Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Business Pivots with AI

Q. AI has popped up in our business conversations, and we’re clueless. Where do we begin?

A. The impact of AI in business, education, healthcare and across all sectors has begun. Actually it began decades ago just as the Internet and computer age seemed to develop slow, then fast. For every organization, AI can and will play a significant role. The faster your executive team and you tap in on your whole staff to explore and learn about AI and how it can help you be more creative and efficient with your organization, the better. It’s time to attend conferences, workshops, webinars.

It’s time to read articles and practice using AI. One key question is, how can you leapfrog the way you are doing the work today and save time? How can robots or machines operate where people are doing the redundant, repetitive work? Can houses be cleaned and crops be planted and fertilized without workers in the field?

Early adopters of AI experience tremendous opportunities and results. AI won’t merely bring changes, but will transform the way we think, create, work, improve, and interact. Innovation will abound.

Develop continually the natural leadership of all employees. Create listening forums and opportunities to tap in on the creativity of your organizations. Great times are ahead. And using AI to create solutions for large and societal issues will be an asset.

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Improving Team Communication

Q. We have a team environment where people criticize, blame, and judge others. How can we improve this?

A. Dysfunctional behaviors where people (management and employees) criticize, blame, and judge others is not healthy for the staff or for the business. Why and how do these workplace behaviors begin or persist? 

When the organization or a team isn’t achieving the results it wants or what the customers need, there are fundamental root causes. It will take new knowledge that leaders and teams apply to improve this situation. If not, the team and organization will continue to struggle and decline (either slowly or fast) over time. 

A quick intervention is necessary. An organization or “team” full of poor behavior will only infiltrate more bad behaviors.

Clear communication and direction from leadership is necessary. Answer, “what are we trying to accomplish together?” Systems, processes, and healthy, respectful two-way communication are your foundation. People need to work in a healthy work environment. They are also responsible for communicating with respect, with asking good questions, and contributing ideas for accomplishing good work. 

Focus on learning and working well together, not judging, criticizing, or blaming others. If you’re not getting the results you want, look at your work process, your resources and training, and your communication. What do you need to improve together?

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: What Workers Want

Q. As a manager, I sometimes struggle with my teams. How can I improve so we can achieve our goals?

A. The principles that you as a manager need to apply are not complicated. But in a business and on teams, complexity and dysfunctional behaviors may have crept into your workplace. The barriers that deter you from achieving a smooth workflow in a healthy environment that serves customers, need to be identified and removed. 

Your staff wants to come to work and take pride in their work. They want a clear aim. They want to learn and work together to accomplish meaningful work. People want to contribute. 

Management’s job is to create the environment where people can work together to serve your customers. What direction, training, and resources do they need to do the work? Provide it. Then let them do the work. As a manager, you are a resource and facilitator, not a babysitter or micromanager. 

Employees today want some input, want to contribute ideas, and want more flexibility than past generations. Think about what needs to be accomplished for a healthy team and business, and work together to communicate how to make that happen.

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Leaders’ Role in Diversity

Q. Our organization is expanding, and management wonders how to address diversity as we grow?

A. First, the management discussion should not only be words that stall. Clarity of your purpose, defining diversity and how it currently shows up in your company, your future vision, the plan you create, and the policies and actions you put into place are critical. 

Second, placing people in roles based on competency and character is also essential. This decision can lead to hard discussions. Do you put someone in a role to make your policy for diversity effective. Or is someone else a better fit? 

Third, really consider all diversity. It is race, gender, age, cultural backgrounds, social, ethical, financial backgrounds, political, disabled, and more. There’s are some diverse traits you may not be aware of unless employees or candidates share them. 

Everyone is special, and each is a natural leader. Consider your leadership role is to create a workplace where everyone can contribute, support each other as a team, and serve your customers together. Be mindful of having diverse ideas, people, and opportunities to be able to optimize your system/company.

