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Leadership And Other Lessons: What The Pandemic Teaches About Crisis Management originally appeared on Forbes.com. The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic this year put business and organizational leaders on the spot unlike anything else in recent memory. Even if you were following the story of the virus’s spread, governmental decisions to shut down certain sectors of the economy came shockingly swiftly. Many business leaders had to make monumental decisions in real time — right away — knowing the impact on their employees would be extraordinary. How’d you do? If your organization’s transition to the new normal has been less than smooth, don’t spend too much time dwelling on the negative. Most organizational decisions aren’t perfect — and those made quickly and amid a panic-inducing public health emergency will almost always require some adjustments. As the crisis moves along, leaders need to avail themselves of this remarkable opportunity to pause, recognize and in some way record the lessons learned. Here are a few to keep in mind. Stay Informed You can’t prepare for everything. There was no shortage of articles about crisis management before the pandemic. Most advise identifying potential disasters and preparing your organization as best you can for the usual suspects, such as natural disasters, a public relations setback or even civil unrest, which has been a very real risk to some businesses this year. But a pandemic that shuts down a relatively healthy economy and puts millions of people out of work? There was no playbook for that. Leaders were essentially on their own to determine the risk level to their organizations and act quickly and accordingly. At the same time, however, the Covid-19 crisis didn’t come completely out of left field. Concerns about the virus had been building in the news for weeks, and public health officials have been warning both government and business leaders for years about the possibility of a pandemic. Lesson to remember: Keep up with the news with an eye on developing stories that could affect your organization and industry. Discuss credible threats with your management team and advisors. If a consensus exists that a contingency plan is necessary, develop one. When The Time Comes, Lead Crises cause confusion; it’s what they do. When a catastrophe strikes, you may naturally want to research the details, meet with your management team and very carefully decide what to do next. There’s nothing wrong with that, but keep in mind that leaders lead. Although accessing accurate information is critical, beware of the possibility that the very information you’re seeking to make a good decision could keep you from acting decisively. In other words, indecision is something to actively battle against. If you spend too much time pulling together data, and worry too much about making the wrong decision, the situation could move along so quickly that you end up making no decision at all — which is often worse. One way many leaders cope with this pressure is by applying an approach called the OODA loop. U.S. Air Force Colonel John Boyd developed this to help fighter pilots deal with the sudden, chaotic life-and-death engagements they typically face in combat. Those four letters stand for:
The reason it’s called the OODA loop is that the process doesn’t end there. After acting, you start again at the beginning by observing the consequences of your decisive action, orienting yourself to how it has affected the situation, and so on. Lesson to remember: Whether it’s OODA or some other method, choose and develop a process for making decisions in a crisis and carrying out your role as a leader. Practice Compassionate Communication Crises tend to create a vacuum in which everyone’s attention is drawn into the catastrophe itself, and employees’ ability to function normally and productively is greatly diminished or even incapacitated. Think back on the first few weeks of the Covid-19 pandemic. Some workers couldn’t function; others could do nothing else but bury themselves in their jobs. This is precisely when leadership must step in to communicate clearly about what’s going on. It’s not easy. Accurate information is typically in short supply at the beginning of a crisis, and you and your management team may not have had time to develop a clear action plan. Yet an identifiable and trusted leadership voice is critical. Also important is the regularity of communication. If employees don’t hear from you often and at predictable intervals, that vacuum mentioned above can find renewed power and start pulling people’s minds into it. Initiatives such as daily email updates and weekly or biweekly meetings help provide workers with clear direction and reassure them that you and your team are working on solutions to the crisis. Finally, it’s worth noting the importance of compassionate communication. A leader who conveys the right tone — that is, a caring voice — will quell many of the unfounded fears that arise in difficult times and help employees stay focused on getting done what they can. Regularly emphasize that you care about workers’ well-being, not just their productivity. Encourage them to take the time off that they have available. Remind them of any mental health benefits that your organization may offer. Lesson to remember: During hard times, we all tend to look up to someone who can provide guidance and comfort. An important aspect of every leader’s job is to play this role for your team members during a crisis. Heed Its Lessons Well The Covid-19 crisis represents one of the greatest tests of leadership in modern history. Take a moment to commend yourself on rising to this incredible challenge as best you could when it first developed. By recognizing and heeding its lessons going forward, you’ll be enriching your own leadership knowledge and, in turn, be better able to contribute to your organization’s success. Original post by Lynda Silsbee Founder of the Alliance for Leadership Acceleration and Member of the Forbes Coaches Council 
