4-29-10 Shoulda Told Me #9

Apologies to my regular readers for being late to post…. Again!

I’m back on the “someone shoulda told me” bunny trail today.

In my industry, and I’m sure in many others, you have periods of time where you just can’t seem to work enough hours because there is just so much darned work to be accomplished.

In the aerospace industry, a new program introduction is a prime example. When the new program finally makes its way into the factory for the first time, it is generally well, not chaos, but darned close. New parts, new materials, new processes, new everything --- or so it seems. And not surprising, there are generally a few unk-unks to go along with all the “new”. All of us spend a lot of hours working to straighten things out and getting the factory to run smoothly. It requires a lot, and I mean A LOT, of hours from everyone.

So the typical day runs 14 to 16 hours during this period of time. You fall into a routine of arriving at 5 or 6 am (to cover 3rd shift) and then working all the way through to 7 or 8 pm (to cover 2nd shift). It is grueling. But it is also exhilarating. Nothing compares with the sense of satisfaction when the first process works correctly, or first part comes off the line, or ultimately, the first airplane rolls out the door.

So what? There is a lesson to be learned in all of this. As things settled down, I was in such a routine, that I continued to work those long hours -- delving into details that, frankly, were better left to my management and mechanic teams. The long days had become a habit --- an addiction, if you will.

So someone DID tell me (although I wish someone woulda told me sooner!) a very important bit of information. My very wise boss sat me down and said, “Work your butt off when the situation requires, but learn to identify the ‘good times‘ and go home early. Learn when to back off and recharge your batteries.”

And he was/is right. In the heat of the battle, you have to put in the hours. Nothing else will solve the problem. You have to be present to work through the problems. But they will resolve. And once they do, it is easy to just continue on with the executive practices that you used during the battle. But that is a mistake. You have to rest and recharge. Because there WILL be another battle at another time and you have to be ready for it.

So, recognize the good times --- and take advantage of them.

Cheers!

Shoulda Told Me #4

The outlook and attitude that you carry to work each day makes a difference. You can have the “I don’t wanna be here” attitude, but you can’t let it show.

I’ve always made it my policy to respond to the perfunctory “how are you?” salutation with either “wonderful” or “awesome” or “outstanding”. “Fine” or “OK” just doesn’t cut it in my eyes.

Why? Well, have you ever been around a co-worker that is always unhappy? I have. And frankly, it either depresses me or irritates the hell outta me. I don’t want to be around them and I don’t want to work with them. And believe me, if your co-workers know that you are that way, your bosses will know as well. If you are looking to get ahead, it is highly unlikely that you will -- if you are one of those constantly unhappy types. People tend to gravitate to those folks that will make them feel good.

Additionally, the attitude that you carry around with you at work will set the tone for your day and all of your interactions. I always looked at it as a self-fulfilling prophecy. Even if I wasn’t in a good mood, didn’t feel good, or just generally didn’t want to be there --- if I acted like I was happy, sooner or later it became true. In fact, I’ve told people that. When someone would observe that I always told them I was “wonderful”, I would tell them that I couldn’t be lying all of the time --- sooner or later it would be true! And I always said it with a smile.

So, heck, someone shoulda told me that a positive outlook sure goes a looooong way at work. It gives you an aura of someone that people want to be around. I am firmly convinced that it contributed to my success. A positive outlook and a smile makes difficult or awkward moments easier on everyone around you. People remember that and they will repay the favor of your easing the situation.

One caveat? You have to be consistent about it. You can’t be the grouchy ol’ bear one day and then little miss sunshine the next. That confuses folks. They don’t know which of you will show up to work on any given day. And will be forced to tread lightly around you until they establish you are/aren’t the bear today. As much as people like a positive attitude, they also need it to be consistent.

So tomorrow, before you walk in the door, check into the attitude that you are projecting. And do it the next day, and the next, and the next….. Until the positive reflex becomes a habit.

Cheers!

Morphing to a Model

After all the reading, surveying, analyzing, extrapolating, synthesizing, etc….. then what? Well the next step was to use the results of all this activity to update the conceptual model into a final model of executive skills and traits for use by new or aspiring executives.

If you will remember, the original conceptual model looked like this.

I took each of the functions and updated them, based on the results of my research.

The important communications skills for the new executive include: listen, network, and speak. The skill of establishing interpersonal relationships is combined into networking, as the participants tended to use these terms interchangeably. The skill of written communication is dropped from the model, as it is clear for this population that in-person communication skills are most needed by the new executive. This is perhaps influenced by the tendency of this group to debate and discuss as a prelude to decision-making. So now, this section of the model looks as follows.

For the people skills, the ability to hire and retain people is significantly less important than the other personnel-related skills, and so is eliminated from the model. Keep in mind, that isn’t unusual for the aerospace industry, particularly in downturns. This executive team was clearly focused on the team that they already have in place. If this survey had been conducted during an up-cycle in the industry, I’ve no doubt that the results relative to hiring would have been significantly different. So now, the people skills become as follows.

Within the vision skills portion of the model, the overwhelming (indeed, almost unanimous) response was for the skill of understanding the big picture. However, this didn’t seem to preclude the other vision skills. It did lead me to understand that the remaining skills weren’t as “crisply” defined as possible. The survey comments show that the new executive must be able to transition from a tactical view of the business to a more strategic view of the business. As one executive said, “setting the vision for the future”. Additionally, it was clear that this group of execs believe that a new executive needs to not only have the skills to set the strategy, but also to communicate and even “market” the strategy to get buy-in from the rest of the organization. As a result, the vision skills portion of the model looks as follows.

The execution function portion of the conceptual model provided the greatest number of individual skills, all important to this group of execs to one degree or another.

As a result of their input, the managing change skill is combined with the ability to deal with ambiguity. Also combined were the skills related to dealing with fragmentation and working at a fast pace. One participant observed that the business world moves at a rapid pace and doesn’t always throw information or even problems in a linear, logical fashion. As such, the executive must be able to keep up as he/she moves from fragment to fragment of information.

And finally, as a result of the survey input, the skill of delegation was added to the model. This is especially critical for the new executive. By delegating the day-to-day activities, the new executive no longer participates as closely in the latest “fire fight”…. he/she instead is forced to think in a more long-term, strategic manner.

As a result of these changes, the execution skills portion of the model now appears as follows.

And finally, the executive personal traits. Most of the original list clearly resonated with the survey participants. There was near unanimous support for the honest, ethical, and credible trait. This is likely due to the Midwestern location of this organization and its associated Midwestern conservative values. It was interesting to note that while the participants felt strongly about ethics and honesty; they were, at best, lukewarm about the need for the executive to be empathetic and nice. As such, that trait is dropped from the model. The final portion of the model, executive traits, is shown below. They are listed in priority order.

Bringing it all together, the final Executive Skills and Traits model is shown below.

Of course, I have a few more things to say about this model. Next time, a further discussion of the final model.

Cheers!