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Improve Team Behavior: Ask Questions

Q. In our team meetings, we have members who periodically judge, criticize, and blame other team members. The behavior makes everyone uncomfortable! What should we do?

A. When a team member acts as a judge or critic to put down another member, they are showing their own poor self-esteem and arrogance. Their behavior is controlling and power-seeking. Sadly, they want to act as if they are leading, but their dysfunctional behavior results in increasing fear and decreasing trust. Healthy communication wanes. 

A competent team leader or facilitator immediately intervenes on this behavior. But many don’t know how to. The dysfunction continues, and over time the productivity and team engagement decrease significantly. Soon people may leave the team or the company. 

To pivot poor behavior, any member with good communication skills can intervene and re-direct the conversation. The critic has beliefs or assumptions that may be right or wrong. But if the critic cares about the team goals, the relationships of the team members, and healthy team communication, they will ask questions. They will seek to understand a situation and the work people are doing. They will ask if they need help. 

Rather than judge they will be a supportive colleague. Consider, do you judge and criticize, and blame? Or do you seek to understand and support your team members to accomplish the goals the team is working toward?

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Leaders Crave Feedback

Q. I held a large meeting of managers and asked for their feedback. They gave me so much; I feel like a failure! How do I cope?

A. Great leaders create a workplace where on-going robust conversations are the norm. But leaders prepare the environment for feedback, problem solving, and idea generation. Too often there is a potential for managers or team leaders to ask for feedback with a poor process and setting. They take is personally and blame themselves.

The managers’ meeting was exuberant because the leader asked for feedback. Assume the managers had good intentions to share many ideas for improvement. First, assume the managers want to help solve problems they’re identifying. Or ask, “how can we address these and solve them together?” If they do blame and criticize, intervene immediately, and ask them to focus on ideas to improve and move forward.

Leaders are clear about the intention. An example would be, “Today we want to explore how WE can improve our workflow on this project to better meet our customers’ expectations.” Or, “Today let’s discuss how we can communicate more effectively to meet our deadlines.”

The intention and aim is specific. It includes the “WE.” People working together will solve the problems or generate the ideas and create a plan to implement them. Also the leader focuses the conversation to be respectful. There will be ground r="ules" like no blaming, criticizing, and finger-pointing. It adds no value.

Every organization has problems and opportunities. Teams working together will focus on the issues and the customers. They will support each other to accomplish their goals. Welcome feedback and ideas—with respect.

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Uncertain Times Are Normal

Q. Our managers feel more uncertainty about our business. How do we cope?

A. Stagnant or fear-based thinking will not add value to your business or to your customers. Every day, every year, every decade, life is full of uncertainty. But, it is also full of certainty and choices. 

Great leaders and organizations focus on what can we do today to make a difference to our employees and customers in the future. They address problems today and discover solutions. They have a vision for making a better life and develop innovations.

Globally there are new risks that can impact businesses, whether it’s climate change, new innovations, AI, or geopolitical competition. Worrying about any issues robs people of creative thinking, collaboration, and energy. 

Leaders identify what issues may impact their customers or communities. By contributing ideas and developing new services and products, a platform is also created that guides government and industry leaders to create policies, laws and guidelines to address issues. 

Interacting with customers and your communities, looking at the trends in your industry, analyzing relevant data and measures Over time (weeks, months, years) can help you be better informed about where you are. Assess the direction you want to go. Identify decisions to make together and put them into action. Study what you learn so you can make rapid adjustments. The more you learn and communicate, the better control you’ll have of your business.

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: What to Do When Growth Is Too Fast

Q. Our company is scaling exponentially, but some staff (including managers) can’t adapt. What do we do?

A. Rapid growth brings multiple challenges. There will always be unforeseen barriers and opportunities. There will be diverse options, decisions to be made, teams that collaborate well and personalities that clash. Some people are stuck and resistant to changes. Others naturally embrace new ideas and action.

