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A question we commonly ask ourselves and our clients is “What makes an organization high-performing?” Recently, Five Star hosted a Potential for High Performance Seminar and this very same question was posed to the audience. After a few moments of thought, one participant stated that high-performing organizations are accountable. When asked to discuss how a lack of accountability within an organization manifests itself, one respondent commented that when accountability is missing, “nobody can say yes, but everyone can say no.” This response sparked an interesting discussion about the connection between accountability, empowerment, and decision making. Below are some of the thoughts participants offered about how these three concepts are linked and how they work together to contribute to the creation of a high-performance organization.

1. To build accountability there must be clearly defined goals and an agreed upon commitment by    everyone regarding how each person will contribute their unique talents.
2. Accountability requires that individuals earn and receive a level of empowerment from their leader and their team to contribute their personal talents and experiences. True empowerment is given, earned, and accepted.
3. Leaders must believe that their team members are competent and trustworthy to make decisions that are in the best interest of the team and the organization as a whole.
4. Ultimately, there must be someone who takes ownership of the decisions of a team or work group. If this is missing, the finger pointing game quickly ensues.
5. Although decisions must be made rapidly, in order to make good decisions, there must be patience to think.
6. High-performance organizations track and report out on the effectiveness of decisions over time and reward people for making decisions that advance the mission of the organization.

The connection between accountability, empowerment, and decision making and the role they play in creating high-performance organizations can’t be understated. Offer your ideas by commenting on this post below!

What does it take to build an enthusiastic and energetic workforce? How can you encourage all of your team members to begin each day wondering how they can do their job more effectively? Furthermore, how can you create a sense of urgency, particularly during tough economic times?

The simple answer is strong leadership. Leaders who inspire others with a compelling purpose are necessary in order to cultivate the kind of culture in which employees look forward to coming to work. Over the next few weeks, we’re going to examine each of the four key behaviors of effective Organizational Leadership.

Inspire Others with a Compelling Purpose and Vision

People have a basic desire to be a part of something important. Most want to know that they are making a difference in the world. Strong leaders have the ability to inspire that kind of purpose by effectively communicating the importance of their organization’s mission. They provide a clear vision for the future – a future that can only be reached through the commitment, competence, and energy of everyone on the team.
There are a lot of people in leadership positions who would probably not describe themselves as inspirational. When we think of inspirational leaders, persuasive speechmakers like Martin Luther King Jr. come to mind. With his “I Have a Dream” speech, he moved hundreds of thousands of people. However eloquent, it’s not necessary to possess that exact kind of charisma. What is necessary is the ability to personalize the importance and value of your work in a genuine way. Organizational leaders must be able to communicate how their team’s work makes a difference to their organization, industry, customers, and community.

We were recently motivated by this very clear example of a leader who found a way to inspire others. This person is the department manager of facilities for a corporate campus. She leads a workforce of landscapers, maintenance workers, and janitors. Her vision is simple, “We create peace and serenity for our employees and visitors. People should experience serenity when they look out the windows at a beautiful, well-groomed landscape. They should find peace and calm with the cleanliness of the restrooms and other facilities. This peace and serenity leads to higher productivity and employee morale.”

What is your compelling purpose? How do you inspire your workforce to high performance? Share your inspirational story with us by commenting here, and be sure to visit our blog next week to learn the next key behavior for effective Organizational Leadership.

Does your organization struggle to meet deadlines? Is the blame-game commonplace in the daily life of employees? Have client/customer satisfaction scores fallen below desired targets? If any or all of the following symptoms resonate, your organization might have an accountability problem.

Accountability is the willingness and interest to assume responsibility for one’s actions and work. It occurs only when people accept full ownership of the results of their work. Without accountability, an organization is incapable of achieving and sustaining high performance.

Cultures in high-performance organizations have personal and team accountability that drives the execution of strategy and the delivery of value to the customer. Unfortunately, the concept of accountability has escaped many organizations in today’s marketplace. Although the prospect of instilling accountability throughout an entire organization can seem daunting, every person within an organization has the capability to build personal and team accountability. Here are some practical steps you can implement to cultivate accountability within your organization:

• Clearly define goals.
  Individuals have a tendency to feel ownership of measurable goals and will work harder to achieve those goals.
• Discuss the impact their work will have on the organization and/or the client.
  There is more accountability among individuals who know the impacts of their contributions, and with this knowledge, they will likely internalize consequences of those impacts, both positive and negative. Be sure to link employee goals with customer goals and expectations, as well as explain what it means to exceed those goals and expectations.
• Develop and train your workforce to feel accountable for their actions.
  Accountability in the workplace is supported when you have ongoing discussions with your employees about their goals and the impacts the goals have on the organization. Also, discuss the consequences of not delivering on those goals.
• Carry out on agreed upon consequences.
  Once goals and outcomes have been agreed upon, follow-through on the various consequences for results that meet and do not meet expectations.
• Remember the concept of accountability is contagious.
  In a team environment, it is crucial that all members hold each other accountable. Team members should feel empowered to identify a need and identify solutions for how they can meet that need. In a team setting, it is likely that the members will hold each other accountable through peer pressure and the desire for the team to be successful.

