Sunday, January 31, 2010

What’s UP (Weekly, Hot, Applicable Topic Summary - Unbiased Perspective)

Identifying and Resolving Business Issues

This entry discusses the “art” of identifying, addressing, and resolving business issues. Every organization has unforeseen or unexpected issues and challenges. Failure in providing solutions to business issues may adversely impact the organization in terms of employee morale, productivity, and effectiveness.

Identifying Business Issues

I characterize business resolution as an art (as opposed to a science) because the human element is involved. Business issues are typically not a part of the normal daily operations. To resolve them, someone within the organization must initiate a response to curtail, eliminate, or maybe even escalate the issue depending upon a desired or expected outcome.

In today’s business environment, some of the prevalent business issues are:
• A decrease in profitability or stock valuation
• Insufficient communication on a newly-implemented strategy
• Turnover of talented people (yes, talented employees will leave a poorly run company in a bad employment environment)
• Lack of vision from the organization’s leadership
• Employee fear and anxiety as a result of corporate downsizing.

A business issue can be generated from both inside and outside the organization. A business issue may arise from an external variable such as an economic downturn; a natural disaster which may hinder normal operations and business continuity; or even a shift in societal perceptions of the business or the business industry (i.e. banking and lending institutions). Business issues may also arise from internal variables such as union disputes; lack of skilled employees within the workforce; or changes in employee morale.

One basic activity in problem solving is to identify the root cause of the problem. Implementing a business solution without addressing the primary cause will be expensive and potentially result in a re-occurrence of the problem. For example, hiring a new organization manager that is not a fit in terms of culture, values, and attitudes may negatively affect employee productivity and effectiveness. Resolving the issue may be more than replacing the manager who was not a fit. The root cause may be addressing the leader(s) who felt hiring this manager was a good idea.

Another example would be reducing employee accidents in a manufacturing company. Whereas ensuring the equipment and working conditions are safe will help, the main issue may be providing sufficient training on the proper handling and operation of the equipment. Every issue must be thoroughly investigated, along with its risks and opportunities, to accurately address resolution.

Employee Involvement in Problem Solving

Whatever the scenario, research has shown involving employees in the problem solving process has a positive effect on morale and productivity. First and most important, involving employees ensure those closest to the issue can offer resolution ideas from their first-hand experience. Second, involving employees demonstrates leadership confidence in their staff. Third, involving employees ensures that they have “skin in the game”, and a vested interest in an accurate, effective solution.

Failure in Solving Business Issues

Applying the aforementioned strategy will greatly enhance the probability of business resolution. Conversely, neglecting the strategy of involving employees will result in failure. Some other things that will prevent business issue resolution and adversely affect productivity, morale, and effectiveness are:

1. Focusing solely on solving the problem at hand rather than addressing the issue that initially caused the problem. Fixing the immediate issue while allowing the true root cause to remain is expensive. The same problem may occur again.

2. Every organization should instill a discipline of problem resolution which includes a common, systemic approach to problem solving. When a problem arises, all members of the organization should be well-versed in the organization’s process and policy toward resolution. This common approach will facilitate success because employees will have the knowledge and experience on delivering the common organizational procedure.

3. Finally, the organization must accurately assess the risks and benefits of problem solving and business resolution. Will solving one problem result in compounding another problem? Will solving a problem allow the organization to readily return to a state of business as usual? Will issue resolution of a business problem have a positive impact on employee morale and productivity?

More information on leadership and resolving business issues can be reviewed in Corporate Leadership Selection: Impact on American Business, Employees, and Society (Authorhouse Publishing).

Feedback to the bi-monthly blog entry is always welcome.

Monday, January 11, 2010

What’s UP (Weekly, Hot, Applicable Topic Summary - Unbiased Perspective)

Leadership Vision and Integrity

For some, the definition, role, and responsibility of the leaders of the organization and the managers/supervisors of the organization are blurred. The leader of the organization and the managers of the organization are not the same. One of the primary roles of a leader is to establish and clearly articulate the organization’s vision. This blog entry will highlight the importance of communicating the organization’s vision, and setting organizational direction.

Shared Vision

Leaders are visionaries. They envision a better tomorrow. They are also innovative. Leaders seek to change things from the way they are to an improved state. Business leaders monitor, measure, and analyze the existing state of the organization, and set the course for organizational improvement.

Human nature facilitates doubt, cynicism, and resistance to change. Because of this inevitable behavior, leaders must be adept in explaining why embarking upon a change in the status quo is in the best interest of all organization constituents (i.e. employees, vendors, suppliers, shareholders, community, etc.). As a result, leaders must communicate a “shared vision”- one that has value and benefit for all of those affected by the proposed change.

Leaders who ask the organization to buy into a future that will have an adverse impact on organization constituents are futile. As an example, a business leader whose vision is to increase shareholder value, but does harm to the environment – or society in general may fail. Moreover, a leader whose vision is to increase organization profitability by reducing operating expenses via employee layoffs will not be successful (in the long-term). Finally, if the organization leader’s vision is rewarding or fulfilling to only the organization leader or a select few in the organization, the overall productivity and effectiveness of that organization will suffer.

Leading Change in Times of Change

We live in a world of constant change. We are currently driven by a technology-based environment. Five years ago, maintaining business networks and social networks through facebook, twitter, etc were non-existent. Ten years ago, conducting business via webcams and international conference calls was in an infancy phase. Over twenty years ago, offshoring jobs to other countries with a workforce of arguably comparable skills, but lower salary and employee benefit demands had not been fully implemented.

In today’s business world, we expect our leaders to offer a shared vision for five to ten years in the future when the business climate over the next two to three years is uncertain. As future, aspiring leaders, you must examine past experiences (your own personal experiences as well as the experiences of others in leadership roles). What types of change have you envisioned in your personal life? What types of barriers did you overcome to achieve your objectives? How have you gone about soliciting support from others to reach a common goal? Having a feel for what has and has not worked in the past may serve as a guideline for communicating and leading future initiatives.

Involving Others – Seeking New Ideas

Leaders are also proficient at involving and empowering others to achieve a shared vision. Leaders recognize that new ideas and support for innovation can come from anywhere and almost anyone. Therefore, leaders strive on communication. The flow of information and the interaction between those who share the leader’s vision is essential. However, seeking new ideas and steering away from the norm also means taking risks. When taking risks, there is always a matter of trust and confidence involved.

As a result, carefully entwined with a leader’s vision and innovation is their credibility. Few things endear employees more than the credibility and integrity of the leader. As a leader, you must always do what you say you will do. If you have always kept your word, and established a pattern of successful innovation in the past, this will minimize employee doubt concerning the future.

Organization leaders with a high degree of credibility and integrity typically find themselves surrounded with employees who are proud of their organization; speak favorably of the organization to others; and feel a sense of belonging and ownership in helping the organization achieve the shared vision and reach what may otherwise appear to be insurmountable goals and objectives. Consequently, leadership vision and innovation can be achieved through communication, examining past experiences, involving others, and consistently performing with a high degree of integrity. On the other hand, not communicating (or miscommunication of) the vision, not involving others, or not acting with integrity is a guaranteed recipe for failure. Failure in implementing innovation may result in poor employee productivity, effectiveness, and morale. It may also result in a poor or undesirable reputation among the other organizational constituents. And these dysfunctional behaviors inevitably hit the organization bottom line and the primary organizational goal – profitability.

More information on leadership and vision can be reviewed in Corporate Leadership Selection: Impact on American Business, Employees, and Society (Authorhouse Publishing).

Feedback to the bi-monthly blog entry is always welcome.