After some digging, we find that this is not an isolated incident at all.

In fact, back in January members that United Healthcare insures in New York got similar notices relating to the services they might wish to procure from the Continuum Health Partners, a consortium of five well known New York hospitals. The standoff ended in March and no New Yorkers had to find new medical facilities after all. United Healthcare was quick to point out in a statement that, “Not a single person will lose healthcare coverage because of the Continuum contract termination, although some people will have to change hospitals or physicians.” Right now, Tenet is in similar negotiations with Blue Cross and thousands of insured employees could be affected if they can’t work it out.

But they’ll probably work it out so there’s no need to worry. Right?

This is the question your employees ask every time they sense the threat of change.

Change Threat Kicks Off Coping Cycle

If you aren’t yet familiar with the Coping Cycle, now would be a great time to take your team through a training class on the subject. Coping is a sequential process, starting with something called a “cognitive disturbance” in which the person recognizes that something is out of balance. When employees learn they may have to change physicians or hospitals, it’s a cognitive disturbance. Off everyone goes on personal coping journeys, moving through the steps in the cycle.

If you don’t understanding the effect of coping skills on motivation and productivity, how can you possibly manage your people effectively? Though you are not licensed therapists, your managers should be able to recognize when employee behaviors are being motivated by problems in coping. Targeted interventions can be planned to help move employees through the coping cycle successfully, though some employees may eventually need a referral to outside assistance.

Minimize the Uncertainty with Information

You probably don’t have a direct influence on how the insurer/provider negotiations work out and you may not influence the outcomes of other change threats your teams face. However, one of the things you can do next time your team notices the threat of change is to provide as much information as possible as often as possible. During times of change, your messages will not be understood the first time. Send a memo with details and then follow that with an e-mail, a webinar and a voice mail.

Consider the varying needs of your stakeholders – customers, employees, suppliers, investors – and craft change communications documents to address those specific questions. Above all, try to reduce the uncertainty for your organization as much as possible but stop short of promising that nothing will change. Instead, express your confidence in the coping skills of those you work with; tell them that you know they will be able to manage the change successfully.

Jean Houston Shore works with organizations that want their people to work together better. She can be reached at 770-643-9724, by email at jean@thinkbusiness.com or through her website at www.working-together-better.com. Ask for your free copy of her book Working Together Better.

Copyright © 2010, Jean Houston Shore, Business Resource Group. All Rights Reserved Internationally. No portion may be reprinted or used without prior written permission.

Any Foot Forward

The mistake is in not consciously stepping out with your best self every time. No one works for long without making some bad choices. The thing that matters most is that you approach each situation trying to do your best. Younger workers sometimes engage other workers in a haphazard, unpredictable way. This wastes a huge reputation building opportunity. When people don’t know you well they are forming their opinions based on whatever they see or hear. So make it a practice to stop, center yourself and then step into the interaction with professionalism and maturity.

Clustering

The mistake is developing professional friendships only with those in your immediate department or at your level. Obviously it is most comfortable not to stray outside your age or proximity comfort zone. After all, why hang with someone who is so different than you? Career mobility, that’s why. You never know who – or how – or when another person might be the key to your next move. Or – and this is just as likely – you’ll be the key to theirs. It’s all about give and take as you shape your career. Don’t put all your eggs in the “just like me” basket.

Change? Forget It!

The mistake is being unwilling to change. Business situations are like little islands of culture, complete with accepted and unaccepted practices. It won’t take long for you to observe how things work on your company island and, even if people won’t tell you so directly, a person who says, “That’s just the way I am. Everyone else can just get used to it!” will be limited to permanent outsider. This is not to say that employees can’t be unique; it just means that if you stray too far from standard behaviors, you’re likely to be booted off the island.

But You Owe Me

The mistake is thinking that your company owes you more than you owe the company. All of us have worked long hours, gone above and beyond the call of duty and felt – not that secretly – that the company “owed us one.” While that might be true for the moment, companies have notoriously bad memories and it’s very likely that a year from now, no one will remember what you did. Instead they will ask, “What have you done for me lately?” That may seem unfair but older workers will tell you that it is true. Remember, you work for a “company” and companies aren’t your family. So, keep doing a great job but do not get obsessed with keeping mental reciprocity records. That will just turn you into a bitter old guy no one wants to be around. (I know. You’ve already met that guy.)

“NOW” – Think

The mistake is in making decisions that might be good in the short-term but are the wrong decisions for your long-term career and future marketability. As a young person myself, I once decided between two job offers because one of them paid $200 more than the other. Two hundred dollars. Per year. (Yikes.) For your career to reward you as it should, you’ve got to be oriented toward the long-term potential as you make career choices. And long-term is probably longer than most young people think. It’s five years away, then ten years away, then retirement age. You cannot predict the future but you can seek out industries, technologies and locations that have not good but great future potential. Keep up with the changes and make your moves earlier rather than later. Use a logical method for choosing between your alternatives. (For a video about a tool I highly recommend, the Decision Making Matrix, see www.working-together-better.com.)

