Planning and accountability

Time Management Skills and Techniques

Time Management Skills and Techniques are of critical importance to people at all levels of organizations, and are often overlooked when it comes to development. Below, we look at the following aspects of Time Management Skills and Techniques:

Why Time Management Skills and Techniques usually fail.
5 Keys to Improved Time Management Skills and Techniques

Why Time Management Skills and Techniques Usually Fail

Many attempt to improve their Time Management Skills and Techniques, but it often doesn’t work. There are two key reasons for this:

Normally, people attempt to be more efficient with their time, when they should be assessing their effectiveness.
They will be more effective when they do less, as opposed to trying to cram more into their day

5 keys to Improved Time Management Skills and Techniques

Understand where your time is currently being allocated
Be aware of your time wasters
Identify priorities and set goals
Plan your activities to achieve your goals
Take initiative and overcome procrastination

Understand where your time is currently being allocated

The first key to improved Time Management Skills and Techniques is to understand where you currently stand in terms of managing your time. In order to do so, you will need to track your time for a period of two weeks. This will only be meaningful if you are honest with yourself during the tracking.

You do not need to track your time in 5 minute increments, but rather spend one or two minutes twice a day (perhaps once at mid day, and once at the end of your day), and track your activities in 30 minute increments. There are tools available on the Wily Manager website to assist in this task.

Be aware of your time wasters

A key impediment to improving Time Management Skills and Techniques are typical time waster that impact just about everyone. Here are some common culprits:

Email – much of the time spent dealing with email is not value added time.
Many meetings – make sure the meetings you attend are valuable.
Perfectionist tendencies – in some cases an 80% solution might be the best you can afford in terms of time. Perfectionists want 100% all the time, and this is not realistic.
Other people’s crises. Just because someone else is having an emergency, doesn’t mean you need panic as well.
Unclear roles or goals. If you don’t know what your key goals are, then you end up doing a lot of things nobody care about, and have little value. You cannot have good time management without understanding your goals and priorities.

Identify Priorities and set goals

A key part of effective Time Management Skills and Techniques is to make smart trade-offs with your time. It is not possible to do everything, so those that are most successful make the best trade-offs.

Focus on 3 – 7 key priorities at a time. If you have many more than this, you will be setting yourself up for failure.
Your priorities must align with those of the larger organization. If you cannot see a clear line of sight between your priorities, and those of your boss, and the organization, there is probably a good chance you are expending much effort in futility.
Ask “so what?”. If you stopped doing something, who would notice, and how long would it take?
Practice the 80/20 rule. There are times for 100% solutions, but many other times, you need to quickly get a task to 80%, and then move on. The extra amount of effort required to get the last 20% is an overwhelming burden if you have many demands on your time.

Plan activities to achieve goals

If something is truly a priority, then a key part of improved Time Management Skills and Techniques is to allocate time to achieving those key priorities. If you don’t schedule time to advance your priorities, you will be overwhelmed by things that are merely urgent.

As a caution, don’t spend more time planning the work than doing the work.
Plan Action against major goals on a weekly basis. You may not look at each priority every day, but you should not let a week go by without making some progress on important goals.
There is a Weekly Planning tool on the Wily Manager website

Take initiative and overcome procrastination

Be disciplined – sometimes you just need to get things done.
Use to do lists, but make sure they are prioritized. A to-do list is useless if it does not reflect the priority of what you’re trying to do.
Ask why you might be procrastinating. There are a variety of reasons things are put off. Some of the most common reasons are:

Fear
Perfectionist tendencies
Waiting for a deadline, because of the illusion of “working better under pressure”.
Overwhelmed – in some cases, there may in fact be too much to do.

3 Things to Remember About Improving Time Management Skills and Techniques

Time pressure is often a symptom of one or more other problems. If you can figure out what those problems might be, you can begin to address them.
You’ll be more successful when you do less rather than more.
Be disciplined.

