- Change Management - Tough initiative you think people will resist? These tips can help.
- Fear of public speaking? - This five part series will help it go away (2 of 5.)
- Office Politics - This article will help you resolve conflicts
with difficult people (2 of 8.)
CHANGE MANAGEMENTPeople Support a World they Help Create
One of the key characteristics of great leaders is being able to motivate and inspire followers while in the midst of change. I've been told on many occasions that change in the workplace is difficult because people automatically resist change. I've found that in most cases, after investigating the circumstances, that the statement above is not necessarily true. In fact people DO NOT resist change -- many people thrive on change. People do resist, however, being forced to change.
What I have found over the years is that if we as leaders need to inspire and motivate our followers to make changes, the decisions to make those changes need to come from the level at which the change will be implemented. If the decision to change is made at a higher level within the organization, the people who will be forced to make changes will almost always resist. The following are a few common examples of situations in which this simple principle might be violated.
- Cost Cutting Initiatives: During tight economies, companies may be forced to tighten their belts. Most companies do this by creating a committee (whether it is the Executive Committee, an Ad-Hoc Committee, or a couple of Senior Managers) to go behind closed doors, come up with some cost-cutting ideas, and roll these ideas out to the company employees to implement. Put yourself in the shoes of the employee. All the sudden, someone who knows very little about your day-to-day challenges cuts your resources without your input. How would you react? The committee would get much better cooperation and "buy-in" if they consulted the people who will be implementing the cuts (they will often have a number of ideas ready.) This process doesn't mean that every idea has to be implemented, but the ones that are, will have a better chance of succeeding. If the committee has ideas of their own, ask the people who will implement them if the idea is feasible and possible. A lot of times, the people implementing the ideas can fine-tune them and make the ideas work even better.
- Executive Retreats: Executives go to a training program or an annual retreat and come back to the office excited about the new direction the company will be heading. Since the people not at the retreat were not involved in the process, they won't be excited about the new policies.
- Mission/Vision Statements: Most Mission Statements are written by an individual or a small group of executives. The people writing the statements will be much more sold on the mission and vision that people who are forced to memorize the statements. Does that mean we shouldn't write them? Not at all. But a better exercise might be to ask the individual employees what their role will be in making that vision come to reality.
Remember, people support a world they help create. Look for ways to get people involved in the change process, and they will see the change as positive and embrace the change. ¤
Despite what others may tell you, it can be very easy to create a positive, enthusiastic atmosphere in your office during a period of change. If you'd like specific tips on how to create this type of atmosphere in your office, please contact one of our instructors at change-management@leadersinstitute.com or call us toll-free at 1-800-872-7830.
FEAR OF PUBLIC SPEAKING?Turn Fear into Confidence
(Part 2 of 5)
As a quick review, in the last e-mail, I discussed how the ability to speak confidently is one way to create a positive perception of you and your company. In this session, we'll cover how confidence in a skill (such as public speaking,) is gained, and how it is lost.
SKILL >> ATTITUDE
To develop a skill, we must first have a positive attitude about learning the new skill. We will ask ourselves three questions about the new skill: Is the skill something I NEED? Is it something I WANT? Is it something I think I CAN obtain? Each of these questions is a phase of attitude, and if we answer any of these questions negatively, we probably won't try very hard to develop the skill.
Is the new skill something that I absolutely NEED? If I don't think I need the new skill I won't put out much effort to learn the skill. If I am in this stage of learning to be a better public speaker, I may justify my inaction by telling myself things like, "I know I'm not a great speaker, but in my position within the company, I don't really have to speak much. As long as I don't get promoted, I won't NEED to become a better speaker." or "Maybe I'll hire someone who is a good speaker."
If the NEED is not present, I won't change my habits. And just because I have identified a need, doesn't mean I will make changes either. I also have to WANT to change. Justifications in this phase may sound like, "I know I NEED to be a better speaker, but I've been through speech classes and toasting clubs before, and I don't WANT to do that anymore. Besides, I always get by." Think of all the opportunities that people pass up because they are "getting by."
The next phase of attitude happens when we realize that the skill is something that we NEED and WANT, but we are not sure if we CAN. Doubt will creep in and we will begin to tell ourselves things like, "I've never been a great speaker." or "I always get nervous before I speak." At this point we begin looking for a way to learn how to do the new skill. We start looking for Information about the subject.
*If at any point during the learning of a new skill, we have a failure, chances are doubt will creep back in, and we will fall back to this phase. We will begin to question whether we can or not.
If you are in one of these phases of Attitude
about learning to be a better
public speaker,
the following information may
be helpful. NEED: Look at the most successful people
in your company or industry.
Chances are,
these people are great communicators
and
confident public speakers. They
are probably
"Take Charge" kind
of people. If
you are not, than to become even
more successful,
you probably NEED to become better
at this
skill.WANT: If you've been through speech classes or toasting clubs, and they just didn't seem to work, read on, because there was probably something missing in your training. CAN: Doubt is difficult to overcome, but thousands of people have completed The Fearless Presentations Course and no one has ever failed to increase there confidence speaking. |
SKILL >> ATTITUDE >> INFORMATION
To overcome the doubt, we begin looking for "How to" INFORMATION. This is probably the stage that you are in right now. You are looking for information about how to overcome the fears associated with public speaking. Over the next few days, you will receive additional information about public speaking, but if this were the final stage (such as in a workshop or seminar) then the skill might never be developed. (Visit the Leader's Institute Resource Center for free public speaking tips.)
