CRA Inc

Motivating Employees When No News Is The Only Good News

There is still much uncertainty surrounding our economy, and lately it seems that no news is the only good news around. So how do we engage and motivate employees in an information vacuum?

One thing leaders can do is to increase their visibility and communicate more about how the company is doing—not less.

Here a few things you can do today:

• Walk the hallways. Schedule a weekly reminder to take the long way to your office. Let employees see and you, and engage in conversation.
• Engage employees on all shifts. You don’t need to sit in every meeting or walk through every building every day. But you do want your employees to know that they matter—even if they work the night shift.
  
• Eat in the cafeteria. By simply saying “hello” or eating lunch with other employees, you increase your visibility, as well as your  credibility.
• Leave your office door open. Let employees walking by know that you are there. Leaders have a tendency to shut the door when times get tough, but it makes employees think there is trouble and secrecy afoot.

By taking a few minutes out of your day, making yourself more visible, and increasing your communication frequency, you reduce employee anxiety and uncertainty. Increasing visibility is just one part of motivating employees—but it’s a crucial part. Actions speak, and now is the time to let employees know you are there for them.

Is it real or is it videoconferencing?

At a time when travel costs are being slashed like jungle growth run riot, videoconferencing has stood out as a, if not the low cost alternative to conducting business face-to-face. After all, isn’t videoconferencing, with its increasing quality and decreasing costs, the perfect substitute for face-to-face interaction?

Well…. maybe not.  Videoconferencing is hard work; to be effective, it requires more attention and focus on the mechanics of conversation than face-to-face interaction. You’ve got to pay a bit more attention to the speaker’s speech rhythm and pauses so that you don’t interrupt. It’s not easy, which is why there are often those unnatural seconds of silence in videoconferencing, and why it’s not always clear when it’s your turn to speak. Speaker clarity is often a problem, which means you have to listen more closely to understand what is being said. And it is harder not to act a bit more formal during a videoconference – the medium often feels less natural, as does the flow of the conversation.

Because videoconferencing requires us to pay more attention to the mechanics of the conversation, we have less attention and brainpower to devote to the content. As a result, we tend to rely more on non-content cues to assess the effectiveness of the interaction – the speaker’s dress, looks, tone-of-voice, age, titles, etc.  To put it another way, when using videoconferencing, as compared to face-to-face interaction, participants are more likely to assess the effectiveness of the interaction on the likeability of the speakers than on the content of what they said.

Sound a bit far-fetched? But that is exactly what two researchers found when they compared the assessments of a medical seminar between those who attended the seminar in person, and those who participated by videoconferencing. As they put it:

In this study, participants in the videoconference seminars reported being more influenced by how much they liked the speaker than by their assessment of the quality of the arguments presented, whereas those attending the seminar face-to-face reported just the opposite.

Interesting results, suggesting, not that we abandon videoconferencing – which isn’t going to happen anyway – but that we become a bit more cognizant of how we use it.

You can find the an abstract of the research here:
http://mansci.journal.informs.org/cgi/content/abstract/54/9/1565

In Times Like This: Manage Your Ego And Play Harder

I heard an entertaining piece on the radio this morning by Frank Deford that I think is worth sharing. You can read or listen to it here. What you’ll hear is simple and timely, but hard to grasp for many at the top of their game in business and sports.

Whether you’re a hedge fund manager or a wide receiver, take note. Perhaps the rising tide of public expectations for leaders’ behavior on Wall Street should also apply to our favorite good athletes/bad sports on the field.  In times like this, when the average American is working harder than ever before to make ends meet, perhaps people like Terrell Owens and Manny Ramirez should manage their ego and play harder too. And if they don’t, their leaders and the public should be less forgiving.

Here’s hoping that my hometown of Buffalo does a better job than my current city of Philadelphia at Managing T.O. We’ll see … either way, at least the Phillies got it right last year (see article for details).

Communicating Expectations Effectively

The last six months have resulted in more employees in transition than ever before. As people find themselves working for a new employer or in a different role within their organization, managers must figure out how to on-board new team members as quickly as possible and effective superior-subordinate communication plays a large role.

You can increase how quickly new team members adjust to your management style by considering the following when setting expectations:

Inform employees of your expectations by sharing them in a way that is clear, concise, and easy to understand. Doing this puts your employees in a place where they can succeed and not in the position of becoming a mind reader. Communicating expectations takes time up front, but it saves everyone time in the end.

