Giving of thanks

I know it’s cliche, but on the day before our thanksgiving holiday, I thought I would reiterate some gratefulness.

I have many things to be grateful and thankful for, the most important one’s being my faith and my family. I have the privilege of living in a country that allows me the freedom to both express and live out my faith in God and my relationship with his Son. That is not something I take for granted, since there are many places in this world where this is not the case. As for my family, they are the reason I get up every morning. My wife is the quintessential partner – my biggest fan as well as my most informed critic. She holds me in high esteem and holds me accountable to be the person she knows I can be. I can’t imagine my life without her and I look forward, with great anticipation, to our future fun together. My kids, all four of them, are equally talented, albeit in unique ways. I love them each differently. I also love that they are growing into their adult skin and look forward to being more of a guidance counselor than a principal in their future.

Professionally, I want to personally name a few people that have shaped me. I definitely don’t have time or room to call out everything or everyone, but want to highlight three people. First is Barbara Steck – my first manager at my first professional position. As a teenager, she was able to both encourage and challenge me effectively; not just about work, but grades and life as well. She challenged me to be my best and it has stuck with me through my entire professional career. Secondly I would like to thank Don Sloan. I learned to balance my work and personal life through the example Don was to me. He showed me it is OK to be an IT professional, a husband, a father and a Christian. Lastly, I would like to thank Martin Casado. He showed me trust. He was willing to see my potential and put me in positions that were not necessarily comfortable, but always challenged me to be even more than I thought I could be in my own eyes.

Thanks to all my friends – you know who you are – and how you put up with me and my oddities.

Thanks for all of our service personnel – without you much of what I have been thankful for above would have never happened.

I hope you all have a very happy and blessed Thanksgiving holiday with your own family and friends.

Developing an understanding attitude

Another hectic time has interrupted my ability to post an update. Shortly after performance evaluation time came a re-organization at work that found me in a new role to figure out. I haven’t yet figured it all out, but I needed to take a lunch time break today to write and express something that always seems to come up in life – at work and otherwise.

As a “techie”, it’s in my DNA to dig deep and figure things out. As a teacher, it’s in my DNA to help others reach their potential and figure things out. As a leader, it’s in my DNA to evaluate people and put them in a position to be successful. The idea of emotional intelligence intrigues me so deeply that I constantly search for more understanding of myself and others. The next bit of this entry will try to enlighten you to things to consider in developing an understanding attitude in your interactions with others.

Have you ever had a great idea but can't communicate it successfully to someone else? I sure have. Why is that? When you communicate, you put words to whatever you have experienced in life. The expectation is that others will see and hear things similarly and react in the same way. I can assure you, it doesn’t usually work out that way. Your life experience is a lens that forms over time. That lens is made up of your perspective. Your perspective is shaped by your life experience, perception, personality and expectations. Your lens is unique to you. No two people see things, hear things or think about things the same way. This is why an understanding attitude is so critical to develop in order to have healthy and effective communication skills.

The difficult part about your perception is that it really does define reality to you. In fact, it can be really hard to see a different perspective than the one you believe to be right. What you perceive to be real is indeed real for you. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean your perception is entirely accurate or even realistic. In developing an understanding attitude, you must practice humility and have the understanding that "I am not always right". Perception does not necessarily equal reality.

To develop a healthy understanding, follow these simple steps:

1. Study your own personality
• There are many personality tests (Myers-Briggs is a good one)
• Understand your strengths and weaknesses based on your typology
2. Learn to swap seats
• Study the strengths and weaknesses of all typologies
• Learn to observe others and determine their typology
• Learn to approach, communicate and interact with others based on their typology
• Learn to see things from their perspective, not just yours (this is called empathy)
3. Never stop learning
• You never know it all – keep studying and learning

Arrogance is always thinking you are right, even when you may be wrong. That would mean humility is simply the understanding that you may be wrong. You do not know everything, despite what your pride and perception tells you. When you are willing to try and understand others better you will see your influence and leadership increase!

Trust

Feels like forever since my last post, but that is what performance evaluations will do when you have quite a few to deliver. It’s managed to consume every spare moment I have had for the last month or so.

There is one thing that is common to every relationship, in every team, family, organization, nation and civilization throughout the world — one thing that is so critical its removal would destroy the most powerful government, the most successful business, the most thriving economy, the most influential leadership, the greatest friendship, the strongest character or the deepest love. On the other hand, if developed and leveraged, this one thing has the potential to create unparalleled success and prosperity in every dimension of life. The one word is trust.  I take great concern to build relationships with those I serve that are built on trust. It is a slow and methodical process, but in order to gain the trust of those I serve it is worth it. How do you build trust?