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We have been working from home for about 6 months due to the pandemic. However, even working from home can have an impact on our health. With the constancy of sitting, these Work From Home Fitness Tips go over why we need to move, workstation tips, and movement priorities for glutes, posture, and hipflexors. We do not claim rights to this presentation, please contact us for credit. The Challenge And Promise Of Generation Z originally appeared on Forbes.com. Every generation develops certain characteristics, at least partly in response to the historical events of its time. Generation Z is no exception. Born just before or soon after 9/11, awakened to childhood consciousness during the Great Recession of 2008, and now coming of age in a time of a pandemic, these young people have had a remarkably complex journey. For employers, Gen Zers already represent a significant and growing part of the workforce. They're estimated to make up 24% of workers in the United States in 2020. That percentage will rise as the last of the baby boomers retire and Gen Xers start joining them. Gen Zers may present a challenge to the organizations that hire them. This is a generation acutely aware of, well, everything. They grew up hard-wired to the internet. They're also a generation that, sadly, could harbor little trust in the financial security of any job after many watched their parents struggle to rebuild after 2008. And now many more are caught up in the tsunami of joblessness triggered by the COVID-19 crisis. On the bright side, they hold incredible promise. Data is their friend; they adapt to new technology as easily as most of us change shirts, and they want to make a difference in the world. Your organization, when it's ready to start hiring, will benefit from their presence — if you understand what makes them tick. Champions Of Mental Health Let's back up and outline how the generations working today are generally defined. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation:
Imagine the awkward moments and stages of your childhood captured for posterity in pictures and videos, shared with anyone on the internet who cares to look, and preserved for all eternity. Such is the reality that Gen Zers grew up in. Their identities have been shaped by not only real-life family and friends but also by thousands of disembodied voices online. The silver lining to this perpetual state of hyper-self-awareness? It's that Generation Z doesn't stigmatize the concept of mental health. Living in a world of likes, downvotes and ghosting isn't easy, but it's driven them to recognize the telltale signs of anxiety and depression and, for many of them, to take action through open discussion and therapy. They'll bring this state of mind to the workplace, and it will behoove their employers to recognize the importance of supportive, nontoxic environments and robust benefits programs that include mental health services. Otherwise, employee retention may suffer. A 2019 Harvard Business Review study found that 75% of Gen Zers had left jobs for mental health reasons — both voluntarily and involuntarily. Frighteningly, the psychological impact of social media may pale in comparison to how the COVID-19 pandemic will affect them. Many Gen Zers have lost jobs. Others have seen internships canceled. Still, others are seeing their high school and college experiences drastically and negatively altered by the crisis. Tips On Hiring And Employment So, what can employers do to draw the best job candidates from this generation and provide them with a positive and productive work environment? Here are a few tips to consider:
Some Good News Like millennials before them, Gen Zers already seem to be getting labeled "job-hoppers," but here's some good news: A 2020 survey by tech company Zapier found that Gen Zers plan to stay at their jobs for an average of six years. One hopes that's at least six years and could be much longer for good employees supported by their employers. Original post by Lynda Silsbee Founder of the Alliance for Leadership Acceleration and Member of the Forbes Coaches Council  A message from the founder of Alliance for Leadership Acceleration and creator of the LEAP®, Leadership Acceleration Program, Lynda Silsbee. This past week or so has been a struggle, with many of us not sure what to say or do. It’s important that we take a stand and educate ourselves. Personally, I’m using this time to listen, learn, engage, and work to do better as a leader. Our informal mission at Performance Dimensions Group is to improve the world of work one leader at a time, and we need stronger leadership and change now more than ever. The COVID19 lockdown has been stressful for everyone and we’ve finally begun to ‘unlock’. Just as we think about returning to work, we are confronted with the reality of terrible brutality and injustices resulting in the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd (and far too many others before this). My tears from mourning have turned to tears of anger, inflaming a desire to do something with my own privilege. This outcry for action comes from a movement for racial equality and justice that has spanned generations, our silence and inaction are no longer acceptable. But where do we start? What can we do? I started by asking my black colleagues and friends. Consistently, they have told me to become informed racial inequality and educate myself on anti-racism. Even though I thought I was doing enough in the past, becoming more intentional about this process has shown me where I can grow. On this journey of becoming informed, I'm sharing the following resources and information, which have been very helpful and educational.
