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Are You Asking the Right Questions?

by Patti Blackstaffe · Comments (0)

29 Apr

Question Are You Asking the Right Questions? “We find … it’s much more important and difficult to ask the right question. Once you do that, the right answer becomes obvious.”
~Amory Lovins

If you want to know more about why people do or don’t change, then ask more questions.

When working with organizations and teams, it is important to first listen and understand before building plans and developing programs for them. For organizations that do not have coaching as a mainstay offering for their leaders, they may be surprised to hear it is those coaching methodologies that open the door to understanding. For a large company, it is definitely worthwhile for key individuals and leaders within the organization to be coached, and for those in charge of organizational development (OD) to have some coaching training behind them.

There is a generalized stigma around coaching that can be hard to shake and it’s often referred to as that ‘airy-fairy’ soft-skills stuff. There is nothing soft about coaching!

If you remember being figuratively pinned to the wall as a teen in high school as some wise adult helped you learn to stand up and take responsibility for your own actions, you can easily recognize the value for coaching in any environment. Through great questions, a coach can dig deep enough to get to the root of why you choose your current thought patterns and reactions, helping you better understand where you fit among the dynamics of a multifaceted team of individuals. There is nothing soft about it. The secret to a coach’s success is the training they receive within two areas:

learning how to ask questions and

the right questions to ask.

This is why people in Change Management (CM) are also effective coaches. One who seeks to understand the stakeholders and the stakes involved in any change initiative is best served by first knowing the right questions to ask. Great questions return great results, further creating introspective reasoning for the individual who is providing the answers. The people being asked begin to think a little more about what they do and why they do it, eventually getting to the heart of why, within a change initiative, the stakes are so high for them.

This doesn’t mean the stakeholders are all in an ‘organized coaching program’, but rather, through a varied series of meetings, one-on-one discussions, facilitated group sessions and other forms of analysis and risk analysis, the CM professional is able to dig deep to the heart of any challenges that may inhibit change.

Change is inevitable, but change as a push mechanism is rarely successful. Change initiatives that take into consideration all stakeholders and build a plan for change that motivates and inspires people to move forward from resistance to desire find greater success. It is my experience that there is usually a lot more to resistance than what is initially shared, and a little coaching methodology can certainly loan itself to finding the greatest resistance and helping the people within an organization work through it.

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Patti Blackstaffe works with people and organizations to develop
Happy Workplaces world-wide guiding them toward mastery and leadership
through consulting, advising, coaching, speaking, and delivering training.

You can reach Patti at 1-855-968-5323

Idea Sessions | Change Management | Executive Coaching | Team Building

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Categories : Communication, Conflict, Culture, Human Resources, Leadership, Management

Tags : Asking the right Questions, Change Management, Leadership, Organizational Development

Are You A Team Player?

by Patti Blackstaffe · Comments (0)

26 Feb

Team 700x350 Are You A Team Player?

In his blog titled, “We Don’t Need To Make it Better” on February 5, Seth Godin says this about improvements.

“Just because it is uphill doesn’t mean it’s hopeless, though. One of the most essential tasks a leader faces is understanding just how much the team is afraid of making things better (because it usually means making things worse—for some people).

Change is scary for most people, and risky change that might adversely affect someone or cause a wave, even scarier! The thing is, it is important to do what is RIGHT instead of working in fear.

Malcolm Gladwell notes in his book, “The Tipping Point: How Little Things Make a Big Difference”

“Cooperation and conciliation and compromise and teamwork are all arts, and like all arts they require practice and commitment. In a complex world, success is not possible without teamwork.”

Let me put it this way, if you are a member of a team or a ‘Tribe’, as Seth Godin calls them, you have a responsibility to that team; not only to each other, but to the overall mission (or company) as well. If you have been hired in a role and you work with other people to accomplish that role, you are being paid to work with them and help develop plans for reaching the BIG PICTURE. Not sure what that is? As a team, ask these questions:

What is our collective why?
What exactly does success look like, what are we trying to accomplish overall?
Who is needed to accomplish that goal?
What do I have to do in my specific role to make it an amazing success and who do I need to collaborate with in order to reach success for the BIG PICTURE?

