Volume 4, 2006

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Featured Topic: Accepting Responsibility

Inside This Issue

Give Authority Along with Responsibility

Ask any manager for the top qualities or abilities they want their people to possess and among the answers will be "taking responsibility." While this is an admirable trait, leaders must realize that along with responsibility comes the need for authority to carry out the responsibility.

Too many employees feel burned out because they take on responsibility only to see their work disregarded and redone by the boss or reassigned to someone else. After a few experiences like this, the individual becomes a bit cynical and adopts the attitude that she just can’t please them.

Whenever a task is assigned or accepted, the leader needs to inform the individual of the level of authority they have for this particular task. Here is a guide to help with this process:

Collect Stage:

Level One: Get the information, I’ll make the decision.
Level Two: Suggest alternatives, I’ll make the decision.
Level Three: Recommend an alternative, I’ll make the decision.

Decide Stage:

Level Four: Decide, wait for my approval.
Level Five: Decide, act unless I say no.

Act Stage:

Level Six: Act, report the results.
Level Seven: Act, report if unsuccessful.
Level Eight: Act, reporting not needed.

With the Collect Stage, the decision remains with the leader. This stage is not necessarily just for new employees as it may be the appropriate level of authority for big ticket items or if the decision may make a strategic shift to the original plan. Level three requires more risk than the first two levels because it is asking the person to select one alternative. This requires a higher level of trust and experience.

The difference between levels four and five in the Decide Stage is level four means for the person to wait until they get the approval, while level five usually has a prearranged time period for rejection. Many leaders may have a policy in level five that the individual will wait 48 hours after presenting the decision to receive a ‘no-go’ signal from their manager. After that time, the person is authorized to move ahead even if there has been no response. Of course, the type of reporting is also prearranged, such as email with notification of receipt.

There is a big jump in authority when you assign the Act Stage. Level eight is a bit unrealistic because when a problem occurs, most leaders want to be informed.

We recommend that you assign a level of authority whenever a person accepts responsibility for a project. It is a clear way to communicate expectations. Initiate this process and see if your people become more responsible.

What Our Clients Are Saying

Thanks for helping me to create and practice my speech. I had no idea speaking could be so much fun! I am a hero in the office. Everyone is still talking about it.

Brandon Cleghorn, VP, Cork-Howard

Show Up, Stand Up, Speak Up

Vincent Ivan Phipps, B.S. Speech/Language Communication

Would you like to master the art of accepting responsibility? This can be summed up in 3 Ups:

  1. Show Up: Arrive early, Be prepared, and Sit up front! Success in life does not always go to the smartest, the most popular, or the most prepared. Sometimes it goes to the person who just shows up. Oprah Winfrey had her initial television job at her former school, Tennessee State University. She was auditioning for an anchor position for campus news. Even though she was not as experienced, polished, or qualified as some of the other candidates, she still showed up. The rest of this story can be summed up in two words: CHA- CHING!

    Success in life does not always go to the smartest, the most popular, or the most prepared. Sometimes it goes to the person who just shows up. Oprah Winfrey had her initial television job at her former school, Tennessee State University. She was auditioning for an anchor position for campus news. Even though she was not as experienced, polished, or qualified as some of the other candidates, she still showed up. The rest of this story can be summed up in two words: CHA- CHING!

    People may forget your good intentions. Others may even forget your endearing words. What people will remember most are your actions. In an effort to improve the safety of employees at a plant, one of my clients, a Human Resources Manager, decided to take initiative. Millions of dollars were only a signature away from being spent on recalling safety equipment due to too many injuries. He conducted on-site interviews asking various departments their opinions about what was the contributing factor behind most accidents. His results concluded two areas: poor internal communication and fatigue. Although some monies were still invested to upgrade equipment, millions were saved on providing a few courses on how to communicate and suggesting a company rule of not more than 10 hours worked per shift.
  2. Stand Up: Believe in yourself, Do what’s right, not what’s easy! His H.R. staff members asked, "Why would you go through so much extra work? You are in H.R, safety is not your responsibility?" He replied, "Safety is everyone’s responsibility."
  3. Speak Up: Share information, Focus on Solutions, Talk with conviction! My Father is a Hydraulic Engineer. I once asked him, "Is your job to find out why problems occur?" He told me, "My job is to find solutions." This is the mentality that is often missed in meetings, negotiations, and problem solving sessions. A sales team gave a pitch to a prospective client. The prospect’s response was, "The price is way too much. I want the services to begin immediately and also I need more flexibility." For the next half-hour, the room was in turmoil because expectations were not met. The deal was almost dead. Then one of the members of the sales team stopped trying to persuade and instead asked questions to clarify vague words. This revealed that "too much" was $100 over, "immediately" meant within the next quarter, and "flexibility" meant invoice 30 days after service. These were conditions everyone could agree upon. Because someone accepted the responsibility of speaking up, asking the right questions to clarify and focused on solutions, the deal was saved and a win-win professional relationship still continues.