As a small business, we also want to share our commitment to action moving forward. As a call out to those remaining on the sidelines, any action taken is a step in the right direction. It will not be enough to do on our own and we invite you to join us in being a part of the change to a world where all people are guaranteed equal rights. We will get there faster if we do it together! Here are our commitments to help us build a better workplace for us and our clients:
Our mission is to help our clients create GREAT places to work – together we can be the change we want to see in the world! I am thankful to those around me who continue to engage in the difficult conversations, ask tough questions, and draw attention to the ways we can be better.  "Employee Engagement Is No Laughing Matter" originally appeared on Forbes.com. Few employers would argue that there are no hard costs to disengaged employees. But it's usually not easy to pinpoint exactly how much money an organization loses to workers who aren't committed — with some degree of passion — to their work. A 2017 study put some dollar signs to the problem and the results might not only surprise you, but also reinforce the importance of taking employee engagement seriously. Billion-Dollar Problem The study in question is called DNA of Engagement: How Organizations Can Foster Employee Ownership of Engagement. It was performed by The Engagement Institute, which represents a collaboration of various firms, including The Conference Board, Sirota-Mercer and Deloitte. The study gathered responses from 1,500 participants from U.S. businesses. The results were daunting, to say the least. The study estimated that disengaged employees cost businesses somewhere between $450 and $550 billion a year. Fortunately, there lies some hope within other insights gleaned from the data. Specifically, 95% of respondents recognized when they're becoming disengaged. And employees tend to assume most engagement initiatives should come from leadership. Questions and Answers I've worked with proven tools and techniques for more than 25 years to assess organizational and leadership effectiveness, so I'm always happy to discuss ways to take active steps to increase productivity, employee morale and engagement. Let's start with the fact that most employees know when they're becoming disengaged. This is a good thing. Why? Because if they know it, they can tell you — and you can do something about it. For this reason, conducting employee engagement surveys is a good idea. Ask the right questions and you should be able to pick up on policies, procedures and projects that are dragging down morale and leading employees on the path to disengagement. Employee surveys are generally best conducted anonymously to help ensure the honesty of responses. On the downside, this means you'll be unable to identify specific disengaged workers. But you can still detect negative trends and ask for suggestions on how to correct them. Of course, the shortest and most direct route to determining whether any given employee is disengaged is to simply ask. I don't mean barging into someone's office or confronting anyone in the hallway. Rather, as part of the performance management process, instruct supervisors to ask gentle but pointed questions to determine whether a worker is:
For both approaches — conducting surveys and discussing engagement as a part of performance management — regularity is key. Ideally, conduct an employee engagement survey once a year and have supervisors check in with their employees several times a year (perhaps quarterly) to discuss progress toward employment objectives and whether their engagement is waxing or waning. Big-Picture Solutions Now let's get back to another one of the DNA of Engagement survey's interesting findings: that employees typically operate under the assumption that engagement initiatives should and will come from leadership. This, too, is good news — mainly because it clarifies any confusion that may exist about where engagement efforts start. Some employers may believe that it's the employee's job to find his or her own motivation and do a great job no matter what. In an ideal world, sure, maybe this is true. And, under fortunate circumstances, you might encounter employees who are purely self-motivated and go above and beyond the call with little prompting. However, by and large, workers rely on leadership to help them find their way forward and to recognize and reward their accomplishments. So, make sure employee engagement remains a constant priority for your organization. You can do so in several "big picture" ways:
No Silver Bullet More than likely, there will never be a "silver bullet" to employee engagement. Every employee is a little bit different from the next, and employers face an ongoing challenge to hire the right people, onboard them properly and then keep them engaged for as long as an employment arrangement makes sense for both parties involved. Original post by Lynda Silsbee Founder of the Alliance for Leadership Acceleration and Member of the Forbes Coaches Council  "A Toxic Workplace: 'It Could Never Happen Here', Right?" originally appeared on Forbes.com. No business owner or manager wants to look out over their organization and grimly say, “This is a troubled place.” Yet every work environment has the potential to turn toxic, and sometimes it happens so slowly or quietly that leadership doesn’t even realize things have gone wrong until there’s a