Have you ever worked in an organisation where avoiding punishment became your main motivation? Many of us have had that experience.

Don’t push that same fate onto your team! Give instant feedback.

Instant feedback means baby steps

Take small steps and start with recognising people for things they do approximately right. Don’t wait for them to do things perfectly, they might never copy your personal standards. But they will be able to set their own, possibly higher standards, if you start them off on the right foot.

Think about it: do you expect a toddler to walk perfectly with their first steps?

Fact: Punishment doesn’t work when you are learning.

Why instant feedback works so well

Besides having clear goals, it is a lot easier for people to do well when they receive crystal-clear feedback on how they are doing.

Recognise people soon after they do something right, to keep them motivated. If they don’t know they are on the right path, they might give up.

Regular recognition builds confidence which is important to stay innovative and ahead of the game.

It will also save you time. Once your people become more capable, they will solve more problems.

How to give instant feedback

1. Recognise people as soon as they do something approximately right.

2. Be specific in letting them know what they did right.

3. Tell people how good you feel about what they did and how it helps the business. Help them see the bigger picture.

4. Make it clear you have confidence in them and support their success.

Why feedback is so important

Here are some of my favourite comments from a recent LinkedIn post about feedback:

“Work burnout can be caused by many factors, including long working hours. However, based on many social audit interviews I can conclude that people really suffer when they are not appreciated. They can work hard and long hours, understand that the company might be facing difficult times, that pay rise might not be an option but what I heard hundreds of times was that they really wanted to hear ‘Thanks, good job!’.”

“People like being proud of their work. One might think: ‘Oh, it is just a simple job, something like printing or assembly…’. But even among unskilled production workers you can find people who are truly proud of the results of their daily work. I do not know why we only appreciate people for passing exams, reaching KPIs or finding new clients. Why not appreciate a single parent or a person in a depression crisis for being on time every day? Maybe that person does not bring a new contract, but a new contract would also not be delivered without her or him. Anyway, 2021 is a good year to work on appreciation.”

“Appreciation is the magic touch that can help to restore energy and motivation levels to bring prosperity and progress to any company.”

To learn more about ditching the annual appraisal and giving instant feedback, join my next online course.

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How would you feel if you had:

• More time to think and plan, giving your business the help it really needs?
• More time to spend with family, friends, or on hobbies?
• More time to relax and less stress?
• Fewer costly staff turnovers, less sick days and absenteeism?
• The tools to create clarity for a common purpose?

Stop counterproductive activities and behaviours

Start by asking yourself:

• How clear are your company’s goals and purpose to your employees?
• What does your ideal workspace look like?

Then, ask your team:

• What can we do so we don’t succeed in creating clarity around our goals and purpose? Stay with me on this.
• Which of those (negative) examples are we already doing?

By asking these questions, you:

• Quickly reveal when a purpose is missing and avoid moving forward without clarity.
• Make it possible to speak the unspeakable and get skeletons out of the closet (what shouldn’t we do but are doing).
• Make space for positive change and innovation.
• Lay the ground for creative destruction by doing the hard work in a fun way.
• Build trust by acting all together to remove barriers.

Why clarity works so well

You can have more time for whatever you want and need when you create clarity for your people.

It will help you to create clear goals together and give timely feedback.

People like to work for themselves and when they are given the clarity and responsibility to achieve their goals however they feel is best, they will find the best way.

When you do your best to help your team work better, you can look for improvements together and be a great benefit to your business.

Fact: Most people want to do a good job!

So, support your people by making sure everyone is clear on the company’s purpose and their goals.

Now ask yourself and your team: What can we do to counteract existing behaviour and start to create clarity for a common purpose? To find out more, book onto my next ‘Working better together – create clarity’ workshop.

The post Create clarity for a common purpose appeared first on KiKa Services.

Make better decisions faster

Here are three decision-making processes you can easily try in your team (or at home – what’s for dinner??):

The consent decision-making process, which prioritises speed over agreement, and encourages action and experimentation. This is a great option to test within a hierarchical group looking for more inclusion and power-sharing.

