisions they and their team can make and when they must partner across teams to effectively improve services. They share this insight openly with their teams.

5) Leaders understand the power of engaging employees in carrying out improvement efforts. They teach individuals to create propositions and manage mini-projects, making all efforts to partner with the customer and get it right the first time.

6) Leaders are courageous. They don’t believe in placing blame and instead have confidence in their ability to take calculated risks. They model courage and reinforce acceptable risk-taking of employees by removing obstacles and empowering people.

7) They believe employees who do the work every day know how to make it better. They know employees’ ideas are critical to the success of the organization.

If an organization truly values improvement, leaders are hired and trained to reinforce organizational change and innovation at all levels by supporting and empowering people at all levels.

Employees are REGULARLY expected to spend up to 40% of their time learning, training others, and testing new ideas. It’s what makes the organization thrive.

Leaders understand the process for implementing new ideas and regularly coach employees to share and implement ideas.

If you’re wondering why your organization isn’t ahead in your field, consider engaging the people in solutioning. Odds are, they have great ideas about what makes you lag behind and want to invest more in the success of your organization (because they have been waiting for you to ask the question and want to be part of the organization’s success)!!

In my work with teams, I design programs that energize and empower employees to implement new ideas and teach leaders to effectively and fearlessly manage innovation.

We eliminate the elusive “insert idea here” phenomena (fill out this form and press send…to receive a “thanks for your idea” auto response and then radio silence). Instead, we engage employees in regular discussions and teach them to propose their great ideas openly, taking responsibility to see the idea through to implementation.

For future retirees, we create legacy plans and make 30 year old dreams become reality.

The energy is electric. The people are creative and innovative and tireless. It’s an experience every organization should feel at its core.

What is the best way you have found to share and implement new ideas at work? I would love to hear successes and lessons learned from you!

For more information about Carolyn Vreeman, Leadership Coach and Change Manager, visit http://www.vreemanconsulting.com.

How to Lower the Levy and Increase Employee Engagement

“What will the public say?  Tell them we lowered the levy and steadily increased employee engagement.  That should get their attention.”

This is what happens when you update your work culture and focus on results.  This is what happened to a small county in Northern Minnesota, and they are proud to talk about it. 

In the summer of 2013, I met with the Director of Community Services in Crow Wing County.  She described the transformation she hoped to achieve,  and I designed a program to help them get there.

A few months later, I trained their leadership and 14 Champions of Change in three days…a training the Champions and leaders will never forget. It was a training that re-energized the workforce for years to come.

This program helped leaders and teams update their culture and gain autonomy at work and home.  Each employee was able to choose how, when, and where they did their work.  The leaders learned the skills necessary to manage the work and abandon outdated management practices (counting heads, time stamps) that limit employee productivity and engagement in the workplace. 

Results workshops helped teams clarify results and identify meaningful indicators for the organization, effectively condensing over 200 metrics and measures to just 20 meaningful indicators of productivity and organizational success.  The organization’s goals were aligned throughout every level from line staff to top leadership: every voice heard.

And now over two years later, they continue to report increased employee engagement and better results, lowering the levy for the 6th year in a row, an amazing accomplishment:   http://www.brainerddispatch.com/news/3894248-crow-wing-county-board-levy-lowered-6th-straight-year

Last week, I presented the Focus on Results Program to 30 MN County Commissioners.  Without prompting, Crow Wing County talked proudly of their successes from a Commissioner’s point of interest, and recognized that the benefits are far greater than decreasing the levy or employee engagement.  The real benefits are experienced by the client who is able to meet with their social worker more easily and thanks to technology has resources and online applications in hand, the social worker who is 40% more productive on focused, undisturbed activities, and the teams who have clear coverage calendars and work together as adults to improve how they do business, putting their ideas into action.   The true accomplishment when an organization focuses on results is gauged by service to customers and clients: the people we are here to serve.

And when a culture transformation in an organization like this takes place, you can see it, you hear it, and most importantly, you feel the renewed energy and passion in your workplace.  I felt that passion shared in that room with 30 MN County Commissioners.  It’s electric.

What would it take for your organization to focus on results?

