Thank goodness, I have eBay. Some people like to unwind with movies (I can’t sit still), read a good book (still can’t sit still), learn how to cook (waaaay too involved plus my kids probably won’t eat it), or enjoy a bubble bath and glass of wine to unwind (did I mention I can’t sit still?). I eBay. It is a fairly mindless activity that allows me to temporarily disengage from the world to focus on something that has no major ramifications. I suppose someday I could bid some ridiculous amount for an item I really don’t need, but since I shop for kids clothes there is pretty much no chance of that. I need a way to ignore the mental registry of things that I need to get done, that are soon due, the emails I have to send, the calls I need to return, and just take five and relax.

I’ve found that you can’t be effective in your job if you constantly ping pong from activity to activity without allowing yourself to breathe. Taking five for yourself makes you a better contributor to the office. Getting up, walking away, doing yoga, walking around the lake, whatever your eBay is, you should make sure that you allow yourself to enjoy that activity without guilt or remorse every day as it makes you a better project manager. Google wisdom tells me that some great ways to refocus and relax include:

• Deep breathing
• A walk outside
• Distraction techniques (can you name all the states that start with A?)
• Go to your happy place (visualize whatever vacation spot you really want to be in)

Laughter is also great medicine for stopping stress so find a favorite website with funny stories, amazing pet tricks, weird pictures, whatever. The next time you find yourself wanted to choke the person at the other end of your phone call, clenching your fist, rolling your eyes, or doing whatever behavior you do to exhibit frustration at your team, stakeholder, project, etc. take five and find your eBay…

What’s your eBay?

Consider what percentage of the full meaning of communication is derived from verbal communication? Para-verbal (such as the tone of voice)? Non verbal (such as gestures)? Various research provides percentages that vary, but the general consensus is that the Verbal — the words — count only for approximately 10%, the para-verbal for 40% and the non verbal for 50%.

The learning here is that it is not only what you say that counts, it is mostly how you say it. And if approximately 50% of the meaning of the message is impacted by the non-verbal, what does that mean for any non face-to-face communication such as email, blogs, Twitter, or even conference calls or webinars? Attention needs to be paid to apply good communication practices to the new shortened and speedy communication of today’s world. An effective way to craft your message, face to face or in writing, is to use KUBA.

Just because there is more media and a constant and enormous flow of information does not mean that there is more understanding.

The Critical Balance of Seeking and Telling

One of the most powerful ways to communicate and coach others is by effectively balancing asking good questions and making recommendations; seeking and telling. The key is not forgetting to ask questions and let the other person come up with ideas, suggestions, reactions, etc. It could be tempting — almost a communication trap — to get into a “telling mode” when communicating, especially in quick virtual bursts such as email or text messages. Asking good questions will allow the person you are communicating with to expand her thinking and open up the conversation. It is also an effective way to check for understanding by reformulating the other person’s thoughts and asking a question.

Facing today’s business reality is not an option. The challenging Cs: Complexity, Competitiveness, Change, Customer-Centric, Creativity, Collaboration, Culture are here, and we can’t ignore them. Communicating in order to perform your work is also not an option. The options you have, or the decision you can make, is based on how effective you want your communication to be. The new technology, mediums, style, and pace of communication have their own idiosyncrasies. The mistake would be to think that proper communication cannot be achieved at such a fast pace. Methods and approaches can still be applied and learned to maximize the impact of your communication. As the retail experts insist on location, location, location, it is as imperative in our business and personal lives to communicate, communicate, and communicate… effectively.

Related Courses
Communicate. Communicate. Communicate.
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KUBA refers to a four-step process everyone can use to make their communication more effective and influential. When you consider engaging in communication you should take a moment and think through the KUBA process and the intention of your communication. Do so from the receiver’s perspective as well as your own.

KUBA Your Communication

• KNOW: First, people need to know what the core of the message is, or what they are being asked to do as clearly and specifically as possible. Key words: the “what”, the facts.
• UNDERSTAND: One characteristic of clear communicators is that they provide a solid context, helping people to understand why action is necessary. Key words: the “why”, the rational.
• BELIEVE: With information and context now provided, people need to believe in the value of what you are asking them to do, and they need to believe they can accomplish it. Key word: the benefits.
• ACT: Only when people know, understand and believe will they act. Key words: next steps, actions.