Trust is a learnable competency that is comprised of credibility and behavior. In order to build credibility and shape your organization toward trusting behavior, there are 3 things that must happen:

Create Transparency
Leaders must cast vision so crystal clear that everyone gets it. The strategy on how to reach the vision quickly follows and is communicated effectively to every level of the organization. I'll say again, every level of the organization. It lays down the pathway of how to get where we are going. Everyone in the organization, especially those at the lowest levels desperately need insight to the vision and strategy so they have something to believe in and someone to trust.

Clarify expectations

Everyone has a role to play in the organization. In addition to playing their part, they must clearly understand the expectations that come with their role. No one likes surprises. My rule is that any expectations that is either unspoken or unclear is also unrealistic.

Extend trust
To allow someone the opportunity to trust you, you may often have to extend trust not yet earned. Let me clarify. When your child wants to take the car for their first drive alone, there is a level of anxiety that comes over a parent that is truly unnatural. As the parent, you rationalize in your mind they are not ready, you tell yourself they can't do it, you think they may get into an accident and so on. It's a big responsibility to drive a car, but at some point in your life, and in all honesty - likely before you were really ready, someone trusted you with the keys by yourself. You were extended trust you really hadn’t had an opportunity to earn yet. That's what I am taking about.

I mentioned the makeup of trust as being credibility and behavior. How do you establish these?

Credibility is established over time, after consistent results that meet or exceed expectations. The behavior aspect, while a little subtler, is the main building block to solidifying your credibility. Consistency is definitely one of the most important aspects of behavior. There are other words, like; reliability, predictability, dependability, but they are all variations on the theme that has trust as its melody.

It takes time and energy to build trust, but it is always time well spent.

Building a better you

All of us care about our career. In fact, I will go out on a limb and say that most of us put a lot of weight toward our perceived self-worth based on our measured effectiveness and accomplishments at work. 

Because work performance is so critical, I wanted to highlight some things we can do to make a good impression at work. Whether you are looking for a promotion, or just want to do better in your current role, there are some basic things you can do to stand out amongst your peers: 

Know the mission and priorities
Do you know your boss' priorities? If not, you should ask what they are. Once you know what they are, make them your priority also. I make it a habit to consistently ask how I can assist my boss. I also let my boss know that I consider it a part of my job responsibility to make them look good. In addition to your direct line of management, your organization my have core values, a mission statement or other high level objectives at the top level. If so, make sure you prioritize those things also.

Always make your boss look good
See number 1 above. Finish your work in a timely fashion. Make sure your work is of high quality ans that you always give your best. Don't just be an idea machine, but be willing to take charge and implement your ideas under their direction. Resist the temptation to talk negatively about your boss or direction taken by management (see my previous blog entry named "Change"). It is your job to make your boss look good, whether you agree with them or not.

Understand how you'll be evaluated
I give you all a goals checklist at the beginning of the evaluation period with this very point in mind. It's best to know the things that will be evaluated so you can focus on accomplishing those items during your evaluation period. As much as possible, focus on refining the skills and completing the tasks that will be used to measure your effectiveness during the evaluation.

Be dependable
Work hard and show up on time for things. Follow through on what you say you are going to do.

Take ownership
When you make a mistake, take responsibility (see my previous blog entry named "My Bad"). Our most beneficial learning opportunities come from our own mistakes. Any mistake can become a learning opportunity for you and others if you analyze what went wrong and determine what you can do better the next time. Don't be the person that chooses to blame others for mistakes, rather focus on what you can do to make things better.

Get outside your specific area
It makes sense to focus on the parts of your job that dominate your time. To make yourself more valuable, be willing to research other areas related to your industry and company. This can happen by reading, talking with peers in those areas, taking advantage of training opportunities or free webinars and volunteering for projects or tasks that require you to stretch your knowledge base.

Be nice
It sounds simple and intuitive, but normal job related stress can be overwhelming. Always show respect to all people, especially those different than you. Speak well of others, or at least don't bad mouth others to anyone.

Go beyond the job description
Take on extra projects or tasks when you hear about them. Be willing to put in extra hours. Never ever use the phrase, "that's not my job.”