Watch the ‘3-Minute Crash Course’ about Time Management Skills and Techniques (CLICK THE ARROW TO START THE VIDEO):

Looking for the Full-Length Podcast/Video? …

Project Management 101

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There are many different project management systems. Below we talk about a few simple Project Management Steps:

Project Management Step 1: “What is a Project?”
Project Management Step 2: Before the Project Plan
Project Management Step 3: The Project Plan
Project Management Step 4: Executing Your Plan
Potential Pitfalls with Project Management

Project Management Step 1: “What is a Project?”

Projects are often confused with programs, or simply doing “business as usual. Projects have unique characteristics:

A project is something that starts and ends.
A project may have similar elements to the core business, but is otherwise unique.
A project has a number of interconnected parts that are bound by a common goal

Project Management Step 2: Before the Project Plan

Often people want to jump right into a project plan, but there are some things that need to be addressed first:

Articulate clear and specific goals and objectives for the project.
Ensure all stakeholders agree on objectives.
Identify potential risks to the project.
Identify measures of the project’s success.
Draft the most appropriate members to the project team.
Have a Steering Committee in place, to act as a “board of directors” to the project
Specify scope of the project and the terms of reference

Project Management Step 3: The Project Plan

Building the Project Plan is perhaps the most critical of the steps, but be careful not to allow the writing of the plan to take more time and energy than executing the plan.

Identify major tasks and key milestones
Ensure all tasks have a clear connection to a goal or objective
Assign the most appropriate person to each task
Specify a deadline for tasks to be completed
Track costs and other resources

Project Management Step 4: Executing the Plan

Communicate constantly. A good project plan is a communication plan. The project will not be successful without outstanding communication.
Meet with project team and steering committee at regular intervals
Manage other stakeholders as appropriate
Mitigate risks, and manage issues
Be flexible

Potential Pitfalls with Project Management

Over-planning the project. Ensure planning the work does not eclipse doing the work.
Under-communicating progress and challenges. You need to constantly make people aware of the project status.
Not connecting tasks to goals. A task done in isolation is a task done in futility. Tasks must be connected to higher-level goals.

3 things to Remember About Project Management

Your project planning methodology matters less than the discipline you apply to it.
Focus matters – the clearer your goals and objective, the higher your odds of success.
Check out: Campbell, Clark A., The One-Page Project Manager

Watch the ‘3-Minute Crash Course’ about Project Management Steps (CLICK THE ARROW TO START THE VIDEO):

Looking for the Full-Length Podcast/Video? …

Dealing With Work Overload – The Sequel

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Below we talk about how to manage Work Overload. Specifically, we talk about how you can better manage Work Overload by better planning and communicating what it is you intend to do.

Wily Manager Member Comment:

“I’m all for taking responsibility for my workload issues and accept that many of my problems are probably my own. However, how can you tell when you are actually overloaded through no fault of your own? I took up a new role two years ago and I’m still drowning, but I’ve no benchmarks to judge against other than that I coped fine in my previous role for the same organization.”

The Tough Talk About Work Overload

If you’ve been drowning for two years it’s nobody’s fault but your own.
It doesn’t matter whose fault it might be, what you need to do is focus on is how to get out of it.
It’s not healthy for you or those around you to be perpetually overwhelmed.
It’s not good for your organization in the long run for you to be perpetually overwhelmed as it can lead to turnover, lower quality, missed deadlines, etc.

The Two Step Solution to Work Overload

While people occasionally have to push themselves to work some extra hours at times when something big is going on, working excessive overtime for extended periods indicates a fundamental failure in two areas:

Planning – What are you trying to get done, and have you set realistic time frames for doing so?

Communication – Have you effectively managed the expectations of your stakeholders?

Planning as a Solution to Work Overload

Of all the projects currently under way, what’s the most valuable thing I can be working on?
Which project will have the highest direct impact on our customers? How much will the work I am doing benefit them?
How much “work effort” will each take?
Am I doing something that could be done by someone else?