For more significant or risky decisions, you might want to go with consensus. It produces a stronger buy-in and team unity, but can take a long time. Consensus is very effective for increasing a shared understanding and creating strong bonds within a team.

To maximise autonomy, use the advice process. It makes use of collective intelligence by including people who will be affected by the decision and people who have experience with the topic at hand. This process works best if there is a strong alignment around purpose, and you have proactive measures
to support healthy disagreement. It’s particularly suited to decisions with unpredictable outcomes, or where special expertise is required.

Consent decision-making process:

1. State the proposal: ‘I propose that from now on, we use Slack for team communication.‘
2. Question round: everyone can ask clarifying questions so all understand what is being proposed: ‘Will we have team channels?‘, ‘Will we need to install it on our phones?‘, ‘Will we get trained on how to use it?‘, ‘Who is doing that training?‘
3. Reaction round: everyone takes turns to give their reaction: ‘I love it.‘, ‘I don’t think it is the best solution.‘, ‘Maybe we could trial it for three months.‘
4. Re-state proposal: the proposer may modify or clarify the proposal:’ I propose that from now on, we use Slack for team communication. We will set up team and topic channels. You only need to have the app installed on your work computer, having Slack on your phone is optional. We can find a 10-minute introductory video for using Slack and new team members get trained by their colleagues. We trial this for three months and review it again at the end.‘
5. Objections: if anyone has a valid objection, the proposal needs to be modified. A valid objection is something like ‘I think there is a serious risk this proposal could do harm.’, not ‘I have a better idea.‘ or ‘I don’t like it.‘: ‘We need to check the data security settings to make sure they comply with our policy and most likely should not share financial data on Slack.‘
6. Confirmation: everyone visually confirms the proposal by standing up or with a simple thumbs up, indicating ‘I’m happy to try this.‘

Consensus decision-making process:

1. Introduce and clarify the issue or opportunity: ‘With more people working from home, we need to rethink some of our HR policies around working hours, recruitment and induction.‘
2. Open up a wide ranging conversation by exploring possible ideas and solutions.
3. Look for an emerging proposal.
4. Discuss, clarify and amend the proposal. You could use the consent process here.
5. Test for agreement:

• Agree/Support: ‘I support this proposal.‘
• Abstain/Stand aside: ‘I will neither support nor object.‘
• Disagree/Reservation: ‘I think the proposal could be improved, but I do not object to the group moving ahead without my support.‘
• Block/Veto: ‘I have a principled objection and cannot let the proposal proceed.‘

You may need to define some specific details, like:

• How many group members need to participate for a proposal to pass?
• How many ‘Abstains’ or ‘Disagrees’ can a proposal have and still pass?
• Who has the power to block?
• How much time can you allow for people to participate?
• Who is responsible for the process?

Advice decision-making process:

Here, anyone can make a decision. You need to ask for advice from people who will be affected, and people who have relevant expertise. You will also take responsibility for the outcome. As the decision-maker you own the decision. You don’t have to negotiate to satisfy everyone, but must genuinely listen to and understand the advice:

1. Announce that you are seeking advice.
2. Consult with people who will be affected, and people with relevant expertise.
3. Make your decision.
4. Announce the outcome. Ensure people know they were heard and understood, even if they disagree with your decision. Explain why you have or have not incorporated their advice.

So, be a brave leader and let your people make decisions that are good for business. To practice these processes before unleashing them onto your team, come along to one of my decision-making workshops.

The post Make better decisions faster appeared first on KiKa Services.

1. Ask your team what they love about working for you and what gets in the way of them being able to do their best work.
2. Write down everything they say. Together, pick the smallest barrier and work with your team to discuss changes to improve it. You could use the circle meeting from Part 1 and/or consent process from Part 2 for this step.
3. Then, have your team implement these changes without asking you for permission!

This process is useful to…

• Engage every individual in searching for answers.
• Create safe spaces and open spaces for new possibilities.
• Enrich the quality of observations and insights before expressing them.
• Build naturally toward consensus or shared understanding.
• Help guide scaling up and spreading innovations.
• Simplify strategy in fast moving markets.

