This week, I got to interview Tim Richardson, an energetic guy who wants all of us MBAs to live a rich life.  He’s in the category of what I call my ‘zen friends’ because he lives in complete harmony about all of his career and life choices.  He even contributed as an author of Meditations for The Road Warrior.

The funny thing is, at an MBA event last month I asked a group of graduates if they ever meditated.  It started a whole discussion about scenes from Eat, Pray, Love.   We MBAs seem so type A that we can’t let our minds stop for three seconds.  Nearly everyone had tried, yet gave up because it seemed boring.

His newest book is Living Rich: Giving, Working, and Playing Like There’s No Tomorrow.  I think you’ll enjoy Tim’s perspective on ‘richness’.

LISA: You recommend building a strategic plan for your life.  What elements should be included and why?

TIM: Of course, people value different things. For me, I spend time thinking about and planning in the following areas: health, career, faith, family/friends, hobbies/interest, life long learning/intellectual stimulation and finances. I think all of it should relate to fulfilling your purpose in life. If your purpose is clear, it makes everything else easier.   There’s an article on how to “retreat to advance” on my website.

LISA: What prompted you drop your goal to be a millionaire?

TIM:  I didn’t really drop that goal, I just don’t focus on becoming a millionaire as one of the most important things in my life. A happy marriage, having great kids, doing things I enjoy, making a difference, and being healthy ALL trump becoming a millionaire. I’d rather have those things than a billion dollars. As trite as it may sound money does NOT buy happiness and it certainly can’t buy you those things.

LISA: Many MBAs set goals to be rich.  You talk about “richness” as more than money.  Tell us more about that.

TIM: The bottom line is that being rich is not about how much you have, it’s about what you give. The more you give, the richer you become. It’s amazing to me to see the number of MBA’s today who are using their MBA’s in ways that make a difference. That to me, is RICH.

LISA: So many of us have trouble disconnecting.  You do a personal one or two day reflection and planning session every year in inspiring places…a “think week” as Bill Gates puts it.  Tell us about a key insight or goal that was born at one of yours.

TIM: My very speech topic of Living Rich came as a result of one of these sessions. I had been thinking my old speech was tired and needed to be retired yet I didn’t have something new in the pipeline. A day of thinking produced a list of questions which in time led me to discovering a new speech and whole series of projects that re-energized me, focused my speaking, and helped create a unique topic which sets me apart from my speaking colleagues.

LISA: You wrote a book about meditations for road warriors.  Many professionals cannot quiet their minds.  How can crackberry addicts learn to stop thinking and doing for a few minutes?

TIM: Technology is of course a mixed blessing. It both helps us connect AND it keeps us from connecting. Resist the temptation to take your technology everywhere you go. Have a day a week when you just don’t use technology at all. For the addict, that will be tough but people have survived thousands of years without being “connected” so anyone can survive a day.  Plan some tech free time in your life. You’ll be absolutely amazed with how much more productive you can be by reducing technology and only using it when necessary. Quiet time and daily reflection are as vital as exercise and healthy eating.

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If you want to hear more from Tim, be sure to check out his blog.  Thanks, Tim, for participating in our expert interview series!

Hello readers. We’re excited to announce that we’ve moved to a new website.

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This interview is written by MBAs for MBAs.  This week, I interviewed Lisa Sansom.  She’s an MBA, a leadership coach, and an expert speaker.  She even facilitates the team building process for new MBA cohorts at the Queens School of Business.   As a fellow student of organizational behavior, I couldn’t wait to get started.

LISA C: You’re an MBA in Organizational Behavior and an expert on interpersonal communications.  Give us a tip or two for increasing our self-awareness at work.

LISA S: When you encounter a frustrating situation or conversation, the first thing to do is take a disempassioned deep breath and ask yourself “How am I contributing, intentionally or unintentionally, to this situation?” Take a minute, ponder, and then the next thing that comes out of your mouth should be a question that will honestly help you to understand the other person’s point of view – a meaningful and open inquiry. Spend some time, as Stephen Covey says, seeking first to understand the other person.  Set your own ego and opinions aside – just for a moment. you don’t have to relinquish them entirely, but ask a few questions to turn on your own light bulb first.

LISA C: You’ve facilitated 360 reviews.  What can be gained from participating in a 360 process?