Be a team player
Invest in people. Let them know you have their back. When you hear concerns about others projects or tasks, do something about it. Don’t just be sympathetic; practice empathy by putting yourself in their shoes and understanding things from their perspective. Offer to jump in and help others in whatever way they need.

Avoid burnout
When you have a clear head, you can focus and concentrate better. Use your vacation time. Recharge yourself with things you enjoy doing. You must maintain balance between you work and personal life. That balance will give you energy and a proper perspective, which in turn will make you a better employee.

Change

Change is not a 4 letter word, but most of us treat it like one. There’s a saying about change being an inevitable part of life that we all have to figure out how to deal with, and if you have any doubts, just ask a dinosaur. I don’t remember who to give credit for the quote, but that doesn’t really matter, the fact is it is accurate. No one enjoys change just for the sake of change. We seem to enjoy change even less when it is thrust upon us unexpectedly or when the change is due to forces beyond our control. Since I have been on this earth for over 4 decades, I’ve experienced change that was unexpected as well as change resulting from methodical, planned activities. The truth is, neither is particularly easy to deal with.

The leadership principles I have learned from the changes I have encountered are simple:

Don’t waste time worry about things out of your control
So much of life, both personal and professional, is out of your control. The important part to remember is “out of your control”. A really smart guy (Jesus) once said you can’t add a single hour to your life by worrying about it. Why endure the stress and anxiety that comes with worrying about things that you can do nothing about? A more practical example would be changes at work. Whether the change is procedural or organizational, executives are not likely to come by your desk and get your input or ask your opinion. The change is going to happen and there is really nothing you can do about it. I know that’s really encouraging, right? From my own personal experience, I can verify that worrying has a very negative effect on your health, both physically and mentally. It does you no good and serves no real purpose in your life. So, as the great philosopher Queen Elsa would say, “let it go”!

Maintain your voice, but be a team player
Not worrying about things doesn’t mean you should not speak up about matters or concerns that present themselves in your personal or professional life. When you have an opportunity to share your thoughts, opinion or feelings around something, make sure you take advantage of it and be honest. The problem most people have is they really and truly believe that their thoughts, opinion or feelings around the issue are correct [see my previous post from May about perspective]. That’s funny, because everyone thinks they are right, right? The point here is to be able to understand that while you really believe in your own thoughts, opinion or feelings around whatever the issue is, that doesn’t mean that everyone or anyone has to agree with you! Further, when you provide feedback in any manner, you cannot hold people accountable to feel or think like you, and you certainly cannot expect them to come to the same conclusion as you and make the decision you would make. In short, offer feedback when you can and then refer to the first point above. Once a decision is made, even if you don’t agree with it, get on board with the decision and be a team player.

Adapt and move forward
Whatever change you encounter, do whatever due diligence is necessary to adapt effectively. Be willing to make changes that are in your control in order to be able to move forward with changes that are out of your control. As an example, let’s assume you are given a new manager at work. What practical, proactive and forward thinking things can you do to adapt effectively? Schedule a meeting with them. Get to know them, how they work, what they like. Ask for clarity on expectations and preferences on how they would like things done. It’s not that hard, but you can really set yourself up for success in spite of unexpected change if you just use a little planning and creativity.

For whatever reason, the dinosaurs could not adapt to change that came their way so they are now extinct. Some of the best lessons in life can be learned at the expense of others rather than repeating them ourselves.

Coaching

I’ve been tied up with some vacation and other stuff and have not been able to make an entry recently. That is frustrating to me. This will be a short one, but I wanted to share something that may be of use.

Coaching is an extremely powerful tool to be used as you strive to institute effective leadership with those you influence. Do you know how to apply the coaching approach to your day-to-day life? At its core, coaching is a practice you can institute to assist you in unlocking the capabilities of others. People are usually more capable and adept than they give themselves credit for. My personal mission statement is to “inspire greatness in others” and that is one reason why coaching is so important to me. Many of the same processes used in coaching can be used to foster healthy conversations and improve relationships in your everyday life as well. Effective coaching begins with understanding the values and identity of others. The values people hold in esteem will allow you to understand what is most important to them and how to better motivate and influence them. Achieving this level of relational understanding opens up opportunities for coaching. It allows you to use active listening skills, inquiries and feedback during your conversations. Productive conversations open up opportunities for the best level of thinking and allow us to co-create solutions. Coaching requires both parties to create a vision for what they want to accomplish, set goals for how to get there and then being accountable for the results. These same conversation tools and elements are equally valuable in working with people in family relationships, friendships and business relationships. A few tips for taking the coach approach in your conversations and relationships:

