Big River Group, LLC

Check Out Our Updated Blog

2011-04-20T16:36:00.001-07:00

Our new and updated blog has now been embedded within our website. This blog will stay up, though updates will all occur at:

http://www.bigrivergroup.com/pages/BRUCESLEADERSHIPBLOG/

Got Plans?

2011-02-17T04:16:00.000-08:00

My clients have been asking for a training session on planning, so here it is.

Chainsaw Planning© is an effective and efficient way to develop a strategic plan or goals in waaaay less time while providing clear direction that employees can understand & follow.

You are invited to attend a Train-the-Trainer session by Dr. Bruce Miles who has trained more than 8,000 leaders on Chainsaw Planning©, and has personally helped clients develop almost 1,000 Chainsaw Plans.

The session will be help on Thursday, March 3rd, from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM at the Radisson Hotel in St. Cloud, MN.

Participants will receive all materials necessary, and will work through hands-on simulations that will allow them to return to their organizations & facilitate their own planning.

EARLY REGISTRATION: If you register before February 20th:

1-2 people $90 per person
3-5 people $70 per person
6+ people $60 per person

After February 20th:

1-2 people $95 per person
3-5 people $80 per person
6+ people $70 per person

To register for this session, click here.

Call me @ (800) 500-7017, or e-mail me (bruce@bigrivergroup.com) if you have any questions.

Check Out Our Site

2011-01-17T04:18:00.000-08:00

When we help our clients, providing current and quality data and research is important to us. One valuable resource that we provide for clients is searching the web to find the best information available.

In order to help all of our clients, we've housed many of these links on our website. On our Links For Leaders page you will find a wealth of information on topics including putting vision into action, change and process management, and developing influence.

Other information and tools on our website include: web videos for follow-up planning support, downloadable planning tools, and more.

We hope that you take some time to search the site and find information that will help your organization develop and thrive.

Strengths Based Leadership is a Fantastic Resource for Leadership Development or Retreats

2010-12-17T04:19:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to take a minute to send a note re: Strengths Based Leadership (http://www.strengthsfinder.com).

This is an incredible, data-based tool with an assessment that identifies your top 5 strengths (out of a total of 34). Research indicates that leaders have waaaay more to get from using their strengths than trying to learn to make their weaknesses stronger. The book also has a great section on strong teams, and a section on what followers need from leaders.

StrengthsFinder came along after all of the Gallup leadership research (First, Break All The Rules, etc.). StrengthsFinder is now part of the Gallup organization

I have used this with teams in business, medicine, & education & it is really an exceptional tool.

To order the book: (http://productsearch.barnesandnoble.com/search/results.aspx?WRD=strengths+based+leadership).

Rather than take up space here, call me (320-260-2612) or e-mail me (bruce@bigrivergroup.com) if I can provide any other info that will help you decide if, or how to use it with your team.

Four Things Your Employees Need From You

2010-11-17T04:20:00.000-08:00

Hope this finds you well & enjoying your summer.

I have blogged about the Harvard Business Review Management Tip of The Day before, but yesterday's post was very good & deserves a wider audience. You can sign up to receive the tip each day (addresses below). Today's tip contains ideas similar to the research from StrengthsFinder re: what followers need from leaders (Trust, Compassion, Stability, Hope).

Have a great week!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

--- MANAGEMENT TIP: JULY 13, 2010 ---

4 Things Your Employees Need From You

Traditional leaders see the employee-boss relationship as a transaction: money in exchange for labor. Transformational leaders know and recognize that employees want much more than that. Here are the four things your people need to succeed:

1. Love. This may sound touchy-feely, but love simply means focused concern that is exclusively for that person's good. Show your employees you care about them and their futures.

2. Growth. No one wants to be exactly where they are forever. Create a culture that allows your people to grow and expand.

3. Contribution. To feel fulfilled, employees must know that they are contributing to the whole. Emphasize the ways that their work matters to the organization.

4. Meaning. We are meaning-seeking creatures. Share a vision that demonstrates that all of your employees are engaged in a larger purpose.

*******************************************

Welcome to Management Tip of the Day, a free daily alert with quick, practical management tips and ideas from HBR.org.

Follow the Tip: RSS (http://link.email.hbr.org/r/CIZ4/JJXTF/FXEY2U/4P6OS/CSVNO/JE/t) or Twitter (http://link.email.hbr.org/r/CIZ4/JJXTF/FXEY2U/4P6OS/K1WB5/JE/t)

What's Your Leadership Brand?

2010-10-17T04:21:00.000-07:00

Hope this message finds you well. I always like to pass along great resources when I find them. Here's one from the Harvard Business Review. Click on the link below to read more.

What's Your Leadership Brand?