Now bump it up…..

How can I bring the very best of myself to that role and help everyone else shine so they too can accomplish our BIG PICTURE Mission?

Ultimately, it is not about you. If your loyalty is only to yourself and not with the team and the company who is paying you, you are in the wrong job or at the very least not giving your best to the job you have.

Here are a few great actions of a team-player.

They keep professional confidences and do not put the company or their team mates at risk for selfish gain.
They see and recognize the strengths that EVERY member of the team brings to the table and are willing to work WITH those people for the BIG PICTURE success.
They are both transparent and honest, protecting the path to the BIG PICTURE along-side their team members.
They deal directly with the individual they have a qualm with and do not drag clients or outside individuals into their emotional dramas or insecurities. (P.S. that is called gossip)
They do not disparage other team members to each other (or anyone else for that matter), but rather find ways to turn the other team member’s poor performance or lack of success into a coaching opportunity before writing them off.
They are loyal to the BIG PICTURE realizing the people or organization paying their salary are where their loyalty lies, and they work together to meet that big picture.

Getting the drift? If you are a member of a team within which you can take these actions, then you are on the right team.

If you cannot find yourself loyal to the team or play well in the sandbox with the people you are supposed to be reaching the collective goal with, united for a common cause, (or you don’t believe in the cause), it is time to find a different place to work.

Why? Your heart is with you, not the team or the goal.

Go do something GRAND, something you can be passionate about in reaching a common BIG PICTURE goal WITH people you can respect – or – find a way to be a solid member of your existing team, unite and build a plan together so that you can again be passionate about what you do and who you work with. Stop waiting for your company to change so you can make this happen – you have much more power than you think.

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You can reach Patti at 1-855-968-5323

Idea Sessions | Change Management | Executive Coaching | Team Building

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Categories : Culture, Engage, Gratitude, Leadership, Team Building

Tags : Big Picture Team Work, Reaching a Goal, Team Loyalty, Team Work, Working Together

Policies, Procedures and the Leadership Team

by Patti Blackstaffe · Comments (2)

12 Feb

Whether you have 10 people walking in the door for work or 1000, they all bring with them their dreams, hopes, values, frustrations, problems and their desire to make their career the best it can be. People bring with them every experience they have ever had, and their perception of what that experience has meant to them, good or bad. Most of them will react to everyday situations based on those experiences, putting a wrapper around the situation based on what they believe it means to them.

Witnessing the human dynamic can be both awe inspiring and difficult, depending on what is playing out at any given time within the organization. You will have motivated and non-motivated employees, you will have great leaders and managers who are biding their time. There will be people with good intentions and the odd one with not-so-good intentions.

And this is why every company needs to have policies and procedures in place with strict adherence to them.

For the routine actions and for the unusual actions that will occur in any company, a set of guidelines for both employee and employer provide clarity and help avoid miscommunication.

First, the best place to start is to look at your Provincial or State labour standards or code. These are the guidelines you as an employer must uphold, it is the law in the place where you live. It is also the job of every manager in your company to know what these are; are you helping them? Small companies without a solid HR presence will especially need to know what the rules are.

Second, you need to protect the company and your employees from harm. Harm includes law suits, security issues, labour problems and safety. There are clear guidelines in all of these areas as well. Do your homework, make sure you know what your rights are and make sure you know the rights of your employees. A company handbook can include some of these items.

Third, you need to understand what processes you as a company wish to work within, basically; “What are my manager’s supposed to do and what are they allowed to do within these walls and how do I want them to accomplish it?” AND “What are my employees supposed to do and how do I want them to accomplish that?”

Many companies are unaware of how important their own policies and procedures are.

Executive team, not everyone ‘works like you and thinks like you.’

