Sandy Schwan at Evolving Strategies, LLC

Boost Performance By Doing Good

"Devising and maintaining an atmosphere in which others can put a dent in the universe is the leader's creative act." --Warren Bennis

Can doing good keep employees engaged and grow your business? You bet it can.

Ramping up altruism may well be the killer app in 2009 and early 2010 — a time when companies need their top talent to be firing on all cylinders to spur growth and renewal, but where conventional rewards such as pay raises and bonuses are hard to come by, according to Sylvia Ann Hewitt in her forthcoming book Top Talent: Keeping Performance Up When Business Is Down.

Hewitt is an economist, member of the World Economic Forum Council on the Gender Gap, and founding president of the Center for Work-Life Policy where she directs the "Hidden Brain Drain"—a task force of 50 global companies committed to fully realizing female and multicultural talent.

Her research shows that high-potential employees are motivated by a desire to give back to their communities. These employees are increasingly seeking out employers that allow them to do so on the job. Real life examples and the associated returns? By integrating "doing good" into their business strategies, GE's healthyimagination and Pfizer's Global Access programs are expanding company revenue and attracting and retaining these key employees.

Weaving the 'feel good' factor into a go-to-market playbook gives high potential employees priceless psychic rewards, and a reason to stay, play and win, says Hewitt. This approach is certainly working for Ponni Subbiah — one of Pfizer's most talented female leaders. "We all want to feel that we can have an impact on the world. That's why I like Global Access. The fact that we're going to increase access to our medicines in a part of the world where people are very needy .... that's very gratifying for me." And it's good business.

Action

While donations and volunteering are wonderful avenues for allowing your employees to give back, do not limit your company's socially responsible efforts. Explore ways that your company can combine social responsibility and commercial viability by offering lower cost products to emerging markets or developing a new profitable solution to a social problem.

Adapted from Harvard Business Publishing

Using Values to Guide Business Strategy, Keep Employees Engaged and Grow Your Business

"The Cause is Hidden, But the Result is Well Known."

Ovid, Roman Poet (43 BC - 17 AD)

People today are focused on the global economic crisis, but Harvard Business School professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter sees also a global crisis of business.

Has the model of American capitalism that worked so well to raise the fortunes of millions of people last century hit a wall? In its place must arise a new model of the company, one that serves society as well as rewarding shareholders and employees, Kanter argues in her new book, SuperCorp: How Vanguard Companies Create Innovation, Profits, Growth, and Social Good.

Kanter, one of my top tier strategy and organizational change visionaries that I follow and learn from, shared key points and great stories at a leadership learning session I attended with my esteemed colleague from the Northern Trust Company, Jill Nabonsal:

1.  Start with a Sense of Purpose. Lead with Your Principles and Values. Think about how you can apply your products and services to address the many unmet societal needs.

2.  Be Open to Discussions. It is Not Your Words But Your Conversations that Matter. Allow for self-organizing, -governing -policing where possible. Give your employees a voice and you may be amazed what transpires.

3.  Value Relationships. A Sense of Purpose Forms a Strong Basis for Your Relationships and Conversations. Start with 'Who I am, what I believe and what is important to me.' Speak of values first. Think of meeting others' needs before your own. (And you may be surprised how your own needs end up being met way beyond your expectations.)

4.  Use Values to Reduce Risk. Having Values at the Core of Your Solutions Reduces Risk. Your standards seem too high? Help your clients reach the higher standards that you may set. Who wins? Who benefits? Your clients, your clients' clients, your team, you.

Here is a more detailed summary of the book if you are interested in learning more.

But can doing good keep employees engaged and grow your business? You bet it can. Stay tuned for my next post.

Get and Make a Living: [Insert Reward]. Give and Make a Life: Priceless

 "We Make a Living By What We Get, We Make a Life By What We Give."

The Right Honourable Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874-1965)

I am looking forward to my first foray this evening with the Northwestern University Alumni Association Council of One Hundred, a women's mentoring organization whose members are willing to share their knowledge and experience to enrich the lives of Northwestern's undergraduate and graduate women students, and young alumnae.