Interested in transforming your culture at work and need a little help?  Contact Vreeman Consulting, LLC: vreeman.consulting.llc@gmail.com.  This work is what I was meant to do.

Let Me Guess Your Organization’s Core Values

Don’t tell me about your core values, make me guess.

Imagine what would change using this approach in the world of business.  Imagine if a stranger walked into your virtual or physical office and said,  “Let me guess your core values.”  What would he look for?  What would he see?  What would you hope he sees?

An organization embodies thousands of individuals who have their own core values.  Combined together,  core values help organizations thrive or dissolve. The trick to success is understanding the DNA of those who work for you: why are they there?  What drives them? What frustrates them? The answers to these questions play out in every day interactions: they define your true core values.

1) What are core values?

Core values define what is important to the people who do the work and the customers who interact with those people.

2) Why are they important?

People embody your core values.  Your staff live and breathe your core values every day.  You hire people to carry out the goodness in your culture- that goodness that makes coming to work a valuable experience for your staff and that same goodness that makes customers return time and time again. You hire staff who live and breathe your core values in everything you do.

3) What do we do with them?

Modeling: when used effectively,  leaders are trained to model the organization’s core values. If they model behavior in conflict with these values,  they are challenged and/or removed.

Decision-making:  core values are used regularly as a reference point for decisions. If the solution or direction aligns with the core values,  the connection is made apparent.  If the solution or direction is in conflict with the organization’s core values, it’s permissible to challenge and neglect the work.

Also,  in hiring and promotional practices,  leaders learn to look for people who embody the core values.  They prioritize values over skill, training,  and ability.

Infrastructure: the organization creates infrastructure to support the values.  This may be built into culture,  processes,  employee services, tools  amenities,  etc.  An organization, for example,  cannot be risk adverse (actively discouraging new ways of doing business) but value continuous improvement. The infrastructure must encourage and empower the value while discouraging the adverse.

Strategic alignment: what happens when an organization changes focus and alignment,  challenging the organization’s core values?  People leave.   What happens when core values are promoted but contradicting behavior continues?  Your organization’s integrity is at risk. Your mission,  vision,  values,  Strategic directions and employee’s goals must all align and without a doubt provide clear guidance for the every day work of the organization.

And when new values are marketed that don’t align with the organization’s structure and people,  they can be antagonistic at best and damaging at worst.

So,  when thinking about your organization’s core values, the following steps are recommended:

1)  Identify your values first,
2)  Ask your team to do the same,
3) Together, identify your shared values.  Do they align with the organizations marketed values?  Can you close the gap?
4) Identify behaviors, language, and feelings that support your shared values and those that perpetuate problems.
5) Close the gap.

This work isn’t hard, it’s reflective,  and it speaks to the heart of the organization,  starting with you.  Your values matter every day.

What steps do you take to ensure your customers know your core values (without actually telling them)? Why do you think it’s important they know them? What else could you do to help them inherently understand your core values? Comment below with your ideas. I want to learn from you.

How to Know if You’re on the Right Path to Finding Your True Passion…

Think back to when you were 10 years old.  What did you like to do with your time? 

If you were like me, you were an avid writer.  You spent evenings in your room writing poetry, songs, short stories, and awful, risqué essays that were meant to be read by no one.  No walls in the room were exposed;  all covered by inspirational quotes or poems written in grade school with teacher’s praises in red pen.

At the age of 10, I didn’t want to be a writer.  I was studying and planning for a career as a psychologist.  I wrote about people and relationships.  I wrote poems about perspective and emotion.

The lights are off,
the shades aren’t drawn.
You can’t see in,
but I can see out.
(A 10 year old’s poem about the ability to control emotion)

For my career, I helped people. I dedicated my life to helping children, their families, adults with mental health issues, staff in organizations working to help people, and now helping leaders become more effective at empowering others.

I wrote social histories, treatment plans, diagnostic materials, and redesigned organizational service delivery models. I designed websites to offer leaders easy access to tools and information supporting my coaching efforts.

At a low point in my career, I realized that my work – although important still – required less writing. I felt broken. It took a year for me to realize that in order for me to be fulfilled, I need to write.