I know a lot of companies are weary trying to keep up with the legislated pieces and want to apply more of the budget to operations rather than HR. However, HR, when given the right direction and authority, have the ability to save the company many dollars in the long run.

From vacations to stress leave, from benefits to complaints, without a solid set of procedures to access and the guidelines of what to do, your employees will be scrambling for answers and wanting support. In most companies employees want their immediate manager to have both the answers and the authority to make a difference for them. Have you prepared your management team to handle all they will need to handle when they encounter a difficult situation or event, a budgetary shift, a grievance? Have you prepared your HR team to take on what the manager cannot? Have you outlined the differences in their roles? Are you tracking attrition, complaints, costs of transition, and more? Have you outlined the overall ‘behavioural intolerance level’ your company will not accept and what happens when they arise? If not, you have some work to do.

It is easy to make the assumption your staff understands how you want the company to run, after all, you are there every day and you are showing them how to do it. Be cautious, leader, these people need things clearly laid out, eliminate as much opportunity for misinterpretation of your desires as possible. Empower your staff to make decisions without you because the policy or procedure is spelled out in a way that supports your teams and protects your organization. But be aware, this is not a quick task or a two month answer, you will need facilitation and direction through about 18 months to two years of development if this is the first time you have embarked on such a task and you have more than 20 employees.

Give your Managers and HR department the tools and the power to make a difference for you and for your staff. Develop a company where everyone knows what support looks like and your teams are empowered to shine.

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Patti Blackstaffe works with people and organizations to develop
Happy Workplaces world-wide guiding them toward mastery and leadership
through consulting, advising, coaching, speaking, and delivering training.

You can reach Patti at 1-855-968-5323

Contact us here to book for Idea Sessions, Change Management, Executive Coaching or Team Development.

Idea Sessions | Change Management | Executive Coaching | Team Building

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Categories : Communication, Culture, Human Resources, Leadership, Management, Training

Tags : Employees, employment standards, labour laws, Leadership Guidance, Policies, Procedures, Training

Why I Can’t Be Hired

by Patti Blackstaffe · Comments (0)

05 Feb

Be willing to do the work, not play the victim of circumstance

Working in Organizational Development (executive coaching and change management) is my passion. I love situational, character and behavioural development within an organizational environment. I personally study hard to build my programs and I take neuroscience, anthropology and psychology research into account for all jobs involving people. I have done this self-study for almost 20 years regardless of where I have worked – I am fascinated by people. What really charges me is when I am asked to come in and work with teams for greater collaboration and communication.

To determine if I am a good fit for the consulting contract, I ask the following two questions:

How much action and change is the executive leadership willing to take on in order to make my efforts worthwhile for the company?
What kind of support will be available from the top in order to make positive change happen?

The one statement that leads me to decline a consulting role with a company is this:

“I just want you to come in and fix ______________.” (This statement is rarely associated with actions of the executive leadership.)

First, your people don’t need fixing. Second, I am powerless to ‘fix this’ because as the consultant that is not my job, as the leader it is YOUR job. Third, I am hired to guide you and lead the way, the work involved belongs to each and every individual within the company STARTING with the top level leadership and supported through to the front lines.

When a problem exists, the first step is for the leadership to be able to admit there is a problem, but they cannot stop there. They must be willing to admit the actions they have been taking thus far are not working and something needs to change. It needs to change first at their level.

I have been known to decline any job whereby the hiring individual is unwilling to do what it takes to turn around the morale or working relationships within the company. I will also turn down coaching jobs with any manager who is not willing to take the action necessary to make change at their (leadership) level.

Coaching and consulting are about providing the assist, but we don’t come in and score the goals for our client, that is their job. They must be willing to do the work – not play the victim of circumstance.

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Patti Blackstaffe works with people and organizations to develop
Happy Workplaces world-wide guiding them toward mastery and leadership
through consulting, advising, coaching, speaking, and delivering training.

You can reach Patti at 1-855-968-5323

Contact us here to book for Idea Sessions, Change Management, Executive Coaching or Team Development.

