decisions Archives - Page 4 of 7

16
Oct 19
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Culture Decisions Determine the Future of Fit

Tags : decisions future leadership organizational culture workplace culture

There is little room for doubt that your organizational culture determines what happens next. Culture decisions drive what will become the future.

Culture is part of the long-run game. Or it could be the impact of numerous short-run games that build a long-run game picture.

One thing is certain, workplace dynamics vary a great deal from the manufacturing business in the industrial park, to the non-profit association across town, or to the new healthcare facility on the west side.

While many people and organizations believe that their culture is the best or perhaps the most appropriate, social trends will have something to do with the cultures that are most successful.

Different Cultures

One business believes that being a little gruff, leading with an authoritarian approach, and strong disciplinary actions for anyone coloring outside the lines is the secret formula for culture. It is a throwback to, “My way or the highway.”

Another business believes in open floor plans, building a community of employees, and being considerate of employees needs while maintaining accountability and of course profitability of the operation.

It may seem hard to find where these lines cross. If they even do, or if they even should.

Leading in our modern times has challenges, that is nothing new. The diversity aspect of navigating leadership roles continues to challenge the best cultures.

Leadership makes culture decisions. Known or unknown, it is happening around you.

Culture Decisions

The decision you’ll make today about accountability, responsibility, and a respectful (or not) workplace will shape tomorrow. Revenues, profit, and customer relationships are inclusive.

There is an old saying, “People may not remember what you said but they’ll always remember how you made them feel.”

This is true about your culture. People are human, not a machine. Societal trends will determine many of the feelings surrounding your business culture.

In a low-unemployment economy people are going to work at the best places.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

26
Aug 19
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Historical Performance is not Benchmark Performance

Tags : anchor data decisions goals historical

It often starts with, “What did we do last year?” Many people and organizations set a course to measure future performance against historical performance. Win or lose, exceed the previous, or met expectations, is that high performance?

Measuring performance is always relative. Whichever team wins the championship has a different history when compared with the team who didn’t make it to the playoffs.

Historical Performance

Often people and organizations measure against their last performance or recent performance.

It is an anchor. Where we place the mark.

As people we tend to anchor to data. Initially people often frame according to the record. The record high jump, the fastest time, or the longest distance. Guinness has a book of records.

These records are valuable and important. A point of origin, a starting place, and a remembrance of achievement.

Is the act repeatable? Was it luck?

Benchmark Performance

Benchmark performance is considered to be different. A collection of data that specifies the approximate.

The average time for a marathon, lap times at a Motorsport event, and in golf, par.

There are many ways to set performance standards. Some of them feel more important than others.

Performance measurement may depend on what is trying to be accomplished. If the goal is to improve or get better, it may be connected to history.

The problem with historical data is often in its assumption of accuracy. Is the lap time unbeatable? Can you score under par?

Weighing a pound less on the scale after your workout is perhaps a good measure.

Bringing in one dollar more in sales revenue this year when compared with last year is better, but it is unlikely the limit. And, likely shouldn’t be the goal.

Becoming better or the best is often determined by the anchor.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

23
Aug 19
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Delayed Decisions Can Become a Bad Habit

Tags : choices decisions habits procrastination

Do you hurry to make decisions? Is your pause something that becomes a habit? Do you feel more accurate after strategically waiting? Delayed decisions can become a bad habit.

Cool Off, Slow Down

We’ve learned about the cooling off period. If we are making a big purchase, a major life choice, or something of very high risk, a delayed decision seems appropriate.

Confidence, or a lack of, may drive how rapidly we make decisions.

Across time we may develop a learned pattern that the act of delaying decisions keeps our options open, provides more clarity, and allows our emotions to calm down. All of which may be true, and sometimes good, but is it required?

Do you have a habit of delaying decisions?