An organization can grow rapidly when it develops three basic concepts. The three significant keys are: emerging leaders have mentors and coaches; robust interactive communication sessions become part of the culture, and there’s a strong commitment to learning together and serving customers.

Leaders with mentors, communication, and learning provides basic stability every organization needs.  Leaders’ role is to ensure that everyone (individually and together as a team) is developing. The faster people learn (management, communication, and technical skills), the faster they can grow the business. 

If an individual or a team is floundering, intervene immediately. It may be a company founder or a staff member who needs help. Identify the help they need. Oftentimes, it’s fear of change or making mistakes. With guidance (seek professional help outside your company), individuals and teams can quickly adapt as high-performing contributors. Sometimes, a change in role is welcomed when it is a better fit for an employee’s skill set, knowledge, or personality.

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Which Leaders Win?

Q. What do I need to leverage for success?

A. Whether in business, in sports, in education or healthcare, great leaders don’t follow the pack. They are creative, innovative, and visionary. Most of all, they have the ability to get their team to work together toward one direction, toward the goal, toward the win, toward making the difference!

Over the past few weeks, I’ve listened to more winning quarterbacks and coaches. It’s the season. But it can be any season, any sport, any goal in business or any sector.

What am I repeatedly hearing? Have a plan (for the play.) Execute the play. Over and over: plan and execute the next play. 

There’s a time for planning, training, learning, adapting. But decision-making on the field is fast. It’s built on teamwork and trust. Those are developed for weeks and months before the game begins.

But when the game is on, when work is in motion, quickly make the plan, communicate the plan, and execute the plan. Keep moving toward the goal. Stay focused. Those who implement these actions, win and succeed. 

Do you have your game plan? Do you have your team? Have you communicated with your team so all can contribute and support each other toward the goal? Can you trust? Can you execute? Can you win? Have a great success!

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Who Are You? Are You Aware?

Q. We have a variety of unkind behaviors at work and beyond! Why do some people judge, criticize, ignore, micromanage, blame, ghost, assault, or bully?

A. Bad behaviors come from few sources. Except for some extreme cases, a person can drastically change. Some micromanagers, critics, or bullies can transform and become amazing leaders. 

First, there’s the learned behavior. People have learned some bad behaviors from a parent, boss, or teacher and adopted them. They know that they didn’t like being the brunt of abuse or criticism, but they have no other example to replace it with good behaviors.  Bad learned behavior has to be unlearned. That can be challenging because people have had years of practice behaving badly.

Second, many people who are arrogant, egotistical, critical, judgmental, or bullying are often totally unaware of their behavior or their impact. They may have good intentions or a constancy of purpose, but their arrogance and egotism overrides healthy leadership and communication with others. With their self-importance, they are quick to judge, attack, and berate. Why do they do that? Because they assume or believe something to be negative. Rather than ask questions to seek to understand, they judge, attack, or gossip.

Whether the bad behavior is learned, people are not self-aware, or they believe they have every right to be “right” (dysfunctional), they are not leaders. They may have positional titles, ride on their family name/coattails, or own/operate a business. They think because they manage, they lead. Not true.

Great leaders ask, “How am I doing? How can I help? How can I improve?” But most of all, they have an outside coach who is honest with them, a teacher and mentor who guides them to use great leadership behavior. If you don’t have a coach, you’re not reaching your potential. They help you see what you can’t see.

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Survival Is Optional

Q. Our company had great leaders, teamwork, products and service for our customers. Last year the Board brought in a CEO who is a jerk and only cares about numbers (his bonus) and not people. Even VP’s and managers are afraid to speak up or leave. Will we survive?

A. In the short term, you’ll probably survive. For how long, there’s not a finite answer. “It depends” is the realistic answer, and here’s why. We’ve seen some founders with brilliant ideas and poor leadership qualities build unicorn corporations. The corporations grew and lasted for years before eventually the founder’s poor behavior got them ousted. If they are not fired by the Board, customer and employee backlash can impact the business until the Board has to make a change.