And today when I am writing, I am energized and passionate. I find myself more excited and nervous posting blogs or writing articles than when I am presenting to a room of 100 people.

And a few weeks ago, I heard a dear friend talk about the dreams she had as a 10 year old and that she believes that magic time in our lives may continue directing us to our place of passion throughout our lives- the place where we give our best to the world around us. I think she’s right.

Consider your passion and interests when you were 10 years old.  What did you love to do back then? How do you see those interests playing out in your adult life? Is there a connection?

Choose vs. Lose

Many people use the 5 stages of grief counseling to help people work through change at work. 

Some variance of the following stages is a “natural” response to grief:
Denial
Anger
Bargaining
Depression
Acceptance

If you’re using these practices to manage change at work,  for most changes you are too late.

Let me say that again:  if you are using these practices at work  for most changes, you are too late.

It’s likely,  you are also using a burning platform approach to change. You create the sense of urgency, set the fire,  get people to rapidly jump, and then counsel them through their losses.

This approach works for fires and other real emergencies, but if used in a work environment,  it challenges an employee’s basic need to feel safe and secure,  limiting their investment and productivity and perpetuating a command/control environment for all. 

Applying grief counseling methodology for change management helps staff work through the tragedy, but it doesn’t offer people the opportunity to paint their own success through the change and champion others along through the change. It’s reactive,  not proactive and in my opinion as a former grief counselor and now professional change manager,  it should be used for the most change adverse people as an exception, not the rule.

How do you get people to choose, not lose?

Here’s the first problem: Most big changes don’t involve end-users until the end. Sponsors are behind the magic curtain (think Wizard of Oz) while project managers gather requirements, build a boat, and then offer the boat to people as a gift. Not surprisingly, the people don’t want the gift, even if it helps them. In these situations, grief counseling is a great option to help them through the pain as you escort them to their new boat.

The second problem: we build fantastic boats, but we don’t know how people plan to use them. We spend a lot of time on the boat and very little time on understanding and preparing the people who will float the boat when we are long gone.

The third problem: we don’t get people to “get” why we are building the boat. They couldn’t easily articulate why we make changes and how it benefits them or the organization.

So, we have a boat.

A new approach: What if you worked with the end users from the beginning, showed them progress, asked them questions, changed the design, responded to their needs, had sponsors and staff celebrate and champion the benefits and you delivered the boat together?

No counseling needed, but people skills are a must.

People are amazingly creative, resourceful, and flexible when they choose change. If asked, they will offer ideas you would never consider
and when you listen, they will help you share messages and build positive momentum around the change.

In my work lately, I hear comments from staff looking forward to a space remodel and sharing creative, cost-effective ideas; groups excited for software upgrades; and people across multiple sites invested in “running from work” (5k) and achieving transformational change, all because we helped them understand the personal and business benefits of the change and reset their expectations. We helped them get involved early and often: the invite for participation always extended.

You won’t need the 5 stages of grief counseling using this approach, but you might need to answer, “What change is next?”

Why Most Organizations Will Never Engage Employees

I want employees to be engaged.  Every year,  I spend time asking employees what the organization can do to be more engaged. I hear the same comments from teams: more food,  fun picnics, more training options, recognition, options for idea-sharing, understand how their work impacts the world around them, accountability, better communication and collaboration, etc.  

Theories of motivation in psychology support what these employees tell us: in order for people to be truly motivated,  they must feel safe,  competent in their work,  autonomous,  and achieve confidence and commitment in their employer.

As a society,  our systems and policies actually perpetuate a lack of engagement?   How?

We ask them. 

We take their ideas,  and now we are responsible for their engagement at work.

An organization cannot engage employees. An organization can create and foster an environment where employees choose to be engaged to their fullest potential.

Engagement is the responsibility of the employee to achieve the best results. 

Business results are the responsibility of the organization.

Within that context, there’s a systems issue that reinforces employee non-engagement:  Business policies that do not address the work.

Ditch The Employee Handbook

Organizational policies limit employee engagement.  The Employee handbook focuses on hours and work location: PTO, dress code,  “flex schedules.”  No policies address the work.