Delayed Decisions

In 2006, you may not have heard of Facebook, when you did, you may have decided to wait to join. By 2010, if you wanted engagement on Facebook, your advantages were already lessening. Sure, there were still many more people to join, but Facebook was already contemplating strategy for controlling and securing their platform.

If you wanted to be a Facebook Influencer, early adoption was a good strategy.

When we jump in early, there is often an advantage. This is true with many decisions. First on the bus, first to the fresh buffet, or first in line for the Black Friday electronics deals. All may be advantageous.

There is a bell curve of value connected with change. Decisions drive change.

As humans we are creatures of habit. We often launch, analyze, learn, change, and repeat. Sometimes we label this as a fluid process. Fluidity can be good.

At the same time if our habits drive us to hesitate, wait, slow down, and analyze more, we just might miss the bus.

Careful consideration is always valuable. Procrastination on deciding can become a bad habit.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

22
Aug 19
-

Wrong People Are Often Right

Tags : belief decisions people right wrong

People worry about the risk of being wrong. Taking a chance, exploring an opportunity, what is the real cost? Wrong people are often also the same people who get it right.

What is the risk for you? Is it your image, your reputation, or the thought that you might be fired?

Statistics on Right

It is Little League World Series time in Pennsylvania. A time each year when thousands of people descend upon the small city of, Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

How many pitches will be thrown? How many strike outs, bases loaded, and catches dropped? What about base hits, home runs, and runs batted in?

Baseball is often much like our workplace life. The more chances we take the more chances we’ll have some success.

The statistical aspect of chances taken are what probably matters the most. One risk, one correct choice, seems easy. Looking deeper beyond the statistics you may ask, “How risky was that?”

Wrong People

It happens at the start of every brainstorming meeting. “No idea is a bad idea,” someone will proclaim. Yet, participants in the meeting will still wonder about the consequences before they speak.

Taking the risk of being wrong is the first step to taking a risk of being right.

Wrong people are not wrong all of the time. The trick is being right, at the right time.

Perfect scores, perfect seasons, and businesses and organizations on the move don’t happen without a few mistakes. The people who can live with being wrong are the same people who thrive on being right.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

17
Jul 19
-

We Can’t Afford Training Time

Tags : costs decisions education time training

Does your company provide or encourage continuous learning? Is training time viewed as an investment or only an expense?

There are many small businesses with organizational leaders who scoff at the idea of training. One of the best excuses that leaders say, create, or allow, is that there is not enough time for training.

Certainly, the dollars spent for training can be a stumbling block, yet organization leaders may blame it on time.

Stuck, Stalled, or Stopped

Small businesses (and leaders) grow to the size or capability of management and then get stuck. They often get stuck because the theories and concepts they’ve grown accustom to only work up to a certain size.

The small business with fewer than ten people has a different dynamic from the business that employs one hundred and ten thousand. Leadership principles in these organizations are similar, yet strategic and tactical deployment may be different.

Examining costs for training in any business should not be based only on dollars spent or time made available for training. There are many other intangible costs that should be considered.

The list is long but here are a few:

Rework
Drama
Customer Experiences
Technology
Employee turnover

Some organizations that get stalled, stuck, or stopped, never recover. They stay there and slowly decline.

Training Time

I remember a rather successful CEO saying to me, “If we suggested people go to training right now, they would say they don’t have time and they wouldn’t be able to focus on the training because they would be too worried about the operation.”

On the surface it is hard to argue with that statement, yet, underneath the surface you have to question the culture (leadership) that drives that mindset.

Of course, there are times when every operation (especially small ones) need every hand on deck. The challenge may be determining when these times are real and when they become an excuse.

The real story here is that untrained employees are always more expensive than trained employees.

Trained employees will make decisions, they will make better decisions, quality will improve, commitment, engagement, and loyalty will all be better.

Training time may be the smallest price to pay.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

08
May 19
-

Is Your Service Trusted? Is There Loyalty?

Tags : decisions expectations loyalty trust

Regardless of the sector your business or organization represents, is your service trusted? What would the outsiders say? Organizations have a chance, at least one, to earn trust.

