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Editor: Dr. Wolf J. Rinke
Publisher: Wolf Rinke Associates, Inc.
(c) 2010 Wolf J. Rinke
Vol. 13 No. 3, June-July 2010
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Welcome to 13 years of helping managers like YOU achieve
dramatic improvements in performance, productivity and profitability.
Feel free to forward this eNewsletter to others.
To get your own FREE subscription click on the link above.
IN THIS ISSUE
1. NEWS YOU CAN USE
2. HOW TO REBUILD TRUST--PART I
3. HOW TO FIX A DYSFUNCTIONAL TEAM
4. HEAR WOLF HOWL--I MEAN SPEAK
5. HUMOR BREAK
6. ABOUT THE EDITOR
7. PRIVACY STATEMENT AND SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION
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REALITY CHECK
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"Trust is like being pregnant-you either are or you aren't."
-Wolf J. Rinke
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1. NEWS YOU CAN USE
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LACK OF TRUST IMPACTS THE BOTTOM LINE
According to the Edelman Trust Barometer, trust in corporations is down
throughout the world. In no country is trust in a more dismal state
than in the US where at 38% it is the lowest in the 10 year history
of this survey - even worse than after the Enron and the dot com bust.
(This study was done before the BP disaster.) The bottom line: Lack
of trust has a direct impact on a company's financial future.
ACTION STEPS
The time to rebuild trust is now! Read the article that follows and
take action.
Source:http://www.edelman.com/speak_up/blog/Trust_Barometer_Executive_Summary_FINAL.pdf,
accessed 6/9/10.
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2. HOW TO REBUILD TRUST--PART I
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During these tough economic times trust has become a vanishing act.
No wonder, with all the bankruptcies, mergers and layoffs employees
find it increasingly difficult to trust management. The challenge, trust
is the foundation upon which all relationships and interactions are
built! And once that foundation is destroyed, relationships and interactions
no longer function smoothly, effectively or productively. So what can
you do to re-build trust? You can start by making sure your word is
always as good as gold, that your team members never have to second-guess
anything you tell them, and that they can count on you to do right by
them, your customers, and your organization. Once you get the basics
down pat, here are eight additional steps you can take to rebuild trust:
Step 1: Tell them more than they want to know.
During these tough economic times many managers are afraid to share
bad news with their team members. After all how much bad news can they
handle? So they sugar-coat the bad news, hide in their office or withhold
information. Exactly the opposite of what you want to do to rebuild
trust. Because any time there is a paucity of information the grapevine
will fill the void. The problem with that is that the grapevine tends
to distort the truth, magnifies the negative and is out of your control.
(Why do you think BP is spending millions on a positive PR campaign?)
So what you want to do instead is be as accessible as possible, tell
it like it is, and use every media at your disposal to give them more
information than you think is wise. What if you can't? First, be governed
by: "If in doubt let it out." If legal tells you not to, then
tell team members why you can't, and provide them with a specific date
that more information will be forthcoming.
Step 2: Give trust.
If you want more trust you have to give it first and live by the axiom:
"Trust all people all of the time, until they prove you wrong."
The typical response I get to that advice is: "You don't understand
the people who work for me" or "You sure have no clue who
our customers are" or "I wouldn't trust my manager if my life
depended on it." Be that as it may, the law of reciprocity stipulates:
"Whatever you give is what you're going to get." So if you
want more trust you have to give it first. (And by the way do try this
at home, because it works for your personal relationships too.) What
about trusting everyone? Here is why in a nutshell: If you consistently
mistrust all of your team members all of the time you will be correct
3 percent of the time. Not very good odds, are they? If on the other
hand you trust all of your people all of the time, until they prove
you wrong, you will be right 97 percent of the time! So why not bet
on the much better odds? It's your choice, don't give it away!
Step 3: Hold everyone accountable.
Although it is advisable to ratchet up your level of empathy during
tough times, when it comes to rebuilding trust it is essential that
you hold all team members accountable for all their actions. One way
to do this is to have them commit to this powerful axiom: "If it's
to be, it's up to me!" You might even make up a huge poster with
those words followed by "I hereby commit to take ownership of all
my action" then have all team members sign the poster. Once signed,
display it in a conspicuous place for all customers and team members
to see. And don't forget to publically celebrate the team members who
live by this axiom especially if it is at their expense.