The New and Different About Communication

To summarize in a few words what is new, we could say: the amount, the pace, and the medium used. During a typical day, you read through (and respond to) your vast list of emails, discover interesting articles from the many RSS feeds you subscribe to, and catch up on your Twitter account and Facebook page for either personal or business communication. While you did that, you received a few SMS messages on your mobile phone and an email updating you on your LinkedIn contacts. But right now, you need to find some quiet time because you are doing a virtual session where you will discuss the introduction to a new system that is being implemented.

You expect some resistance because most people are comfortable with the current system. You suspect they may be somewhat confrontational. Dealing with emotion or negative feedback is much more challenging on a virtual session where you lose most of the non-verbal and para-verbal communication cues.

This is the “new” part of communication, and it brings a multitude of challenges inherent to these new ways of communicating. The fundamental model of communication is still the same; there is a sender and a receiver, multiple filters in between that can alter the way the message is sent, communicated, received, and interpreted. This communication process takes a whole new reality when new ways to communicate like webinars and instant messaging are the preferred mediums of modern businesses.

Numerous habits and behaviours were developed in relation to these new communication devices and ways to interact such as constant connectivity, new vocabulary, and micro-coordination, (i.e., last minute decision making, etc.) It was curious to observe the intensity of the reactions during RIM’s four-day system outage; Blackberry users realized they were so dependent upon their technology devices to communicate that it caused them to react emotionally, as if a friend had abandoned them.

Ultimately communication needs to achieve some level of effectiveness, whatever the communication medium utilized.

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In today’s complex world there is a plethora of business and people challenges. If one discipline, one school of thought, or one grandiose solution was the panacea for all, we would all adopt it in a heartbeat.

Unfortunately, such a single, powerful solution does not exist. If one thinks there is such a solution, it is likely that this person is part of the problem rather than part of the solution! When scanning and looking at trends worldwide, it seems that many current challenges are a bunch of C’s. C is for Complexity. Competitiveness. Change. Customer-Centric. Creativity. Collaboration. Culture. So many common challenges that make the top list of critical consideration in the management of 21st century organizations. No pun intended toward our healthcare professionals, but to illustrate the immensity of the previous C list, we could almost call it “C. Difficile”!

Every profession from all economic segments will have different viewpoints and recommendations on how to more effectively manage our organizations. And each of those viewpoints will have value. As a professional of talent management, people interactions, and development, it seems that a common ‘C’ running through the ocean of business challenges is C for Communication.

Ask any retail expert what the three most critical characteristics of a successful retail business are, and invariably they will respond, “Location, location, location!”. This characteristic is so fundamental to their type of business. Even if they have excellent products, services, or people, they cannot be successful in the wrong location.

Communication as the Key to Success

Location is to retail what communication is to people interactions. Communication is the de facto fundamental success factor of any type of working relationship. You could be an engineer specialized in cloud computing, a nurse in an emergency room, a team leader in a call centre, a salesperson, or a vice president of operations in a multi-national organization. Regardless of your role or level in your business, one of your keys to success is to communicate, communicate, communicate.

As demonstrated by the results in a national survey done by Global Knowledge’s research group, communication was rated as the most important competency to the success of leaders. Really? Is this new information or old news? Surprising or disappointing? It is definitely intriguing. There is nothing new in the fact that communication was rated as critically important to the success of leaders. Studies and reports with similar results have been published every decade since the 1960s. Communication has long been touted as the most important factor to leadership effectiveness.

But let’s do what Descartes taught us to do (i.e., do not take things at face value), and question what we see. Is the “second decade of the twenty-first century communication” new and different than what it was before? The answer is what the French would call une réponse de normand, yes and no.

The Not-So-New of Communication

Numerous fundamentals related to humanity’s need to communicate have been the same for many years. Humans are gregarious by nature, so we need to communicate, whether we are introverted or extroverted. The need to communicate encompasses the need to express ourselves, as well as the need to be listened to. A multitude of behaviours determined as effective communication are still very contemporary and relevant. Adapting the communication style to the audience, asking open ended questions, and responding with empathy are only a few examples. The need to craft influential and effective communication, verbal or written, still holds true.