Practice listening by starting with the why

In pairs, have your people answer the question ‘Why’? at least 9 times. For example: ‘Why is it important to you that this project succeeds?’ At the end, collect the answer to the last why from each person.

This is useful to…

• Discover what is truly important for your team members.
• Generate a small number of clear answers to help you move forward faster.
• Generate criteria for deciding who will be included.
• Create a shared purpose and responsibility.
• Lay the foundation for spreading and scaling innovations.

Find out about more practices in Part 1 and 2 of this series and contact me directly to book a workshop and implement them within your team.

The post What makes a great leader? Listening, part 3. appeared first on KiKa Services.

Once you collected your ideas in the circle meeting, you can start on a proposal for a solution. A proposal to solve the issue about too many meetings affecting people’s productivity could look like this:

‘Some of you mentioned that we could try to communicate in different ways such as using Slack more often for immediate questions. This would help us cut down on meeting time. Others suggested that meeting agendas are submitted and drafted at least a couple of days before each meeting so everyone can prepare and make sure meetings don’t overrun. I propose to try both options for the next three months and then review how it’s going.’

Then, similar to the circle meeting process, give everyone the opportunity to speak. First, ask if they have any clarifying questions about the proposal. For example, who is responsible for the meeting agendas, who can submit items, or if you can use a different messaging tool to Slack.

Once everyone had a chance to ask questions, ask for any further input and suggestions to these questions. Same as before, everyone gets a chance to speak. Adjust the proposal as needed:

‘I propose that we use Slack to communicate on a more frequent basis. We will set up relevant channels and everyone will get access and training on how to use Slack. Whoever sets up a meeting is responsible to ask all attendees to submit agenda items and the approximate time it will take to discuss these at least three days before the meeting. They will then send the agenda to all attendees two days before the meeting. We will review both processes in three months’ time.’

Good enough for now and safe enough to try

Only when no one has any more questions or suggestions, you can check for consent: ‘Is the proposal good enough for now and safe enough to try?’

Everyone then get a chance to either consent to the decision, abstain or object. However, objections are only valid if the proposal could do harm to the team or company. So maybe you actually can’t use Slack for data protection reasons. ‘I have a better idea.’ or ‘I don’t like it.’ are not valid objections. Everyone had a chance to contribute to and shape the proposal. If they consent to it, they cannot complain about it further down the line. This is also why it is important to include a trial phase for new processes, so they can be changed and refined if they are not working as intended.

The consent process is useful when…

• You need to make a decision relatively fast and need input from the people involved. Consent decisions will be much more robust and accepted than decisions made by an individual for others.
• Everyone is empowered with the right to amend or object.
• Making decisions for new policies, processes, or procedures.
• You can include limited time frames and regular review periods to make a decision ‘good enough for now and safe enough to try’.

Find out about more practices in Part 1 and 3 of this series and contact me directly to book a workshop and implement them within your team.

The post What makes a great leader? Listening, part 2. appeared first on KiKa Services.

Take it from Gallup who invited Susan Brady, CEO of the Simmons University Institute for Inclusive Leadership, to talk about this on their podcast. Susan emphasises that listening to your people creates the psychological safety they need to feel safe speaking up at work.

What are the best ways to put this into practice? Here are some practices you can use at any time within your organisation, to make sure you listen to your people’s invaluable input.

Practice listening with circle meetings

Circle meetings are great to gather ideas around a topic or problem your team needs to solve or make decisions on.

Instead of just asking into the round if anyone has any ideas, give everyone a couple of minutes to talk about what they are thinking. This way you avoid having the same people talk all the time and gather everyone’s input.

To make this really successful, there are some ground rules. Go around in a circle, only one person speaks at a time. Be respectful, honest, compassionate, empathise, don’t rant or judge, and remember time is limited. Create that psychologically safe space for your people to share how they would improve things for your organisation to become even better at what you do.

People can pass their talking time to the next person if they can’t think of anything, pause to just have silent time to think or participate and tell everyone about their ideas.