Just Do It!

Nike truly has a wonderful and versatile slogan. Don’t plan, try, or think about it – just do it! While there are many virtuous reasons a person can benefit from planning and thinking, taking action is vital to accepting responsibility. Vincent’s article on Show Up, Speak Up, Stand Up encourages us to just do it.

Take words such as ‘try’, ‘if’, ‘perhaps’, ‘maybe’ and all the words that end in "ish" and throw them out. Taking responsibility means taking action. In the southern United States, a common phrase is, "I’m fixin’ to…" which, translated, means, "I am considering doing." Stop fixin’ and start doing.

If you continue to do what you have always done, you will remain who you are. If you do something you have never done before, you may well be on your way to becoming what you were intended to be.

Here is a TLC challenge: Take responsibility today to do something that you have not done before. It is fine to ask for help and re-work the plan as you proceed. Remember that everything does not have to be worked out before you step up to responsibility. Be what you are intended to be. Just do it!

Bite the Bullet and Face the Music

Remember the last time you had to "Bite the Bullet" and just "Face the Music?"

Considering this issue’s theme is accepting responsibility, for the first time in our newsletter’s history, you will learn the meaning of two idioms (commonly used expressions).

TLC went ahead and bit the bullet and did the research for the origins!

Bite the bullet’s origin dates back to the Civil War. When a solider was wounded during battle, immediate surgery often had to be conducted. Anesthesiology to nullify pain was not as advanced as it is today. Normally, someone would be given liquor to deaden the pain. Considering this might affect a person’s balance and coordination (pretty important to have when you are using weapons), another solution had to be implemented.

Medical personnel began giving soft lead bullets to place between the teeth of the patients. This gave the wounded soldier something to bite down on while keeping distracting screams to a minimum. Today the term "bite the bullet " is still used to refer to owning up to a task, enduring it, and just getting it done!

Face the Music also has military origins. This term refers to accepting responsibility especially after something has been done wrong. When a member of a military unit did something so dishonorable that he was unable to remain within the military, he was discharged. A humbling ceremony was conducted consisting of that units division playing music to a slow cadence drum beat. The dishonored soldier would stand at attention and have whatever stripes or honors removed while his dishonorable actions were read aloud. In a final act of dismissal, he had to turn and walk toward the drumbeat (music) as he exited, knowing he would never be in the military again.

Regardless of what responsibilities we must endure, often when we just bite the bullet and face the music, we discover we use less energy worrying about it than had we skirted the responsibility.

In the future, when you have to accept responsibility, step up and get it done. Like any skill, the more you do it, the easier it gets. Lead by example!

Y.E.S. - You, The Effective Speaker

Therese Padgett, Director of Client Relations

Give more enjoyable and interesting presentations.

Speaking before others is a responsibility any way you look at it. You have a responsibility to keep your audience awake, to inform them or to entertain them. There is the responsibility to stay within a time allotment. To yourself, you have the responsibility of maintaining your reputation as a person of intelligence and integrity.

I recently had the opportunity to observe Beverly as she worked with two gentlemen preparing to make presentations to their Board of Directors. In just four short hours, I saw a noticeable improvement in each one of them.

Neither had the usual fears associated with public speaking, so the training that deals with attitude was skimmed and they moved on to the structure of the speech itself. A strong opening sets the tone and mood and engages the audience with the topic. The two presenters learned the practical value of understanding the intent of their talks and learned to continually bring the audience back to that purpose.

Gestures and movement can either make you appear stilted and uncomfortable or can give the impression of confidence and self-assurance. They learned to occupy their space with an air of authority and authenticity, which subtly commanded the attention of the audience.

