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Editor: Dr. Wolf J. Rinke IN THIS ISSUE 1. NEWS YOU CAN USE 2. SIX STEPS TO EFFECTIVE DELEGATION 3. WINNING ACTION STEPS 4. HUMOR BREAK 5. ABOUT THE EDITOR 6. CONTACT AND SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION ======================================================== REALITY CHECK "Leadership is the art of accomplishing more than the science of management says is possible." —General Colin Powell ======================================================== 1. NEWS YOU CAN USE ======================================================== THINK DIFFERENT Quad/Graphics Inc., North America's third largest printing company, with annual sales of $2 billion and 13,000 employees continues to grow at dramatic rates even during these lean times. Why? Because Henry Quadracci, 65 years young, founder, president and CEO believes that different is better. Ever since he stared the company in 1985 his business philosophy has been the "contrary approach." When his competiors downsize he expands, which is exactly what he is doing at the present time. Others avoid nepotism, he promotes it. (Some 55% of his employees have relatives working at the company including Mr. Quadracci who employs his wife and two children.) Others shun having fun at work, he promotes it by role modeling. For example he and 150 managers put on the "H.M.S. Printafour" musical for the employees. According to Mr. Quadracci, who stars in the musical, you have to be a little corny and you have to be different if you want to succeed. ACTION STEPS: Whether you are a manager or have your own company: take a look at what your competitors are doing and do something different! Source: Wall Street Journal, 5/14/01, p. R9.
ONLY 26% OF EMPLOYEES ARE ACTIVELY ENGAGED The stats are much worse than I reported in the previous issue of this eNewsletter (Vol. 4, #2). Here is the whole scoop: In a study of 1,000 employees the Gallup Organization of Princeton, NJ found that 55% of employees are not engaged in their jobs, and 19% are actively disengaged. That means that only 26% of all employees are engaged and are operating at their full potential. Will that level of commitment enable you to succeed in this rapidly changing, highly competitive, global economy? ACTION STEPS: Devour my book Winning Management: 6 Fail-Safe Strategies For Building High-Performance Organizations. Then reinforce what you have learned by listening to the audiotape album of the same title so that you can begin to build powerful new habits that will enable you to fully engage every employee. (Call 800-828-WOLF or visit www.WolfRinke.com for more information.) Source: Gallup Management Journal, March 2001.
ARROGANCE STRIKES AGAIN In the cover story (Vol. 3, #6) of this eNewsletter entitled "Arrogance Leads to Disaster," I detailed how arrogance has capsized Chrysler. This time the culprit is Motorola Inc. who reached "cockiness status in the mid-1990s when their StarTec model was hot and they began to take their customers, especially the wireless carriers for granted." Because of their arrogance they were unable to recognize that the carriers are the ones who determine which phones they will offer in their retail stores and which ones they will offer for special promotions. "Éwhat really undid Motorola in the cellphone business is what Verizon Wireless chief marketing officer John Stratton calls Motorola's Ôarrogance.'" ACTION STEPS: Set very high service standards that will exceed everyone of your customers' expectation. Aggressively collect and monitor customer satisfaction data. And tie all employees' rewards to the level of customer satisfaction. (For more specifics read Ch 6. of my book "Winning Management: 6 Fail-Safe Strategies For Building High-Performance Organizations.") Source: Wall Street Journal, 5/18/01, pp. A1 & A8. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DO YOU HAVE A QUESTION, SUGGESTION OR A SUCCESS STORY? We are getting some great success stories from our subscribers, and would like to hear what's working, or not working, for you. Mailto:WolfRinke@aol.com ======================================================== 2. SIX STEPS TO EFFECTIVE DELEGATION by Wolf J. Rinke ======================================================== "It'll get it done much faster if I do it myself," is what I often hear from managers. As a result they are overworked and overstressed. Here are six steps that will help you delegate like a RAMMER:
Step 1. Results Focus I call this defining a good job. Often things don't go the way you expect because your team member didn't really understand what you wanted. Do this together with your team member—ideally, face to face. Both of you should be very clear about the results and the standards that will be used to determine whether the assignment has been successfully completed. Be sure to "reality test" by having the team member tell you what it is that you expect. Make it a practice to always expect complete work. I have found this is essential to get team members to buy into the concept of doing things right the first time. (You know what they say: There is never enough time to do it right the first time, but always enough time to do it over again.) I force myself to return incomplete work. If you are consistent, team members soon catch on and get in the habit of doing it right the first time.
Step 2. Assign Authority To get the job done, the team member must have rope. For example, you can't expect me to effectively run project X if I have to check with you every time I need to make a change. I would spend all my time running after you instead of taking care of project X. In other words, you must tell me how far I can go without coming to you, and then you must stay out of my way and let me do "my thing your way."
Step 3. Motivate Some people will take on additional responsibilities with open arms. No problem there. But what about those who do not? Well, you must make it very clear what's in it for them and then "reward" movement in the right direction. Some team members are afraid of taking on anything new because they are not sure of their own capabilities. Engage them in incremental learning, by breaking complex tasks into doable "baby steps." Point out where and when they have succeeded in similar tasks in the past. Then, express confidence in their capabilities by saying: "I know you can handle project X. Remember how well you did with project Y?"
