Frontline Leadership TRENDS

What every group leader needs to know about engaging employees--involving people with their hearts and minds

The following points are a result of five years of research to understand the actions which any group leader (or line manager) can take to help people (members, beneficiaries, and stakeholders) become self-motivated, passionate, enthusiastic, and expert in the groups efforts and objectives.  In an enterprise this may be called employee engagement, and the beneficiaries are customers, but these points also apply to leading groups in education, civic, government, religious, and family.

*  Every person arrives and contributes to your group (and all groups) at their own current level of engagement.  Each person's own level of engagement, is influenced by their past and present group experiences.  You can easily assess (without measurements) this engagement on a continuum from 'fully engaged' to 'actively disengaged'.  Everyone (employees, customers, and stakeholders) can and will move on this continuum, no one is static.  As a group leader you can help each person move towards 'full engagement'.  Even those that arrive fully engaged are most likely unaware as it is not taught in any curriculum.

*  No one can motivate/engage another person!  One can only help another learn by experience the fulfillment of self-motivation/engagement (involvement with heart and mind).  You cannot feel 'personally' responsible to motivate/engage another person as this only creates frustration and helplessness.  Rather, create the environment to help others engage themselves.  Also your enthusiasm, self-motivation, and passion serve as an example and inspiration to others.

*  To sustain motivation/engagement the activity itself must provide feedback!  Engaged persons are re-engaged by the activity and people in it, more so than by colleagues and supervisors. You must focus on the activity first or you will lose sight of your purpose as activities are aligned with the group's purpose. 

This may seem counter intuitive as group members learn as early as the school system to receive feedback on their actions from colleagues and supervisors through systems to 'manage' the groups efforts.  For the 'leadership' of soft skills such as enthusiasm and reflection one must also provide feedback from the activity itself.  This will make your tasks simpler, enjoyable, and more successful.

*  Any group leader can provide people feedback from the activity itself by helping them ask (mostly non-verbally) the critical questions for "How are we doing?" - both individually and collectively.  Focus on the activity first and the people within the activity secondly to allow everyone to participate in the groups learning experiences and understanding.  The activity focus reduces the personalities and builds a sense of purpose.  Most communications and learning is non-verbal or "informal".

Our research determined five actions a group leader can do with (not to) their group members to initiate this process for self-motivation/engagement.  Note that a process is merely a set of steps (or I like to think of it as a recipe) for creating something and, unlike a program or system, does not need to come from the top but can be inserted anywhere within an organization--even in a single group as a trial.

1. Begin and end with "Thanking" everyone.  This provides recognition and appreciation through daily operations. 
2. Next invite participation to demonstrate everyone's intentions
3. Then ask, almost always non-verbally, "How are we doing?" to learn the 'critical' daily operations which determine success.
4. Distribute the feedback with everyone through daily activities.  Let them 'naturally' become involved and challenged.
5. Continue to bulletin or share workplace experiences and relationships.  Make assessments (share opinions) by fostering a continuous dialogue.

• Repeat the cycle

What every group leader needs to know about engaging employees--involving people with their hearts and minds

The following points are a result of five years of research to understand the actions which any group leader (or line manager) can take to help people (members, beneficiaries, and stakeholders) become self-motivated, passionate, enthusiastic, and expert in the groups efforts and objectives.  In an enterprise this may be called employee engagement, and the beneficiaries are customers, but these points also apply to leading groups in education, civic, government, religious, and family.

*  Every person arrives and contributes to your group (and all groups) at their own current level of engagement.  Each person's own level of engagement, is influenced by their past and present group experiences.  You can easily assess (without measurements) this engagement on a continuum from 'fully engaged' to 'actively disengaged'.  Everyone (employees, customers, and stakeholders) can and will move on this continuum, no one is static.  As a group leader you can help each person move towards 'full engagement'.  Even those that arrive fully engaged are most likely unaware as it is not taught in any curriculum.

*  No one can motivate/engage another person!  One can only help another learn by experience the fulfillment of self-motivation/engagement (involvement with heart and mind).  You cannot feel 'personally' responsible to motivate/engage another person as this only creates frustration and helplessness.  Rather, create the environment to help others engage themselves.  Also your enthusiasm, self-motivation, and passion serve as an example and inspiration to others.

*  To sustain motivation/engagement the activity itself must provide feedback!  Engaged persons are re-engaged by the activity and people in it, more so than by colleagues and supervisors. You must focus on the activity first or you will lose sight of your purpose as activities are aligned with the group's purpose. 

This may seem counter intuitive as group members learn as early as the school system to receive feedback on their actions from colleagues and supervisors through systems to 'manage' the groups efforts.  For the 'leadership' of soft skills such as enthusiasm and reflection one must also provide feedback from the activity itself.  This will make your tasks simpler, enjoyable, and more successful.