LISA S: 360 reviews provide two very interesting opportunities – one is for you to receive feedback from other sources in an honest fashion, and the second is for you to compare your own perceptions with those around you. It is important in 360s to remember that this is all about perceptions. Often, the 360 recipient, when seeing the results, focuses on the negatives and says “What can I do differently?” I would suggest that there are two alternative questions that would enrich the 360 experience: 1. “Where are my strengths that I can leverage?” and 2. “What are the perceptions that I can change?” The second question is subtly different in that it focuses your attention on the perceptions of the other person, rather than your own actions. It may be that your actions are fine, but you are not managing the relationship well enough that the other person is clear on your actions and intentions.

LISA C: As a writer for Your Workplace magazine, you’ve touched a lot on change management and work-life balance issues.  What’s your take on work-life balance?  Can it be done?  If so, what does success look like?

LISA S: Work-life balance is highly individual and the challenge comes when an organization decides to make this a corporate value or to impose work-life balance requirements across the board. For some, working 35 hours per week is work-life balance, preferring more “life”. For others, believe it or not, 70-80 hours per week is work-life balance, preferring to shift the emphasis to “work”. Neither of these are wrong, and it is difficult, if not impossible, for a corporate strategy to accommodate and support both. The best way to tackle work-life balance, I believe, is through individual attention. It is incumbent upon the management and leadership of a company to somehow craft a method through which managers are empowered to enable work-life balance for each individual team member. This is often not done because of the perception of unfairness – that someone who is working 35 hours is “getting off easy” compared to the person who is working 70, but if the work is getting done to high standards, and communication is clear across the team that there is organizationally-approved individual choice at play, then the discomfort with the apparent “unfairness” should be minimal.

LISA C: When a new, ‘big thing’ gets implemented in the workplace, how can we use early adopters to support change management success?

LISA S: Turn your early adopters into Change Champions. And cultivate early adopters who are the informal leaders in the organization – the people who work next to your potential change recipients, the people who are respected and recognized, the people who are good communicators and represent the organization professionally. Give those Champions training on how to be Change Champions – teach them about the project, seek their input and feedback, help them craft messages to send to the larger population.

LISA C: At the Queen’s School of Business, you facilitate the process of new MBA students becoming a team.  When these teams are ‘norming’, what’s the most interesting dynamic you see?

LISA S: At the QSB, we have teams actually create norms documents – what are the guidelines or rules by which they will operate as a team in the MBA program.  So, when teams are writing their norms in the MBA programs, there tends to be a great deal of harmony and alignment – most students come into the program as professionals with a certain work ethic, and so the norms creation process tends to be smooth, if a little wordy. However, what truly distinguishes the “high performing teams” from those that are just average is how the teams make use of their norms. The higher performing teams not only live their norms, but they openly and intentionally discuss the norms. They create times to actively review the norms documents that they created, and the team members intentionally refer to the team norms during debriefing sessions, working meetings and individual conversations with other team members. For these strong teams, the norms are meaningful and incorporated into the team’s DNA. For less effective teams, the norms are, at best, words on a page and, at worst, ignored entirely after their creation.

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Thank you Lisa for participating in our interview series.

Today’s economic situation is serving up record unemployment rates, continued job losses, and lots of fear.  Hurricanes, school shootings, and terrorism fills the news.  A friend of mine recently laid off 3/4 of his team, and he’s trying to inspire the survivors who feel like soon-to-be-victims.  Leadership in times of crisis is hard.

This week’s interview is with Bob VandePol, President of Crisis Care Network.  He helps leaders respond to crises in the workplace.  If you’re looking for a dose of resiliency, read on.  Bob has a special way of helping leaders step up in times of need.   There’s no better time than now.  Everyone is watching.

LISA: As President of Crisis Care Network, you’re in the business of getting people through tragedy. How can leaders help create calm amidst chaos?

BOB: The silence can be deafening. When tragedy strikes an organization, leaders experience that daunting split-second upon entry to the scene when all eyes in the room immediately lock on to them. Some eyes are tearful, some hostile, some avoidant, some hopeful, some frightened, and some a million miles away. All are asking questions: Can she help me? Does he pose yet another threat? Does he know his stuff? Does she really care? These questions must be quickly “answered” correctly because both tremendous opportunity and serious risk for individual and organizational recovery are at stake. The moment is pivotal. The pressure’s on.