Funny thing is...I always find that I walk away from such events (group or one-on-one coaching) having received MUCH more than I perceive I have given. If you have the chance to connect with someone - young or old - as s/he wanders along a professional or personal shift, I highly recommend it. Everyone wins, really.

ACTION

Prerequisite: Do the 'What to Ask the Person in the Mirror' exercise that I noted on Monday :)

1. Reflect for one minute on someone* in your life that may need mentoring, which John C. Crosby so eloquently describes as "...a brain to pick, an ear to listen, and a push in the right direction." Create an opportunity to be that brain, ear, push.  

2. If you would prefer a more formal, structured approach, many businesses, associations, faith-based organizations, universities, governments, websites, etc. have mentoring programs or materials already. Check out these resources and see what works best for you.

3. You can always contact me if you are stuck. Mentoring is a significant part of my vocation and avocation, and I couldn't feel more fortunate.

* Caveat and lesson learned: you will need to determine if this person wants to be - or is capable of being - mentored. Otherwise, your wonderful energy, ideas and time will be underutilized. More on the 'capable' topic in an upcoming post. I will offer ways to spot the uncoachables.

Loss: A Learning Opportunity with a Specific Purpose

"Should you shield the canyons from the windstorms, you would never see the beauty of their carvings." Dr. Elisabeth Kubler Ross, 1926-2004, Swiss-born psychiatrist and author

I have friends and family that are experiencing difficult losses of family pets. I've been revisiting Kubler Ross' five stages of grief to help me get a better sense of where these folks are in the grieving process so that I may better support them through each stage.

Brushing up on this model reflects what some of what my clients are experiencing. A merger of two companies with two distinctly separate cultures into one company and one culture doesn't happen overnight. People need to experience the Denial – Anger – Bargaining – Depression – Acceptance of the 'death' of their original company before accepting and embracing their new company.

Remembering to include organizational change frameworks and time to allow employees to move through this process. Don't fault them for their feelings. Instead take the time to learn how to assist in guiding them through the stages, if appropriate.

I'll end with another impactful quote from EKR:

"You will not grow if you sit in a beautiful flower garden, but you will grow if you are sick, if you are in pain, if you experience losses, and if you do not put your head in the sand, but take the pain as a gift to you with a very, very specific purpose."

ACTION: If you are experiencing an organizational change, develop a list of ten possible purposes / opportunities for you to learn in this change. The purpose is there...and it is up to you to find it.

Do What You Gotta Do: Thinking Beyond Change

"Just go out there and do what you have to do."

Martina Navratilova (1956 – ), tennis champion

It is certain that in every life, change will come. Change represents the situations, conditions, and events we try to avoid that could result in adversity, controversy, stress and inconvenience. We do not intentionally seek out these tough challenges. We do not desire to face these difficulties. We do not want to deal with some changes. When the changes do come, human nature allows these times to overwhelm us. However…

 

When we can appreciate change and respect its value in our lives, we come to a place of contentment. When we can see beyond current difficulties brought about by changing and realize that these challenging times will make us stronger and allow us to grow, we truly open our eyes with optimism. When we understand that ultimately we are in control of the way we respond and think about changes, that only we have the ability to choose the thoughts that enter our minds, we discover absolute freedom. Such hope is there in knowing that when faced with any type of circumstance, the truth remains that change is what we choose to make of it.

 

 

When your change comes – be it in your professional life or personal life, will you choose to be upset how the storm has inconvenienced you? Or, will you choose to acknowledge that while change has the potential to be destructive, it also brings growth and new opportunities?

 

 

ACTION

1.       Choose to think differently about facing change.

2.       Choose to see beyond the change to uncover the opportunities that change brings. 

3.       Choose to welcome change during all of life’s twists and turns.

 

 

 

Adapted from The WALK THE TALK® Company

Struggle Can Bring Ingenuity and Inventiveness

"Anywhere the struggle is great, the level of ingenuity and inventiveness is high."  Eleni Gabre-Madhin, former World Bank economist

Times are tough now. But, I am also seeing some pretty amazing solutions and ideas coming from my clients looking to handle effectively the current market turbulence. Whether changing at the personal, team, organizational, country, sector, or world level, remember that there is a silver lining...you just have to seek it out. On the business front, organizational change is imminent - you'd better embrace it. I am not sure what other option we really have.