Circle meetings are useful when…

• Making sense of a complex, difficult, or painful situation and laying the ground to be able to move on.
• Generating new ideas and momentum for innovation.
• Building a shared understanding of how people develop different perspectives and ideas.
• Avoiding arguments based on lack of understanding.
• Building trust, reducing fear, and relieving strong or repressed emotions.
• Helping participants appreciate that conversations involve talking and listening.

Example: There might be a complaint in your organisation about too many meetings. You can ask your team how that is affecting their daily work and how they feel things could be done differently.

Find out about more practices in Part 2 and 3 of this series and contact me directly to book a workshop and implement them within your team.

The post What makes a great leader? Listening, part 1. appeared first on KiKa Services.

This week is the World Kindness, World Freedom and International Day for Tolerance. Those are good ingredients for a high performing workplace culture.

Research also shows that employers should reward workers for accomplishments, not hours worked.

A user on Reddit commented on this report that they would ‘just like a job where I have a doable amount of work with the necessary resources and with clear goals that actually align with what I need to do.’

It’s about building the foundations for a trusting and supportive environment.

Brave leaders are kind, transparent, and tolerant

The right support that brings the best results includes:

1. Brave leaders that are kind, challenge the status quo and treat adults as adults. Learn more about what makes a good leader in one if my previous posts.
2. Providing freedom and transparency. Include your people into your purpose and bigger picture. Then give them the freedom to work in line with it.
3. Promoting tolerance, learning through experimenting and being able to fail.

McKinsey recommends to ‘continue to meet the need for safety and security’ and invest in relationships with your people.

After all:

Brave leaders let their people make decisions

Providing the right set up and necessary technology for your people to be able to work and communicate is one thing. You also need to make sure they have all the information and power to make decisions for your customers and suppliers to move things forward. Do not let everyone wait for you to get back to them!

There are some great decision-making processes your team can use to get started, such as the advice or consent process. Keep an eye out for more posts from me to learn more about them.

Find out how you can provide transparency and psychological safety to get the best results from your team.

The post What makes a brave leader? Providing transparency and psychological safety. appeared first on KiKa Services.

In our newly defined workplaces, where most people work from home and decisions need to be made daily, a few leaders are not enough anymore.

Top-down managed or led companies are outdated. Their structures are too slow. They do not inspire people and kill creativity and responsiveness. Your customers want a quicker service and better products, so you need everyone to use and contribute their talent.

Redistribution of power and leadership

What makes a good leader is the redistribution of power and leadership.

You can take the stress out of leadership by understanding that the brainpower of an organisation doesn’t only sit within the management office anymore, but the whole company. Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson talk about this in their book ‘The One Minute Manager‘.

So maybe we need to rephrase the question to ‘What makes a good team?’ And there is not really a secret here. The answer to both questions, what makes a good leader and what makes a good team, is to treat people fairly and like adults. After all, you did employ them because they are capable of doing the job, right?

Give your employees the autonomy to make decisions that are good for them, your teams, your business and your customers.

What makes a good leader and what are the benefits?

People work best when they feel good about themselves. People feel good about themselves when they are treated with respect and are in control. And when people have control and responsibility over their tasks, they put in more effort.

You will also see:

• Lower staff turnover.
• Less sick days.
• Improved customer service.
• Increased productivity.
• Increased revenue and profitability.

In short: you will have more time and money to do the things you do best. Whether that is to be creative and invent new or improve existing products and services, grow the business, scout for partnerships, or simply let your business run itself.

It’s up to you!

Check out this case study of ‘Distributed leadership in practice‘ and book a call with me to find out more: +44 20 8123 0542.

The post What makes a good leader? Power dynamics at work. appeared first on KiKa Services.

Strategies to support businesses and people during economic crisis.

Almost two years ago, I wrote this blog for eLearning Industry: 4 Practical Tips To Inspire Learning In Your Business. One of the tips was about working ‘with experienced […] freelancers to draw from their expertise’. My reasoning behind this was that if money is tight, some departments do not receive any funding or budget allocations. Outsourcing to freelancers is a great option as you can work with them on a flexible basis, rather than having to justify the money for a(nother) employee.