Accountability can happen only when responsible leaders and workforces commit to holding each other accountable for exceeding goals and expectations. Although accountability is not always innately found within organizations, it can be cultivated through a focused effort and ongoing coaching and training.

Over the last five years, the emergence of Social Media and its impact on society has been well documented. Social Media connects people with similar interests through technology, enabling them to share ideas/thoughts and media and collaborate around common interests. What separates Social Media from all of the previous technology-enabled movements is the dramatic paradigm shift in who drives and owns the content. Check out this great YouTube clip, which illustrates this point and demonstrates how Social Media works.

A recent Harris poll found that 49% of Americans are using Social Networking tools. This is an amazing statistic if one considers that most of these tools did not exist several years ago. The growth and popularity of these tools is going to continue to grow as they continue to gain acceptance and utility within the workplace. Some might argue that the adoption and use of these tools represents the next great opportunity for corporations.

But, how exactly can corporations use Social Media? To answer this question, it is important to understand the value that Social Media brings to a corporation. There are several key reasons why corporations are using or plan to adopt Social Media. These include:

• Communication – Enabling people to communicate with each other when they need to and about topics they find most important. Some examples of applications that are now in use include Blogs (Blogger, WordPress, and Vox), Microblogs (Twitter and Yammer), Social Networking (LinkedIn), and Events (Meetup and Upcoming).
• Collaboration – Tools to enable people to work together more efficiently and share common information that they deem important. Some examples of these tools include Social Tagging tools (Delicious and Digg), Wikis (Wikipedia), Virtual Environments (SecondLife), and Ratings Tools (Answers sites).
• Media Sharing – Sites and tools that enable people to share media about a specific topic or area with each other. Some examples of these tools include Photo Sharing (Flickr), Video Sharing (YouTube and Vimeo), LiveCasting (Ustream and Justin.tv), and Audio Sharing (Podcasts).

We are interested in finding out more about how your organization has implemented or plans to implement Social Media. Use the comments box below to submit your ideas and discuss them with us.

This week our discussion on the importance of Relationship Leadership concludes with the focus on building trust-based partnerships, internally and externally.

Mutual trust and respect is at the heart of all effective working relationships. As a leader, it makes good sense then to realize that in order to build effective partnerships with those who work for you, alongside you, or above you, you must focus on establishing trusting relationships.

Build Trust-Based Partnerships, Internally and Externally

“Why doesn’t everyone in our organization have the same sense of urgency as I do? “ Where is the accountability?” “All I ever hear are excuses.” These are just some of the thoughts and frustrations that leaders share with us when we begin leadership development engagements. Our answer is always the same. In order to build a sense of urgency and accountability, everyone in the organization must be on the same page. The only way to create this sense of teamwork and shared responsibility is by establishing trust-based partnerships with everyone in your organization – direct reports, peer leaders, suppliers, and customers.

A partnership is formed when two or more people have a common set of goals and realize that their best chance to achieve results is through collaboration. When those building blocks are established, trust begins to grow. Each person in the partnership takes ownership for his/her part in the organization. At that point, accountability for delivering expected results is a given. You don’t want to let your partners down!

Here are the three keys to creating effective trust-based partnerships:

Frame Your Values – The leader and his/her partners have to frame their relationship around a common set of values. Each person openly discusses what is important to him/her and consistently stays true to the values that are shared by the partners. These values form the foundation for the partnership. Staying true to those values provides the strength for that partnership.

Show that You Care – The leader needs to clearly demonstrate that he/she is just as concerned about his/her partners’ success as his/her own. Taking the time to get to know a partner’s needs and interests strengthens the relationship. Listening, communicating, and doing what you can to meet your partners’ needs goes a long way toward maintaining a trusting relationship.

Deliver on the Shared Vision – The final bond that seals a trust-based partnership is delivering results. Nothing does more for a partnership than the successful feeling of being a part of a winning team. When each partner gets as much or more out of a relationship as he/she puts in it, the partnership endures.

Leaders who build trust-based partnership in all aspects of their business are able to create high-performing organizations. Do you have these kinds of partnerships with your employees, peers, suppliers, and customers?

Visit our blog next week as we begin the discussion on Organizational Leadership.

This week our discussion on the importance of Relationship Leadership continues, focusing on the next key behavior of effective leaders: Provides Open Access to Information.