Trust is an interesting part of how organizations and individuals achieve success. Trust is likely part of your competitive advantage, or else it isn’t.

Presence of Trust

When trust is lacking productivity decreases, efficiencies decline, loyalty is out the window, and your brand reputation suffers. Trust is often taken for granted or else not taken seriously.

Many people believe that trust is about truth and lies. Sure, that is perhaps part of it. So are deficiencies in accountability, response times, and decision making.

Consistency should come to mind when you consider trust. When people know what to expect and when they are a lot more likely to trust. It is the surprises that create a breakdown.

When I order a hamburger and fries in the drive-through, I’m placing a certain amount of trust that is what I’ll get in the bag. I’m also expected a napkin or two.

When I attempt to make a call on my cell phone. I’m expecting cellular service is available.

The product I ordered online should be what’s inside the brown box delivered to my porch. I’m also expecting an email message to tell me it is there.

Service Trusted

When I make a conscious choice to engage with an organization, I have an expectation of trust.

That expectation is often connected to a person. The person who takes my call, responds to my email, or fulfills my order. It may also be the person who orders raw materials, makes my product, and inspects the quality.

Similar ideas exist for healthcare, the pharmacy, and my bank account balance.

Trust is expected everywhere. Loyalty is achieved when it is delivered. That’s service trusted.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

30
Apr 19
-

Decide Soon, Waiting Wastes Time

Tags : decide decisions productivity results timing

Are decisions really connected to productivity? They are, which is exactly why you should decide soon.

Certainly not all choices are the same. Some choices become better with a slower decision. We access more information, the picture gets clearer, the decision improves. What about your daily productivity?

Are You Productive?

An email response in haste may result in a bad decision. Emotions are often higher, the message riskier, the results sometimes misunderstood. On the positive side, you didn’t procrastinate, you did it immediately. Time saved or time wasted?

You can only put off the wait staff so long. They may advise, “I’ll give you a few minutes.” Yet, you still know you must decide quickly. They can’t wait too long and your friends and family are ready to order.

In the meeting you hesitate to speak. You have an idea, a point to make, or some additional information. Is the timing right, will the people understand, will you get blacklisted for making such a ridiculous suggestion?

Decide Soon

The truth often is that we waste time by waiting. Yes, not every decision should be made in haste, but the outcomes are not altered on many of your choices. Time is wasted and productivity is decreased.

What if you receive one hundred emails a day? How many do you glance at, open, close, and come back to later? How much time is spent in thought, consideration, and a careful response? Your conscientiousness is important and valuable, yet there is relevance to the speed.

One of my favorite time wasters? Deciding that responding too soon implies that you are not busy.

Decide soon, your decisions probably won’t change much, but your productivity does.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

05
Apr 19
-

When Speaking Up is a Risky Decision

Tags : choice culture decisions risk

We all play a role in the workplace. Even the person who is never asked plays a role. Everyone has an opportunity to contribute, the question is, “How will they?” Have you ever felt that speaking up is a risky decision?

We sometimes evaluate our circumstances in strange ways. Our contributions as an employee may find us offering opinions or retreating to silence out of fear. What do you do?

Fear as a Driver

Much of what happens in our workplace cultures is conditioned by fear. Sometimes intentionally, sometimes not, but it still happens.

What happened the last time someone was wrong? Did their contribution get labeled as a failure? Did they get uninvited from the team meeting? Are their chances of a future promotion now limited? Were they fired?

Perhaps none of those things happened but that is the message that is often floating around in our head. “I should say something but it is too risky.”

What is your measurement of risk?

Do you withdraw from contributing out of fear? Do you watch your team or organization make costly wrong turns which could have been avoided if you offered your perspective? What is riskier?

Risky Decision

No one wants to make a bad choice or a wrong decision. Sometimes our decisions turn out the wrong way because we lack information.