Communication as a Solution to Work Overload

You need to build a plan to communicate and manage the expectations of all your stakeholders:
- Take your plan to the boss.
- Take your plan to the team.
- Talk to the customer.
- Talk to any other key stakeholders

Push Back on Demands to Manage Work Overload

Question the value of every meeting or new project.
Filter all requests through your priorities.
Make yourself inaccessible at times.
Ask for help where appropriate.
Delegate whenever possible.

Three Things to Remember About Managing Work Overload

It’s your boss’s responsibility to get as much out of you as she can.
It’s your responsibility to tell her when you’ve reached “overload”.
You have choices. Do nothing, Do something.

Watch the ‘3-Minute Crash Course’ about Dealing With Work Overload (CLICK THE ARROW TO START THE VIDEO):

Looking for the Full-Length Podcast/Video? …

Busier Than a Squirrel on Speed

I once worked with a client who was perpetually behind the eight-ball – and not in the “everybody is busy” way, either. She was busier than a squirrel at harvest time on a triple-Starbucks, and a double-hit of Speed. She claimed this busy-ness extended to her personal life too, where she never had the time to do those things that were truly important.

Then she told me about her addiction to non-scripted television (I refuse to call it “reality TV” because Stargate is closer to reality than The Apprentice). As it turns out, her problem was not one of too much work, but too little discipline.

She’s not alone.

Back when I was in University, I elevated procrastination to an elegant form of art. Around the time every semester when I was supposed to be producing term papers, I would find just about any excuse not to do them. I would do the requisite scheduling of time to get them done, and lock myself in either the school library or my bedroom so something would get done.

As it turns out, I would have been better off going to the pub (where at least I would have had some fun) because those long lock-down periods produced either:

a) a thorough reading of the complete poetry works of Ezra Pound (more fun than managerial economics) when I was locked in the library

b) the cleanest bedroom ever, if I was relegated to home.

Luckily, twenty-five years later I’m starting to understand procrastination for what it is: a total and complete lack of discipline. Dr. Piers Steel recently wrote a book called The Procrastination Equation to help further understanding of this systemic problem. According to Steel, procrastination affects 95% of the population (I assume the other 5% are buddhist monks who spend upwards of 20 hours per day in meditation).

Dr. Steel spent about 10 years researching procrastination for his book. He probably could have gotten the research done in five years, if he was more disciplined, but I’m sure his room was as clean as mine was as a university student. Interestingly, he tags coffee shops as a huge enabler of procrastination. Add to this ubiquitous internet, television, video games and other people, and it’s remarkable we don’t all live in a catatonic state that Captain Christopher Pike found himself in in the original Star Trek series.

Now… I better get back to my writing – before I head over to the coffee shop.

Strategy for an Inexperienced Workforce

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There is a looming experience gap in your workforce, presenting a significant risk to many businesses. Here are some specific strategies managers should implement to anticipate and overcome this problem.

The Demographic Reality

Most of the population is older than 50 and younger than 30 due to the baby boom
Organizations fired most of their middle managers in the ‘90s when they restructured/reorganized
As more experienced employees retire, you’re going to have trouble replacing them
Immigration only partially addresses the problem
Your 20-somethings used to have 15 years to develop their skills, whereas now they might have only 5 years

The bottom line: You need to “skill up” people faster (both accelerated leadership development and technical development).

What To Do?

We need to lead our businesses differently to account for this looming experience gap. This problem may or may not be addressed by HR in your organization, so you need to go ahead with or without their support.

1. Build a Talent Projection

You need to know your situation. What is the scope of your problem? What is the gap in your skilled talent?
How many people do you lose per year due to normal attrition?
How many people will you lose to retirement in the next 5 years?
What people demands will the growth of the business place on your talent?

2. Become a Capability Building Machine

You need to figure out how to capture the knowledge of retiring employees, and transition it to younger employees.
Training is one method, but should not be the only method (and many organizations default to training).
Other more effective methods include mentoring, job shadowing, stretch assignments, and coaching.