No one likes to be told, “You don’t need to know that.” It’s even less flattering to hear, “That information is only available to people at a higher level than you.” In addition, it can be very disheartening to find out that you are the last to know about a change. Leaders play such an important role in the effective delivery of information to their workforce. It’s important for leaders to know the right way to deliver information, in the right amount, at the right time.

Provides Open Access to Information

When employees perceive that their leader is withholding important information from them, it leads them to believe that they are not qualified or considered important enough to know certain information. Thus, we have the beginning of the phrase, “Information Is Power!”

As a leader, you can use information to convey trust and empowerment. At the same time, you are responsible for what you share, with whom, and by when. Often, the decision regarding who gets to know what is made on the “needs to know basis” theory. Often, this theory can be too restrictive. The more information an employee has, the better prepared he/she is to make decisions quickly. With the current pace of change and the increasing demands of our customers, rapid decision making is imperative. Therefore, making information accessible to as many people as possible is a competitive advantage.

A better criteria with which to judge who should receive information is as follows. As a leader, ask yourself, “Could this information in this person’s hands be harmful to our organization?” By asking this simple question, you will feel more comfortable making more information available to more people. The challenge then becomes how to keep from overloading your employees with information. The key is providing open access to information without dumping information on employees. Make your employees aware that information is available, and tell them how to access it. Communicate change as early as possible and then direct your employees to a common source where they can receive information.

If you feel that an employee is not ready to hear certain information, that may be your cue to offer development assistance to that person so that he/she can get to a point where you feel comfortable providing open access to information. Employees who are provided with open access to information are better prepared to serve their organization and their customers.

Are you strengthening trust by preparing your employees to handle more information and make better decisions? Are you building these kinds of trust-based partnerships with your employees?

Visit our blog next week to learn the next key behavior for effective Relationship Leadership.

Have you ever blamed your stagnant desk job for your ever-increasing waist size? After a long day’s work, it’s not always easy to drag yourself to the gym. What if you could work on developing a healthier, fitter you while you’re at work?

Recently, two Five Star team members collaborated to develop a voluntary fitness program for our office. It’s no secret that exercising relieves stress and contributes to an increase in energy and personal motivation. Also, as one of Five Star’s team members recently pointed out, “It’s a great benefit for companies to offer their employees. It builds camaraderie and a sense of motivation that spills over into their actual work.”

Now, just two weeks into the program, and a combined 12,464 calories and 17 pounds lighter, Five Star employees are reaping the benefits of a healthier work life, and Five Star is reaping the benefits of greater employee focus on personal wellness.

But, what would a fitness program for your office look like?

Here are a few suggested activities to get your office moving in a healthier direction:

1. Take your next meeting on the move.
   Getting up from your desk just to take another seat in your conference room isn’t exactly exercise. Meetings can often consume your entire day, so try not to take all of your meetings sitting down! Suggest walking meetings, when appropriate, and you’ll find that the great ideas might flow more freely given some fresh air. Also, for a really fun idea check out  the Conference Bike!
2. Survey activity interests.
   People won’t willingly participate in activities unless they self-select them based on their own personal interests. Offer a survey with a diverse list of activities, maybe yoga, jogging, or walking. That way there is something for everyone. Then decide to sponsor the top three selections, for example.
3. Try Gyminee.
   Gyminee is a great online program option for your employees to track their successes. Goal-setting is key to an effective fitness program. Gyminee enables employees to select personalized work-out programs, track daily nutrition intake, and it also enables employees to tally group achievements. Learn more about it at: http://www.gyminee.com.

As one of our team members put it, “there is nothing bad about exercising.” People feel better and have more motivation with exercise than without. Think about starting your own office fitness program today!

Have you ever wondered who came up with the unwritten “rule” that work can’t be fun? Or, why is work so often considered the exact opposite of fun? Obviously, the fellow in this video doesn’t believe in following this rule. Check it out!

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics has found that an average American spends 8.7 hours of each day working. This is equivalent to 36.35% of a day. If this statistic is extended over the life span of an average American, it is safe to assume that a person will spend a total of 19 years and 8 months working. These are staggering numbers; especially if you consider the amount of time that people spend not having fun at work!

Creating a culture where fun is integrated into the day-to-day operations of an organization can be a key differentiator for a company. How can you create a highly productive environment where a culture of fun is encouraged and rewarded? Here are a few possible ideas.