Idea Sessions | Change Management | Executive Coaching | Team Building

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Categories : Communication, Culture, Leadership, Management

Tags : Getting hired, hiring fit, who doesn't hire me, why people hire me

Rock and Roll Momentum

by Patti Blackstaffe · Comments (0)

28 Jan

r n r Rock and Roll Momentum

Have you ever noticed when a really catchy song comes on the radio, you can’t help but tap a toe, hum or even sing along? For me, it is when a song from my late teens and early twenties comes alive. There is something about reminiscing back to a time of personal freedom, and feeling like the world is your oyster, that truly gets a person going.

Do you remember when you first entered your career or business and you could feel your body vibrate with excitement about what you were doing? Remember the thrill of anticipation for a new project?

How long has it been since you felt a rock and roll momentum in your job?

Perhaps it’s time to shake things up and take a good look at what you do every day.

What are the work activities that charge you the most?
What action could you do to bring an inspiring activity at work into your every day?
Who are the people at the office that you can collaborate with to give you the kind of energy and enthusiasm you want at work?
Is there a project you can get approved that keeps innovation and motivation charged?

The key thing to note is this:

People have a tendency to wait for their boss, employer, co-workers to present them with activities to excite them about going to work.

The reality is that we create our own motivation and inspiration. Stop waiting for the company, boss, co-worker, department to change, start taking action to create your own beat and dance to the music.

The energy we put into our work is the energy we get out of our work.

Now, shake, stir, repeat!

Every day is a new beginning granted to us for approaching life with enthusiasm – and life includes work! Find at least one activity or action to bring you closer to a rock and roll momentum, then seek approval, schedule it and enjoy!

Opportunity: There is a good possibility you will be rewarded with renewed respect from co-workers for your innovative and enthusiastic attitude.

What kinds of activities give you a charge you at work?

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Patti Blackstaffe works with people and organizations to develop
Happy Workplaces world-wide guiding them toward mastery and leadership
through consulting, advising, coaching, speaking, and delivering training.

You can reach Patti at 1-855-968-5323

Contact us here to book for Idea Sessions, Change Management, Executive Coaching or Team Development.

Idea Sessions | Change Management | Executive Coaching | Team Building

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Categories : Culture, Human Resources, Leadership

Tags : Encouragement, enthusiasm, Innovation, motivation, personal mastery

The Credit is Due

by Patti Blackstaffe · Comments (0)

21 Jan

Ideal: Everyone wants to work for a great team and to give credit to a great team – that’s most people’s workplace utopia.

Reality: Human dynamics, competition and workplace conflict make it difficult to know just where credit and responsibility are to be shared.

Here is a hint: It’s multi-level and sometimes confusing.

Clarification: Your team contributes to the overall success of the company and it’s imperative to give the team credit when publicly celebrating any success. “The group did this! WooHoo!” Where that thinking goes off the rails is when the focus is group, group, group, and there is no credit given to each individual for the unique strengths and abilities they bring to the team.

Tip: Every person wants to believe they bring value to the team, that they have made a difference in their own unique way. When we fail to pay attention to the individuals, we negate the hard work of each member of the team and this erodes the individual’s motivation to continue contributing.

Each member must be willing to acknowledge the core strengths of the unique individuals on their team.

Just as each type of cell in your body does a remarkable and unique function and contributes to a remarkable whole, we must give each type of cell its day to shine. The body is only whole and functional because of the individual parts. Just ask anyone who has had an injury how difficult it is when one part of the body is no longer functional.

The team itself is not discounted by recognizing strengths in the individuals (unless one person is taking ALL the credit for the team’s success – and that is a different blog altogether). When team members refuse to acknowledge the individual strengths of its members, it fails to function as a team – it’s broken.

Ironic, isn’t it? By giving credit only to the whole group and ignoring the individuals, the group begins to crumble.

Give the team credit – by all means, they’ve earned it by working hard together to accomplish their jobs.