Other fundamentals like the need to be understood, to convince or influence, and making sure we get our message across so we instill desirable actions are more necessary than ever. We could say the same for communicating with clarity, and with conviction, either to entertain or for business reasons. The fundamentals are so timeless and at the same time still so contemporary!

While writing this article, I decided to take a break and watch a few minutes of TV. The easiest channel to watch — requiring very little thinking on my part and relaxing to the brain — is the sports channel! I tuned in at the end of an American football game. The commentator was interviewing the winning quarterback and his best player of the game. He asked them what was the key to their significant win over a strong opponent. The quarterback replied with no hesitation: “Our communication was excellent!”. And I am not making this up!

Related Courses
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Do you feel like an underdog at work? If so, it’s understandable. Maybe you have a brother in the same sport, I mean industry, who seems to get all the glory. Maybe your team, I mean company, is located in the largest TV market on the East Coast and gets a lot of unwanted attention when you’re not doing well. Maybe your coaching staff, I mean company executives, are seen as old, stodgy, and behind the times. Perhaps, adding insult to injury, your competition is a well-oiled machine guided by one of the league’s, I mean industry’s, masterminds of the last decade.

It could get even the best of us down a bit.

The truth is every employee faces adversity. How well you face it will make the difference in the locker room at the end of the season or boardroom at the end of the fiscal year.

So you’re not a national league, million-dollar athlete with Citizen watch and Toyota car endorsement deals. That’s no reason you can’t act like one. Your payday might not be a huge diamond-encrusted ring you’ll rarely wear in public, but it could be the start on a path to success of a more realistic nature. If only you had a playbook.

Build and Appreciate Team Chemistry

Don’t underestimate your co-workers’ ability to help you get a win. Whether they’ve got your back or not, the defense always lets the cocky quarterback take a few sacks during the season. Always be the first to praise your team when they sincerely deserve it. The better your team works for you, the better your superiors value you and your team-building leadership. That could lead to you getting called up for the big game.

Stay Cool on Fourth and Goal

NFL teams have literally hundreds of plays. A play that looks good at the snap can become ineffective in an instant. When the pressure is on, a calm, cool head prevails. Self-control and flexibility are key. Sometimes kicking it to the other team in hopes of gaining better field position is the best option, but you also have to know when to “go for it.” If you think it’ll be easy, it won’t because it never is. But the rewards could end you up on the shoulders of your teammates or, at the worst, on the wrong end of a Gatorade cooler dousing.

The Best Defense Wins

NFL commentator and former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka touts the defense every chance he gets. Ironic for a Hall of Fame tight end, but his point is simple: the best offense is a good defense. When you have prepared for the unexpected, done your research, and not let yourself be distracted from your goal, it’s hard to lose. That’s what the NY Giants did. I love it when a game plan comes together. But just imagine if you had to do that in a seven-level stadium full of 63,000 yelling fans. Good thing there’s no helmet required.

Every year we now have a ritual of taking my daughter to see the Santa Claus who lives in my neighborhood. It is our way to help her hone in on THE LIST and make it easier for Santa and his elves to identify THE TOY that she REALLY wants. She’s at this great age where every ad on television makes her come running to tell me about some great stuffed toy/slipper combo that is FREE if we ACT NOW. Clearly the media moguls know how to talk persuasively to a four year old.

When she is in the midst of her excitement of the latest and greatest toy that she just HAS TO HAVE and changing her Christmas list requirements yet again, I am reminded of the countless stakeholders who suddenly come up with yet another requirement that has to be included in the project. The enthusiasm of a really good idea (or just great marketing) can overwhelm even the most practical, level-headed stakeholder and get them carried away with a BSO (bright shiny object). Typically, these ideas don’t seem like they’ll be much trouble, but they actually add months to the timeline and thousands to the budget.  