3. Insist Leaders Be Coaches

If you have an inexperienced workforce, or are anticipating one, your leaders must be coaches. They must be inspired to bring out the excellence in others.
The number one priority of leaders in such situations must be to build skills (both leadership and technical) in the organization.
You need to hire, promote, reward, and reinforce for the development of people.

3 Things to Remember About Anticipating and Dealing With an Inexperienced Workforce:

This is NOT an HR problem. This is a management problem, and a significant risk to many businesses.
Don’t let leaders off the hook because they are technically excellent. They need to make others excellent.
Think beyond training.

Watch the ‘3-Minute Crash Course’ about dealing with an inexperienced workforce (CLICK THE ARROW TO START THE VIDEO):

Looking for the Full-Length Podcast/Video? …

How to Take Meeting Notes: Save Time With These 2 Unconventional Methods

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It might seem easy, but how to take meeting notes is a valuable and under-rated skill. Below we talk about:

Why Meeting Notes Matter
The Basics of how to take meeting notes
Symbolic Method of taking meeting notes
Quadrant Method of taking meeting notes

Why Taking Good Meeting Notes Matters

Taking good notes makes the rest of us think you are on top of your game.
Good meeting notes help you stay on top of what decisions were made and who agreed to do what by when.
Good meeting notes are a historical record of
- decisions or agreements that were made
- why they were made
- who is responsible for what.

The Basics of How to Take Good Meeting Notes

Don’t record everything that you hear or see. Focus on topics, decisions, actions and maybe only the important facts that led to these.
Listen for clues and cues, and ask for clarity.
Leave lots of white space for later additions to your thoughts.
Use positive language.
Be objective. Avoid inflammatory or personal observations. The fewer adjectives or adverbs you use, the better.
Boring writing is the key to appropriate notes.
Notes should consist of key words, or very short sentences
Have a uniform system of punctuation, abbreviation and symbols that will make sense to you.
In most situations, you will want to take notes with a pen and paper, not a laptop.

The Symbolic Method of Taking Meeting Notes

Indent the pages of your notes in from the left margin. Then, use a simple system of symbols to categorize information types in the column space left in the margin.

[ ] A square checkbox denotes a to do item

( ) A circle indicates a task to be assigned to someone else

* An asterisk or star is an important fact

? A question mark goes next to items to research or ask about

After the meeting, a quick vertical scan of the margin area makes it easy to add tasks to your to do list and calendar, send out requests to others, and further research questions.
(This method is the brainchild of Michael Hyatt.)

The Quadrant Method of Taking Meeting Notes

Split your note-taking page into quadrants and record different kinds of information – like questions, reference and to-do’s – into the separate areas on the page.

3 Things to Remember about How to Take Good Meeting Notes

Be attentive. Make sure you pay attention
Look to be as brief as possible
Be action oriented.

Watch the ‘3-Minute Crash Course’ about How to Take Meeting Notes (CLICK THE ARROW TO START THE VIDEO):

Looking for the Full-Length Podcast/Video? …

Overload at Work

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Overload at Work is problem that often is seen, and rarely dealt with. Many people seem to feel that Overload at Work is inevitable, and make no attempt to impact change. Below we talk about:

Symptoms of Overload at Work
The Good and Bad News About Overload at Work
Three Steps to Overcoming Overload at Work

Symptoms of Overload at Work

In some cases, people don’t recognize Overload at Work, as more of the dysfunctional behavior seems to become normal:

Continually working obscene hours. If there is a project, or some exceptional circumstances going on, then working extended hours may become necessary. When this temporary situation becomes permanent, it is a symptom of Overload at Work.
Missed deadlines. Sooner or later, the volume of work means that deadlines are consistently missed.
Paralysis. If you find yourself too overwhelmed to make a decision, or to take action, you are probably experiencing Overload at Work.
Poor mental or physical health. Stress can have very negative effects on the body. If you detect deterioration in mental or physical health, it could be a result of Overload at Work.