Just remember: A team is made up of many individuals bringing unique strengths and qualities that only when united with other team members are they contributing to the whole. So when someone mentions a unique talent or strength of one of the members, don’t be too quick to call it a team effort –everyone’s unique contribution matters.

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Patti Blackstaffe works with people and organizations to develop
Happy Workplaces world-wide guiding them toward mastery and leadership
through consulting, advising, coaching, speaking, and delivering training.

You can reach Patti at 1-855-968-5323

Contact us here to book for Idea Sessions, Change Management, Executive Coaching or Team Development.

Comments (0)

Categories : Culture, Human Resources, Leadership

Tags : celebrate the win, individual efforts, strengths and talents, team efforts

Business IS of the Heart

by Patti Blackstaffe · Comments (0)

14 Feb

…When Cultures Collide in Mergers and Acquisitions

Business consultants tell entrepreneurs to know their exit plan, and many focus on a merger or acquisition market as they build their businesses. This is especially true in the technology or engineering space, where valuations are done of a technology which may be attractive to larger firms looking to grow their offering.

When a valuation is being performed on a company prior to merging or acquiring it, that valuation is usually based solely on the financial side of the business. A careful calculation of the assets and liabilities, the varied business market, the intangible assets like trademarks or patents, financial reporting and more. A company does their homework before any merger or acquisition, and typically if a sale goes through, they feel confident they’ve made the right move.

But there is one thing that is rarely done… and that is a careful study of the differences between the company cultures. Culture is about shared attitudes, values, goals and practices that make up the “personality” of a given company. Personalities are important. Imagine, if you will, two people discussing getting married and they both have children and homes.

Of course ‘marriage is of the heart and this is business’, you say?

Well, two companies coming together needs to be treated like a marriage. If you were considering marrying someone, you do need to consider your partner’s financial health and see if it matches yours, but is that all you would look at? I would think you should see if there is compatibility of the values, attitudes and practices. How you raise your children and how they raise theirs may be so far removed from one another, you could be creating Armageddon rather than a loving, caring blended family. It could be that you are sending a child or two on a run-away spree, or will be forever burdened by being the nasty, horrible and wicked step-parent no matter how hard you try.

image courtesy of Presentation-Process.com

This little analogy is very apropos for M&A (Mergers and Acquisitions) and cultural evaluations are starting to make headway in some M and A analysis of companies. Why?

Because after you buy the company and by the time you ask a consultant to come in and help with the messy change management of the two cultures, it can be too late.

It is imperative the company buying takes a careful look at the culture of the company being purchased and consider this in their valuation. A company purchasing a heavily creative and innovative group whose mandate it has been to focus on the customer may find their new family clashing with a process driven conglomerate whose focus is global spread and, trust me, that can be disastrous. In fact, in technology, the key component to a wise purchase is in determining how to retain the knowledge held by the employees. Your software is only as good as the people writing it, and you want them to stay.

I am not saying it cannot be done or to avoid the purchase, what I am saying is, you better already have a great plan in place for merging not only the technology or the company, but the cultures too. Doing your homework needs to be holistic, not finance specific, know what pitfalls and roadblocks you will suffer if culture is left out of the equation, or that beautiful valuation sheet may very well be worth far less once the knowledge has walked out the door.

There are things you can do to prepare in advance:

bring someone in who understands how to evaluate cultures and
work at building a plan of action toward a healthy merger or acquisition, upfront.

It behoves you to do so, because business is of the heart, and shouldn’t be about wasting money or losing talent.

Patti Blackstaffe works with people and organizations to develop

Happy Workplaces world-wide guiding them toward mastery and leadership

through consulting, advising, coaching, speaking, and delivering training.