Step 4. Monitor This is a tough one. Too little monitoring and you have abdication—too much, and you have "hovering." To deal with this, I recommend that you tell team members the boundaries of their authority in Step 1, establish how and how often you want to be briefed (e-mail, phone, or in person) and then take your hands off. This has been particularly hard for me, because when I see something wrong, I instinctively want to correct it. The better way is to let the team members learn from their own mistakes. "But," you protest, "let them make a mistake and not say anything?" Yup, that's what I mean. "All the time, regardless of the consequences?" Nope. You must do a risk/benefit analysis: Weigh the benefit of what your team member will learn from the mistake against the costs associated with it.
Step 5. Evaluate Evaluate against the standards established in step 1, by going back to see how well both of you did. I said both because evaluation should always be a two-way street. Begin by asking the team member to do a self-evaluation. This has multiple benefits. First, no one knows better how well it was done than the doer. Second, it treats the team member like an adult. Third, you will be surprised how candid most people are about their own performance. In many cases you will have to shed a more positive light on their self-evaluation.
Step 6. Reward The key here is to tie rewards to performance. Handing rewards out indiscriminately can be as counterproductive as not rewarding at all. Here is why. Let's say you and a colleague were asked to work on two different but equally difficult projects. He basically squeezed by, while you worked your buns off to exceed the standards. At the next team meeting your boss recognizes both of you for an outstanding job. How will you feel, and what will you be saying to yourself? Rotten, is the answer to the first question, and you are saying to yourself, "Next time I'll do the minimum, too, because doing one's best obviously makes no difference around here." From my years in the federal government—a system that makes tying rewards to performance very difficult—I've become convinced that there is no faster way to "maximize the minimum." So don't do it, and if you are in a system structured like the government, then you have to put your thinking cap on to come up with creative strategies to "let the reward fit the accomplishment." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For FREE articles, inspirational messages and money saving offers on books, audio and videotapes that will help you and your organization succeed FASTER visit our website: http://www.WolfRinke.com or call 800-828-WOLF (USA); 410-531-9282. ======================================================== 3. WINNING ACTION STEPS ======================================================== YOU GET WHAT YOU INCENTIVIZE Do you provide incentives to new customers? If yes, make sure that the incentives to your long-term customers are at least as valuable.
CULTIVATE REBELS Do everything you can to create a climate that encourages team members to tell you and the other managers what to do.
BREAKFAST WITH THE BOSS Randomly select a dozen employees and invite them to a "Breakfast with the Boss" session one day next week. During breakfast ask them the following questions: What one thing could I do or provide you that would let you do a better job or make your job easier? What, if anything, irritates you when you are at work? Why do you work here? What do you wish we would do or provide you that we do not do or provide you now? Summarize that data and act on it now. Then provide feedback to the employees you interviewed. Now repeat this process once a month. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DON'T MISS THE 12th ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON WORK TEAMS Sep. 1-12, 2001, Hyatt Regency DFW, Dallas, TX, USA. Learn what it takes to make teams work and have the opportunity to hear Dr. Rinke's closing keynote: "Positive Attitude: The Key to Peak Team Performance, 1:30-2:30 p.m., Sep 12, 2001. For more info contact the Ctr. for the Study of Work Teams Phone: 940-565-3096, e-mail workteam@unt.edu or www.workteams.unt.edu ======================================================== 4. HUMOR BREAK ======================================================== Employees' excuses for not coming to work:
If it's all the same to you I won't be coming to work. The "voices" told me to clean my guns today.
When I got up this morning I took two Ex-Lax in addition to my Prozac. I can't get off the john, but I sure feel good about it.
The dog ate my car keys. We're going to need to hitchhike to the vet.
======================================================== 5. ABOUT THE EDITOR ======================================================== Dr. Wolf J. Rinke, CSP is an internationally recognized motivational and management keynote speaker and seminar leader who delivers customized presentations that combine story telling, humor and motivation with specific "how to" action strategies that participants can apply immediately to improve the quality of their personal and professional lives. He is also a highly effective management consultant and executive coach. You can reach him at 410-531-9280 or email WolfRinke@aol.com ======================================================== 7. CONTACT AND SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION ======================================================== Dr. Wolf J. Rinke, CSP President Wolf Rinke Associates, Inc. P.O. Box 350 Clarksville, MD 21029-0350 USA (410) 531-9280, Fax (410) 531-9282 For orders in the US (800) 828-WOLF (9653) Email: Mailto:WolfRinke@aol.com Website: http://www.WolfRinke.com If this was forwarded to you and you would like to receive your own FREE subscription mailto:WolfRinke@aol.com and type the word SUBSCRIBE in the subject box. To remove yourself from this mailing list, please type the word UNSUBSCRIBE WM in the subject box. PRIVACY STATEMENT: We will not make your name available to anyone. Period!
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