*  Any group leader can provide people feedback from the activity itself by helping them ask (mostly non-verbally) the critical questions for "How are we doing?" - both individually and collectively.  Focus on the activity first and the people within the activity secondly to allow everyone to participate in the groups learning experiences and understanding.  The activity focus reduces the personalities and builds a sense of purpose.  Most communications and learning is non-verbal or "informal".

Our research determined five actions a group leader can do with (not to) their group members to initiate this process for self-motivation/engagement.  Note that a process is merely a set of steps (or I like to think of it as a recipe) for creating something and, unlike a program or system, does not need to come from the top but can be inserted anywhere within an organization--even in a single group as a trial.

1. Begin and end with "Thanking" everyone.  This provides recognition and appreciation through daily operations. 
2. Next invite participation to demonstrate everyone's intentions
3. Then ask, almost always non-verbally, "How are we doing?" to learn the 'critical' daily operations which determine success.
4. Distribute the feedback with everyone through daily activities.  Let them 'naturally' become involved and challenged.
5. Continue to bulletin or share workplace experiences and relationships.  Make assessments (share opinions) by fostering a continuous dialogue.

• Repeat the cycle

6 Principles of Frontline Leadership

6 Principles of Frontline Leadership to Motivate-Inspire-Involve any Group or Team

Six principles for winning the hearts and minds of members of any group or team:

1. Recognition
2. Participation
3. Reflection
4. Involvement
5. Dialogue
6. Appreciation

Leading these principles using the practice's process of five daily activities respectively:

1. Thanking - to recognize everyone
2. Inviting - customers to let us know "How are we doing?"
3. Asking - the critical questions for the group's success
4. Feedback - from group member's own daily activities
5. Sharing - assessments to continue a customer dialogue
1. Thanking to begin the process again - letting everyone know their efforts are appreciated

These six principles hold true in regardless of whether you are managing or leading.  For instance, senior managers use the same principles to manage "what" future actions the enterprise needs to take and the programs for execution.  The following demonstration would be typical for most enterprises:

1. First recognize which teams need to provide what services, products and markets.

2. Management then invites participation in "How are we doing?" through surveys, interviews, focus groups, etc.

3. They reflect on the critical issues which will determine their success in the future.

4. Design programs and systems based on the feedback they receive to involve everyone in the execution of daily operations.

5. Supervisors encourage suggestions and discussion on the success of the execution through daily operations.  Try to create a dialogue about customers.

6. Express appreciation to associates as well as customers and partners for desired results.

The actions to implement these principles are executed from the top-down through programs and systems to maintain the all-important structure and discipline any enterprise must have to succeed.  The practice's five actions for leadership listed above compliment these programs with a leadership skill for the people-part of the enterprise.  Winning the hearts and minds of associates as well as customers and partners.  A practice to lead the "how" to maintain results from the programs and systems.

To learn more about continuing to involve everyone (associates, partners, and customers) with their hearts and minds view the "cycle of engagement" webpage.

"If you give a team member customer feedback, you focus them for a day. If you teach a team member how to 'ask' for customer feedback, you focus them for a lifetime!".

Retaining Customers Who Have Concerns

A  'Model' for Customer Retention -- Building long-term Customer Focus from the Frontlines WOW! Customers -- A Great Start How-to WOW! Customers Who Bring Concerns or Complaints to Your Service Team

Service teams, beginning with their leaders, must recognize that, overall,  customer complaints and concerns represent the most vital feedback the team can receive.   Only a very small percentage of customers who experience dissatisfaction will bother to let you know about it.   These customers see the relationship as a win-win and want to be “partners” with  your team !

The challenge is for team leaders  to listen, satisfy,  correct the present situation, thank the customer, assure future expectations, correct cause of problem for future, and  follow through to monitor corrections on a continual basis!  Quite a challenge, especially with all the other operational challenges presented daily.   The only chance team leaders have to meet this challenge is help.  Help in the form of  team unity in focusing on customers’  needs and expectations.  The underlying base to maintain this focus must be a recognition of and appreciation for the customer.  This article offers  a “ best practice”, with a forty year track record,  for support of  this recognition by sharing   feedback and  thanking customers daily at the points of service/product delivery.    

John Byrne on developing managers

As Editor of both "Fast Company" and now "Business Week" Magazines John Byrne has become one of the most astute observers on today's business scene. In this insightful podcast for frontline leaders he is interviewed by David Maister of the "Passion, People and Principles" weblog.   