The Good and Bad News About Overload at Work

Often people feel powerless about Overload at Work. Here are the realities that contribute to this challenge:

Overload at Work is often self-imposed. Many people believe their stress is caused by the organization. In many cases, people put far more pressures and demands on themselves than are imposed externally.
You will need to do something differently than you are currently. This may mean giving up some things you actually enjoy doing.
YOU need to solve this. It is unlikely that anyone will rescue you from the current situation. It is contingent upon you to fix the problem.

Overcoming Overload at Work

Here are three steps to overcoming Overload at Work:

Know where your time currently goes
Ruthlessly schedule priorities first
Push back on demands

1. Know where your time goes

Before you make changes to improve your situation, you need a solid understanding of where you are now.

Audit your time for a period of two weeks. We suggest you record your time in 30 minute increments two or three times a day. This should take no more than a few minutes every day.
Do not lie to yourself. It is important not to rationalize where you spend your time, but rather simply record it as honestly as you can.
Use the data you collect to see where you can begin to make changes.

2. Ruthlessly Schedule Priorities

In order to overcome Overload at Work you need to schedule your most important priorities first – before you become overwhelmed by what is seemingly urgent.

First, you need to determine your priorities if you haven’t already done so.
Ensure that you have agreement from your boss on those priorities.
Even if it is only an hour a day, you need to get out of “fire-fighting mode”.
Block space on your calendar for specific priorities.
Beware of things you might like doing, but are not actually priorities
Remember that email is not work. Most often email is a huge time-killer that needs to be minimized.

3. Push Back on Demands

Question the value of every meeting you are invited to attend. If you do not see clear value in that meeting, then look for a way to get out of it.
Filter all requests through your priorities. Any demands you get need to be assessed against your priorities. If you boss is the one making those demands, then it can lead to robust discussion about the task, and your priorities.
Make yourself inaccessible at times. Do not hesitate to close your door for an hour or two at times to work on your priorities.
Ask for help where appropriate.
Delegate where appropriate

3 Things to Remember about Overload at Work:

Only You Can Fix This.
Know What Your Top Priorities are and get agreement on them.
You may have to give up some things you like doing.

Watch the ‘3-Minute Crash Course’ about how to deal with Overload at Work (CLICK THE ARROW TO START THE VIDEO):

Looking for the Full-Length Podcast/Video? …

Dealing with Employee Dishonesty (and a Bright Red Firebird)

Sooner or later it’s going to happen – you’re going to have to fire someone for dishonesty. Of course, all the management gurus will tell you that you need to trust your people absolutely, and because you’ve heeded this advice, you’ll feel betrayed and stupid.

On the opposite side of the trust spectrum, I was once told a manager must assume that every one of his people is trying to rip him off at all times. In this case, when you do have to deal with dishonesty, it’s not a shock or a surprise, but you live the rest of your work life in a perpetual state of jaded negativity.

Both mindsets are about as useful as a chocolate teapot.

Organizations’ inability to manage this dynamic is why employee orientations often suck so badly. There’s really nothing more welcoming in an organization, than when they spend an hour or so reviewing all the possible contingencies under which you will be fired. You can bet the HR and legal teams worked overtime on this stuff.

But I’ll bet you Jim Rockford’s bright red Firebird (if you were born after 1975, look it up) there’s a way for managers to negotiate this grey area.

You absolutely need to trust your people – much like you trust your children. You must also open your mind to the possibility that some employees are going to betray this trust every now and again – much like your children.

However, the parallel with children ends here. In most cases, you’re stuck with your kids, and all their mistakes. You have no such obligation with employees. If an employee breaches your trust by acting dishonestly, you have a responsibility to act quickly, decisively, and severely.

There are very few circumstances of employee dishonesty that I can think of that should not end in the termination of an employment contract. Failure to do so treats shareholders, and all the honest employees you have with great disrespect.

And don’t try to weasel out of this managerial burden by having the HR and Legal teams get together to put 400 pages of policy in place. You can’t legislate honesty… but you can fire the dishonest. Quickly.