You can reach Patti at 1-855-968-5323 | contact her here | book her to speak

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Categories : Business, Culture, M&A, Management

Tags : Acquisitions, advising, company culture, consulting, Corporat Culture, cultural differences, cultural evaluation, culture, Mergers

Occupy Your Street

by Patti Blackstaffe · Comments (2)

25 Oct

Occupy Your Street Occupy Your Street There is a commercial on television where a woman and man are sitting in a reception area, the woman turns to her husband and says, “I just want to stop paying checking fees” and a woman at the reception desk says, “If you want to stop paying checking fees, then stop paying Checking fees.” I love this commercial because of its simplicity.

Simplicity is beauty, especially when one wishes to rally a large group of people with a single message. The message must be clear. I am not sure what the message is regarding Occupy Wall Street protestors, as what I’ve heard varies and some pieces are complex. This doesn’t work for most folks, many wish to have something clear and simple to follow before they get on board to champion and rally with others. I know I want to know what I am rallying toward and the outcome this rally is to achieve.

Of course most of us know some of the reasons behind what drove people to Occupy Wall Street. I recognize people want desperately for the decision makers who put the world economy at crisis to take notice, to pay for their mistakes, for corporate greed not to get the best of us. I know people are frustrated feeling starved while big CEOs took in buyouts to pay themselves handsomely. I get that, I feel for those sharing their stories on the “We Are the 99 percent” webpage and I ache for the populations of all countries who are suffering with the loss of homes and jobs. What I am not certain I understand is what outcome these folks wish to achieve by doing what appears to me to be an un-focused sit-in.

What I wish everyone understood is that all of us, by choosing to ride the wave of boom and buy, we were a large part of the train that brought us here.

But think about this…WE have the power to change things in this world with actions that can truly affect Wall Street. Think about it, if 99% of us are financially hurting or trying to make sense of where we find ourselves within this brutal economy, then the number-odds are pretty much in our favour.

Mere groups don’t create change, actions do.

Gathering in groups in Tanzania, Egypt, Libya and Bahrain did not accomplish change. Showing the world by committing to being part of covert operations and dangerously sending video footage overseas to present to the world the atrocities occurring within their borders did. Being brave enough to organize with a clear message of what they will and will no longer accept and then taking action to gain world-wide support, this created change. Gathering was only a step in the process. Simple message, understood outcome and actions toward that outcome achieved their goals. They were the majority, and they acted together in solidarity to accomplish an outcome.

Like those countries, the majority here have the power to make every day choices that will speak more loudly than a sit-in or a tent in a central park location. We don’t have a simple message such as, “oust the dictator”. WE do have the power of numbers, but not only numbers with messages on placards, but numbers who make every day choices and take everyday actions to truly guide where our countries need to go, and we have the freedom to do so.

We all need to Occupy OUR Own Street and we can do it by using the power of the purse, even if all you have are pennies.

If you want a better environment, change your spending habits to green or ecological companies.
If you want to increase small business, then buy from small business.
If you want to grow local businesses, then shop at local businesses.
If you want more jobs within this country, start purchasing brands made only in this country (if you can find some).
If you want better transit then choose to ride on transit until the sheer numbers force it.
If you don’t like how a company works, fight it by not giving it your money, then support the kind of company you trust.
Be strong enough to fray from the party line and vote for what is best for the 99% and your country instead – listen to your heart not the rhetoric.
Be willing to teach your children fiscal responsibility by showing them and modeling for them the kind of change we need to take as individuals to contribute to positive change.

You got it, do the research, make the choices and then do these things in large numbers and there you have the power. But, you have to know the outcome you wish to achieve so you know what to choose, and then you need to choose it. Stop whining because things have changed and you want it back the old comfortable way but still want OTHERS to drive the change for you.

Right now isn’t comfortable for most of us, right now we are in a great shift and shift means leaving our comfort zones and making decisions that will CREATE the change, but we need to know what we want.

CHOOSE, ACT, and make it YOUR responsibility right at home:

Share what you are doing with others and give them a chance to make it their responsibility, and then share it some more.
Tell people where they can buy, how they can make different decisions, find a way and a path that makes sense, movements require action.
Show people what actions will help, where they can turn and what support you have found.
Repeat the actions over and over again in as many numbers as you can to drive change.