Managing the expectations of a four year old as a parent is tough. Santa is this heroic, toy-building, flying reindeer owning, friendly guy who manages to give every kid everything they want, everywhere in the world. Clearly stakeholder expectation management has to be a honed skill owned by parents everywhere. My personal choice to work with her on setting expectations is to point out what toys Santa knows would a) fit in our house b) not endanger herself or her family (Santa wants her around next year so he can return with more gifts), and c) hopefully help her learn something fun and new (Santa like smart girls as well). Those same management skills play out with my projects as well. Yes, the new idea is fun, marketable, and potentially a great differentiator. However, it can’t a) fit in our current schedule or budget (and the executives do like us to comply with both), b) endanger making it to market before the competition does altogether and c) won’t necessarily add enough to the product to make the additional project work worthwhile. Just like my daughter, these stakeholders have no concept that the project manager already has a LOT to do and enough requirements to manage. Unlike Santa, I don’t have elves assigned to my project — or parents who can help with 4 a.m. runs to the store for the last-minute, got-to-have-it-or-I’ll-die toy that hits the list.

In the last decade we saw our share of leaders taking some liberty with financial practices and fundamental business rules. Some of them are in jail with a lot of time to rethink their choices; others are probably enjoying their gains with large hope that their choice won’t come back to haunt them.

In today’s organization we need our leaders to ensure everybody respects the rules and regulations set by our employers, government, and industries and keep ethics top of mind. In our recent research on factors predicting high potential leaders we saw “Personal and Business Ethics” make the list of the top key factors. Nobody can argue with that. It is necessary and makes total sense. This is the leaders’ referee role.

As leaders and managers, we ultimately need to ensure we achieve the objectives laid down for our departments and organizations. To do that, we need to set expectations, offer excellent service to our internal or external clients, align our systems, have the right people on our team and provide them with the right guidance and support.

To make sure our team achieves its objectives and reaches a high performance level, we need to be more than referees. We need to be coaches too, because coaches are as crucial to the performance of our employees as they are to the success of athletes.

In sports the referees care about the rules, a key role, but they never help the players. In organizations, the leaders acting as coaches need to do both. The role that will contribute the most to enhancing performance is the coaching one.

Becoming a coach leverages a lot of our existing skills and may require development in some new leadership and communication “reflex”, such as: 

• Better understand the reality of the people they coach
• Build trust, mutual respect
• Open up new possibilities
• Gain commitment to desired future
• Enhance communication skills
  • Increase confidence in the ability to perform

To get our businesses back on track, we need to learn a few things about coaching and developing top performers. Referees are required to make sure the players are “playing properly”; the coaches make the teams win.

As workplace learning professionals, we help our clients define, design, and develop comprehensive learning strategies that include a very deliberate blend of learning modes. You may be familiar with the 70–20-10 rule of workplace learning which estimates that about 70 per cent of workplace learning takes place on the job, through solving problems and through special assignments or other day-to-day activities. Another 20 per cent occurs through accessing the knowledge of others in the workplace and through support, coaching, and mentoring from managers and colleagues. Only 10 per cent occurs through formal learning, whether classroom, virtually-facilitated, or eLearning.

We recently worked with a client to design an OnBoarding program framework based on the 70–20-10 rule. As they prepared to get started on the program development activities, they raised some important questions:

• What are the costs associated with implementing the “informal” components of the program?
• How do learning professionals influence or create activities that typically happen on their own?
• How do you convince their stakeholders that the “informal” aspects of the program support their formal training investments?

Interest in informal learning is tangible and growing. The 2008 ASTD State of the Industry report contained a special survey section on informal learning and concluded that:  “Not only did survey participants acknowledge that informal learning plays a role in today’s workplaces, they also predicted that it would grow in the next three years. More than half of respondents reported that informal learning would increase during that time period.”

These results are interesting for a few reasons. Informal learning always has and always will be “occurring” in organizations. We are natural learners and experience is a natural teacher.  Perhaps the predicted increase points to the heightened awareness that the vast majority of learning takes place on the job. Workplace learning professionals are being more proactive in their influence and facilitation of informal learning… to formalize informal learning so to speak!

We think there is an opportunity to make informal learning more tangible and focused in the workplace today. Whether you actively lead the learning function in your organization or develop strategies and processes that maximize the investments made in your people, there is a role for you in the process. Here are three ways you can influence informal learning in meaningful ways:

Communities of Practice
Learning consultants can help teams plan, establish, and maintain Communities of Practice (CoP). CoP’s are an excellent way to help a team that shares a common professional goal to generate, share, and maintain knowledge. An effective CoP focuses on the process of knowledge creation and exchange and not on the technology. Many of the best CoP tools now include web 2.0 inspired collaborative features. They also focus on tasks and team accomplishments rather than the social meandering some “social networking” technology can result in.