ACTION: For one day (how about today?), make an explicit effort to welcome struggle and to explore some out of the box thinking. You just never know what you might create.  

GARTNER: FIRMS AT RISK OF LOSING WOMEN TECHNOLOGISTS

The world is flat. Better go out and hire some women.

That seems to be the gist of a recent Gartner Inc. report on the gender gap in information technology. According to the Stamford, Conn.-based consultancy, women -- with their strong communication and listening skills -- are "innately better suited than men" to navigate the new global economy.

If organizations don't pay heed to their female technology workforce, women will take their IT acumen and good ideas elsewhere, meaning the looming IT skills crisis just got 50% worse.

Gartner singles out five gender-based traits CIOs should pay attention to when building IT staffs:

1. Bilateral brain involvement in listening: Women are apparently better at listening with both the left and right sides of their brains; this has implications for roles like business analyst and team leader.

2. Spatial visualization, pattern spotting: Men are better at come complex mental visualization and pattern spotting; this has implications for certain aspects of engineering roles.

3. Language: Women are better at a range of language skills, such as verbal fluency. This has implications for analysis of human discourse and writing.

4. Aggression and risk taking: Men take more risks and are happier doing so openly; implications for innovation, competitiveness.

5. Social orientation and empathy: Women score better on social skills, understanding others' views; implications for team building, negotiation.

adapted from article by Linda Tucci, Senior News Writer. 12.05.2006. SearchCIO.com

VIDEO: Lessons for Women Execs: Talking Management with Sheli Z. Rosenberg

Considered one of the nation’s most accomplished women executives, Sheli Rosenberg is the former President and CEO of Sam Zell’s real estate investment firm, Equity Group Investments; sits on six corporate boards; and is the co-founder of the Center for Executive Women at Northwestern University’s J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

Here’s her advice on:

• Making companies more women friendly
• How women can help other women
• The value of networking
• Mothers re-entering the workforce

Enjoy the video. I like these videos, a recent product of Crain Communications, Inc.

Lunch with Carly Fiorina

Yesterday, Carly Fiorina was the guest of honor and keynote speaker at a luncheon of senior leaders in Chicago. Carly is the former president, CEO and chairwoman of Hewlett-Packard. Here are some key points she highlighted from her new book, Tough Choices, which she described as an authentic story on the business of people. As someone who has spent over 17 years helping organizations transform and change, I enjoyed - and agreed with - her focus on the role of change in effective leadership.

Leadership

Leadership is about seeing possibilities [in people and circumstances that others cannot see].

An important requirement of making good decisions is a deliberate decision-making process.

Four key components of leadership are ethics, perspective, values and judgment.

One must choose to compete in order to lead.

What matters most in the 21st century? Brainpower more than anything else. Also, innovation, education, and immigration.

Leaders are made, not born.

Leadership and Change

Leadership is about change. People who survive change best are those who are adaptable. Change has to be attempted before its reason is obvious to everyone.

Being a change agent isn't enough. You have to be a change warrior.

Change requires significant collaboration and communication. Focus on what you agree on vs. what you disagree on.

Change requires realism and optimism.

Women Face Uphill Battle Earning Seats In Boardroom

Women want to earn their way into corporate board rooms and are more likely to be successful if they aggressively support each other, according to a national survey of women board directors conducted by Heidrick & Struggles International and Women Corporate Directors (WCD). The survey findings were the result of feedback from 77 women board directors at 165 public companies who are members of WCD. The study cites an increase in the number of director searches targeting women across the U.S.  But, women still lag far behind their male counterparts. The 15 percent of Fortune 500 corporate board seats held by women in 2006 is an increase of less than one percent since 2003 [ouch].

Despite the slow inroads women are making in the boardroom, women do not want to be handed board seats simply for the sake of equality; they feel they must earn their way into the board room. Seventy-six percent of respondents said they oppose a legal quota mandating an increase in the number of women occupying public board seats. Almost unanimously, 99 percent of respondents said that sitting women directors can make a difference in helping their peers gain board seats. Sixty-four percent said they have taken steps to make sure that women were included in the pool of candidates considered for boards on which they sit.

Adapted from Hunt-Scanlon