I was unable to embed the video clip I wanted this week, so go look it up on YouTube yourself: “SNL Sexual Harassment and You”

Employee Investigations

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Employee Investigations are one of those burdens of leadership that every manager must deal with. Below we discuss the following aspects of Employee Investigations:

What is at stake if Managers don’t deal well with Employee Investigations
Employee Investigation Steps:

Assess the Complaint
Determine who should be involved in an Employee Investigation
Interim steps in an Employee Investigation
Conducting an Employee Investigation Interview
Finalize the Employee Investigation
Take Action

Disclaimer: The Wily Manager guys are not lawyers, and as such, you need to use the information here as guidelines, but be well aware of applicable legislation in the jurisdiction you are working in.

What is at Stake in Employee Investigations

Dollars – Mismanagement of Employee Investigations can lead to very expensive litigation.
Company Reputation – a poorly handled Employee Investigation can make your organization famous in an unflattering way.
Brand Health – Poor publicity or reputation management can badly damage an organizations’ brand.
Employee Relations/Morale – An Employee Investigation impacts many more people than simply those involved in the investigation. Poor Employee Relations can cause higher turnover and lower employee productivity – both of which are costly.
Organized Labor Risk – if you are not currently unionized, and wish to remain so, it is imperative that Employee Investigations be handled well.
Careers are at Stake – Someone’s career and reputation may be at question in an Employee Investigation, so it critical that they be handled in such a way that is fair and equitable to all concerned.

Employee Investigation Steps

1. Assess the Complaint. Your first step is to assess the scope and seriousness of what you’re dealing with:

Law – Were any laws broken? Do law enforcement agencies need to become involved?
Policies – Were organizational policies breached? If so, to what degree?
Does it involve people external to the company – Are customers, suppliers, regulators or some other stakeholders involved? If so, how does this change the seriousness or scope of your investigation?
Formal or informal response required – can this adequately be handled with an informal discussion, or are documented interventions required?
What does the complainant want – ask the complainant what s/he would like to see as an outcome. You need to be careful not to promise that outcome before completing your investigation, but it helps to determine the scope and seriousness if you know what the complainant wants.

2. Determine who should be involved in the Employee Investigation:

Independent – can you, as the manager, handle this on your own?
HR – a good HR person can assist with assessing the risk, and providing investigation tools.
Legal – similar to HR, if you have a legal department, you may have access to expertise to assist in the investigation
Management – do you need to reach out to peers, or to your boss to properly conduct the investigation
The Police – if you believe local laws have been broken, then you have a responsibility to alert law enforcement officials whether you want to or not.
Health and Wellness/Safety – if there are potential health and safety issues, you should alert the appropriate people in your organization. Remember than many forms of harassment are covered in “violence in the workplace” legislation, and as such would require the involvement of your Health and Safety people.

3. Interim Steps in an Employee Investigation:

In many circumstances you will have to make decisions before concluding your investigation. In these cases, advice from HR and/or legal is particularly helpful.

Reporting to work – does an employee continue to report to work as normal, or is there another accommodation put in place.
Reporting relationships – Should an employee temporarily report to someone else during the investigation?
Short term disability – are there provisions for employees during the interim period of the investigation?

4. Conducting the Employee Investigation interview

Quickly – you need to interview all concerned as soon as possible after a complaint is made.
Where – think about where you will conduct the interviews. They must be in private, but it may be good to find a place that is not conspicuous. Remember that someone accused of something should be treated as innocent until evidence presents itself as otherwise.
Who/how many interviewers – as a manager, it is highly advised that you have support and a witness in any interview. This can be a peer, a boss, or someone from HR or legal.
Complainant and suggested witnesses – you will want to interview the complainant again, after you have gathered information from others, and have refined your questions. You should also ask the complainant who s/he thinks you should speak with.
Respondent and suggested witnesses. The respondent should also be interviewed, and asked who s/he thinks should be interviews.
Provide information carefully – do not betray confidences, and do not ask leading questions. Approach every interview with the intention of learning more about the situation.
Be thorough, and ask each person you interview if there anything you haven’t asked that they think would be helpful?