Step 4: Establish boundaries.
Trust works when people know that they can count on each other to do
a certain thing a certain way. And since today there are probably far
fewer people to count on in your organization, boundaries become even
more important. One of the fastest ways to achieve this is to dust off
your organization's mission, vision, and core values, which collectively
I refer to as the organizational philosophy. It tells people what's
important and how we do things around here. (If you don't have these
and don't know where to begin devour my book: "Winning Management:
6 Fail-Safe Strategies for Building High-Performance Organizations",
available at http://wolfrinke.com/WMprod.html). Once the boundaries
are in place you must then discipline yourself to expect that your team
members are going to operate within those boundaries. (Remember over
the long run most of us get what we expect.) Control in such an environment
comes after the action, when results are assessed, instead of telling
people what to do or having them ask permission before taking action.
This allows you to function as a coach instead of a cop, and makes your
team members respect and trust you more.
In the next issue of this eNewsletter we will discuss the remaining
steps required to rebuild trust.
SOURCE: Based in part on "Don't Oil the Squeaky Wheel and 19 Other
Contrarian Ways to Improve Your Leadership Effectiveness," available
at http://www.wolfrinke.com/squeakywheel.html.
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3. HOW TO FIX A DYSFUNCTIONAL TEAM
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Lack of trust interfering with your ability to get the job done?
Contact me. In over 30 years of consulting I have developed a unique
fail-safe conflict resolution process that in one day will get your
leadership or other team back in working order. Differences will have
been worked out and the team will walk away with written commitments
that will be used by team members to hold each other accountable, rebuild
trust and productivity. As a result of this intervention participants
buy into a new reality which enables them to take team performance to
the next level.
For details go to http://wolfrinke.com/conflict.htm
or contact us at 800-828-9653 (USA) or 410-531-9280.
Two high value team members unable to work effectively together? I can
help. For details go to http://wolfrinke.com/conflict2.htm.
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4. HEAR WOLF HOWL--I MEAN SPEAK
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These full day seminars maybe open to you if your company is a member
of the Institute of Management Studies (IMS). Contact the chairperson
for specifics.
Sep. 14, 2010. Philadelphia, PA. "Increasing Your Personal Leadership
Effectiveness." Contact: Joe Paesani, Philadelphia@ims-online.com
NOTE: I have other "in-house" presentations scheduled in
the U.S.A., Canada and Europe. Please let me know if you are interested
to preview me or bring me into your organization at reduced expenses
when I'm scheduled to be in your area. That way we can let you know
when I'm coming your way!
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5. HUMOR BREAK
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Understanding Engineers:
A priest, a doctor, and an engineer were waiting for a particularly
slow group of golfers. The engineer fumed, "What's with those guys?
We must be waiting for more than fifteen minutes!"
The doctor chimed in, "I don't know, but I've never seen such inept
golf!"
The priest said, "Here comes the greens keeper. Let's ask him."
He said, "Hello, Jim! What's wrong with that group ahead of us?
They're rather slow, aren't they?"
The greens keeper replied, "Oh, yes. That's a group of blind fire
fighters. They lost their sight saving our clubhouse from a fire last
year, so we always let them play for free anytime."
The group fell silent until the priest said, "That's so sad. I
will say a special prayer for them tonight."
The doctor said, "I'm going to contact my ophthalmologist colleague
and see if there's anything he can do for them."
The engineer said, "Why can't they play at night?"
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6. ABOUT THE EDITOR
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Dr. Wolf J. Rinke, CSP is a highly effective management consultant and
executive coach who specializes in building peak performance organizations,
teams and individuals. He is the author of 14 books including "Don't
Oil the Squeaky Wheel and 19 Other Contrarian Ways to Improve Your Leadership
Effectiveness" and "Winning Management: 6 Fail-Safe Strategies
for Building High-Performance Organizations" available at www.WolfRinke.com.
Wolf is also an internationally recognized management/leadership 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 their management and leadership effectiveness. Preview a live
demo at www.WolfRinke.com. To take advantage of Dr. Rinke's services
contact us at 800-828-9653 or WolfRinke@aol.com
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7. PRIVACY STATEMENT AND SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION
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We will not make your name or e-mail address available to anyone. Period!
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