To illustrate, when a high school football player is injured on the field, the student trainers sprint to his aid. Not the doctor. She or he confidently and purposefully strides onto the field in a way that communicates professionalism and control. Quick — but not in a hurry. Sprinting with the trainers or remaining on the sidelines would trigger panic in every seat in the stadium.

Like the team physician, leaders must be prepared to convincingly present that they care plus a quiet confidence in their expertise. Individually and organizationally, recovery is facilitated when the leader can acknowledge the personal impact upon involved people while at the same time transitioning them to next steps. He must embody and communicate the transitions from chaos to structure and helplessness to effective action. Those watching must witness a confident, competent person who doesn’t minimize the effect of the incident but communicates an expectation of recovery.

LISA: The current economic crisis leaves many MBAs fearing job loss or worse. How can we make the best of a situation that seems harsh and prolonged?

BOB: Last Autumn, Crisis Care Network was heavily engaged in response to the ’08 hurricane season. Hurricanes and the resultant floods are additionally difficult simply because recovery takes such an agonizingly long time. Often, the greatest source of stress is not the incident itself but having to deal with immense, protracted logistical tedium when not at one’s best. The current economic crisis carries with it many dynamics comparable to the impact of a flood: financial ramifications, a sense of powerlessness, an undefined target for attributed blame, and an expanded time frame minus a definable endpoint.

Becoming preoccupied with that which we cannot control only drains us of energy and adds to the frustration. It is important to engage in those activities that are in our control and give immediate results, i.e. keep busy, focused, and productive on today’s job. Research has shown that after a natural disaster those who actively engage in purposeful tasks fare better emotionally and physically than those who withdraw or become passive and apathetic. Exercise, rest, and good nutrition at times of high stress are effective strategies to avoid exhaustion and are activities most people have control over, reinforcing a sense of self-efficacy. Focus upon that over which you DO have control, rather than that over which you have none.

LISA: You speak professionally about leadership during times of crisis and how leaders determine the trajectory of workplace responses. Tell us a story about a leader who did this well.

BOB:  The incident was a double homicide/suicide in the parking lot of a large manufacturing facility. A dozen employees witnessed the shooting deaths of two co-workers, ducked behind cars to avoid bullets aimed at them, and then watched the shooter turn the gun on himself. Hundreds of additional co-workers did not witness the event but were understandably shaken.

The CEO was a brilliant businessperson but obviously well outside his training, expertise, and comfort zone. Fortunately he realized 1) that his employees were going to go through this tragedy with or without him – so he led them! 2) that he needed to listen to crisis response experts, and 3) that his people needed him to be himself as he stood before them.

He led visibly and used a crisis communication model as taught to him. The ACT model provides a structured process to facilitate individual and organizational recovery.

Acknowledge and name the incident

• Have an accurate understanding of the facts and avoid conjecture.
• Demonstrate the courage to use real language that specifically names what occurred.
• Acknowledge that the incident has an impact and that individuals will be impacted differently.

Communicate pertinent information with both compassion and competence

• In these situations leaders must “know their stuff” in a caring way. Being prepared helps mitigate one’s own anxiety and supports the presentation of quiet strength others need at this time.
• Training, preparation, and practice facilitate a calming, “unscripted” response in which the leader is less likely to make anxiety-driven mistakes and more able to demonstrate caring behavior.

Transition

• Sensitively transition to a future focus.
• Communicate an expectation of recovery. Those impacted must gain a vision of “survivor” rather than “victim”.
• Help identify and facilitate access to the individuals’ natural resiliency supports – both internal and external. Encourage “return to work” and “return to life” normalcy firmly and flexibly. Problem-solve practical solutions, but not in a way in which people feel that their productivity is more important than their personhood.

Although the incident was tragic and impacted many people, the CEO led in a way that facilitated a renewed sense of community, support, and motivation.

LISA: What can we do to prevent a post-crisis meltdown in an organization?

BOB: Yes, leaders must focus upon return to productivity via business continuity plans to address IT, infrastructure, power, etc. but should not forget their people. As quoted by Marsh Crisis Academy (2003):

There is no business recovery without people who:

• Are healthy enough to return to work and be productive
• Are assured enough of their safety to not feel afraid to return to work
• Have had their trust in the leadership established so that they desire to return to work
• Have had their loyalty rewarded so they remain employees over the short haul and the long haul

LISA: Hurricane Ike got a lot less press in 2008 than Katrina did in 2005 or the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004. Do you think that we get fatigued by repeated tragedy? If so, how do we not turn into disinterested fellow humans?