Employees are paid to do work.  When leaders understand their role in empowering teams to achieve the best results,  rules around hours,  location,  and time are irrelevant.   The employee handbook is useless.

Train your Leaders

When conversations between an employee and leader are centered around hours or location,  three key components of employee engagement are challenged: autonomy, relatedness,  and competence.

Stated simply, employees feel that they are being treated as children,  they are not connecting the conversation with the customer impact,  and they recognize immediately that their leader has lost sight of the skills they bring to the table and the work they are required to do.  They disengage.

Yet leaders are trained to enforce compliance of these out-dated rules that limit employee engagement. Train your leaders to manage the work, not out-dated policies.

Our systems are broken.  Our policies work against us, actually limiting our ability to achieve productive and brilliant teams.

Press Refresh.

How do we change that? Teach leaders to recognize and reinforce engagement. Help teams to understand the expected results and clarify how they will achieve these results.

If individual performance waivers, address the performance immediately. Most importantly, facilitate agreements that support teams in doing great work.

And ditch the employee handbook. It’s sooo 1980ish.

Know your Customer Like Your Best Friends.

Some of the most successful teams and organizations I have connected with have one thing in common: they know their customer.  These folks can tell you extraordinary things about the people they serve.   They constantly seek to learn new things about their customers and share with others.   Their product and service delivery achieves creative design with customer service at the core.

A large part of a program I designed asks teams to identify their customers (those people who we ultimately serve) and partners (people who depend on us to do their work).  This question often puzzles teams- although of ultimate importance,  often teams get stuck in “the way we’ve done things for 20 years” that they forget to check with the customer.   Often newer employees can’t clearly describe who benefits from their work or why and how certain activities impact customers.

As you learn to effectively lead teams,  I encourage you to embrace the following principles and allow them to guide your work.  Viewing your customer as your best friend will reap far-reaching rewards.

1) Products are for people.   If you don’t intimately know what your customers need,  you will waste time and energy on unsuccessful projects building useless products.   Would you build your bestie a dog kennel when she’s a cat fiend?  When you initiate a project, be sure you and your team are clear about who is the recipient of this work, how they will use it, and what value it brings to them personally.

Likewise,  all activities you do while working are for people.   If you do things “just because. ..” you are missing an opportunity for fine-tuning or innovation.

2) Services are for people.   If you don’t intimately know what they need before they need it,  you will surely be outdated.  People look to you to predict their needs,  offer services before they know they need them,  and respond to their crises faster than “Mayo One” (Helicopter ER).  Bestie shows up?  No worries,  her favorite wine is stocked; only a wine key away.

3) People drive success.  If you build something or offer a service,  your success indicator comes directly from people.   A successful product build or service depends on a person’s ability to use it, attach meaning to it,  and insist it adds value to their lives. It’s not enough to create something cool. 

This blog is cool,  but the reason it’s maintained is because you tell me you find value in reading it and many colleagues have suggested I write a book.   Without your feedback,  I might still write but not as openly.  A boat is cool, but if you and your bestie don’t use it, it’s expensive property and that’s about it.

4) People choose services,  products,  vendors,  teammates,  and leaders based on TRUST.   Your best friend trusts you.   Imagine how effective you could be if your customer trusted you and your team as much.  That takes consistent personal experiences with customers and partners (virtual and in real life).  You must consistently add value to their lives.

Start by identifying who will be your “next best friend” (aka who is your customer?)?  What do they like? What do they dislike?  What do they need?  How do they reach out to you?  How can you make contact easier?  How do you know if they like your work? How do they know what you can help them accomplish?

If you have goals identified, who are you working to achieve these goals for?  Be specific:  be clear about their daily routine, what they value, what do they do for lunch, what’s their “breaking point.”  Draw on the experiences you have with you best friends (good and bad) to help you connect with your customers on a personal level.  The rewards will far outweigh the cost.  Indeed.

Who are your customers?  What do they need from you?  What do you hope to achieve for them?

Funk at Work

It’s not a typo: I didn’t mean “fun at work.”  I meant funk- a word that describes complacency,  blah, the force that opposes “fun” yet it often is encouraged and sustained in the workforce through daily behaviors and expectations.