Be the leader you were meant to be…Occupy YOUR Street.

Patti Blackstaffe works with people and organizations to develop

Happy Workplaces world-wide guiding them toward mastery and leadership

through advising, coaching, speaking, and delivering training.

You can reach Patti at 1-855-968-5323 | contact her here | book her to speak

Comments (2)

Categories : Culture, Engage, Leadership

Tags : Better choices, Movement, Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Your Street, Strength in numbers

Beware of Mediocrity

by Patti Blackstaffe · Comments (0)

03 Oct

”Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” –Aristotle

He nestled snug inside his cheap blanket, not quite heavy enough to keep him warm, trying to digest the mediocre meal that wanted to return for a second swallow. He had a big day tomorrow, and he needed sleep to get through it. It’s not easy work avoiding the right thing, cutting corners and skirting responsibility, he only hoped the car would get him there. His oil had not been changed and his gas tank was sitting on empty, but he hoped he would have enough to make it to the parking lot. If not, walking is okay if it would give him an excuse to go in late and avoid the meeting with the boss. He pulled the blanket up higher trying to keep warm as he thought about how he chose not to pay the heat bill this month because he kept forgetting to put his check in the bank. Stupid banks anyway, they just want to take it all out in charges.

Do you know this guy? I sure hope he isn’t you, because living in the world of mediocrity is like sitting in a stagnant pond. You’re wet alright, but rather than being clean and cool you’re trapped in slimy mud with parasites and mosquitoes coming in for the kill! Not a pretty picture.

Successful people-and we are talking about true success not the money grabbing, walk-all-over-the-next-guy kind of success – truly successful people are able to lay on their deathbed knowing they did the right thing for their families, their companies, their associates and friends – these guys don’t do mediocre they leave a legacy. (And they are missed when they go.)

The person who skims by barely doing anything more than what’s absolutely necessary to maintain status quo is the most challenging employee. That kind of person frequents the motto, “Meh, it’s good enough,” and chooses to live well below their amazing potential.

Sometimes I wonder what made them decide to keep from wanting to feel the pride and glory of a job well done or seeing the response from a client whose expectations are exceeded. There many be many stories, most of us will never know what holds some folks back, but imagine what it would be like if everyone did their level best to treat every task as though it was the best thing they’d had the pleasure of doing this week. Are you giving your all? Are you working your hardest to avoid mediocrity?

You may not know it, but it is simply a choice!

Try it today, just decide you can, and then do.

Shun mediocrity and adopt an attitude of excellence then show everyone around you what you’re really made of.

”Excellence is not a skill. It is an attitude.” –Ralph Marston

Patti Blackstaffe works with people and organizations to develop

Happy Workplaces world-wide guiding them toward mastery and leadership

through advising, coaching, speaking, and delivering training.

You can reach Patti at 1-855-968-5323 | contact her here | book her to speak

Comments (0)

Categories : Culture, Customer Service, Leadership

Tags : details, excellence, mastery, mediocre attitude, mediocre work, mediocrity, practice, the right thing

Getting a handle on different cultural values

by Patti Blackstaffe · Comments (0)

13 Apr

Strategic Sense, in addition to providing Leadership Training, has made a commitment to highlight some of the remarkable authors, leadership professionals and business people we’ve had the great fortune of meeting and working with over the last 3 years. On Wednesdays you will see guest-posts from some of these folks. All are leaders in their field and have solutions to some of our biggest workplace issues.
As with Jeffrey Summers who wrote about building ultimate customer experiences, today we have a guest post that talks about culture.

Today’s Guest Post is by Professor Robin Stuart-Kotze PhD from

Behavioural Science Systems Ltd. ( founded in 1972 by Dr. Stuart-Kotze)

And now, here’s Dr. Robin Stuart-Kotze…

coloured ties sm Getting a handle on different cultural values

photo courtesy of RPichler

Different parts of global organisations have different cultural values. These can be strengths, but they can also get in the way of overall performance. Global managers need to be able to recognise which is which. Unfortunately in many cases what passes for attention to cultural differences is often no more than an attempt at good manners – generalisations on how one should greet, meet, entertain, and deal with different nationalities.