• Pay attention to your language
• What words foster collaboration?
• What words limit co-creative thinking?
• Let go of expertise
• A coach's job is not to be the expert or have all the answers
• Stay curious and withhold judgment
• Have patience
• Listen deeply
• Listening, and the silence that is a byproduct of not taking, can create empowering experiences
• Learn to hear what the other person is saying, listen to your own responses, and process nonverbal cues that include the environment, body language and your intuition
• Ask powerful questions
• Open-ended or evocative questions draw out unspoken wisdom
• We gain deeper understanding, consider different perspectives and explore new possibilities
• Provide both accountability and support
• Set and share goals so that others understand the commitments
• Support them in achieving
• Identify when we are not on target

Perspective

One of the most difficult things to do as a leader is to accept differences in others. The difference can be cultural or it may simply be personality. The point is, no two people are alike. That can be really annoying since we all have a perspective that constantly presents us with awareness as to how things should be done, how we should react to a situation and so on. The problem is, just like not two people are alike, no two perspectives are alike either.

Jim is in management and took a new role in his organization. While it was a lateral move in terms of title, it was with a line of business he was not familiar with. When assuming his new duties, Jim made it a priority to meet consistently with his top level business peers and executives. He wanted to make a good impression and establish good relationships with the difference makers he would be dealing with consistently. This approach kept his calendar packed consistently, but Jim knew he had other leaders in his organizational structure that could handle the departmental work effectively.

Sue has worked in her department for quite some time. She’s very knowledgeable and performs at a high level for the organization. Recently a new department head took over and Susan has not been able to spend much time with him. The new leader is not familiar with the departments processes and functions. He is always in meetings and pulled in a lot of directions by other leaders. Sue feels a distance from leadership that hasn’t existed in the organization to her knowledge.

If you haven’t figured it out, Sue works in Jim’s organization. Jim took an approach that he believes will make the most impact in the long run. Sue believes management needs to be more involved in the day to day operations of the teams. While this is a made up scenario, this type of thing happens all the time. Who do you think is right? Do you think Jim should spend more time with his teams? Do you think Sue has a right to feel frustrated or is she out of line? You can answer the questions any way you want, but your answers will be based on your perspective of the situation. It really isn’t a questions of which perspective is right and which is wrong. Each approach to the situation has merit and each looks right to each party involved. Neither is completely right or wrong, they’re just different.

You will always come into contact with people that are completely different than you. You will constantly be involved, in business or in life, with people that have a different perspective than you on the way to do things. That doesn’t mean their approach to life and problem solving is wrong. It doesn’t mean yours is either – it’s just different. If you want to advance your career and be a good leader, you must learn to be empathetic to the positions and approaches that others take. Learn to be aware of your own position and that other perspectives that are different than yours may actually have merit. Treat people in ways that are meaningful to them not just in ways that you believe to be meaningful. This will go a long way to creating trust in your relationships and enhancing your ability to influence and lead them effectively.

Your greatest competitive edge

I enjoy professional football. It’s a great game, I’m extremely competitive and the season is short enough that every game is meaningful. With the 2016 draft just held this weekend, it occurred to me that teams are preparing for the future by finding young players to replace their current players. There’s nothing like someone hiring your replacement right under your nose to get you thinking. So it got me thinking…

What is our greatest competitive edge? Being teachable in every area of life will allow us to retain our competitive edge. Maintaining a teachable attitude requires many soft-skills that require years of diligence to perfect. Some of those skills include flexibility and adaptability. Being able to adjust to circumstances beyond your control is essential in order to maintain the proper attitude. Whether it’s changing priorities, canceled projects or lack of resources, most of the time decisions are out of your control, so you have to find ways to adjust and do the best with what you have that is in your control. In these types of circumstances, we default to blaming others for the poor decision that created our situation or problems. Taking the teachable way means to look inward to areas, decisions or other parts of the equation that are in your control and where you can actually enact change. You will have more luck implementing change within areas you control than waiting on others to see what you perceive to be the “error of their ways”. After all, you can’t change anyone except yourself.

Being teachable means you are willing to learn from anyone. Find successful people and understand what they are doing that is different from you. Try to enlist a mentor you respect that has more life experience than you and make it a priority to spend time with them. Your mentor can be inside or outside of your organization.

Being teachable means you read a lot. If you think you are reading enough, read some more.