Funk.

Research shows 70% of workers are in a funk and 26% of these are actively working to spread their funk to others.

Here’s why:
The cultural description of “Working hard” looks like this:
head down,  solemn,  isolated, producing widgets.

Funk looks like this:
head down, solemn, isolated, disengaged,  producing widgets.

Traditional Management behaviors support, create,  increase and maintain funk in the spaces we create, the expectations and policies that are shared, and the relationships we cultivate.

Funk limits productivity and overall well-being of employees.  Yet,  few people have the desire to get enough mud on their face to push the organization out of this funk.

“During a meeting this week,  I asked 30 change agents to laugh hysterically for 3 minutes straight.   I observed them looking at the door concerned someone would come in and ask us to quiet down.  They were uncomfortable.  I was uncomfortable.  Some commented openly about their fear.  The funk was holding them back.  Our culture is holding us back- and this became apparent today in a meeting of change agents discussing “Fun at Work.” That’s strong funk.

Most organizations want to create a fun culture,  yet their own management and organizational culture discourage fun.   Fun is not a cultural sign of “hard work.”  Fun is boisterous, energetic, excitable, creative. Sometimes fun is loud and colorful.

Fun looks like this:  head up, smiling, interacting with others, sharing creative ideas, creating great things, and laughter- yes- laughter.

Research suggests people who laugh at work are more engaged,  healthier,  and actually live and work longer.  No joke.

If we want to inflate an organization of creative,  fun,  engaged employees,  we must purposely get mud on our faces: we must redefine our cultural expectations at work to embrace laughter and fun and eliminate the fear of stuck-in-funk management.    Most importantly,  we must do it together.

Let’s debunk the funk and have fun at work. YOU IN?

What one thing can you do today or tomorrow to debunk the funk in your work?

Finding your Face in Change.

Today, the gossip train catches my attention:  something is changing.  It’s something big.  I don’t know the details, but I feel the energy…it’s nerve-wracking.  I flinch. I find a quiet place to think.

I try to paint the picture.  I try to think through all of the potential changes, finding myself in different scenarios in each.  Until I am clear about which scenario is true, I feel uncertain, nervous, worried, angry.  I can’t see myself clearly in the change.

A reaction like this to change is typical.  It happens every day.  It leads to gossip, wasted time while staff project opinions about what is to come.

When people see a picture, they naturally first look for themselves in the photo.  When people see a blueprint for an office, they want to find their place in the space, when people hear a presentation, they want to see themselves in the content, when people read a newspaper or watch the news, research shows they want to see their names, their family’s faces, their town or neighborhoods in the news.

The same is true for the following changes: 
1) Organizational change:  Research tells us people leave their managers,  not their work.  So, when organizational changes happen, staff wonder “where do I fit?” first.  When there is clarity around their individual position and who they report to and they understand the context behind the change, they are more capable to help others through the change (and less likely to gossip about the change).  If they dislike the new manager, the most talented staff will probably leave.  Can you afford that?

2) Space design:  Lately, much work has been focused on redesigning space to increase collaboration and limit the corporate footprint.  Over time, space has become a possession for staff and in some organizations an indication of status- those who are higher in the organization have the larger offices, interns get to sit on stools and do their work.  I compare this change to moving someone’s favorite recliner at home-it’s their own private space.  In our space remodel project, we invested staff in the design of their own team room.  Each time we presented them with a new floor plan, they found themselves (first), then their team, and others.  They asked questions like “where are the bathrooms?”  “Where is the fridge?” They talked about their own needs to do their work well, and we listened.  The Managers, Project Team, and staff worked together to create a space where people were satisfied with the change.  Some teams actually designed their own space to do their best work, changing the scope of the project and decreasing design, transition, and space costs.

3) Regular, every day upgrades and changes: tell people about a change and they immediately need to hear where they fit, how it benefits them, and what they will need to do to achieve adoption. They need to see their face in the change.

When you lead others through change effectively, you help them see themselves in the change. Together, your paint the picture of your team invested in the change and successfully working together through the change. You begin introducing any change by helping others find their face and then guiding them to see the bigger picture.