Action Learning
Another proven approach is Action Learning. This involves small teams working together on real work-place problems or tasks. Learning through doing, reflecting on the results and impact of those actions, and making necessary adjustments is at the heart of the natural learning process. Action learning following formal learning events is also effective at transferring learning gained in the classroom to the work employees actually perform.

Another form of action learning is the development of a Learning Action Plan. These action plans integrate learning and work by scheduling time for planned learning activities alongside regular work responsibilities. Learning activities have associated objectives and time frames. Employees reflect upon the outcomes of their learning and then make any adjustments to how they perform their work. These plans can be used either as a transfer activity with a formal learning program or as components of employee development, OnBoarding, or performance coaching strategies.

Informal Learning Assets
Informal Learning Assets are digital and paper-based tools that evolve from formal classroom programs and organization knowledge. Think about the tools and models taught in your formal programs. In all likelihood, there is an opportunity to create templates or small “chunks” of information from this content and feed it to the organization through social media, the Intranet, or CoPs. These assets can be used as informal learning assets available on demand as refresher job aids after participants return to their job, as learning content for employees who did not attend the formal event, or as tools reviewed with a learning coach for OJT learning.

These suggestions represent a few of the many ways that you can facilitate and influence informal learning in your workplace. Look for these opportunities to introduce a focused approach to informal learning to your organization or to enhance what you are already doing elsewhere in your learning services. By taking learning outside the classroom and bringing it into the workplace, you will have a much larger and dynamic field to play on!

1. Understand the Job/Role as a System
   If you’re going to integrate learning with work, you had better understand the work. Watch people, talk to people, use appropriate analysis tools, and think like the performer. Understand their world, day to day pressures, tools they use (or could use), and how they use them. Understand the job inputs, processes, and feedback mechanisms for job incumbents.
2. Link Learning to Business Process
   Once business processes have been identified (or made visible), process phases can be used to effectively embed relevant learning resources. All business processes contain “knowledge leverage points” — those points in the process where key information is needed for optimal performance.
3. Build a Performance Support System
   Reduce the need for training (or eliminate it altogether) by providing information, decision tools, performance aids, and learning on-demand, using tools available at the moment they are needed. An excellent performance system becomes part of the task and complements human abilities (compensates for weaknesses and enhances strengths).
4. Build a Community of Practice
   CoP’s are grounded in the communication and interaction between people as they solve shared problems. CoP’s create knowledge as much as they transfer it — an essential feature in effective knowledge work, and they foster informal learning focused on specific problem domains.
5. Use Social Media to Facilitate Informal Learning
   Social media has been enormously popular in the public sphere but met with resistance inside organizations so far. Organizations are still worried that social media is a little too… well… social. However, what we’ve learned somewhere between learning 1.0 and learning 2.0 is that learning is also, well… social… and that the informal networked organization is as important as the formal structure for accomplishing valuable work.
6. Implement a Continuous Improvement Framework
   Continuous Improvement (Kaizen) Kaizen is essentially the Scientific Method built into jobs and workflow. W. Edwards Deming translated the method to the Plan-Do-Check-Act Cycle at the heart of the Toyota system and most Quality approaches since the 1950’s. The PDCA cycle is as much a natural learning cycle as it is a work improvement methodology. But it is the “check” step that is the real driver of learning. It requires a meaningful measurement and feedback system. Without it improvement is nearly impossible.
7. Use Action Learning
   Action Learning is essentially the PDCA cycle applied to personal effectiveness — Personal Kaizen if you will. It involves teams or individuals learning from experience. Again, the emphasis is on observing results from action and making adjustments.
8. Use Organizational Learning Practices
   OL is broader than that label implies. It is usually focused on individual and team transformation through participating in systems thinking and tangible activities that change the way people conduct their work. It builds new capacities in individuals and teams that collectively begin to shape the culture and performance of an organization.
9. Design Jobs for Natural Learning
   Natural (or incidental learning) involves a number of factors, but most powerful among them is the feedback we receive (or don’t receive) on the results of our actions. We intuitively use that feedback to adjust our actions, decisions, methods etc. to try to get it right the next time… in other words, we use feedback to learn… to get better at what we do and accomplish.
10. Bring the Job to the Learning
    Broadly speaking the goal training is to compress on the job experience to bring people to standard as quickly as possible. Somehow over the years that goal has been reduced to lots of telling and very little “doing”. The last strategy is an appeal to bring structured experience back to formal learning. I don’t mean generic experience (like a management outdoor education or abstract team building exercises for example) but experiences based on authentic performance tasks.