The two discuss behaviors such as  * Managers as leaders, *Building employee trust, * Valuing intution as a manager, * Being a manager vs developing managers, and * How to maintain passion and excitement

If you would like to hear even more insights from John Byrne he hosts his own podcast called "Climbing The Ladder" from the Business Week Magazine website. 

Adopting a Learning Attitude

I love this blog post by George Ambler of "The Practice of Leadership" weblog.  The importance of learning can never be underestimated for without learning you cannot continue development, betterment, or challenge either as a group or individual. 

George Ambler reflects on the importance of having a learning attitude after reading the book “Change Your Questions, Change Your Life: 7 Powerful Tools for Life and Work” by Marilee Adams.

Especially effective is a tool George identifies as an important concept from the book--the distinction that the author makes between the mindset of a judger and the mindset of a learner. 

Mindsets

Judger	Learner
Judgemental (of self and/or others)	Accepting (of self and others)
Reactive and automatic	Responsive and thoughtful
Know-it-already	Values not knowing
Inflexible and rigid	Flexible and adaptive
Either/or thinking	Both/and thinking
Self righteous	Inquisitive
Afraid of difference	Values difference
Personal perspective only	Considers perspective of others
Defends assumptions	Questions assumptions
Possibilities see as limited	Possibilities seen as unlimited
Primary mood: protective	Primary mood: curious

Read the entire blog for more insights from George Ambler

Full Engagement and Happiness

Becoming fully involved with heart and mind is described by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi as "Flow"

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi describing "Flow"

Search Inside the book  Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience

How Customers Think

We recommend the book "How Customers Think" by Gerald Zaltman, published by Harvard Business School Press  (left click on graphic to read quote)

The book addresses the new paradigm for Marketing of an integrated Mind-Brain-Body-Society between managers and customers.  While the focus is on top management who must make long-term market decisions there is a lot that middle and frontline managers can learn and take from this knowledge

Our objective through the practice "Propel Frontline Leaders" is to simply give team leaders and frontline managers a process, set of actions, to lead this non-verbal portion of thought, emotion, learning, and communication.   A career skill and enterprise tool to lead relationships, the "people" part, for follow-through (continuation) of their existing management systems or structure.

Yes, we believe, the next frontier in the workplace is to lead relationships in daily operations.  Using leadership activities (processes) to complement and continue (not change) the management of relationships using programs and systems.  We call it, CRL (Customer Relationship Leadership) activities to complement your CRM activities.

For additional insights into the insights of Dr. Gerald Zaltman visit this blog from Customer Service Reader - http://customerservicereader.typepad.com/customer_service_reader/2006/03/zaltman_on_crea.html 

The Benefits of Leading Without Authority

A concept presented well some years ago by Ronald A. Heifetz in his book Leadership Without Easy Answers.

When discussing leading without authority, Heifetz notes that leadership means engaging people to make progress on the adaptive problems they face. Because making progress on adaptive problems requires learning, the task of leadership consists of choreographing and directing learning processes in the organization or community.

A concept presented well some years ago by Ronald A. Heifetz in his book Leadership Without Easy Answers. Ronald Heifetz is one of my favorite authors on the subject of leadership and has continued his teachings with a more recent book Leadership on the Line. He presents views in a common sense approach as represented in a great quote "Attention is the currency of leadership." Fast Company Magazine had a good article on Dr. Heifetz "The Leader of the Future."

Good news! for those team leaders who may feel, because they are not members of "management" that they cannot be effective leaders in daily operations/activities. 

Heifetz also points out the constraints of authority suggest that there may also be advantages to leading without it:

* First, the absence of authority enables one to deviate from the norms of authoritative decision making. Instead of providing answers that soothe, one can more readily raise questions that disturb
* Second, leading without or beyond ones authority permits focusing on a single issue
* Third, operating with little or no authority places one closer to the detailed experiences of some of the stakeholders in the situation. One may lose the larger perspective but gain the fine grain of people’s hopes, pains, values, habits, and history. One has frontline information.

The Next Generation of Customer Management? Customer Experience Management

Bob Thompson, the founder of CRMGuru.com published this article online.  Everyone who leads a group in providing customers with products and/or services would be well advised to read it.

Bob asks an important question......"why doesn't CRM improve customer relationships from the customer point of view?"

The article goes on to point out that "CEM is concerned with all customer interactions, not just those that lend themselves to automation. And it deals with the customer's perception of value, which has both functional—"Did it do what it was supposed to do?"—and emotional—"Did I enjoy how I was treated?"—components."

So true!  All frontline leaders whether they are in management or not must understand that in daily operations it is the 'experiences' which form the foundations for continued 'relationships'.  And that the relationships will continue to provide the experiences!  This true between and among customers, associates, and partners alike.

Read the full article at http://www.crmguru.com/editor/top_10/1732.php