Traditionally, training has been focused on information. Listen to a lecture for a few hours, and you might learn something. The problem with this type of training is that retention of information is very low. Think about all the different tests that you took in elementary school, high school, or college. If I were to give you a test today filled with questions from tests you have passed over the years, how confident would you be as you took the test? Some answers may come easily while others may not. Retention of information is short term in knowledge-based training.
SKILL >> ATTITUDE >> INFORMATION >> PRACTICE
"To know and not to do, is not to know." -Unknown
We must put the information into PRACTICE to create new habits, strengthen retention, and ultimately gain the skill. This phase alone causes more nervousness and fear among public speakers than any other phase. This is also the phase in which most failures occur.
An example of this might be when in grade school, the teacher put you on the spot and asked you for an answer to a question or to work a problem out on the board. You may have known the answer, but because of the pressure, you might not have been able to think of it right away. Your sub-conscious mind records that as a failure, and when asked to speak in front of a group or in a pressure situation again, the sub-conscious mind may trigger that failure. The DOUBT from the attitude phase grows stronger.
Another common example happens when we speak before a group and do pretty well, but we feel so nervous that we convince ourselves that we didn't do well. The doubt grows more. That is why a good coach is important. Not a coach that honks a horn every time you say "uhm," but one that tells you the things you are doing right. We get more of what we reinforce.
Great trainers will create a positive, controlled
environment so that their students
will be
able to PRACTICE using new information
without
the fear of failure. If you want to
benefit
from the information provided here,
you'll
need to put the information into practice.
If you want to speed up the process
and insure
that you are gaining confidence along
the
way, you should find a good coach.
The coach
that you choose should be someone who
has
already done what you want to do. Don't
choose
your friend who is also nervous about
speaking
to be your coach. In the next issue, we cover some of the specific fears that are created in the practice phase when we don't have a good coach. We'll also cover ways to confront these fears and work through them so the nervousness eventually goes away. ¤
| *********************************************************************************************** "The High Impact Leaders class is a great course to help confront the fear of speaking in front of groups. The instructors use positive feedback to tell participants what they are doing right." --Tim Ward-TD Industries *********************************************************************************************** The absolute best way to overcome the fear of public speaking is to get a good coach and practice in a positive environment. The High Impact Leaders Class offers a step-by-step program that will help you develop poise and confidence speaking in front of a group, become more persuasive, and ultimately control your audience. To check schedules in your area, visit this link www.high-impact-leaders.com/schedule.html Don't see your city? Send us an e-mail to find out how to get a class started in your area. class@leadersinstitute.com *********************************************************************************************** "I have gained more confidence at speaking to larger groups. I've always felt comfortable speaking to smaller groups of two or three people, but now I have expanded my comfort zone to include groups of all sizes." -- Nickey Smith-Freightliner *********************************************************************************************** |
OFFICE POLITICSEthical Conflict Resolution
(Article 2 of 8)
Conflicts are inevitable, but the more we know about human nature, the more positive the outcome of a conflict might be for both parties. We know that different people have different priorities and different ways of dealing with situations that may occur, but in general, human beings have certain characteristics that are very similar - even across gender, racial, and socio-economic lines.
- People love to be agreed with.
- People hate to be disagreed with.
- People like other people who agree with them.
- People dislike other people who disagree with them.
- People who are good at resolving conflicts look for some point of agreement and use good people skills to get others to see a different point of view.
So if we know that when we disagree with people, we are likely to raise resentment, it might be a good idea to strengthen our soft-skills - our people skills - when dealing with conflicts or potential conflicts. If we find ourselves in a tense situation, and we raise our voice, the other party is likely to respond in kind. This will usually escalate the situation quickly. Instead, below are SEVEN tips for avoiding and ultimately resolving conflicts.
- Be proactive instead of reactive. Good plans shape good decisions. That's why good planning helps to make elusive dreams come true. -Lester R. Bittel
- Be slow to anger-especially over petty issues. Anger is always more harmful than the insult that caused it. -Chinese Proverb
- Instead of telling people they are wrong, point out mistakes indirectly. A person convinced against his will is of the same opinion still. -Samuel Butler
- Look for some type of common ground as soon as possible. A compromise is the art of dividing a cake in such a way that everyone believes he has the biggest piece. -Ludwig Erhard
- If you find that you are in the wrong, admit it. It's easier to eat crow while it is still warm. -Dan Heist
- Admit one of your own poor decisions before pointing out a similar error by others. A man should never be ashamed to own he has been in the wrong, which is but saying... that he is wiser today than he was yesterday. -Alexander Pope, from Miscellanies by Jonathan Swift
- Mend fences whenever possible. Never does the human soul appear so strong as when it forgoes revenge, and dares forgive an injury. -E.H. Chapin ¤
Is office politics getting out of hand at your workplace? Or do you just want to develop more of a team atmosphere? The High Precision Teams program from The Leader's Institute is a dynamic team-building program that help participants build trust and respect in a fun, non-threatening environment. Visit http://www.buildingyourteam.com for more information.