Evaluate the credibility of your expectations by inquiring about your employee’s bandwidth. Ask if they are working on any other projects right now and how much time those projects are consuming. If they do not have the availability you need you will have to reset your expectations for their involvement.

Clarify that the message sent is the message received. Have a conversation with your employee about the next steps they plan to take in the projects you have assigned. Their response will help you to gauge how well they understand your expectations and allows you to address misunderstandings, if any, before anyone heads in the wrong direction.

Improving Productivity with Social Network Analysis

Whether you’re aware of it or not, social and informal networks throughout your organization and within your team influence how decisions are made, framed, and carried out at work. As a result, companies are beginning to chart informal, social networks as a way to identify communication gaps, information bottlenecks, and under utilization of employees. This approach, often referred to as social-mapping, allows organizations to uncover a whole new level of workforce dynamics. Check out a recent Wall Street Journal article that highlights this method here (registration may be required).

A Commentary on the Theory that Guides Us: Aristotle’s Rhetoric, Part IV

This is the fourth installment of a four-part series.

Logos (Reason)

If a message establishes credibility while it emotionally connects with an audience, then the argument itself should be able to stand on its own merit. The point here is that if you have attended to the other two issues properly, make sure you also have a well-thought-out, intelligently-crafted message.

Coaching Points:

1. This arena deals with the logical strength of the case you are presenting. If you are making a presentation to a group, one way to strengthen your argument is to include voices of dissent, as well as how you overcome these objections.
2. Another method for establishing certainty in an argument is to lean on the cutting-edge scholarship in a given field. Our field is change management and communication, so we need to stay up on the latest scholarly journal articles and books in these fields. Citing the world authority on ERP implementation, for example, will help solidify your argument.
3. Get your facts straight and take your time to think them through. The last thing you want to do is be in a position where you have to make a case for something or an important decision with partial or wrong information. As they say in carpentry: “Measure twice, cut once.”

Aristotle may be notoriously complex, but remember that he simplified things for us. If you want to be more persuasive in speeches, messages, or any sort of communication, there are not an infinite number of things to think about. There are really only three aspects of being persuasive. The question you constantly need to be asking yourself is how to embody Ethos, Pathos, and Logos more fully.

Social Networking at Work

Amid the current financial crisis, leadership teams and C-suite executives in organizations of all shapes and sizes are having discussions about ways to reduce uncertainty and boost employee morale. While leaders realize that communication is critical to transparency and credibility, executive teams are exploring additional ways to increase employee engagement during these turbulent economic times.

In doing so, researchers are finding that well-connected employees, those who have extensive social networks that bridge gaps between departments (or silos), are more likely to do better at work. As a result, social networking tools are becoming an integral component to enhancing employee engagement and elevating employee performance.

Consequently, maintaining consistent leadership communication paired with opportunities for employees to build social relationships with others at work will not only build employees’ level of trust, but will also give them a sense of community within the organization.

Prior to getting started, keep in mind that some social networking tools might fit better in your company than others. To that point, before implementing a social networking tool in your organization, consider the following critical next steps:

• Create a social networking advisory council of well-connected employees who can audit the organization and evaluate employee needs and wants.
• Identify social networking tools that work best inside your organization and fit into your company culture.
• Recognize potential obstacles in the implementation of these tools in your organization.
• Set realistic expectations around tasks and timelines for implementation.

For more information about social networking at the office, click here. Or, to read more about communication advice for leaders during the financial crisis, click here.

A Commentary on the Theory that Guides Us: Aristotle’s Rhetoric, Part III

This is the third installment of a four-part series.

Pathos (Personal Connection)

Aristotle was highly-attuned to the fact that the persuasiveness of a message is thoroughly connected to the state of mind of the audience. He reminds us to take the emotional temperature of a given audience prior to communicating with them. He also encourages us to deconstruct the contents of whatever emotion we find. If an audience is angry, is it because they desire something, or are they experiencing pain in one way or another? Is there a way to address this pain or desire without inflaming it further? Attending to these emotional states is fundamental to communicating a message, not an ancillary afterthought. If the tone of our message can make headway toward soothing an angry audience—or at least not make things worse—then the odds of the message getting through are exponentially increased.

