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Relapse to Remission, Reflections on Workplace Cancer

3/2/2012

Relapse to Remission, Reflections on Workplace Cancer

Have you noticed the signs and symptoms in a workplace or team and/or experienced any of the following?

Criticising
Complaining
Contending
Competition
Comparing

Well I have, and these have resulted in team ineffectiveness, loss of productivity, low customer quality, staff turnover, organisational co-dependency and poor morale.

Imagine this for a moment.... an environment free of these behaviours and committed to more productive, positive and proactive behaviours that engage, energise and empower people. A bit nirvana like really, isn't it, and yes it's possible.

How do you do this in reality? Reality is now and not sometime in the future.

The answer is, responsibility lies within you to be the catalyst for change. If you want to prevent these cancerous behaviours, consider asking these questions about yourself. Or pass this on to your team.

As manager or leader:

How am I contributing to the problem?
How am I contributing to the solution?
What am I doing that is working?
What am I doing that isn’t working?
What will I keep doing?
What will I stop doing?
What are the changes I need to make?
When will I do that?
How will I know that I have been successful?

Challenge
Discuss with your team what actions you can take to prevent these behaviours.

Check Up
We can help you and your teams achieve healthier outcomes. We offer services that bring about sustainable change. Visit us for your team check up and protect your best assets.

Journey well,
Matt Cartwright
Inspiring People, Inspiring Business, Inspiring Results
© Copyright 2008 -12

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Stakeholder Engagement, Winning and Maintaining Support for Projects

2/2/2012

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Stakeholder Engagement, Winning and Maintaining Support for Projects

Imagine being engaged for your advice, but then the penny drops. You know the person is there to engage you has their own agenda. Its a dress up...

I’ve been involved in some fairly superficial engagements as a participant. One comes to mind of recent. The firm was well known for their experience so I was looking forward to it. But…..they did bring in what seemed to be a rookie with 2 rookie helpers.

The young man running it did try hard, we were a tough and experienced audience. The problem was the firm were using smoke and mirrors on a very intelligent and politically astute group. This was shocker of a 3 hour meeting.

So. in snapshot here’s what I think about stakeholder engagement in general. It has great reference to change, organisational, project management and any sort of consultation with staff or the community.

In the past,(some organisations are still stuck there)…. organisations often adopted a passive approach to informing stakeholders of developments, relying upon traditional communication methods such as newsletters, printed publications and annual meetings. This is a one-way communication strategy. I hope that doesn’t occur where you work.

Guess what folks...the future is here, and it is increasingly important now if to be successful, organisations will need to actively involve stakeholders in the decision-making process particularly with regard to new project or business developments.

If you are going to survive the aim will be to encourage and ensure wider and more positive engagement.

As a Program or Project Manager the actions you take and the projects you run will affect more and more people. The more people you affect, the more likely it is that your actions will impact people who have power and influence over your projects. These people could be strong supporters of the project or they could block it. Just think of political campaigning or activists groups and how much damage they can do to the opposition.

My experience is that Stakeholder Engagement is an important process that is used to win support from others. It helps ensure that projects succeed where others fail. I was a Statewide Stakeholder Engagement Manager in my government career.

Here are my 10 tips for the week

1.      Ensure stakeholder engagements is a strategic corporate objective, if not ask, why not?
2.      Train people in how to engage stakeholders, it is not an innate skill, its rarely taught, people
fear engaging, they might lose something… trust me.
3.      Engage in matters that matter, never make assumptions.
4.      Inform, consult, collaborate, involve, empower along the project.
5.      It’s seen as a soft skill, with proven methods and processes and research base behind it,
call me if you need help.
6.      Governance is critical, get it right.
7.      Communicate using all mediums including social media.
8. Make friends with enemies, you need them. Don’t avoid them; what you avoid is what you
get.
9. Communicate timely, transparently and truthfully.
10. Assess, plan and evaluate your engagement strategies, one size does not fit all and people
talk. It’s called WOM, word of mouth, it can bring you down, or hold you up, be careful.

I'll post more on stakeholder engagement best practice in the future. Until then.....

Journey well,
Matt Cartwright
Inspiring People, Inspiring Business, Inspiring Results
© Copyright 2008 -12

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Inspiring Trust in Workplace Teams

2/2/2012

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Inspiring Trust in Workplace Teams

I'll be honest.... I've fired a few bosses and colleagues in my time and it felt good. With that said, I'll tell you more. Trust me...

I fired these people from my work-life  because it was the right thing to do, they simply were not trustworthy, consistent and honest, they did not act with integrity, Trust is the cornerstone of work place culture and productive business.

The people I trusted, I still have a connections with long after working with them, that tells you something doesn't it. Trust leads to growth.

“Trust takes time to build but takes only seconds to loose”. How true this.

Building trust in a team will be one of your greatest challenges and your greatest achievements. I find that most organisations are constantly challenged by establishing, rebuilding, maintaining and in many cases dealing with the results of low trust.

Many factors contribute to this and with changing market forces, workforce demographics, employment opportunities, and lifestyle options it may impact on us more greatly in the future.

Trust impacts on us 24/7, 365 days a year and underpins and affects the quality of every relationship, every communication, every work project, every business venture and every effort we are engaged in.

Building trust in teams and business makes good economic and social sense not to say common sense. Without it you’re out of business. If we are really honest about developing organisational or team trust, have a go at answering these questions candidly.

Here is your challenge:

How would you describe a low trust organisation or team?
How would you describe a high trust organisation or team?
Which description best suits your organisation or team?
What are the results of these behaviours?
What behaviours need to stop?
What behaviours need to continue?
If change is needed, what is it, how will it be done , who will do it, when will it be done it and when will it be reviewed?

I trust you will work on it.

Trust is something that we can do something about and we can get better at it.

We can help you by providing solutions that are responsive through organisational facilitation, coaching and team development.

Journey well,
Matt Cartwright
Inspiring People, Inspiring Business, Inspiring Results
© Copyright 2008 -12

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Relapse to Remission, Reflections on Workplace Cancer

Stakeholder Engagement, Winning and Maintaining Support for Projects

Inspiring Trust in Workplace Teams

Matt Cartwright +617 3040 1129

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