5. Finalize the investigation
There are three possibilities from your investigation, and you need to articulate this:

The complaint is substantiated
The complaint is not substantiated
The investigation of the complaint is inconclusive

6. Take Action
Finally, you need to do something about the complaint. If you choose to do nothing, you need to communicate to all concerned that you are not going to act, and why you aren’t going to act.

Determine appropriate outcomes. What should happen, and in what time frame.
Inform complainant and respondent of the outcome and why.
Witnesses should be informed the matter is closed, but need not be informed of outcome. In sensitive matters, it is particularly important to maintain confidentiality. As such, it is appropriate to tell people the matter is closed, but without revealing the outcome.

Three Things to Remember About Employee Investigations:

Stay objective. Do your best to minimize any biases you may have.
Stick to the relevant facts. There will be many externalities brought into the investigation. Make sure you stick to the matter at hand.
Move quickly but don’t rush. You need to begin your investigation as soon as possible after the complaint, but don’t be pressured into making a decision before gathering the appropriate information

Watch the ‘3-Minute Crash Course’ about Employee Investigations (CLICK THE ARROW TO START THE VIDEO):

Looking for the Full-Length Podcast/Video? …

Organizational Change Resistance

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Organizational Change Resistance occurs in every organization, yet few put plans in place to deal with it. Below we talk about how to deal with Organizational Change Resistance:

Identifying Organizational Change Resistance
Calling out Organizational Change Resistance
Coaching for Organizational Change Resistance
Three Things to Remember about Organizational Change Resistance

Three Steps to Dealing With Organizational Change Resistance:

Identify the resistance
Call out the resistance
Coach the resistance

Identifying Resistance

The first step in overcoming Organizational Change Resistance is to identify the symptoms of resistance.

Missed Deadlines – One way for people to resist is to simply “blow off” a deadline. If this is happening regularly, it could be due to resistance.
Excuses – Do people make excuses for why things are not getting done, or not being done in the prescribed way?
Finger Pointing — Another way to resist is to point the finger elsewhere when thing go wrong.
Analysis Paralysis – Becoming overly-analytical is a way to avoid doing something you don’t want to do.
Silence — Withdrawing feedback or input is a way to demonstrate resistance.
Procrastination

Call Out the Resistance

The first step to dealing with Organizational Change Resistance is call it out for what it is. When you confront people with this, keep the following things in mind:

Use direct, neutral, everyday language.
Describe how you see the resistance showing up.
Describe the impact the resistance has on you and the organization.
Describe how you are feeling.

Coach the Resistance

Coaching people through Organizational Change Resistance is not fundamentally different than coaching through other performance issues:

Provide context. Ensure that people understand the larger picture, and why you are asking them to do things.
Clarify with them that they fully understand what you are asking. Ask clarifying and confirming questions to test their understanding
Create a path forward with them about what needs to be differently going forward. You may need to go back and forth between the Clarify and Create stages a few times.
Commit to what you will do to help people, as well as specific dates and deadlines for things that they are going to do differently
Close your coaching session with a recap of what has been decided, who has what commitments, and express your confidence that the person can be successful.

Organizational Change Resistance

Three Things to Remember About Dealing With Organizational Change Resistance

Leadership is a contact sport – you need to engage people, and discuss things when experiencing resistance.
Use the coaching model template to prepare. Your conversation needs to be structured, so use this tool to help do so.
Involve them in the problem solving effort. Getting their buy-in necessarily means involving them.

Watch the ‘3-Minute Crash Course’ about Organizational Change Resistance (CLICK THE ARROW TO START THE VIDEO):

Looking for the Full-Length Podcast/Video? …

Time Management Skills and Techniques

Project Management 101

Dealing With Work Overload – The Sequel

Busier Than a Squirrel on Speed

Strategy for an Inexperienced Workforce

How to Take Meeting Notes: Save Time With These 2 Unconventional Methods

Overload at Work

Dealing with Employee Dishonesty (and a Bright Red Firebird)

Employee Investigations

Organizational Change Resistance

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