I mentioned humility as a crucial part of the definition of leadership in my last post, but it is also a significant factor to being teachable. If you think you know everything, there’s not much you need to learn. In life, in marriage and in business I have made it a priority to be constantly enrolled in the school of learning. If there is a day I don’t learn anything, I consider it a bad day. Look for opportunities to learn from your own life experience or from observing others. Did you know you can learn as much from failure as you can from success? Did you know that personal skills are not business oriented, so you can learn them from any experience or relationship you have? It’s primarily a function of how much self-awareness you have. How willing are you to look in the mirror and be honest about what needs to change? Instead of deflecting responsibility, taking it head on and doing what you can to make a difference for those that look to you for leadership.

What is leadership?

I’ve served under good leaders and bad leaders. Reflecting on my career thus far, I can say with certainty that I have managed to learn something regardless of the leadership capabilities I served under. My life experiences have helped shape my own definition of leadership. While serving under leadership I perceived as poor, I learned what not to do. Good leadership has taught me positive ways to work, interact and be effective.

You are like me in at least one way…your life experience has influenced how you define good leadership. While defining leadership can be difficult, it’s not difficult to recognize when you see it. Finding a few definitive words that describe everything leadership includes is challenging.

I am not afraid to admit that I have not always given good leadership. I’ve seen my mistakes and would like to think I have learned from them. Seeing and understanding the errors of my way, it has become a passion of mine to learn all I can about becoming a good leader. I have taught on the matter, read exhaustively on the matter and plan to continue to be a student of the matter for the rest of my life. Through all I have read and learned, I have managed to come up with a few single words that seem to do the term leadership justice. Here is my take on a few words I consider critical if you want to be a good leader.

The first is Influence. There’s a saying I like, but I can’t remember who to attribute it to. It says; if you think you are leading but no one is following you, you’re just going for a walk. That says a lot. If you can’t influence those around you, even if you have the positional title of a leader you may lack the moral authority that comes with influence. Moral authority is based more on your character and behavior than an organizational chart. I’ve lead teams, groups and individuals for years without a title. How? In order to earn the right to influence someone start with building trust, investing time and being genuinely concerned about them as a person. Be authentic and as personable as you are comfortable. This takes time and energy, but I can assure you it will be time well spent. Influence is often either out of your reach or control. When you lack opportunity to build relational trust and spend time with those you need to influence, it’s time to look for creative ways to make the most whatever opportunities you do get.

Second is servant hood. Leading may seem polar opposite to serving, but it is not. Sitting in your office, too bothered to be involved in the day to day working or life of those you lead is a sure-fire way to create an atmosphere that lacks cohesiveness, trust and vision. This type of atmosphere is never the intention of a leader. If you find yourself too busy with meetings or other priorities to spend time with your people, it’s only natural for them to feel ignored at best or unappreciated at worst. You cannot be slave to your calendar or even your customers to the extent that they will not allow you time to interact with those you lead. Getting your hands dirty, rolling up your sleeves…these are ways we describe someone that is willing to do what is necessary to help others, regardless of title or position. Do what you can to serve people well and they will serve you well in return.

Last is humility. I have been in many situations where the person with the highest position in the room also feels the need to be the smartest person in the room. It’s almost like no one else can have any good ideas – or at least ideas better than theirs. When you constantly pass down decisions without seeking input from those that are involved or impacted, you let everyone know that you are smarter than they are. While I understand that this may have to be the case at times, when it happens over and over and over again, the pattern speaks on your behalf and likely communicates a message you really don’t intend to convey. I consider myself to be fairly intelligent, but I am rarely the smartest guy in the room and that is OK with me!

Remember that leadership isn’t really about you, it’s always about those you influence and serve. Leadership is a privilege, a responsibility and should be taken seriously. Self-awareness and emotional intelligence play a huge role in your ability to be effective and humble at the same time. I already have plans to write on both topics in the near future.

I’m listening…

Are you really listening? It’s a skill, one that takes discipline, focus and consistency. I can tell you this much – if you consistently avoid listening to your people and do not allow them a voice in matters that affect them, eventually you will be surrounded by people with nothing to say. Good people will leave and you will be surrounded by mediocre talent, wondering what happened. You don’t want to be in a leadership role in that position and you don’t want people under your leadership that feel helpless, unappreciated and voiceless. You have to surround yourself and listen to the right people. You have to build systems and processes to solicit input from people at all levels. Good leaders are attracted to where their voice is heard! If you want good leaders, you have to make that a part of your organization culture.

So how can we listen well? How can we allow those in our sphere of influence to feel they are valued and heard?

