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‘Flexible Rightsizing’

by Rick Baker
On Feb 7, 2011

Jill Schichter of Lexicon Canada presents at Trovo Resources

Last month, I had the pleasure of attending a Jill Schichter education event, organized by our friends at Trovo Resources.

Jill’s presentation covered a number of things that must be done when ‘reductions’ are required at our workplaces.

Jill injected a great blend of thought, thoroughness, and people-sensitivity.

For me, 8 things resonated:

Definitions: Jill provided a number of definitions, as examples she defined downsizing, rightsizing, and flexible rightsizing…expressing a preference for flexible rightsizing when that is possible.
Make sure all decision makers are using the same measurements. Jill provided a Cost/Benefit template to help us capture all the facets that must be considered.
For strategic workforce planning, build on your previous successes. [focus on the ‘bright lights’]
Focus on the most critical high-impact jobs [the ‘80/20 Rule’ applies]
Don’t underestimate the power of your employment brand. [news travels…so, we should make it good news]
The most difficult job a manager does is letting a person go. [we must be sensitive to the people aspects]
Related to all of the above, and particularly the human sensitivities tied to #6, Jill did a great job of answering the many questions posed by the attendees.
Jill shared a fond memory from her time spent working with Stephen Covey [one of my favourite teachers]…Covey taught - the difference between a manager and a leader – “you manage things, you lead people”.

And, Jill explained - managers say “What are you doing?” while leaders say “How are you doing and how can I help?”

Thank you Jill for the excellent presentation.

And, thank you Tony, for the invitation and hospitality.

Email connections:
Jill Schichter, Lexicon Canada [email protected]
Tony Pace, Trovo Resources [email protected]

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Tags:

80/20 Rule | Leaders' Thoughts | Measure & Monitor

Sales Tweet #146

by Rick Baker
On Feb 7, 2011

Sales Tweet #146 Ernest is ambidextrous, he doesn’t favour the right or the left...he's self-centered.

The Thinking Behind the Sales Tweet

Now I want to make sure I paint the right picture of Ernest Seller here. It is true Ernest is self-centered. But, he isn’t the type of fellow who orders other people around. He is just real happy with himself and it shows. His happiness shows a lot. And, that confuses other people who see Ernest as…well…not extremely competent. From time to time, Ernest talks about his accomplishments…but that’s not out of control or anything like that. Ernest brags a little…not a lot.

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Tags:

Thought Tweets | Ernest Seller

Sales Tweet #145

by Rick Baker
On Feb 4, 2011

Sales Tweet #145 When climbing to Success: Take your hands out of your pockets & Take one step at a time.

The Thinking Behind the Sales Tweet

Get busy and make progress one step at a time. Many years ago, one of my university professors gave me advice along these lines. When a big problem overwhelms you, take it on one little piece at a time. Success does not happen in leaps like the leaps in that Snakes & Ladders game…Success happens in a series of smaller steps.

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Tags:

Beyond Business | Thought Tweets

Maybe your boss is wrong!

by Rick Baker
On Feb 3, 2011

Or, maybe you are the boss and you are wrong - at least, maybe once in a while you are wrong.

So…what happens?

Say you are the boss and you are wrong…what happens?

It is common for people to overestimate the correctness of their views and decisions – that’s called knowledge overconfidence*.

So, likely when you are wrong you do not know it.

The alternative is you know you are wrong but press on anyhow…isn’t that unlikely?

Summing up the scenario:

You are the boss,
You are making a mistake,
Your people know you are making a mistake, but
You don’t know you are making a mistake.

What do you want your people to do:

Pretend they don’t know you are making a mistake and say “Yes Boss”?
Let you know they think you are making a mistake?
Do something else?

It seems to me this is a rather common scenario. People make mistakes. People don’t know they make mistakes. So, it is not a stretch to say bosses make mistakes and don’t know it.

The bosses’ mistakes could be trivial and of little impact. Or, maybe, they could be catastrophic.

But…what will happen when those mistakes are made?

It pays to have a plan to cover this scenario.

Here’s a suggestion…

Bosses can set guidelines.

For example, I use the following guideline for Command Decisions.

I call it the 10-3-1 Guideline:

For every 10 [command] decisions I make I expect about 3 will be questioned
For every 10 [command] decisions I make I expect about 1 to be strongly resisted

For more details… see the Thought Post about Knowledge Overconfidence.

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Tags:

Leaders' Thoughts

Sales Tweet #144

by Rick Baker
On Feb 3, 2011

Sales Tweet #144 From time to time Ernest Seller takes great pains - and gives them to others.

The Thinking Behind the Sales Tweet

Ernest does not mean to be a pain in the body parts of his Clients, his Boss, or his coworkers. It just happens. It is fair to say Ernest Seller can be inept. Maybe it would be more accurate to say Ernest gets carried away. On the other hand…if we asked the Boss then the Boss would tell us he wishes Ernest would get carried away.

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Tags:

Thought Tweets | Ernest Seller