A leadership brand tells people what is distinctive about you as a leader and communicates what you have to offer. Summarizing your brand in a statement is a useful and often enlightening task. First, answer two important questions:

1. What do you want to be known for?
2. What results do you want to achieve in the next 12 months?

Take these two answers and put them into the following statement: I want to be known for ______ so that I can deliver ______. Once you have your statement, be sure that you are living up to it. Ask others for input on whether you are achieving your goals and whether they see your leadership brand in the same way you do.

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2010/03/define_your_personal_leadershi.html?cm_mmc=npv-_-MANAGEMENT_TIP-_-MAY_2010-_-MTOD0524&referral=00203

11/16/09: Big River Vision, Mission & 2009 Priorities

2009-11-17T11:08:00.000-08:00

Hope this finds you well.

The topic for this blog is Vision, Mission & Priorities for the Big River Group. After working hard this year & keeping this plan in front of me, I would be interested in your response to what you see below. Thanks in advance & take care.

Big River Vision (Our Ideal Destination)

We will touch & help even greater numbers of leaders & teams in business, education, nonprofits & government across the Midwest, United States & throughout the world.

We will be able to help those leaders & teams through direct service, web-based resources, ITV & teleconferences.

Big River Mission (Our Job Description)

We will help our clients & friends...

* ...use their existing human resources & other resources more effectively

*...lead their organizations more effectively

* ...make more friends & increase revenue

* ...serve their clients & friends more efficiently & more effectively.

* ...enjoy going to work.

Priorities for 2009 (Our large initiatives; not goals)

Priority #1: Increased contact & content delivered to clients & friends.

Priority #2: Increased presence with current planning clients.

Priority #3: Increased service footprint.

Priority #4: Develop teleconference capabilities to serve four leadership groups.

Looking Out for #2

2009-06-17T17:50:00.000-07:00

What an exciting time! The book that I am writing is almost done!

The title is “Looking Out for #2”. The concept is simple. At one point, I was thinking about my most effective clients and discovered that a key differentiator for those organizations was the presence of a strong, effective #2 person. Your #2 is a key to the success of your business. The person you rely on when you cannot or do not have the time to attend to every bit of the business on your own. You trust and rely upon them to manage your business as if it were their own. These are the people that can:
• Think like an owner
• Model effective, healthy followership
• Understand, promote & help deliver the owner’s vision
• Manage outcomes identified as essential within the strategic plan
• Help other employees to learn, persist, succeed, & thrive
• Learn new skills
• Deal with some role ambiguity

The book will contain chapters that will help owners & CEOs understand...
• How to use a #2 to grow your business
• How to promote them from inside your business, or
• How to find them outside of your business
• What to tell them
• How to get them to “hit their numbers”
• How to reinforce them
• How to talk about their mistakes
• How to get them to think like an owner
• How to keep them

I would like to hear from others about your #2s. Please share your stories about your #2 person & their successes. If you have a story about a #2 employee that did not work out, we would all learn from that, too. I want to study, recognize and celebrate these people, as their contributions are immense, and they don’t typically look for recognition.

Thanks in advance for sending in your stories & stay tuned.

Everyday Resources

2009-05-13T19:03:00.000-07:00

Hope this note finds you well, working smarter, & enjoying the success that you deserve.Below are four resources I recently found that are worth your review.

1) Short video on managing negative employees:

http://www.bnet.com/2422-13722_23-290285.html?promo=713&tag=nl.e713

2) Link to a clear explanation re: how to get a presence started on the business network on LinkedIn:

http://www.bnet.com/2403-13070_23-219860.html?promo=808&tag=nl.e808

3) An automated performance review system (log in & get the intro material free):

file:///Users/bruce/Desktop/Painful2Productive_land.php.html

4) Short, & very useful video re: better sales techniques:

http://blogs.bnet.com/salesmachine/?p=2739&tag=nl.e808

Hope these are of use!

Leading in a Tough Economy

2009-03-15T12:53:00.000-07:00

Hope this post finds you all well, working smarter & effectively planning to refine your business as a result of the tougher economy. Here are links to four resources that I found to be plenty useful.

Here is a link on the topic Ways to keep customer loyalty when times are tough
http://www.salesandmarketing.com/msg/content_display/incentive/e3i040c1ac9536ad53c4d326cabd4b6c6ce

Second link: Effectively coaching your employees isn't easy. Take this test to see how your approach stacks up.
http://hbsp.ed10.net/r/1AH6/CKSDK/WL8BJM/CIBEC/LP6KR/PJ/t

Final link: Think Again: Why Good Leaders Make Bad Decisions and How to Keep It From Happening to You
http://hbsp.ed10.net/r/1AH6/CKSDK/WL8BJM/CIBEC/1ZYL7/PJ/t

Great material - happy reading!