dramatic incident or lawsuit. As a specialist in organizational effectiveness and leadership development, I've seen that every employer needs to be on the lookout for the telltale signs of toxicity. Although it might be comforting to think, “It could never happen here,” the truth is, it could. How do you know when a work environment is going bad? In the broadest sense, the two main indicators are shouting and silence. Obviously, if you have employees angrily yelling at one another or, worse yet, having physical altercations, toxicity levels are dangerously high. Sometimes, competition among co-workers or business units can create “shouting” in the sense that complaints and disagreements become commonplace — and they start escalating. Detecting “silence” can be more difficult. Sometimes a workplace is literally quiet because no one is speaking to one another. Everyone is tucked away in their own isolated workspaces, plugged into headphones and isolated from management and co-workers. This might not be a bad thing for some types of positions, but this atmosphere can be a breeding ground for misunderstandings, suspicions and flat-out wrongdoings to occur. Silence can also take place in a work environment overcome by gossip and misinformation. No one speaks openly; instead, hushed conversations take place behind closed doors or in isolated areas. And these discussions sow the seeds of distrust and disgruntlement. Suddenly you’ve lost one or more good workers because of things they heard through the grapevine, rather than valid organizational communications. Another sign of a toxic work environment isn’t necessarily shouting or silence. It’s cold, hard numbers — turnover numbers. If your turnover rate is steadily rising and you can’t keep positions filled, one reason might be that new hires can’t get comfortable in your workplace. This is a major problem for morale, and skyrocketing hiring and training costs can break the budget. When looking for the causes of rising toxicity, sometimes the answers are obvious. If you have one employee whose name is always attached to drama, conflict and heated disputes, well, that individual probably bears some portion of the blame for the discord. Conversely, when an organization is struggling to succeed, an entire workforce might grow weary and unhappy. This can quickly turn the working environment toxic. Ultimately, management is responsible for organizational performance, so that’s the best place to start looking for sources of toxicity. It might be one individual or more in a leadership position who’s largely contributing to a bad environment, and it’s particularly urgent to address it immediately. The importance of addressing the problem was recently illuminated by the Society for Human Resource Management in its report that was released in September, “The High Cost of a Toxic Workplace Culture: How Culture Impacts the Workforce — and the Bottom Line.” The report found that 58% of employees who quit their jobs due to poor workplace culture did so primarily because of their managers. SHRM estimated that the cost of this turnover to employers was a whopping $223 billion in the past five years. These results were echoed by survey results released in October 2019 by staffing services firm Robert Half. That poll found that 49% of 2,800 professionals surveyed had quit a job because of a bad boss. It also found that younger workers (ages 18 to 34) were more likely to quit over a bad manager than older ones. In other words, if someone in leadership is causing a toxic work environment, your organization could see its talent — particularly younger talent — fleeing for the door. What's the solution? To detoxify a workplace, first, identify the cause, and then tailor a solution to it. If you believe one or a few individuals are creating a toxic environment, the issue becomes one of performance management. Meet with the person or people in question. Carefully explain your reasons for concern, and lay out the steps toward resolving the situation. Be careful: Someone who’s already behaving inappropriately at work might be unable or unwilling to react reasonably when challenged. The risk of an employment lawsuit is high. Document the discussions, as well as any disciplinary measures taken. Consider termination only after making a good-faith effort to help the employee change their behavior — ideally under a formal performance improvement plan. When the cause of a toxic work environment appears to be more widespread, the solution must also cover a broader range of corrective strategies. Communication is always the best first move. Conduct an employee survey to gather data and get specific answers as to why employees are unhappy or anxious. Hold town hall-type meetings in which management can answer questions and hear opinions and suggestions. Establish an anonymous way for workers to report bullying, gossip and fraud. When you start nailing down specific reasons for toxicity, the ways to resolve it should become clearer. You might need to adjust workloads or schedules if employees feel overworked. Or you might have to retrain managers who play favorites or simply lack the people skills to positively motivate the employees working under them. Perhaps the most obvious solution to a toxic workplace is fun. If you can get people to relax and enjoy one another’s company, the bad vibes and negativity will quickly fall away. Of course, this is easier said than done. But look for ways to bring positivity