That’s It

That wraps up my summary of the top Ten Mistakes Young People Make at Work and How to Avoid Them. I hope this short investment of your time has given you some things to think about but more importantly some things to do differently. (If you have employees that should hear this information, we have an on-site training program based on this material. Ask for our catalog.)

Until next time, let’s keep on Working Together Better.

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Jean Houston Shore works with organizations that want their people to work together better. She can be reached at 770-643-9724, by email at jean@thinkbusiness.com or through her website at www.working-together-better.com. Ask for your free copy of her book Working Together Better.

Copyright © 2010, Jean Houston Shore, Business Resource Group. All Rights Reserved Internationally. No portion may be reprinted or used without prior written permission.

1. Proximity: Members of your team must have ready access to one another live, via phone and via email. While synchronous (real-time) team communication is best, even asynchronous can work as long as team members check and respond to messages promptly.
2. Temperament: While your team may be composed of both introverts and extroverts, all members will need to adjust their natural styles to reflect “team temperament.” This means checking selfish behaviors at the door in favor of more collaborative way of thinking and acting. As members slip back into self-serving habits, you’ll need to nudge them back toward a team mindset.
3. Feedback Flow: Everyone in the group should be giving and receiving performance feedback effectively. The camaraderie that drives teams can only grow by telling the truth about how a member’s behavior affects the team. Withholding the truth or telling it poorly keeps lasting collaboration from developing.
4. Transparency in Information: All task-related information should be equally and readily available if collaboration is the goal. Few things quell motivation as much as discovering that someone has been working from incorrect information. Key information like business definitions, deadlines and responsibilities should be refreshed, reviewed and revealed regularly.
5. Fluency: How well do your work team members communicate with one another? Do they speak the same language when discussing work-related problems or do some people seem to be reading from a different book? As groups become more successful in collaborating, they often develop short-hand for communicating and begin sharing inside jokes. These are signs that a team has formed, but it can cause challenges when new members join.
6. Values Alignment: While all work groups have at least a vaguely defined mission to drive their work, some may believe in the mission more strongly than others do. In successful collaborations, none are reluctant to give their hearts to the cause. If there is something about the work at hand that conflicts with a member’s closely held personal beliefs, this could be a collaborative deal-breaker.
7. Physical Health: Few people can pull their weight in a collaborative endeavor if they have pressing concerns at a more basic level. Give your team members incentives to get well, stay well and actively take care of themselves. Neglecting physical health for the sake of business goal attainment seems like a short-term win but it’s actually a long-term loss. Set the example for your team by demonstrating your own healthy behavior.
8. Helping Instinct: Some people sense who needs help when, while others lack this awareness. The best collaborators are those who execute their own tasks successfully while still sensing how well the entire team is functioning. Managers, especially, must hone this skill and be willing to offer assistance instantly. If there are those in your group who have great instincts in this area, have them explain what they are doing so that others can learn.
9. Clean Slate Attitude: If groups are to work together for long, they must work through their differences without leaving wreckage. No one should keep a mental list of wrongs or allow grudges to build. A team that respects each of its members allows, even encourages, dissension and emerges from work-related confrontations without lasting injuries.
10. Focus Levelheadedness: As groups collaborate they move back and forth between tactical-level (task) work and strategic-level (planning/negotiation) work. If members of your work group fail to recognize what level of thinking daily situations require they will not only waste time and effort, they will also de-motivate each other. While certain team members may gravitate toward detailed thinking and others are pulled toward the “big picture,” both kinds of processing are needed for success. Great groups identify what thinking is needed then coach one another as they focus to perform the right level of work.

Before you notice strange sounds coming from under the hood of your department, perform this ten point inspection of your group’s collaboration competence. By regularly servicing each key area and making repairs early, you will build a work team that cruises along smoothly. Then all of you can enjoy the ride.

Typically, a custodian oversees all phases of an assets life cycle: construction, acquisition, usage and maintenance. Here’s how the four phases connect with your role as a human asset custodian.

Construction: Just as a building requires quality raw materials, your employee requires quality training as well as on the job skills practice. Assure that your work group has skills that are current, not hopelessly outdated. See that they get the chance to use the new skills they learn in training classes; one idea is to have the employee who attended a training class give a presentation about what they learned. Also be sure to give regular feedback to your employees so that they understand what they are doing well and what they should work to improve.