We’ve also seen Boards bring in sharp, cut-throat CEO’s with clear missions to grow the business, their competitive edge, the profits, shareholder value and stock price--at any cost. It’s generally a short-term focus for investment companies or a board to make amazing bonuses. A few even have good intentions—or so they tell themselves. 

The business grows in the short-term, but its growth with toxic leadership, a dysfunctional culture, and high turnover, is not sustainable. Those CEO’s rarely last long, sometimes only for a few months or years. When they leave, their reputation goes with them.

Some corporations that have a toxic Board, CEO and a bullying culture often compensate their employees well.  It’s the handcuffs that keep the employees in their jobs, but it’s not sustainable, and eventually people quit. Unhealthy leadership will either destroy a business, or it will morph into a stagnant, floundering enterprise incapable of improving, innovating, or transforming.

Survival is optional. Leadership is optional. Creating a healthy, happy, productive, and successful workplace is also optional. It’s your choice where you work.

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Key Traits Your Team Needs: Anticipate

Q. Surrounded by uncertainty and disruption in our industry and society, what are the traits we need to develop on our teams across our entire organization?

A. Organizations across any industry are often too busy doing, doing, and doing, they underestimate the significance of anticipation! What might happen and what needs to happen?

There are traits that are useful and important to learn, adopt, and put into practice. They are needed during surprises and for future survival. When there’s disruption or change occurring (the best to the worst change), great leaders and their teams quickly pivot.

A team that can quickly gain clarity, focus, and define their purpose and goals collaborate to achieve progress and success. Natural leadership develops, and specific traits emerge as team members support each other.

An insatiable curiosity, openness to learning together, creativity, resilience, and decisiveness to experiment and commit to action are essential. The team can learn, pivot, and adapt. The team can accelerate, transform, and achieve the unimaginable! And it’s time to put these traits in action as you prepare for next year!

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: How to Fix Short-Staffing

Q.  Our department has more than 100 employees, but we always seem short- staffed! How do we fix this ongoing problem?

A. There are organizations and situations where being short staffed is a reality. But I’ve also seen hundreds of examples in the past year or two, where being short-staffed is not the cause of the problem. I encourage large organizations and departments, especially, to take a closer look at this.

What exists is not a staff shortage. The causes are deeper—and not difficult to solve. One significant issue is that the people hired are not trained. With a lack of training every employee works hard and puts in their best efforts, but there is tremendous variation in the way the work gets done. People needed to be onboarded and trained. There needs to be two-way communication about the purpose, the goals, the expectations, and the delivery date. When a new employee puts in little effort, it’s management’s job to assess the training and communication needed. Does the employee have the resources needed?

Second, the employees are working their process in a larger system. All employees need to work together to continually improve the efficiency of the flow. The work, communication, and information all need to flow! When there are barriers, the work doesn’t flow, and results are sub-optimal. Workers, management, and customers get exasperated and eventually disengage. It’s time to improve the work efficiency.

Recently, I had a personal experience at the Department of Motor Vehicles. I had to go to the office seven times! I observed the waste and complexity! It could have been reduced by at least 80%! On my seventh visit to the DMV, a manager said, “Oh, we don’t need to do that!” How much waste and complexity is in your organization? Imagine doubling your revenues and profits! It’s time to draw a direct line from your product or service to your customer, improve your work processes, and reduce the waste. Then you may have plenty of staff!

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Leaders Know the Difference between Improving and Innovating

Q. What is the difference between improving and innovating?

A. Years ago I attended a 2-day Innovation Conference in Milwaukee. Unfortunately, the speakers (some CEO’s) spoke about how they improve their businesses. Not one spoke about innovating their organizations. 

What’s the difference? Improving products, services, and organizations means making them better and better. Also included in improving an enterprise means continually improving leaders’ self awareness and knowledge; investing in employees to enhance their skills; and developing better communication and collaboration for a creative culture. 