to your workplace. Among the easiest approaches is to openly recognize the accomplishments of individuals and teams and cheer for them. A little appreciation goes a long way. Don’t let your workplace teeter on the edge of toxicity. POST WRITTEN BY Lynda Silsbee Founder of the Alliance for Leadership Acceleration and Member of the Forbes Coaches Council  "Understanding The Middle Manager: Convert Their Plight to Power" originally appeared on Forbes.com. Middle managers are essentially the “hub” of everything your organization seeks to accomplish. It is the middle manager who must take the broad strategic initiatives handed down from the C-suite and execute these plans in real life. It is also the job of the middle manager to inform, interact with and inspire the employees in the departments under them. In other words, they’re handed the mission-critical task of keeping your workforce engaged. This is a tremendous amount of potential for any organization and can drive positive or negative results. Often unrecognized for yielding such potential, mid-level managers face several challenges:
We see it in just about every industry: a graphic designer becomes an art director, a land surveyor becomes a project manager, an architect becomes a partner. In their entry role, they do a standout job and are quickly promoted up the ranks, eventually finding themselves in management roles where they are expected to delegate work, communicate across teams, bring in business, and coach and mentor others. They act as a bridge between top-level management and first-line employees. Yet, they have no training or support on how to manage and lead others. They have their own portfolio of work to do in addition to managing people, managing budgets, planning and preparing for organizational performance. And, they are tasked with the very big job of moving organizational strategies forward, often without the tools or authority to do it. According to Deloitte, “56% of surveyed executives report their companies are not ready to meet leadership needs.” Companies that recognize the potential of high-performing individuals will try to service the needs of this mid-level by investing in “leadership training." However, not all leadership training is created equal, nor do all leadership programs provide results. Too often, we see organizations and teams invest merely to check a box versus making an investment in an employee that will result in a significant difference — for the individual and the organization. For example, many leadership training programs consist of three to five days of formal training (or a series of online webinars). In this scenario, participants face a fire hose of information, then return to work with the expectation that they will implement the tools, skills and concepts. The company or department has checked the box on development training, but is the manager suddenly a leader? Are they more effective? Generally, the individual returns to their day-to-day charged up and ready to make a change, but when faced with their ever-growing list of to-dos, they are quickly absorbed back into the status quo. Sound familiar? Real learning cannot be one-size-fits-all. It requires time for personal planning, 1:1 coaching, skill building, feedback, application and accountability. Otherwise, the application of what is learned doesn’t materialize in the real-world environment. Leadership development must be undertaken in the form of a journey rather than a quick-fix training approach. Longer term, integrated learning solutions may seem like a bigger investment in time and resources, but more time spent up front will accelerate learning and drive results. Integrated leadership development includes:
And, just as CEOs and executives find benefit in belonging to peer cohorts and forums, managers who participate in cohort-based learning solutions benefit from trusted peer relationships, collaborative problem-solving and being held accountable for making progress. Additionally, this type of longer-term, integrated development can be measurable; not only showing participants how they are growing and changing but showing companies how their investment is making a difference. My company has been developing leaders through an integrated methodology since 2002, and we track the changes in leadership confidence and competence across a spectrum of 20 key indicators at three points in time throughout the development journey. Participants self-report on these measures of confidence and competence, and we can measure change from the start to finish of the leadership journey. The results are significant and range from 15% to 70% positive change on key indicators. High-quality leadership development programs are powerful, not only because they create better leaders, but they improve company culture and performance of individuals and teams. Employees have more clarity and feel empowered and confident. And the C-level executives sponsoring their people during the leadership journey report major increases in innovation, better problem-solving, more effective leadership and closed gaps in succession. POST WRITTEN BY Lynda Silsbee Founder of the Alliance for Leadership Acceleration and Member of the Forbes Coaches Council  In October, I had the opportunity to attend and speak at the 2019 NHRMA conference. The conference was well attended with 850+ attendees discussing how HR and business will need to adapt to the future. A future that is changing at a rapid pace!