A proper understanding and appreciation of cultural differences is critical to managing in a global environment.

Large catch-all regions like EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) are far from homogeneous. There are major differences in the way managers in different cultures do things. What seems to be the stumbling block to dealing effectively with these differences is a lack of understanding about what culture, in a management sense, really is. The simplest and cleanest definition is;

“What we value around here (or don’t)”.

Values represent the judgement of what individuals or organisations consider is important. They form the basis for how decisions and actions are evaluated. The power of deeply held values is that they determine how individuals act as a matter of course – how they naturally react to various situations. Understanding culture means understanding what individuals do without thinking – what their reflex response is to various situations.

If you want to know what managers in different parts of your organisation value, observe what they do. We do things which we consider productive, effective and rewarding – to us. And we try not to do things which are unproductive, ineffective, and not rewarding. One reason that organisations and managers fail to deal effectively with differing cultural strengths is that they tend to fall back on cultural stereotypes which only apply in the most generalised and non-specific sense, and at worst can be dangerously xenophobic and misleading.

A company’s core values define what it stands for.

They should spell out what is acceptable and what is unacceptable behaviour. To ignore them is to bring into question the entire corporate culture. People, both internally and externally, have a perception of an organisation that is shaped by what they believe to be its core values – or the lack of them. That perception is confirmed or disconfirmed by their daily dealings with individuals in the organisation.

What would you say are the values that are held across your entire company? If you are making the assumption that all the people across your organisation conform to some stated set of corporate values then you are assuming that they will behave in a certain manner. However if they don’t all hold to the same values they will behave in widely different ways, some of which will be appropriate and some of which won’t. Thinking globally and acting locally can only go so far; success cannot result from people pulling in different directions.

Behaviour is the reflection of values.

You can’t observe values themselves; you can only observe how they are demonstrated. It is the behaviour of individuals and groups in an organisation that shows what its values really are. For instance, the stated values of Harley-Davidson are:

Tell the truth
Be fair
Keep your promises
Respect the individual
Encourage intellectual curiosity

But how do you measure whether the people in Harley-Davidson are doing these things? If you asked them directly about their commitment to the company’s set of core values it would be highly unlikely to find anyone who would say that they do not tell the truth, are not fair, don’t keep their promises, don’t respect the individual, and don’t encourage intellectual curiosity. Simply asking people to articulate their commitment to values does not produce accurate or satisfactory results. You need to find out precisely what they do as they manage their jobs.

All of these values can be translated into behaviours, and the behaviours can be observed and measured. The first step is to articulate clearly, in terms of specific behaviours, what each of the core values actually mean. Once you do that you are able to recognise when individuals are exhibiting truthful behaviour, behaving fairly, keeping promises, showing respect for people, and doing things that encourage intellectual curiosity.

For instance, if an individual were to do things like:

Always meet commitments
State views frankly and openly
Give and accept open and frank feedback
Provide recognition and reward with maximum transparency
Make decisions that are evidence based

Would that behaviour mean that he or she could be considered to be a person who tells the truth? It’s possible to observe all these behaviours and put a numeric scale score of zero to ten on each of them and thereby generate a measure of the degree to which individuals, teams, or business units are demonstrating the value “Tell the truth”.

Patti Blackstaffe, President of Strategic Sense Inc, is a Speaker, Strategic Advisor and Trainer in Leadership, Customer Service and Cultural integration through Mergers and Acquisition.You can book her to speak at her personal page.

Need Strategic Sense for your business? – hire us for Leadership Development of individuals, teams, group training and company strategy. Read what folks have to say about her eBook Leadership XXL: 11 Practical Steps to Living Leadership Extra, Extra Large.

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Categories : Culture

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