Improving and improving can create better results for customers! But is improvement enough to stay in business and develop a healthy competitive edge? Is it enough to survive and thrive, especially in an uncertain or quickly changing industry or economy? 

Improving and improving the buggy whip would never get you to the horseless carriage, car, electric car or flying car! It takes innovation. 

To innovate means taking new ideas to market it to a useful meaning. Leaders develop an innovation system to take their business to the next level. It means different, bold product and service ideas, not just better ones. It’s a new vocabulary, new processes, and bold results!

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: What Management Fads Great Leaders Abolish

Q. Our teams benchmark and try to implement best practices, but our teams still struggle, and our profit margins suffer. What should we do?

A. Many organizations chase management fads. It’s the status quo; it’s the way (for decades) that some businesses operate. They start up. As they grow, they add in the systems that other companies have adopted. What’s the problem? Organizations fill themselves with trends, fads, the latest shiny policy or system—without asking questions!

Has your management team thought about its future? Do you want to choose your goals and create systems that will reflect your values?

Here are common and popular management fads. These common practices are barriers to healthy, and collaborative productive workplaces. It may be the first time you’re hearing that these are bad practices (and your company may be full of them.) But don’t despair! It means you have a huge opportunity to discuss their impact, pivot and make new choices for a great work environment and greater customer experiences.

Fads include: performance appraisals; performance management systems; incentives, quotas, bonuses, arbitrary numerical goals; internal competition; and lean six sigma. There are more. Work to challenge these and understand why and how they are negatively impacting the productivity in your organization. If you challenge and reduce these, you can experience 50 to 80% less waste, and two to ten times higher revenues. If you want to understand how, let me know.

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Do Wise Leaders Problem Solve?

Q. As the leader, I don’t have all the answers, but I do my best. How can I improve?

A. Great leaders solve few problems--alone! But they have the title and make the big bucks. Shouldn’t they be the problem solvers? No!

If you expect to solve all the big problems, and people wait for you to solve the issues, your company or team will choke! First, one person or even one team cannot be the bottleneck. Ideas, options, and diverse perspectives will be limited. Second, your team members will not feel appreciated or valued if they can’t contribute. The turnover rate can increase and they go where they can have a voice to share their ideas.

When teams or your staff have problems, should they come to you for answers? Decades ago, a division manager at a Fortune 100 corporation said he’d have a line of managers at his door seeking answers to their problems. He didn’t have all the answers either.

He transformed his approach and led the managers through a decision-making process. He asked them questions and asked to see their data. He asked for their recommendations for possible solutions and their reasoning to support them.

Very quickly, the managers learned not to line up for easy or quick answers. They shared a problem they were facing, but they also had gathered ideas from their team, relevant data, and possible solutions to propose. Together they collaborated and discovered an optimal result. The discussions pivoted from “throw me an easy answer” to “let’s have a meaningful discussion based on data in a context that can make a difference for the customer.”

Tapping in on your people’s ideas can develop your teams and transform your culture. That’s where the power of leadership is. Wise leaders don’t have all the answers.

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Leaders Embrace Change

Q. Why do some people resist change? We need it to improve!

A. There are several reasons why people resist change, and I’ll share the most common reasons. First, people don’t resist change; they resist being changed. They feel they have no voice in the decision to change, yet it may impact them. They will also resist it if they don’t see any benefit to the change.

Second, people resist change when they feel fearful. The most common fears are: losing control, uncertainty, losing freedom, the unknown, failure, or not being included to contribute. Even if the problems could be solved or the situation could be improved, the lack of certainty will make people resistant. People can be more comfortable with the problems they know than the new solutions that will impact them and cause the unknown.

Third, personally people may lack the confidence to adapt. They may be afraid they cannot learn a new way or technology, so they resist it. The comfort zone, the status quo is an environment that lacks rapid improvement, openness to learning and sharing, and progress. More importantly, while mere change may occur, people can change back.