Acquisition: Even if you don’t need to hire someone now you should still be in “asset acquisition” mode. While recruiters certainly play a role, you can assure that your organization has a list of ready candidates by making sure that you make your company’s presence known in your community and professional groups. Ask for logo merchandise to donate to events around town; volunteer to speak at community meetings on topics of interest to potential candidates. Connect with local colleges so that graduates understand what your company does and how they could benefit from being a part of it. Above all, keep thoughts you might have about problems within your company inside company walls, honoring your commitment to confidentiality. Loose lips sink ships.

Usage: The bulk of your asset management tasks fall within this part of the life cycle – the months and years when your employees are “used.” Your goal as custodian is to see that they are used well, but not used up. Ask yourself these questions: Are my employees doing work that should be done by someone else’s department? Are they spending time correcting the mistakes of others – and how could I make that stop? Are my employees getting enough credit for the work they do? Keeping your employees motivated means that you manage every part of their work experience, from the assignments they get, to the deadlines they must meet, to the resources they used to get the job done. Do what it takes to position them for success and by all means, get out of their way.

Maintenance: Most complex equipment comes with a list of scheduled maintenance activities or maybe even a service contract with an outside vendor. Equipment owners know that changing out worn parts before they break saves money in the long run. In the same way, there may be employees in your work group who need some downtime to recharge. Stress takes its toll on people and if your department has been working on high alert status for a long time, your employees may be feeling the strain. Learn what you can about problem-focused and emotion-focused coping skills, then make a plan for helping those employees who may not be coping well.

While you may never carry around a hundred keys, you are still a custodian. By carefully managing the construction, acquisition, usage and maintenance of your company’s most important resource, you’ll hold the key to your company’s success – and yours.

As I’ve written before, when there is a cognitive disturbance (when something alters our environment in ways we interpret as negative) we humans work tirelessly to try to restore equilibrium. In the case of the Dominic and his family, a pediatrician’s diagnosis of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), placing the infant in the 97th percentile of severity, was quite a disturbance. (For Dominic, the ventricular septum of his heart muscle was already three times larger than it should have been. Though he might be expected to live up to five years with this heart, the only treatment for Dominic’s HCM is a heart transplant.)

The Dominic’s Day website chronicles how family members and friends rallied over the next weeks and months, all convinced that they just had to “do something.” Indeed, the site, which has been equipped to accept donations from the public into the 501(c)3 foundation that has been formed in Dominic’s name, explains, “We will NOT stand idly by, waiting for something to happen . . . WE ARE MAKING IT HAPPEN.”

This is exactly how problem-focused coping works. The reason it works is that taking action focused on the problem gives us back something the disturbance stole from us – our belief that we are in control. The very worst thing about experiencing a crisis is the possibility that we may not be able to control the outcome of the situation. Nothing takes away our motivation faster than thinking our actions may not make a difference.

But, if we can believe something we can do might make things better, we become energized and creative. So far, enthusiastic supporters of Dominic’s Day have raised more than $13,000 through various fundraising efforts. And they are just getting started.

If your organization is facing some sort of disturbance, you can help your people cope by leading the way to problem-focused coping behaviors. Here are some suggestions:

• Ask employees to list the pros and cons of the situation or to make schedules to show what might happen when.
• Set an example of problem focus by verbalizing the things you can do rather than those you can’t.
• Rally the troops by sharing the load. Pull together a team to focus on particular parts of solving the problem at hand. Being involved in crafting a response to the disturbance helps each person who contributes.
• Discuss the “bigger picture” impacts of the situation you face. Lead people to think about what happens in the longer-term and make plans to impact the future in the most positive way possible.
• Leave room for emotion-focused coping, too. Though this article describes the positive result of problem-focused coping skills, your people will eventually need to talk about their feelings too.

Former President Harry Truman is credited with saying, “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” In the case of Dominic’s Day, as in your situation, making the vision larger than just one person’s crisis situation is the key to lasting impact. As you lead and as you cope, miss no opportunity to enlarge the vision and express your confidence in those who are contributing. Only then you will make your cause theirs.

We know that people seldom perform well when they “don’t want to.” But how can you re-motivate employees who’ve lost their zing? First, do some digging to find out what feelings your employees are experiencing. Are they disheartened because a team project is encountering insurmountable obstacles? Did a change in team makeup cause responsibilities to be shuffled in a way that seems unfair? Was someone promised a plum assignment but it never materialized? Once you figure out how they see the situation you’ll have a better idea how to reignite their motivation.