A good message is often only as good as its delivery. Think of a mime. Her gestures and eye-movements, even her arched eyebrows and exaggerated and deliberate body movements, give us some indication of what her voice inflections might be if she was instead speaking. Like the mime, our voice can paint a picture; make us cry or make us laugh; cause us to pause or spur us to run to win a race! These gentlemen learned to use pitch, volume and rate to effectively tell their stories.

A picture speaks a thousand words! How do Power Point presentations and other visual aids effect presentations? These men learned that a thousand words are not necessarily good. Neither are a thousand pictures!

And that’s a wrap! A package that is wrapped holds a mystery; it is a question yet to be answered by the unwrapping. An effective wrap to a presentation summarizes the salient points and brings the attention back to the purpose of the speech. Hopefully, the purpose has been revealed and the audience feels informed or entertained; perhaps both.

If you or your key executives, like these two gentlemen, want to learn to:

¨ Look and feel comfortable in the space you occupy;

¨ Have the voice others want to listen to;

¨ Involve the audience;

¨ Engage attendees by knowing how to start and conclude a speech or presentation;

¨ Leave your audience with an impression of confidence and competence;

Then call the experts at TLC for a quotation for our training called, "Y.E.S. – You, The Effective Speaker."

Ask The Experts

Dear TLC,

I am afraid to make suggestions at my company. Some areas are beyond my expertise but since I make the suggestions, I get handed all the work. This hesitancy has evolved so that now I don’t want to accept the responsibilities that are within my field. No one has said anything but I work in a results-focused industry and I know that my dodging work and new assignments is detrimental to the company and to me. What should I do?

Signed,
- The Awful Dodger

Hello Awful Dodger,

Even though no one has said anything about your unwillingness to accept new projects or make suggestions, eventually they will. So let’s fix it before anyone has to say or do anything!

Next time, before sharing a new suggestion, state what level of experience you have or that you do not have. Often those that speak up are considered knowledgeable about a topic. Although this is not always the case, be willing to take some level of acceptance, for example, "I have a suggestion. I have no marketing experience, but if a team of 3-5 people could determine what demographics are our biggest customers, we could focus our marketing areas more strategically. I can be on that team if there are at least two others."

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to our clients celebrating August birthdays:

Chief Officer's Opinion

Beverly Inman-Ebel, M.A., CCC-SLP

When my two sons came home this summer from their college routines, they requested not to be assigned chores like they had when they were in high school. Convincing me that they were responsible, we agreed that everyone would just be observant and do what each saw needed to be done. Over the last month, I have been amazed how young people can have such poor eyesight. Full trashcans and the dishwasher are invisible and I am the only one who sees the wilting plants in the flower garden.

My father taught me that people see what they are trained to see. Entering a new house of a friend, a person who is handy with building will notice the corner molding joints, a person with an eye for color will observe the hues of carpets and paint, while a young mother may notice the security of the fenced yard.

At work, we need to have our team see the big picture so they can understand how their portion of the project fits with everything else. Sometimes, what we see as being irresponsible may actually be a lack of knowledge. People "see" better when we communicate thoroughly. Begin with the end in mind. Explain the desired result and clearly outline the steps to accomplish it. Be sure to ask for input and suggestions along with the explanation. Allow some flexibility and creativity to obtain buy-in. Remind everyone they are on the same team. Whole team meetings help to establish this reality.

The term ‘responsibility’ can be broken down to read: ‘response-ability’. When we give someone responsibility, we need to ensure that the individual has the opportunity and skill to make responses to us during the process. Sometimes this means just leaving our door open, while with others we may need to ask them open questions to get them started responding.

During the last week, I have instituted dialogue at home to obtain responses about seeing what needs to be done around the house. The reality is that some family members will do more than others, some tasks are more preferred and get done sooner, and my definition of "done" may differ from that of the doer. I am not giving up on my kids accepting responsibility. I refuse to retreat to assigning chores. I choose for us to move forward. This means ensuring we are all response-able, realizing our levels of authority, and accepting creativity from each other.

There are similarities between home and work families. If at first you do not succeed in getting others to accept responsibilities, communicate more. Observe. Ask. Listen. Respond. Live your dreams.

TLC establishes long-term relationships with our clients. If we have helped you or if you believe our approach to change would work for someone you know, please request a proposal or phone 1-888-232-2873. We work with individuals and groups on the following subject areas: attitude, listening, body language, voice, leadership, compliments and corrections, behavioral style, teamwork, effective meetings, public speaking, accent reduction and much more!.

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