While improvement requires change, not all change is an improvement. That is why transformative change is the most important kind of change that executives must lead. Transformation is hard and essential in any organization. Great leaders embrace the changes that not only make improvements, but take the organization into the future.

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Do You Really Have Teamwork?

Q. Our company has our executive, project, and process improvement teams. But most teams struggle, have dysfunctional behaviors, and are slow to accomplish their goals or any significant results. One of our cultural values is collaboration, but how do we make it real?

A. Collaboration and teamwork are listed as important values in many organizations. However, there are multiple barriers that deter teamwork. Some barriers are a lack of leadership, respectful behaviors, a clear aim, focus, relevant data to make decisions, and more.

A list of words (values) without any discussion or leadership to make the behaviors and communication consistent and real, is meaningless. Leaders are accountable in creating a workplace where collaboration thrives. The foundation is respect, the ability to listen, hear and discuss diverse perspectives. When people understand that the goal is to constructively dialogue and work together to generate and expose as many possible solutions to problems as possible.

When collaboration and teamwork are not thriving, the work culture is open to internal competition, fear, criticism, judging, bullying, and blaming—and eventually an organization self-destructs and fails. People don’t want to work in a place that tolerates bad behaviors.

Great leaders communicate and model acceptable behaviors and do not tolerate poor language or behavior. If necessary, they transform their culture. It’s hard work, but it is the job of leadership.

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Saving a Struggling Team or Business

Q. Some of our teams have struggled, but now our company is struggling. How can we turn these around?

A. At various times, teams and organizations struggle, flounder, and some fail. It’s not uncommon, but for the staff and customers involved, it can be disheartening, frustrating, or catastrophic. In the Bay area, 90% of startups fail. And of the corporations listed on the first Fortune 500 list in 1955, more than 70% of them no longer exist. Failure is an option. But does it need to be?

To guide you in how to turnaround a team or business takes an assessment of where you currently are and how you got there. What are the root causes that took you on this declining journey? Someone who is knowledgeable in business systems can assess your situation and give you some insightful perspectives. Your openness to learning and trying some new approaches will be needed for your success. If you want to do what you’ve been doing, you’ll continue to struggle.

Consider what you’re trying to accomplish on your team and how it contributes to your business. Deeply understand your customers. Talk to them, and watch them using your service and products. How can you serve them better? How can you support them? Is it easy to contact you if they have a problem?

Most struggling businesses or teams are not clear with what they need to do Together; don’t have free-flowing information or communication; lack focus or training or the materials to do the job; and have too many barriers and internal competition to excel. Look at how decisions are made. Do you look at data over time? What is the culture? Are people happy about delighting your customers?

Connect the dots. Your team is like a jigsaw puzzle, and the pieces need to fit together. The more self-aware you are, the better. Put the problems out on the table. Listen to the ideas from everyone to improve.

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Workers Return—Create a New Culture

Q. Our workers are returning to the office. How can we optimize this change?

A. Change can be difficult. People resist change if it is disruptive and they perceive they face loss. It may be loss of time, freedom, or the ability to make better choices for their lives. 

On the other hand, change can be embraced if the changes lead to improvements and enhanced relationships and communication. The vision of the improvements need to be clearly communicated. Too often communication is unclear and not shared. No one know all of the answers through changing times, but together people can work through issues and learn to make a difference.

As workers return to the office, the more that leaders and teams share and share ideas, concerns, and problem solving, the more all will benefit. Leaders will create a new environment and realize that the culture they had years ago and over Zoom will pivot. Together they will create a new culture with a new direction, energy, and determination. The question will elicit new responses and creativity. What people need across an organization is connection, empathy, and respect. 

The new behaviors will flow from leadership all the way through an organization and to customers. Flow is essential. Look for hurdles and barriers, and remove them together. People at all levels will be adjusting both in their personal and professional lives over the next months. Facilitate new possibilities and learning for better outcomes.