"Have a Kleenex & Get Back to Work"

2009-01-19T06:11:00.000-08:00

I had a very interesting conversation with the (female) head of a client's HR department. We were having breakfast with a group of #2s discussing the specific challenge of leading clever employees (bright, boundary-crossers, easily bored, can be great contributors; Goffee, R. and Gareth Jones, G. March 2007. "Leading Clever People". Harvard Business Review.).

This person told the group that she was practicing a new skill, reducing the time that some people spent in her office hoping that she would be an ear or their den mother.

She said that her new favorite phrase was "Have a kleenex & get back to work". This phrase was her new defense against time-wasters. She is a very compassionate person, and this phrase was a departure from past practice for her. I know her well enough to know that this is not bitterness or an inappropriate glib response, just a new tack to take when the issue at hand does not deserve as much time as the time-waster wants to spend on it.

For more information on the Big River Group or joining our breakfast series visit www.bigrivergroup.com and click on "Contact Us".

Leadership and Followership:

2008-12-10T09:14:00.000-08:00

“Workers whose leaders scored low in social intelligence reported emotional exhaustion at four times the rate of their colleagues who had supportive leaders”

Daniel Goleman and Richared Boyatzis

Last month our two breakfast groups spent a lot of time talking about and defining Emotional Intelligence – or EQ and how it can predict a leader’s success or lack of success. This month we decided to take that topic one step further and talk about social intelligence, Let’s face it, employees respect leaders who bring out three key emotional responses:

1) Significance

2) A feeling of community

3) A feeling of excitement

This is especially true today when companies are feeling the pinch of the economy. The “head down, fanny up” mentality will not be inspirational enough to your employees in extremely tough times. In today’s economy, smart leaders may find themselves doing a bit more handholding - and the really great leaders will look beyond their comfort zone and the monthly numbers to give their employees a much-needed pat on the back.

Does this mean that leaders need to offer an open door to the time wasters – absolutely not! But a quick “you did a great job on that project”, or “I overheard you with that angry customer – you did good work settling them down” carries a lot more weight than the company-wide email more accurately defining customer service.

After you have developed followers & followership – how do you keep everyone on track? Bruce has developed this very user-friendly planning grid (“My Job, Your Job” worksheet). Take a few minutes and chart out 3 to 5 short-term operational priorities. ID where do you want to be 3 months from now…one year from now and five years from now. Then ID the steps that you need to take today to get started on the route, the key players involved, and their deliverables over the next 90 days.

Many of Big River’s clients actually have this chart blown into a 3’ by 5’ poster and posted it in a common area or break rooms. It serves as a constant reminder of the short-term operational goals for specific departments & employees. Employees can also write ideas on the poster and take more ownership of key action steps. By embracing the research results on leadership, social intelligence and building a dedicated following, leaders are more likely to align business strategies & employee actions – a fantastic combination.

Building Bridges for Student Outcomes

2008-09-11T12:04:00.000-07:00

One of my school district clients recently had an interesting idea. This SpEd leader wanted to bring all of the major players in the district together to plan out a better model for better serving all students.

The two planning sessions were entitled: Building Bridges for Student Outcomes.

In the sessions, the group completed the following tasks
Session 1 (three hours)
1) Briefly review applied research / best practice ideas
2) ID & review recent successes & issues
3) Develop a vision for a better system
4) ID priorities for actions
5) Review possible next steps
6) Evaluate this session

Session 2 (two hours)
1) Briefly review products from session #1
2) Develop specific goals aligned w/ new priorities
3) Develop workplans for new goals
4) Review next steps
5) Evaluate this session

The group did excellent work & came up with the following priorities for the improved system:

#1) Comprehensive, inclusive interventions & differentiation plans (pyramid including social, emotional, behavioral)

#2) Define & train to a district coaching model & implement consistently

#3) Vertical alignment of curriculum & assessments K-12 (cross content included)

#4) Comprehensive assessment system embedded in instruction (variety of methods of assessment that is fully implemented

#5) Every child reads by grade 3 @ or above grade level

#6) Coaching model continues to support full implementation with fidelity of PA (Principles of learning) & is fully implemented.

Their work in FY09 will include implementation & evaluation. Obviously, they have a lot of work ahead. But bringing the players together to plan together is an excellent start.

Increasing Employee Unity

2008-09-11T12:03:00.000-07:00

I recently caught a client doing a great job.

Prior to each monthly, one-hour staff meeting, he has been asking employees to read & reflect on a short article that he sends along in advance, typically on customer service.

That is good, but his next step was exceptional:

He sent out a survey with this statement: “Name two individuals that have excelled in customer service or teamwork over the last month. They will be included in summary notes.”

Wow! Did he get results!