Coaching Points:

1. You can take the emotional temperature of a given audience through a more or less formal interview process, depending on your time, resources, and interest. Sometimes, a handful of conversations might be enough to make a situation clear. If you discover a group is angry, don’t stop there. The more precisely that you pinpoint the exact reason for why an audience is hostile, the better you will be able to address it and ultimately communicate successfully with them. For example, I spoke with a number of people in an organization who were angry, because they felt that they were left out of the loop with regard to a major change taking place. In this case, the anger was misplaced. The higher-ups had no problem sharing information in real-time; they just didn’t think to do it. So we came in and said to everyone that a new communication process will be put in place to describe the changes, which put everyone in a great mood. Then we were able to communicate the message that we set out to communicate in the first place. Having changed the mood from hostile to pleasant, they were naturally much more receptive.
2. Another lesson to learn from Aristotle’s idea of Pathos is the importance of emotionally connecting with your audience. One tip for giving criticism, and I need to give John Cook credit here, is to acknowledge that you have made a similar error in the past, or  that you empathize with a person’s behavior in a given situation, but nonetheless need to give them negative feedback.
3. If you are speaking with a group that you don’t know, it is important to find touchpoints where your concerns and goals match theirs. Establish early on and often that you are not so different from your audience. For example, take a minute in the hall to hear about someone’s family issues, or talk about the football game. Or, take a minute to illustrate that everyone—yourself included—is in the same boat if a major initiative fails, and that you all stand to gain if the initiative succeeds.

A Commentary on the Theory that Guides Us: Aristotle’s Rhetoric, Part II

This is the second installment of a four-part series.

Ethos (Credibility)

What did Aristotle think about how to establish credibility? To him, credibility was the product of embodying three characteristics: 1) practical knowledge; 2) virtuous character; and 3) good will. It’s interesting to note that if you lack any one of these, either your know-how or your honesty can be challenged. What struck me about these three characteristics is that establishing credibility is not limited to expertise or knowledge of a particular subject. You can present yourself as incredibly knowledgeable, but if you don’t convey a virtuous character or good will, people might think that you know what you’re talking about, but for whatever reason aren’t telling them. Thus, being a good, honest, and dependable person—and conveying this fact—is as important to your credibility as knowing what you’re talking about.

Coaching Points:

1. The overall  practical point is not to forget that establishing your credibility is essential to communicating persuasively. You don’t want to be a braggart, but you can’t appear so deferential and humble that it takes a couple years for people to realize that you are smarter than you first appear. (A) One way to communicate credibility is never to talk down to an audience. Without inundating them with jargon or acronyms, speak to them as you would a colleague, except make sure to define terms, elaborate on concepts, etc. If you dumb it down too much, you risk your audience thinking that the whole thing is obvious, and that you haven’t clarified anything. (B) If you are giving a speech in front of an audience that doesn’t know who you are, make it a point to convey your experience and practical knowledge subtly through a story or aside at the beginning of the speech. For example, tell a personal story that both references your role in a high-profile engagement and makes headway in the overall presentation.
2. One way to establish yourself as virtuous is to tactfully reference a charitable activity that you do: volunteer work, non-profit work, etc. In addition to the fact that these sorts of activities build your character as a virtuous one, your public participation in them sends the message that you are not simply a Gordon Gekko from Wall St. lacking scruples and a moral compass.
3. One way to establish yourself as having a sense of good will is to offer free advice. Since so few people do it, it makes CRA stand out when one of our consultants explains to a client exactly what we would do in a given situation. It helps establish our brand as friendly, open, and willing to provide expertise even when we might not gain financially from it.

A Commentary on the Theory that Guides Us: Aristotle’s Rhetoric, Part I

This is the first installment of a four-part series.

At CRA, we use Aristotle’s three methods of persuasion—Ethos, Pathos, and Logos (found in his Rhetoric)—as the foundation for creating quality messages. We gloss these terms as Believe, Do, and Know. In other words, a good message makes the audience believe we are credible. It establishes a personal connection, which helps to encourage that the message is acted upon. Finally, a good message helps the audience to know something new and important by presenting reasonable and intelligent arguments.

I thought it would be useful to return to the source to help fill out these concepts a bit more. One interesting point to begin with is that there are only three ways for a person to be persuasive according to Aristotle. These can be characterized broadly in terms of: 1) the character of the speaker; 2) the emotional state of the hearer; and 3) the argument itself.

Three posts, corresponding to Ethos, Pathos, and Logos respectively, will follow this introductory post over the next three weeks. Each will include practical coaching points designed to help translate Aristotle’s observations into the practical world of business.