1. Celebrate individual and team accomplishments.
   One of the greatest joys of working collaboratively with others is seeing the fruits of your work take shape. Yet oftentimes, individual efforts and team accomplishments tend to be quickly forgotten as people rapidly move onto the next task at hand. Although this happens frequently in today’s deadline sensitive world, it does not mean it is right! Taking time to celebrate accomplishments adds meaning and purpose to daily work and helps people appreciate the unique contributions every team member makes to an organization. Every organization and person can view celebrations differently. For some, the celebration might be a simple lunch or dinner together, but for others it might include time spent doing an enjoyable activity outside of work. Regardless of how your team decides to celebrate, the key is making a commitment to celebrate!
2. Don’t be afraid to use humor appropriately.
   When was the last time you had a good laugh at work? One of the most important things to glean from the video of the steward above is that he sought to interject a little humor and fun into his otherwise routine task. Work doesn’t always have to equal hard labor! Taking time to laugh and add an appropriate amount of humor to your daily tasks can help transform routine or difficult tasks into much more exciting opportunities.
3. Choose to have a positive attitude at work.
   A powerful, yet frequently unpopular way to increase the “fun” scale of a work environment is to evaluate how one’s attitude is impacting others. Every person’s work attitude can have either a positive or negative impact on others. If you have not done this before, commit an entire day to raising your level of awareness of your personal attitude by trying to maintain a positive “can do” attitude as much as possible. You will quickly see that your attitude can have a positive impact on those with whom you interact!

Obviously there are limits and boundaries, and we’re certainly not advocating a free-for-all work environment. But, what we are suggesting is that you take a serious look at how you and your team can create and sustain a fun and productive work culture. Who knows, maybe your organization can rewrite that unwritten rule that work can’t be fun!

The face of leadership is changing, literally. It’s common knowledge that over the next 5-15 years, many current leaders will be exiting the workforce. Much has been written about the merits of developing leaders now to fill the impending pipeline shortage. This makes sense. However, a fundamental question remains. How is your organization identifying the emerging leaders it needs to develop?

Since the importance of emerging leaders is a timely topic, we’ve recently been asked that very fundamental question ourselves. In response, we have identified several strategies that when implemented together help an organization identify its emerging leaders, both internally and externally.

Bring high-potential leaders in the door in the first place.

• The hiring phase offers a great opportunity for your organization to engage emerging leaders right off the bat. Seek to hire talented individuals with demonstrated or potential leadership qualities.
• Make the interview count. Add questions to the interview slate that are targeted at leadership. In this way, you give the potential candidate the opportunity to acknowledge his/her leadership qualities.
• Even if the most ideal interview process for identifying emerging leaders is in place, there is one important step left. Current managers must understand what potential leadership looks like. If they don’t, they will miss important cues given by the candidate.

Evaluate with a standard assessment.

• Once talent is brought into the organization, develop a fair process for evaluating high- potential leaders. Create a standardized system of measurement to ensure that all emerging leaders are evaluated using common criteria and behaviors.
• What should this system of measurement include? An effective system of measurement includes an assessment of common behaviors against expectations and an opportunity to write open comments.

Validate with current leaders, peers, business partners, and customers.

• Once an emerging leader is identified, it is vital to validate assessment data against the perceptions of those who work with the high-potential leader. The first step of this process is to facilitate a consistent chain of communication with their current leaders to gain their input and recommendations on what development areas currently exist and what opportunities could be made available to help accelerate potential.
• Encourage peer assessment, because peers help shed light on the true character of a potential leader and the consistency of that character.
• Before beginning to develop an emerging leader, don’t forget to ask for input from business partners (HR, for example), because they can provide confirmation that the potential leader is in good standing.
• Sometimes an outside opinion offers the kind of perspective you may need to help understand key behaviors deemed valuable to leaders in your organization. A great way to gather such information is by asking customers for their insights on the emerging leader. Customers deliver experiential feedback on how successful the potential leader has been in living up to expectations and representing the values of your organization.

Make sure your organization is ready for the imminent leadership challenge. Take the chance to turn this future challenge into a great opportunity by effectively identifying emerging leaders now.

There is a saying that too much of a good thing is never good. In some cases, that’s true. But, we have evidence to suggest that in other cases, too much of a good thing, really is a good thing!

Recently, we conducted an internal survey of Five Star employees and asked them to identify behaviors and situations where they believe too much of a good thing can actually benefit an organization. Below are the top 15 insights gathered:

1. Communicating around a change.
2. Getting to know a customer and their needs.
3. Listening to employee ideas for solutions to organizational challenges.
4. Providing consistent feedback to employees, when needed. Coaching when the need arises.
5. Using teachable moments to help others develop.
6. Evaluating how people use technology to do their job and then using that information to make enhancements to it.
7. Encouraging creative solutions by looking at things with a fresh perspective and asking “why?”
8. Linking employee talents and interests to opportunities to enable organizational strategy.
9. Building diverse teams.
10. Basing decisions on customer needs and the company’s vision.
11. Identifying and cultivating future leaders in the organization.
12. Linking organizational strategy to people’s daily jobs.
13. Using focus groups and user acceptance testing (UAT) for new technologies prior to implementation.
14. Providing performance support and training that appeal to different learning styles.
15. Having a surplus of good leaders in the pipeline.

What do you think? Please provide your ideas and insight by commenting to this post.