The gig economy has been growing for a while now. Outsourcing certain functions including people development, marketing, accounting, HR, even assembling products, has been a huge cost saver for businesses. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, most of them had to let people go. So, why not give them a chance at becoming their own entrepreneurs?

How it can be done.

Semco, a Brazilian manufacturing giant, did exactly that in the 1980s during one of the worst economic crises the country has experienced to date. They rented out factory space and equipment to previous employees and helped them set up their own businesses. They took on these previous employees as suppliers and allowed them to sell to anyone else, including Semco’s competitors. This saved them a lot of overhead costs, stockpiling and warehousing of unused materials and machinery, and from having to make people redundant without an alternative. They were one of the only companies during that time that did not make a loss and returned profits after just a few months.

Now seems the perfect time for many businesses around the world to try the same: outsource tasks to previous employees, because your finances, marketing, training, all still needs to be done. Work with people you already know and trust on a more ad-hoc basis and help them start their own business.

Why will this help businesses, people and the economy?

Here are my three reasons:

1. Businesses do not have to close because they save on overhead costs.
2. Fewer people are unemployed. They might still need extra help, but they put money back into the economy.
3. People who have a higher stake in their business, aka business owners, are more innovative and likely to improve existing or create better products and services to get people and businesses to spend money.

Here is a little throwback to one of my earlier blog posts about how working less will boost the economy.

What are your thoughts? Do you agree, can you think of more reasons, or do you not believe this could work? Leave a comment. 🙂

The post 3 reasons why outsourcing could support businesses and save the economy appeared first on KiKa Services.

The client for this case study was a creative agency with 50 employees.

Distributed leadership case study: the diagnosis

The company struggled with a high turnover (30% compared to their industry average of 22%), stressed management and demotivated, unproductive, disengaged employees.

Managers constantly complained about people being off sick, not showing up on time and not taking ownership of their work. They tried setting up more meetings to keep employees on track, and provide more support and guidance how to get things done.

The company offered flexible working, where senior managers could work from home a number of days a week and could allow middle management and other staff to work from home once a week. Working hours were between 8am and 6pm to give flexible start and finish times to staff. Everyone was expected to be in the office for 8.5 hours Monday to Friday, with an hour lunch break to be taken ideally between 12 and 2pm.

Most managers were very protective over their teams, controlling the time they could allocate to meet with and help people from other teams. A lot of knowledge and expertise was siloed within specific teams and people. So, when certain people left, they took that vital knowledge with them.

Senior management had control over all decisions creating a bottleneck. This meant a lot of projects got delayed and people got frustrated because they could not reach their targets, set by senior management.

Distributed leadership case study: the solution

We started having conversations with everyone in the company to understand how people felt about working there. It was difficult to extract the truth as people were scared there will be repercussions from their managers, but some people really gave a good insight of the above diagnosis. This included frontline staff and managers on all levels as well as the Managing Director.

Once we knew about the barriers of working to their best abilities, we set up more conversations involving the whole company. Each point was discussed asking prompting questions and a framework was built from this.

Instead of rules that were barriers to people doing their best work, they could now make their own decisions within this guiding framework:

Managers are not responsible for their team and individuals anymore; teams are responsible and accountable for their work. Teams set their own targets and are responsible and accountable to achieve them.

The manager’s role is now to support and advise their team when approached, and to not interfere with any decisions the team makes.

Each team makes their own decisions about the ways they work, with everyone’s involvement, bringing out the best in people and guaranteeing good quality work. 

Distributed leadership case study: the result

Managers are less stressed, and people now enjoy working for this company. Some people left as they were not able to work within the new guidelines. They were supported by management to find new positions elsewhere. Not all of them needed to be replaced as some of their responsibilities either fell away or could be distributed amongst other team members.

Their turnover rate eventually dropped below 15%, half of what it was before. That is also 7% below their average industry turnover rate.

Sick days have dropped from 2.2 to 1.02 days per person per year.

Their client net promoter score went from 55/100 to 81/100. 

Within the first year, their revenue increased by 31% and profitability by 55%.

Find out more how I can help you get there.

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