THE VISION:

A culture where employees don’t become plaintiffs.

When employees feel that they have no recourse, no power, and voice, they sue. It’s their only source of power and they only way of being heard. Create a culture in which employees feel empowered and heard.

» Create a culture in which employees feel that they can speak up and even complain, and where they feel they will be heard.

» Create a culture where employees feel that you are communicating with them.

» Create a culture of integrity where one standard fits all: everyone is held to the same values, even the boss.

» Remove blame; concentrate on behaviors and results not judgments.

» Treat all people with respect no matter how menial their work or how stupid their mistakes.

» Build trust by being trustworthy. Do what you say you’re going to do.

» Don’t be an arrogant, remote boss. Remember it’s easier to sue people you don’t like or respect.

THE PLAN:

Create a Crisis Plan for how you will handle lawsuits, whistle blowers, union threats, etc.

» Don’t wait for disaster to figure out what to do; have a plan and stick to it!

» Don’t trust difficult decisions to knee-jerk reactions.

THE CULTURE:

» Question your own assumptions /mental model about how you run your organization.

» Know what you want. The very first item on the agenda for organizational policy makers is to answer the question, “Do we really want a culture of open communication?

» Create official policies that promote integrity and communication. Employees know you’re serious when you make it official. Listen when people have a complaint.

» Respond openly and appropriately.

» Walk the talk. What you really do when an employee has a complaint will matter way more than what you say.

» Reward desirable behavior: you’ll get what you reward.

Getting the Most Out of How We Use Time

It’s a funny thing about closet space, the more we have, the more we fill. And, when we run out of space we think, I need more closet space or I need a clever way of stuffing more into the space I have. So we refold, reorganize, vacuum seal and even throw some stuff away.

Sometimes, a week later we discover that we really wish we had some of the stuff we got rid of.

Time is Like Closet Space

Time is like closet space: we fill up the time we have, discover we haven’t enough, and start reorganizing and dumping, all the while getting more and more stressed. Complete Article: Time Management

It’s starting to look as though that’s exactly what they did. Three weeks ago on October 27 in the midst of a bitter labor dispute, intending to show the unions just who had the bigger stick, the airline locked out employees everywhere shutting down operations and stranding thousands of passengers all over the world. Unions and employees were left – as they say in Australia – flatfooted, and the famous Qantas kangaroo, was in disgrace.

Management vs Unions

The battle between the three involved unions – pilots, engineers and ground crews – and Qantas management is a classic one these days. Qantas wanted to outsource a good part of its operation to Asia, primarily Malaysia, in an effort to lower operations costs. The unions, of course, focusing on the loss of Australian jobs (and union power), found it unacceptable, and the fight was on.

The First Shot

Stranding passengers in order to punish Qantas employees was the shooting-themselves-in-the-foot part. The reload and shoot again part came three weeks later. Instead of making brief contrite apologies to the passengers who had been stranded, offering them an offset and moving on in the hope that they would eventually forget, what Qantas did next was straight out of Mad Men. Complete Article »

Shock and disbelief is everywhere about the story that has upstaged the Syrian civil war, the Republican debates, Iran’s emerging nuclear capability, the EU’s struggle to be solvent: the Penn State’s pedophilia scandal.

I have to admit to not being a football aficionado. While I can calculate the trajectory of the football to any part of the field, I’m usually more interested in the relationships among players and coaches than the location of the football. In general I don’t think about it much when I’m not watching. And yet, the Penn State pedophilia scandal has me thinking.

How Could This Have Happened?

I’m seeing a lot of puzzlement about how this could have happened, a lot of looking for the culprit, and a lot of people distancing themselves from the blame. People are scared that as the stain grows the small part they played or should have played, their inaction or their tacit support for the people involved will drag them into the legal pit, and worse, disgrace. Complete Article: How Groupthink Sacked Penn State

Recently I had the opportunity to participate in a focus group being held to test public acceptance of a proposed initiative for the California ballot. We weren’t told specifically what was being tested or what position the initiative would take, just that it had to do with health care reform and what part government should play. The facilitator was skilled at building a discussion without forwarding any particular point of view, so the conversation was lively and relatively unguarded.

As the conversation went from a general what’s-on-your-mind these days to health care, the participants began to tell their own health care stories. The surgeon’s wife told of how her husband retired because the pittance the health insurance companies paid him was barely enough to keep his office door open. The man whose wife had chronic serious health issues told of battling Complete Article »

There are two things that underlie everything that happens in an organization. They lie at the heart of every success, every failure, every innovation, sale, good idea, problem, and profit.

These two things are group dynamics and interpersonal skills. To the degree an organization has mastered these two elements it will be successful. To the degree it has not, it will fail.

Human dynamics underlie everything that happens in an organization. The degree to which leaders understand the human dynamics in their organization will determine their success or failure. Complete Article »

“Nothing ever changes around here.”

“We tried that, and it didn’t work.”

These are the familiar laments of those who have witnessed the seeming immutability of organizations. Have you ever wondered why it is so difficult to implement major non-technical organizational change, and nearly impossible to sustain it?

Organizational culture plays a pivotal role in change. While small organizational changes that fall within the pale of the existing culture can take hold (as long as things are perceived as improved and as long as nothing too fundamental changes), it is almost impossible to initiate substantial and sustainable change without a culture change to support it.

With intentional culture change, things in the organization DO change, and attempted changes that didn’t work in the past CAN work in the future. Planned culture change that focuses on the organization’s vision and mission can guide organizational change successfully towards a desired outcome. Complete Article »

Ariane David will be speaking to the Association of Fundraising Professionals Santa Barbara and Venture County Chapter on Wednesday, September 14 at 11:30am. Non-members are welcome.

Are You Being Heard: Speaking That Gets You What You Want

In a study some years ago researchers found that on average the fear of public speaking was second only to the fear of death. You can’t do anything about death, but you can do something about speaking. By understanding what it takes to deliver a powerful presentation, whether to a hundred people or to one (who makes you incredibly nervous), you can start becoming comfortable with speaking. Complete Article »