BOB: I’m not certain that media coverage is an accurate indicator of compassion but rather of financial opportunity. Tragedy plus any controversy sells papers. I think that “over-coverage” of the initial event can predict under-coverage of those that follow. Likewise, the relative disparity in coverage between the shootings at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois probably did not mean that people cared less about the second set of students. But they were second!

When listening to the radio traffic report, the definition of a “minor fender bender” is one that happens to someone else! In these days of instantaneous, intimate media coverage of worldwide tragedies we can prevent desensitization and resultant disinterest by getting personally involved in finding solutions. Volunteering to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, and protect the abused makes it personal and keeps us in touch.

There is no greater honor and no greater responsibility than to be there for someone on the worst day of their life.

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Thank you for the interview, Bob.

For more information on the Crisis Care Network, visit their website.  To get more of Bob, consider hiring him as a speaker at your next event.

So what do you think? Is an MBA or a PMP certification enough to impress executives at your company?  Look for one compelling argument in this blog post.

This week’s interview is with Chris Pope, a dynamic New Zealander who founded The Valde Group.  Chris has been published in Fast Company and CIO Magazine.  If you want practical tips for making your projects more successful, read on.

LISA: You’re an expert on “projectizing.” Tell us what that means and how it helps organizations take focused action.

CHRIS: Many executives go through the “strategic planning” exercise, however the organisational strategy is nothing more than vague statements of aspiration  without any real-world application.  By “Projectising” the strategy, we bring it from a “big idea” into operational reality by treating it like a project.  We break strategic goals down into tangible outcomes, then identify the deliverables and activities that are required to achieve them.  The key is to always ask the question – “What does ‘achievement of your organisational strategy’ look like, and what does it take to make it happen?“

LISA: When it comes to strategic planning, what is an area that companies need to spend more energy on?

CHRIS: I think that companies need to spend more time on three things:

• Defining the tangible / measurable success factors
• Aligning operational activities and projects to strategic objectives (Asking “How well does this project or activity help us achieve our strategy?“) In fact, this should be the criteria upon which Projects are approved and prioritised.
• Establishing strong executive review and performance management processes throughout the year.

LISA: You have a PMP certification in Project Management. Many of our MBAs debate about whether to attain additional certifications. What is your opinion on the value of professional certifications – both the learning process and the perceived value by clients and employers?

CHRIS: My experience is that the certification is only as good at the person holding it.  Success calls for strong leadership, decision making and  communication skills and no professional exam has been able to certify these.  As for the PMP, I have found that it a good indication of someone’s dedication to the project management profession.  It requires significant knowledge and experience in the profession in order to attain it.  It is also  respected by employers – professional project management certification (PMP or PRINCE2) has become a pre-requisite for many positions.

LISA: When a project team is thrown together quickly, how do you go about building team dynamics for healthy interactions?

CHRIS: That is a great question!  I do several things to build a strong team:

• I respect the team’s knowledge and skills – I make it clear that as a project manager, my job is to facilitate the best result from the team – I am not the technical expert – they are.
• Keep the team focused on the goal of the project and how it will add value to the organisation!  By focusing on the goal of the project and the benefit to the organisation, this gives the team clarity and purpose, while keeping their morale high as contributors to something great.
• Clearly communicate – Open, clear, and honest communication is key to winning the trust and respect of your team.
• Be Pragmatic – I always ask two questions – What is the Goal? And What is the most efficient and effective way to achieve it?  Projects are all about delivering benefits to the organisation – not following process.  If an activity does not add value or deliver the benefits – why are we doing it?
• Encourage risk-identification – Too many people try to avoid raising risks, and by doing so make them worse.  I always encourage my team to raise risks early so that we have more time to mitigate them.

LISA: We’re a global group, and we love learning about doing business in new places. Tell us something unique about the culture of New Zealand.

CHRIS: New Zealand is a great place to live and work.  Generally, people in business are pragmatic.  They are willing to give something a try and if it does not work, try something else.  Many Kiwis work overseas in larger companies and then bring that experience back to New Zealand.

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Thank you for the interview, Chris.  I know my next project will be better if I use these tips.

Chris Pope is known for helping organizations in crisis and for rescuing failing projects.  To learn more about Chris, check out his articles or his company,  The Valde Group.