Disappointed

As you can see by the title, I’m disappointed.

The iPad isn’t coming to Canada in April – but Apple is taking pre-orders (in May) as it’s coming in May.  However if you live close to the border (it’s just a stones throw for me) then I could always pop down to Bellingham, WA and pick one up at the BestBuy there.

I tried to find pricing on Apples site – but everytime I hit their iPad site for Canadian customers, it crashes on me.

I’ll just have to wait a little longer.  Or cross the border and buy one.  Maybe this weekend.

What Is Your Leadership Instinct?

Here is something to brighten your day, and to let you find out what your Leadership Instinct is.

Head on over to http://www.refreshleadership.com/index.php/2010/04/leadership-instinct-apple-ipad-giveaway/ and take the Leadership Instict quiz.

I took it.  Apparently, I’m a Tiger.

Want to watch the video?

Easy there, Tiger.

• You’re driven, focused and hardworking.
• You are a “doer” and a decision maker.
• You have a lot of energy and passion for your work.

• Sometimes, you treat people as problems to be solved rather than as people.
• You tend to be stubborn, and others may see you as overbearing.
• You put work first, often before relationships in your personal life.

I Will Settle For Less

Does this happen to you:

You’ve assigned work to someone on your team.  The work is completed, and you get it and it’s not what you wanted.  You know that you instructed the employee on what was needed, and they agreed and understood.  Yet you received work that is not what you were expecting based on their understanding and skills.

What do you do?

How often have you accepted what’s been given to you, and resigned yourself to doing it instead.

Do you really accept, and condone work that is not up to standard?  Are you really willing to settle for less?  Do you really have that much time on your hands, or will you end up putting in extra hours to get the work.

Speaking to friends that have been managers for longer than I have, it was surprising to get the response “I’d do it myself” to the question “How would you handle getting work that was assigned to an employee that was not completed to your standards?”.

My question is – why?

Why would you settle for less?  Why would you want to put in more time in redoing the work, and if you are going to redo it then why did you give it to someone in the first place?  In getting to where you are today, did your managers settle for less.  Did YOU settle for less?  I hope that the answers to that question are a resounding “NO”. 

So what do you do when one of your employees delivers sub-par work?  The answer – DO NOT let it go.  If you are trying to develop your team, work on the DEVELOP part.

Bring your employee to your office, or neutral territory (meeting room) and review the work that was handed in.

The sandwich method works well.

Prepare.  Write out what was done, right, and wrong.  Be prepared when you meet with the employee.  Go in with half the facts, and you can bet the individual will become VERY defensive and will resent what is being said.  Be prepare with facts, and they will not argue and will probably agree with the analysis.

Compliment: The core of the sandwhich method.  Tell them what they did right — hopefully they did do something right.  This needs to be related to the coaching you’re about to give them.  For example – “Thank you for taking care of this report, it is critical for our department…”.  Use the words you see fit.

Coach: Present the facts.  This is the “middle” of the sandwich.  Present the facts.   Yes, I said that twice.  This is important.  You CAN NOT let your feelings or emotions get in the way, otherwise you will get into a shouting match or a VERY defensive individual.  Let them know what was not done right, and explain what you were looking for.  Don’t barrage them – speak, let them have some time to digest, ask questions so that you know they’ve understood.

Avoid words like “but” or “but next time” as these words can create a defensive attitude.  Remember – PRESENT THE FACTS.

You need to be direct and firm, but not aggressive.  Yes, you can be direct and firm without being aggressive, angry and demeaning.

Encourage:  You’re trying to grow your employee, to teach them something new, to ensure that they remain part of the organization — after all, isn’t that why you’ve given them work to do?  After coaching, they may feel a bit deflated – nobody likes to be told that their work is not good.  NEVER end a coaching session on a low note.  Project a positive outlook if you’ve asked them to redo some aspect of the task – find some way to end on a positive note.

Follow-up: If you’ve asked them to redo some aspect of their work, follow-up – but DON’T micro-manage.  Nobody likes micro-managers.  If you are going to do this, just do the work yourself.  By following up you are enforcing the coaching you’ve had with your employee.  You’ve stressed the need to provide quality work, and that you expect only their best efforts.  Settling for less is not an option.

Don’t follow up, and you’ve set that individual up for failure.

There are some things you need to remember:

This is NOT a love-fest, and the same time you’re not there to complain, complain and complain.  The objective is to provide your employee with constructive criticism.

Avoid blame.  Again, you’re there to coach and help the individual grow.  You’ve identified the problem, you’ve talked about it – don’t keep dwelling on what’s done.  Sandwich method.  Two positives and one negative.  Your employee should come out of the coaching session with a positive feeling.

Compliments always need to be sincere, and related to the the task.  Don’t compliment about past work that is not related to the issue you’re dealing with right now.

Has this employee made the same mistake over, and over?  You’ve gone from coaching to having to take a direct approach, because this is now a performance issue.

Are you going to settle for less again?  I hope not.