A few comments came back that were good:

(Name): You are fitting in great.

(Name): Always very friendly to clients & coworkers.

But he received a few comments that were terrific:

(Name): I have noticed that (Name) is excellent with her phone skills. She is great with clients that are upset, etc. She is one of the best in dealing with our difficult clients!

(Name): Great with client checkout at closing. Made the client feel welcome even after closing time.

This type of feedback is fantastic. When highlighted at a staff meeting, it provides direction re: important themes within the organization, & provides specific positive reinforcement in a group setting.

This sort of material can also be used as a teaching tool with individual employees in a private feedback or review session.

Nice work, Jeff!

Goal-setting & Amount of Detail Needed

2008-08-25T15:00:00.000-07:00

If there is one planning error that I see too often, it is the mistake made regarding developing the appropriate level of detail for new goals. I have reviewed hundreds of strategic plans over the last 20 years, and the problems look like this:

1) Too Much Goal Detail.

If the goal detail is overdone, participants will not attend to the essential actions necessary for goal completion because too much detail exists, or the plan is too long & cumbersome. This may include one goal with as many as 18 to 24 “Objectives” or “Essential Activities”. This much detail makes it hard for individuals to start working, because the overall set of tasks looks too complex.

2) Not Enough, or Nonexistent Goal Detail.

In contrast, if the detail is too vague or even nonexistent (the goal is identified, but no accompanying workplan has been developed), any progress on the goal will be just an accident.

To combat the above problems, I developed two worksheets that can be downloaded for free to address the above problems.

The Chainsaw Goal Workplan was developed to provide a manageable set of action steps necessary to complete a goal with specified timelines, resources, & responsibilities. My clients typically print the final plans on different colored papers for easier review during regular meetings.

The Benchmark Goal Worksheet was developed to get participants working immediately on the two questions necessary for progress:

1) What Do We Want to Accomplish?

2) What Should We Do to Begin?

These worksheets are pretty self-explanatory & easy to use. I hope that your planning is successful, and please let me know if I can help you with additional advice or detail regarding the above worksheets.

Training Employees in Advance So That They Can Better Handle Difficult Employees

2008-08-25T14:57:00.000-07:00

In my last blog, I wrote about a problem that I see
when organizations engage in planning & set goals
to improve (“Goal-Setting & Amount of Detail
Needed”). This blog will cover another threat
to organizational improvement: Difficult Employees.

Difficult employees are a thorny issue for leaders,
but guess what? If those difficult employees can
be a pain in the fanny to a supervisor, you can bet
that they are even more difficult when dealing
with other employees. If they can act inappropriately
to a person in an authority position, they are probably
wreaking havoc with some of your less-assertive
employees, and they are also gaining power &
status among other underperformers for being
difficult in the workplace.

One way to reduce the effect of the difficult
employees is to train all employees on the topics
of difficult employees & reducing organizational
conflict. It is easier for employees to listen
objectively to training session content and learn
new techniques for dealing with the difficult
employees than it is to try to handle the
knucklehead employees on the spur of the moment.

Training Session Content

All employees should understand that organizational
conflict can give difficult employees more traction,
and that the typical causes of organizational conflict include:

Cause #1: Lack of Focus Issues

Cause #2: Difficulties With Processes & Practices

Cause #3: Interpersonal Issues

Cause #4: Leadership/Followership Issues

Cause #5: Conflict From Bad Behavior

You will want to express the idea that we all
want to be hard on the problems, & easy on the
people when it comes to the issues that cause
conflict. Employees in a training session should
be encouraged to consider each of the above causes,
& ID which one(s) are currently out of whack enough
as to cause uncertainty re: employees’ role &
responsibilities that lead to inappropriate employee behavior.

Questions to be Answered by Employees

All employees should also be ready to answer the
following questions:

1) What causes conflict here?

2) What types of inappropriate behaviors happen
during conflict?

3) What behaviors do you want co-employees to
use when conflict happens here?

Answers to the questions can be collected & posted.
Your better employees will take heart in the fact
that many of the responses are healthy & reflect
their own beliefs. This will help the majority of
employees to see that their beliefs are shared
by others, despite what the difficult employees
are broadcasting.

Strategies for Dealing With Difficult Co-Employees

All employees should also be made aware of the four
basic types of difficult employees:

1) The Aggressor

2) The Saboteur

3) The Know-It-All

4) The Procrastinator

Employee training on this topic should help “inoculate”
your healthier employees against the lower performance
& lower morale caused by difficult coworkers.

If I may be of assistance to any blog readers as you
try this activity, please e-mail me (bruce@bigrivergroup.com).
I would be happy to respond to any questions or issues so
that you can be as effective as possible as you take on this
topic in your own organization.