My presentation, titled "Lost in the Middle: How Middle Managers Lead to Organizational Success", focused on how organizations achieve sustainable success when they build strong leadership bench strength. This requires selecting and preparing the best possible leaders for the future. If this is true, why are so few organizations investing in their middle managers? We assume that after sending first-time managers to 'supervisor school' they have all the tools they need when they take the next step into middle-management. And there they languish, and so does your organization, because the leadership pipeline is blocked due to the lack of attention. What does your organization's leadership bench strength look like? How will your organization focus on developing middle managers into leaders in 2020? Read my authored Forbes article titled "Understanding the Middle Manager: Convert Their Plight to Power" for more information on this topic or let's schedule a 30-minute conversation to discuss your 2020 plans! Lynda Silsbee | Owner & Founder The Alliance for Leadership Acceleration Imagine the impact your mid-level managers could have if they could be more effective at leading change, executing strategy and motivating their team to be more productive. The LEAP®-Leadership Acceleration program combines world-class leadership and management development practices with highly skilled facilitators and coaches to transform your mid-level managers into leaders.
Interested in developing stronger and better leaders in your organization? We're happy to help you create a leadership plan specifically for your organization. Let's schedule a 30 minute 1:1 conversation to discuss your plans. Depending on your goals and the size of your business there are multiple options with our comprehensive and all-inclusive LEAP program you can consider:
It's very rewarding to see our clients on their journey to developing strong, confident leaders in their communities! Want to learn more? Register for a live informational webinar on December 11 or January 22 at 9am (PST) and find out how and why LEAP works and which track is right for you or your business. Questions? Let's book a 1:1 conversation. Lynda Silsbee | Owner & Founder The Alliance for Leadership Acceleration We are experiencing a growing demand for LEAP® in multiple markets throughout the U.S., including Denver, New York, Portland, OR, Phoenix, and others. Independent consultants (and boutique firms) can add LEAP to their business offering, to grow their business, while growing the next generation of leaders in their area. Did you know that Affiliate Partners add a minimum of $32,000 in revenue to their coaching/consulting practice when LEAP is added to their offerings? A LEAP license not only adds to your revenue, but your license gives you exclusive rights to your territory. Start developing strong, confident leaders in your community! We are looking for top notch consultants like our most recent LEAP certified Affiliate Partner in the Dallas-Fort Worth market, who just graduated their first Cohort in September 2019. Click here to learn more about the LEAP Certified Affiliate Program. If you, or someone you know, are interested in learning more, let's schedule a 30 minute 1:1 conversation. Questions? Contact Lynda Silsbee.  |
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AuthorLynda Silsbee is Founder and President of the Alliance for Leadership Acceleration. She has spent more than 30 years creating and leading high performance teams. Along with the other LEAP Certified Coaches, she reports that helping managers make the LEAP to leader is one of the most fulfilling aspects of her work. 
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