Keeping employees motivated to work hard year after year can be challenging. But without the right motivation, keeping your team consistently productive can be nearly impossible. That’s why it’s essential to remember to say “thank you” every now and then to those employees who prove to be assets to you and your entire organization. With just a little thought, especially during the holidays when companies usually reward employees for a successful year, showing appreciation can be easy as pumpkin pie.

The Gift That Keeps On Giving
When searching for something that would truly repay your staff for their hard work or a job done especially well, nothing can be more precious to some people than time. It could be as simple as allowing them to leave early one Friday or giving birthdays off. Especially around holidays when everyone seems more rushed, an afternoon off could do tons to help a valued employee catch up on his or her holiday to-do list. If this quick fix helps lower the stress level within your team, you and your company reap the benefits.

Food, Glorious Food
So what’s the quickest way to a valued employee’s heart? Yep, it’s through the stomach. Breakfast biscuits, bagels, doughnuts, homemade goodies, or even a fruit tray will find you favor with your staff. If you really want to go all out, take your staff out to lunch or provide lunch after a demanding project is successfully completed.

Devil in the Details
Praising individual employees can be a slippery slope because you don’t want to end up tagging one as the token “teacher’s pet”. But praising an employee for a job well done when he or she has truly gone above and beyond designated duties is something that should work to motivate your entire team to do the same. It’s important to remember to be specific when praising employees so the employee and other team members know what you consider praise-worthy. Whether the rest of the team aspires to greater results or not, you still will be seen as a responsive manager who rewards employees for going that extra mile.

Getting Personal
There’s a difference between being a busybody and taking a sincere interest in your employees’ personal lives. By keeping up with birthdays, hiring anniversaries, special vacations, hobbies, interests, and other things your employees find important makes them feel valued. But one warning: If you aren’t genuinely interested in your employees, don’t force it. Insincerity is hard to hide.

Money Talks
Depending on the financial stability of your organization, nothing says “thank you” like a big, fat bonus. And I’m not talking about across-the-board raises. Believe me when I say that rewarding your standout employees with end-of-year bonuses above what every employee receives will pay off for you as well. Set up yearly goals so they have something to strive for throughout the year. Just make sure you can pay up when those goals are reached, or you’ll undo all the year’s worthy of motivation by failing to come through with the cash.

Leaving the Nest
Sometimes you’ve got to let an employee spread his or her wings. This freedom is relatively easy to come by and adds to their self worth. Encourage them to be active in professional groups. Chances are they’ll bring back useful information for your team.

Wrap It Up
A small token of your appreciation — just make sure it’s not too small — is a great way to acknowledge great work. It could be a gift card to their favorite store or restaurant. Essentially, it’s the gesture here that is relevant and not the item, but getting this right goes a long way toward building a strong work relationship within your team. If you know your employees well enough, try shopping for a special gift that will instantly let them know they are appreciated. One time my boss gave me the new version of World of Warcraft gaming software. Yeah, we’re geeks, and we’re gamers. But more importantly, it showed me that he took the time to find out what I liked and it made my day. You can do the same with a little effort.

Make It Official
Giving an employee a printed and signed certificate (framed would be nice too) detailing an accomplishment to hang proudly in their work area could just do the trick as well. Consider the employee when deploying this appreciation tactic. While some folks crave attention and would cherish this type of recognition, others might see it as an easy out on your part. You don’t want to come off as insincere.

Shameless Plug
Provide training opportunities. Nurturing an employee’s growth within your team and your company will only add to your own success as the inspired employee grows and contributes. This message was brought to you by Global Knowledge Training.

Keep It Simple
The simplest way of all to show your appreciation to your employees is simply tell them how much you truly value their dedication and work ethic. You will be amazed how far a simple heartfelt “thank you” can go. Just don’t forget the pat on the back.