It is human nature to blame.

Brene Brown, author of many books on the subject of shame, blame, and vulnerability, aptly observed that blame is essentially the dispensing of pain and suffering. In other words, when things don’t go the way we would have liked we experience discomfort and in order to make ourselves feel better we place responsibility for failure on others, a process, or some aspect of our environment.

The problem with doing so is it doesn’t help us find solutions and it only compounds our discomfort by adding guilt from potentially blaming the wrong person or thing. Further, blame hinders us from pursuing solutions.

Blame is a deflection that leads to a loss of time, resources, and leadership capital.

As a leader, when something does not go the way we would like it is better to own our portion, help the team learn what needs to be learned, and collaborate to find a better solution.

The place to look for solutions is in one of three places:

• People: this is a don’t know, don’t care question. 
  • If a person does not know what to do we either need to provide greater clarity or training and we as leaders need to own the fact that we gave something to somebody who was not ready to take on the responsibility.
  • If a person does not care we as leaders also need to own the fact that we passed a baton to somebody who did not want to take hold of it.
• Process: this is typically an issue relating to collaboration. All team members need to be a part of identifying, formulating, and executing processes that allow the organization to succeed. 
• Environment: this includes both elements that we control and those that we don’t. A natural disaster is outside our control—the team needs to [and typically does] come together for resolve. How many times the phone rings before being transferred to somebody who can answer the call is within our control—the team needs to regularly review controllable environmental elements to ensure they serve the objectives of the organization.

A brief word of caution about blaming yourself. There is a huge difference between accepting responsibility and blaming yourself. Blame is negative and defeating and shrinks energy needed for finding solutions. Ownership, on the other hand, is positive and expands energy towards finding solutions.

When things go wrong great leaders focus on:

• Investigating the facts to identify the real issues (and not just symptoms)
• Collaborating with stakeholders to tweak processes and controllable environmental factors
• Providing greater clarity and consequences to minimize future missteps.

Herb Mast is a Leadership Coach and Employee Engagement Specialist. Learn how he can assist you in implementing the principles and concepts presented here.

Is your objective, when delivering a product of service, to avoid negative elements or to delight the customer?

A risk of focusing on eliminating negative experiences is that it can result in what is called a whelming experience—neither great nor bad.

According to the authors of The Power of Moments, Dan and Chip Heath, research shows that we tend to remember the best or worst moment of an experience, as well as the last moment, and forget the rest. 

Forrester Research shows that only $1 of every $10 of an organization’s revenues come from customers who feel they had a negative experience, while the other $9 comes from customers who had a positive experience. 

Unfortunately, human nature is geared toward fixing issues before creating special moments. The typical organization spends 80% of its customer-oriented time and resources trying to resolve customer issues and eliminate pits and potholes and then runs out of energy, time, and resources before investing in creating peaks.

In other words, an organization spends 80% of its customer-focused resources on the part of the business that only generates 10% of the revenues. This suggests that leaders need to refocus their resources on the part of the business that generates 90% of the revenues. This is done by designing moments that create positive peaks and positive endings, rather than worrying about the potholes. Certainly, pits need to be addressed, but those are more obvious and are most likely specific to individuals and should be dealt with on an individual basis.

The Heath brothers state that while human lives are endlessly variable, our most memorable positive moments are dominated by four elements: elevation, insight, pride, and connection. If we embrace these elements, we can conjure more moments that matter. 

Elevation:        Moments with boosted sensory pleasures and, if appropriate, an added element of surprise. The moments transcend the normal course of events and are literally extraordinary. A couple examples of this could be getting upgraded to First Class on a flight or getting free desert at a restaurant on your birthday.

Insight:            Moments which rewire our understanding of ourselves or the world. A couple examples of this could include a behind the scenes factory tour to see how your car was made or watching a video presenting the history of your dealership or some of the charitable events your store has sponsored while the customer waits to get into finance [rather than being abandoned by the sales person and sitting idle].

Pride:              Moments which capture us at our best, like moments of achievement or courage. Examples of this could include getting a bonus/award for achievement or being called on stage at a special event to recognize behind the scenes efforts.

Connection:    Moments which are social and are shared with others. A few examples of this would include pictures with Santa Claus, meeting Mickey Mouse at Disneyworld, or even having the owner of a car dealership come out and thank a customer for their business.

Great leaders think in moments recognizing that it creates a better customer experience, is more fulfilling for staff, and is better for business (profits, loyalty, and advocacy).

Herb Mast is a Leadership Coach and Employee Engagement Specialist. Learn how he can assist you in implementing the principles and concepts presented here.

According to Merriam-Webster, “compete” is a verb and is defined as: to strive consciously or unconsciously for an objective (such as position, profit, or a prize), or to be in a state of rivalry.

Some of the best games in sports are played between rivals, especially worthy rivals—where the teams respect each other and have similar skills and abilities. It seems everybody is more focused and gives more effort and it usually brings out the best in individuals and the teams.

Compete is one of the Carrollisms (core values) of the Seattle Seahawks. Coach Pete Carroll defines it as “striving together” [for excellence] to bring out the best in each other, rather than simply winning or losing. The Seahawks believe that two key factors bring out excellence in individuals and teams: “deep and rich support and relentless challenge to improve.”

Imagine if that is how we also interpreted the idea of competition—the means to make us better, rather than simply defeating others. Walt Disney recognized that tough competition is and was critical to his and his organization’s success.

Some of the benefits of competition, are:

• More focus
• Higher urgency
• Greater motivation
• Standard to compare performance against
• Natural source of resistance to push against to build strength

Great leaders promote healthy competition within their teams celebrating the effort more than just the outcome.

Herb Mast is a Leadership Coach and Employee Engagement Specialist. Learn how he can assist you in implementing the principles and concepts presented here.

in·i·ti·a·tive:

1. the ability to assess and initiate things independently.
2. the power or opportunity to act or take charge before others do.

Nothing happens until somebody does something. In other words, until somebody takes initiative things will stay as they always have.

Taking initiative means:

• Stepping out and taking a risk
• Owning issues before they own you
• Developing people before they request it
• Being the first to smile, say hello, or apologize
• Giving praise before morale slumps
• Speaking candidly when others are tempted to withhold
• Asking dumb questions
• Holding others accountable
• Dealing with dysfunctional behavior before it takes root in your culture
• Being an intentional disruptor when others are happy with the status quo
• Being vulnerable so others can be as well
• Trusting and being trustworthy
• Caring for others even when it is not reciprocal
• No doubt you have examples of your own to add

Taking initiative is a direct function of leadership because leaders are typically taking teams where they have not gone before. This requires courage, because going where others have not gone previous involves potentially unknown obstacles and outcomes.

Herb Mast is a Leadership Coach and Employee Engagement Specialist. Learn how he can assist you in implementing the principles and concepts presented here.