Creative Alignment Coaching & Consulting LLC

Managing Usurpers in the Workplace Aug 23, 2024 — by HRStrategies What can you do with someone who attempts to usurp your authority in the workplace, and that person has certain proximity advantages that you perhaps lack? The first thing I would do is recognize that this is offensive action that probably cannot be managed with defensive actions on your part. In other words, this is the type of situation where you simply have to get out in front of. After you reconcile in your own mind the nature of your situation, the next thing to do is to reframe the situation, using first principle thinking. Initially, you have probably framed the problem as being primarily with the usurper, and understandably so. The reality, however, is that your problem is not really with that usurper, but more a problem with the people the usurper is using to advance his or her own agenda. Specifically, your problem is one of employee accountability and a lack of good policy. Whoever the usurper is using to advance their agenda is an employee who has a responsibility for certain job functions. If a supervisor above that employee gives them a directive to not do their job responsibilities without a valid reason for doing so, that employee has an absolute responsibility to refuse by telling that supervisor, “I’m very sorry, but I cannot do what you ask because it is contrary to my job responsibilities. Keep this in mind. This is an employee is being directed by a superior to not do a known aspect of their job. It is absolutely the responsibility of the employee to refuse. If your employees are afraid to be accountable for their job responsibilities, that means you probably also have a policy problem. When an employee does not believe they will be supported for doing what is right, they will not take a stand. That is a policy issue that must be addressed before you address accountability. Addressing a policy issue may require a little more work, such as renouncing a previous policy issue. Or, if that previous policy issue was in writing, the new policy should also be issued in writing. Included in the new policy should be step by step instructions for how the employee is to handle the specific situation. What this action does,, it creates a policy that removes positional authority to order an employee to disregard a standard and obvious job responsibility for personal reasons. It is forcing employees to simply do their job, and placing standard operating procedures in place to support them. If this is a longstanding or ongoing problem, it would be wise to include this new policy as an inclusive part of new hire orientation. Don’t forget to address specific support for retaliation in your policy. When your usurper attempts to test your policy, it must be clear, fully supported, and fair.

This article talks about why learning has been called the new type of work, and its role in twenty-first century sustainability.

What a great side-by-side infographic showing how organizational success is achieved when leaders understand their role. One is no more important than the other, while both functions are critically important to the process.

Please enjoy this article where I share an early learning experience about how alignment and shared vision can release the synergy we need for success.

The emotional climate of an organization, creates the attitudes of employees. Their attitudes drive their behavior. Leaders must create the type of climate that drives the behaviors that align with company objectives and vision. https://lnkd.in/g9jnXh75

Different people add different value and bring unique experiences and perspectives to organizational situations. Life is very complex today, and linear and minimal solutions are seldom the answers we need. The needed input may come from the most unlikely person. Its a shift in paradigm.

Creating a competitive advantage is crucial to the continued success of companies today. Employers must develop a new and different mindset for managing their greatest asset, which is their employees. Employees are demanding greater autonomy that allows them to enjoy significance and meaningfulness in the work they perform. In exchange, employers will receive greater commitment to company vision.

So often, employers are looking for quick fixes, and understandably so given the pressures on business today. However, 21st century employees are very different from 20th century employees. They demand to know how they fit into your picture before they will engage with commitment. And that has to begin with greater self-awareness.

Three things we’ll have to master to close the gap between where we are today, and where we desire to be tomorrow: resilience, creativity, and emotional intelligence. #closingyourgap #selfmasterycoaching

Threat or Opportunity? Mar 21, 2024 — by HRStrategies in Innovative Trends Threat or Opportunity? Our perception is crucial in deciding how we respond to life and business. Even savvy businessmen and women will succumb to their own perception, right or wrong, good or bad. Our perception ultimately decides our response. I have always been a huge proponent of experience. After all, experience says that someone has done something and had a measure of success, so they can probably do it again. That philosophy of success that worked great in times of stability, can be a severe hindrance during times of constant change and technological disruptions, such as we have today. Regardless of company size, if a company continues down the same paths in times of change as it followed in times of stability, it will become non-relevant over time. The only question is, how long. You can tell when a company is holding onto outdated processes and procedures when those processes and procedures no longer produce the outcomes that drive profits. This is not an overnight trend, but one that occurs over time. The handwriting is on the wall long before the fall, but key decisionmakers fail to take the necessary action. The question is, why? The answer to this question is "mindset." They believe that future success is rooted in yesterday's success. They fail to understand that in times of constant change, the new key to success is knowledge, and not knowledge for the sake of having knowledge. Today, we are talking about knowledge that can be used to drive success in changing markets. Experience is no longer the key to business success today, although that is not to dismiss it as irrelevant. As a matter of fact, experience just may be the direct cause of ultimate failure. If you disbelieve this statement, ask the former leaders of companies like Eastman Kodak and Blockbuster, who saw disruptive technology and change as an enemy to their past experience and success. They opted for experience over knowledge, and lost it all.