After you get a grip on the feelings and underlying situations, determine what you have to offer that may make the situation right. Here are some ideas you can try:

• Confront: Talk with the employees individually, speaking directly to them about the level of motivation they feel. Ask them what they would like to see changed and see what you can do to make progress toward that goal.
• Question Confidence: Use your best questioning skills to uncover any problems with the employees’ confidence levels. If they are not sure they have what it takes to get the job done, they may be reluctant to tell you. If self-confidence issues are present, work diligently to build the employees up – and as quickly as you can.
• Isolate Trust Problems: Unresolved trust issues cause motivation to evaporate but rebuilding broken trust can take a while. If there is a history of broken promises (or even a perception of broken promises) you must own up to your part in the situation and begin to make amends. Understand that it will take multiple iterations of promises fulfilled to balance out just one broken commitment.

While most of your employees will not have the wherewithal to retire at Brett Favre’s age, some certainly may have lost the desire to keep playing on your team. By probing for feelings first then addressing confidence and trust issues, you can give the members of your team a chance to stay together and keep winning.

Here’s an example:

Susie’s job was “reorganized” in a merging of two departments three years ago. But still, after all this time, Susie gripes to coworkers about how unfair the restructuring was. Everyone around her wishes she would just move on and get to the business at hand. But no one, including Susie’s new manager, has the guts to tell Susie the truth. As a result, Susie’s coworkers scatter when they see her coming. She is in danger of being marginalized by her own poor behavior and she doesn’t even know it.

In this situation, two things are missing. First, workplace participants don’t realize how much they are hurting themselves by being truth reluctant. They somehow feel that cushioning Susie’s feelings is a noble choice. Second, they aren’t sure speaking honestly with Susie would do any good, even if they were willing to do it. While the first concern is simply invalid, the second has some merit, because if Susie doesn’t receive the feedback well, you may have taken an unwise chance by speaking up.

Here are three parts of the situation you can monitor to give your feedback to Susie a fighting chance:

Trust: For your feedback to make a difference, it should rest on a foundation of mutual trust between you and Susie – a situation where you trust her and she trusts you. To develop a mutually beneficial working relationship requires “deposits” of actions, services or products the other person values. Professors Allan Cohen and David Bradford, in their book Influence Without Authority, call these deposits “currency.” Steven Covey referred to a similar idea in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People as keeping track of an “Emotional Bank Account.” Whatever you call it, careful giving and receiving within a trusting relationship can help build even more trust.

Timing: Feedback should always be given privately and at a time when distracting workplace stress is minimized. If the person to whom you wish to give feedback needs to temporarily opt-out because the timing isn’t right, allow that. Choose to catch up with Susie at a later, more agreeable time.

Tone: The words you choose to use when delivering a piece of feedback to a colleague are of vital importance. A good way to start could be, “Susie, because I care about you and your work here, I want you to hear this feedback from me.” After beginning in this reassuring way, be sure your feedback session includes the following segments:

• Your desire that Susie listen to and thoughtfully consider the feedback you will give.
• The specific behavior that needs to change and when you have observed it.
• The impact or effect that the behavior is currently having on: the workplace, you (the feedback giver), customers, and/or Susie’s reputation and career potential.

Whether or not you currently have a Susie situation in your workplace, you will someday be tempted to be “truth reluctant.” But if you consider trust, timing and tone, you can be the person courageous enough to say what everyone else was thinking. That’s the only way to make things better, for Susie and for everyone.

Here’s how it typically goes. At the weekly staff meeting, a worried-looking leader flings a management report across the table before stating in strained tones the team’s lack of progress toward a certain measure. Explaining that if the team members don’t buckle down to get the numbers up (or the deadline met) she’s not sure what could happen, the manager telegraphs her worries, real or imagined, to the bigger group. As the meeting concludes, staff members whisper about the revelation and all focus on their tasks and work harder – temporarily.

But it’s a cheap trick – and one that eventually backfires.

Fear as a motivation technique is short-lived at best. If a leader’s crisis management technique is simply to let unfiltered pressure pass onto her employees, her style could be getting in the team’s way. If your workplace is characterized by weekly discussions of the “crisis du jour,” your employees will quickly become numb to it. And numb employees aren’t motivated. An important part of the manager’s role is to create an environment where the team members can work successfully. You are supposed to get them the resources, time, space and breathing room they need to do their jobs.

So, next time you are tempted to simply pass down the latest in corporate hand-wringing, consider whether a different approach to the situation would serve your team members’ health, safety and effectiveness better. You don’t have to tell everything you know and sometimes you shouldn’t.

Remember, it’s your job to give them room to do theirs.

• Leadership (When Leaders Fail to Lead)
• Coping Skills (How Those Who Fail To Cope Affect All of Us)
• Feedback (The Magic of Making Teams Work)
• Performance Measures (Why Measuring the Right Things May Not Be Easy)
• Motivation (How to Engage Employees So They Are Productive and Happy)
• Reward and Recognition (How Handling These Things Poorly Wastes Everyone’s Time)

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