Listen for strengths: Everyone has an idea of what they are good at and where they need improvement. It takes a good leader to recognize where they are weak and where they could use help. It takes an even better leader to allow someone to actually help them. Putting people in position to be successful usually means allowing them to pursue areas where they are naturally strong. Check your ego at the door and allow people to operate in their strengths, even if it happens to be a weakness of yours.

Listen for pitfalls: Every organization has systemic issues, to ignore them is woefully ignorant. As a leader, you are often far enough away from the day-to-day activities that you can’t see those issues clearly. Those under your influence likely have a better feel for what is actually happening in the areas that really matter. In addition to listening for pitfalls, you have to be willing to do what you can to help the team avoid them, or make changes that will help those that are suffering from the issues.

Listen for innovation: Not only will those around you likely be closer and more aware of issues, they will likely have some very innovative solutions to resolve them. Nothing speaks arrogance more than a leader who thinks all good ideas have to originate from them. A good leader understand they do not always have to be the smartest person in the room. A good leader is open to not only hearing good ideas from others, but acting on them and ensuring the right people get the credit in the process!

Listening will provide insight and knowledge as to the potential of your people. Once you are aware of the information, it is your job as a leader to use that knowledge wisely. Now that I’ve shared some of the people you need to listen to and why, my next entry will provide some practical ways to enhance your actual listening skills.

My bad…

My bad. In the time frame I grew up, putting those two words together would not have made much sense. Now-a-days, it’s become a modern version of “I’m sorry”. It seems that happens a lot in our culture and with young adult children at home I get to hear most of them as they become popular. The thing I like about this phrase is the personal pronoun actually invokes some level of accountability by the person using it. Accountability is closely related to apologies, but while admitting failure or mistakes has never been popular it seems even more offensive these days.

We have to ask the question why? Why has accountability lost traction? Why do we point fingers of blame at others while somehow justifying our actions and bad attitudes? I believe it is out of fear that the blame game is played. In other words, my place or position with the organization is unstable enough that I fear for my job or career if I make a mistake. No one is perfect, myself included. I’ve done some incredible things professionally in the last two decades, but I have made some horrific mistakes along my career path as well. I am a proponent of a work place culture that is both open to and accepting of mistakes. Failure is the price of progress, without it there is no innovation and creativity. Dodging responsibility, on the other hand, is never acceptable. The impact of a mistake is far more dangerous when someone refuses to own it.

How do we create an environment where it is safe to fail but not ok to be accountable?

Communicate expectations clearly
One of my go to phrases is that all unspoken expectations are unrealistic. Since none of us can read minds, the only way to bring clarity to expectations is to communicate them effectively. In order to have clarity to your job, roles and responsibilities expectations must be clear. Unclear or vague expectations lead to frustration around performance and responsibility. Expectations should include performance-related items (measurable and time-boxed objectives), personal growth items (professional/technical skills), leadership competencies (skills to assist with leading/working more effectively with others) and cultural DNA (your organizations core values).

Open, honest, careful communication
I have learned to take criticism in a constructive manner in spite of the way it’s delivered. That’s not an easy thing to do and it takes time as well as discipline to learn how to do that. This type of communication can become tense when people start taking it personally. Learning to handle constructive criticism is a part of the training and mentoring process that is all too often overlooked. It’s also important to note that participants must also be willing to learn when it comes to these sorts of things as well. If you encounter people that are unwilling to learn, they either need to be moved to an environment that suits them, or be transitioned out of the organization. The last part of the equation involves “careful” communication. It’s another skill that needs diligence and self-awareness to be learned properly. Delivering difficult news is never an easy thing, but it is always necessary to be able to do it effectively. The recipient is likely to be more receptive if there is care given to the words, tone and body language used while communicating.

Establish boundaries and consequences
Consequences have such a negative connotation, but we all deal with them every day. Everyone knows that is you drive 75 mph in a 45 mph zone, eventually you will likely have to face some consequences. The idea of boundaries is paramount in the process of developing healthy relationships and parenting, so they are no less important at work. The consequences do not apply to someone that makes a mistake, but rather to those 
trying to deflect responsibility, cast blame on others or those acting in some other defensive way.

Having an environment that is accepting of failure but requires accountability is crucial to every organization. Educating employees toward the emotional intelligence and self-awareness required to handle criticism effectively is just as crucial. Try to find ways that you can assist your organization with changes in the organizational environment or educational offerings to assist the growth of everyone.