No one told me the caesar salad had anchovies.

I didn’t realize how many calories were in the chocolate fudge brownie.

They person I bought the car from never mentioned the transmission was acting up.

What carries the most risk? The consequences of politely and appropriately contributing to the conversation or watching the disaster that may unfold if you don’t speak up?

Be careful with your risky decision.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

04
Apr 19
-

When Tough Choices Are Good Decisions

Tags : decisions persistence tough choices workplace

People make decisions every day. We decide what clothing we will wear, what food to eat, when to get a drink of water and how much we will drink. How do you navigate tough choices?

Decisions, Decisions

Several family members trying to decide what they will eat for dinner can be a challenge. So can finding just the right movie to watch on Netflix. Picking the fastest moving lane in traffic without destroying your drivewise score, forget it.

In the workplace, we often must make decisions about priorities, the best person for the job, or even onboarding a new employee. Is there a perfect decision or is it about the best decision based on available choices?

If we wait, will a better choice emerge or will we start losing some of our already adequate options?

Tough Choices

If I skip the bread at dinner, I may be able to eat a small slice of pie. Diet soda is fewer calories than regular soda, but water is the healthier choice. My car will run on 89 octane gasoline, but the manufacturer recommends using 91 minimum, what should I use?

Around the office employees have mentioned that there is just too much drama. In order to deal with it they want more pay. Should we fix our culture or silence them with more pay? What will work best? (If you don’t know the answer to this, email me for help.)

Sometimes it is hard to decide. We face tough choices. Delaying a decision can sometimes be valuable, so can a quick decision. In other cases, a decision to do nothing may be a good decision.

Waiting for the absolute, the risk free, or the one hundred percent guarantee is probably expecting too much.

We are always making choices. Keep making them. Yes, even the tough ones.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

07
Mar 19
-

Workplace Fit Has More Than One Meaning

Tags : career choice decisions hiring practice workplace fit

Ask someone why they didn’t get the job and they may reply, “I guess I wasn’t the right fit.” When someone chooses a GM vehicle over the Ford, it may be about fit. Nike over Reebok, it may be about fit.

All these examples of fit are different, yet similar. Most importantly, they are relevant.

About Fit

Fit for the vehicle brand of choice is probably not about dimensions. The same for a running shoe, we can probably always find the best fitting size.

Brand choice is a different kind of fit.

Many organizations strive to hire for fit. What fit are they trying to fulfill? Does fit come down to the idea of like or acceptance?

Are you employed by an organization that embraces diversity? How does fit work there?

Fit should never be confused with like. When we decide we don’t like something or someone, does that make it the wrong fit?

Who is selected for the board of directors? What about the steering committee or the committee that organizes the summer picnic? Is it based on who fits the best or perhaps who is more liked?

Whenever we base decisions on like we are making a sacrifice. We give up what someone else has to offer. We give up on that brand, the promise, or the possibility of a different experience.

Workplace Fit

Hiring for fit should be considered logically against need. It should be as objective as possible and leaving the least amount of room for subjective analysis.

If the entire board or committee thinks exactly the same then the decisions and outcomes will follow accordingly. In some cases, this could be the path for the beginning of the end. No different points of view and we’re stuck, stalled, or stopped.

Be aware of how you are deciding about fit.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSP^TM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

Tag Archives: decisions

Oct 19

-

Different Cultures

Culture Decisions

Aug 19

-

Historical Performance

Benchmark Performance

Aug 19

-

Cool Off, Slow Down

Delayed Decisions

Aug 19

-

Statistics on Right

Wrong People

Jul 19

-

Stuck, Stalled, or Stopped

Training Time

May 19

-

Presence of Trust

Service Trusted

Apr 19

-

Are You Productive?

Decide Soon

Apr 19

-

Fear as a Driver

Risky Decision

Apr 19

-

Decisions, Decisions

Tough Choices

Mar 19

-

About Fit

Workplace Fit

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