It’s time to expand your learning through free workshops for UMass Amherst staff and faculty. October brings many engaging workshops such as: “Time & Organizational Management”, “Giving & Receiving Feedback”, “Ergonomics in the Workplace”, “New Supervisor Orientation”, “Taking Meeting Minutes”, “Disability Etiquette” and lots more! Go to www.umass.edu/wld to sign up today!
Our new Leadership Academy and Blog is launched!
As we enter the Fall 2019 semester, we’ve launched our new Leadership Academy. This new program is comprised of 3 programs that support supervisors at various levels providing information and skill development for current supervisors and managers (not for supervisors of only undergrad or graduate student employees). This is a multi-modal learning program that includes in-person classroom and online components.
Our previous SLDP Blog will be replaced by the Leadership Academy Blog. Same great information, just a different blog name.
Please visit our website for more information, including application and program start dates.
Civility in the Workplace
Civility usually is demonstrated through manners, courtesy, politeness, and a general awareness of the rights, wishes, concerns, and feelings of others. It includes the behavior that helps to preserve the norms for mutual respect at work.
In 2016, 62% of employees were treated rudely at work at least once a month, according to a global, annual poll on workplace incivility by McKinsey & Co. Since the poll began in 1998, rude behavior has increased at an increasing rate — which means that every year, chances go up that managers and employees are being dismissive, demeaning, and discounting to one another.
How Civility is Hurting Your Workplace
Incivility is a bug, and it’s contagious,” said researcher Christine Porath at a Masters Series session at the SHRM 2018 Annual Conference & Exposition in Chicago.
That’s right. Simple rudeness and disrespect can pass from person to person like a virus, said Porath, an associate professor at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business and author of Mastering Civility: A Manifesto for the Workplace (Grand Central Publishing, 2017).
Incivility Impacts Workplace Productivity
There is also a cost for incivility in lost productivity. Stress stemming from a less-than-civil work environment can severely diminish productivity. Research from the National Institutes of Health shows that working in a group where incivility is present affects people’s mental health, even after accounting for general stress and the incivility an individual personally experienced. An employee doesn’t have to be part of the targeted population to be affected. An entire team may get pulled off track thinking about an incident, how they should respond, or whether they’re in the line of fire.
Where to Start?
Manager Training. In order to effectively address incivility, training for managers should include respect and relationship building. Getting to know employees on a personal level shows respect and helps build trust – and stands out as a rarity in this day and age. When it comes to workplace communication, you, as the manager, can set the standard for civility beyond conflict avoidance. Making civility as important as team goals and results is key to team-building, as well as building a culture of respect and positive engagement.
Manage your energy. “The No. 1 reason … people say that they’re rude is because of stress,” she said. In other words, being nice starts with being nice to yourself. That includes getting plenty of sleep, eating well and exercising.
Lead by example. “When we survey people about why they are uncivil, 25 percent say it’s because their leaders are,” said Porath, who often hears workers say they don’t feel listened to or acknowledged.
Begin by assessing your own civility and behavior. How do you behave under pressure? How do you respond to stress? It’s important that workplace leaders model the behavior they wish to teach, and your own personal experience is an invaluable part of that learning process. Sharing your own shortcomings and how you addressed them is transparency at its finest. Employees want to know that you not only expect certain behavior from them, but that you expect the same from yourself.
“The thing that people want most is respect,” she said. “It’s more important than useful feedback, recognition and even growth opportunities.”
Hire nice. The negative impact of one toxic employee more than wipes out any gains he or she may make with even superstar performance, Porath said. When it comes to recruiting, “Do your homework.” Spending the time to find a civil employee is worth the investment of time and effort.
Ultimately, creating civil cultures requires work from the bottom up and the top down, but it’s worth the effort. “What I know from my research is that, when we have more-civil environments, we’re happier and healthier,” Porath said. “Let’s put an end to the incivility bug and start spreading civility.”
Adapted by Paul Papierski, Employee and Organizational Development Specialist, WL&D, UMASS Amherst from
- How to Master Civility in the Workplace, Jessica Miller-Merrell, June 19, 2018, SHRM.ORG
- The Case for Civility at Work, Christina Folz,, June 27, 2018, SHRM.ORG
Difficult Discussions – Don’t Put Them Off
So often as managers, we’re required to hold difficult discussions with our employees, usually around performance improvement and/or feedback. What we also hear, here at Workplace Learning and Development, is that supervisors aren’t comfortable having these discussions, and as a result often put them off.
Here are some guiding principles and strategies for having difficult discussions.
Pre-Conversation: Prepare, prepare, prepare for the what, how, when, where and the goal of the conversation
- Prepare your notes
- Consult with campus resources, if needed.
- Select the location for the in-person conversation
- Prepare to speak with “ I “ statements, not “you” statements
During the conversation: Seek and share clarifying information
- Use tone and language that will minimize defensiveness or escalation
- Listen to understand
- Gain more information, use open-ended questions
- Confirm mutual understanding
Post-conversation: move to resolution, support resolution steps and behavioral changes
- Clarify the desired outcome
- Elicit action
- Be clear on expectations moving forward
- Provide ongoing coaching and feedback
Putting off these difficult discussions doesn’t help your employee succeed nor you, as the manager. In many instances putting off these discussions exasperates the problem, making it more difficult to deal with in the future.
Do you have a difficult discussion that you need to have? What’s getting in the way of you having this discussion?
Workplace Learning and Development can provide resources and help you develop a plan of action for your next difficult discussion. Give us a call. Why put off what you can accomplish today?
Written by Paul Papierski, Employee and Organizational Development Specialist, Workplace Learning and Development, UMASS- Amherst, March 2019
Performance Management
Most people think of performance management as the annual performance review, and only the review. As you know, this is incorrect. Performance management is an ongoing process of communication between a supervisor and an employee that occurs throughout the year, in support of accomplishing the strategic objectives of the organization.
As a supervisor here at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, you’ve got a dual role when it comes to performance management. First – as the majority of your employees are in a union, you’ll need to be familiar with the various requirements for performance as agreed upon between the unions and the university. You can find all the information you need via Labor Relations and Workplace Learning and Development .
Second, you’ll need to figure out how you will implement the performance management process that works best for you. Will you meet weekly, biweekly or monthly? What will be the agenda of these meetings? How you will you motivate your employee? Lastly. What will the conversation look like? One way to approach this conversation is by focusing on your employee’s strengths and successes.
Marcus Buckingham provides this newer approach to employee performance. He’s a leader in the field of performance management. His basic approach focuses on an employee’s strengths, successes and engagement. He’s got a unique and refreshing viewpoint on performance management – saying it is two things. Check it out here.
As we know, working in a unionized environment, presents its own challenges and in some cases, drawbacks. Below are a view videos featuring Marcus talking about performance reviews and motivating negative employees.
Strength Based Performance Reviews
What’s the Problem with Performance Reviews
Motivating a Negative Employee
As a supervisor you have a responsibility towards your employees to help them succeed. There are many ways to approach performance management. A strengths based approach is just one way, but if you’re having challenges, why not give it a try?
This blog post written by Paul Papierski. SHRM-CP, CPC, an Employee and Organizational Development Specialist with Human Resources at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Feel free to contact him directly at ppapierski@umass.edu with comments or questions.
Leadership Development
Leadership development. We hear this term so often, but what does this mean for you? What does it mean to be a great leader?
The Center for Leadership Development found that great leaders possess these 10 core leadership traits.
Leadership itself is made up of a combination of traits and skills. Some of the skills are listed below:
- Strategic Planning
- Communicating Vision and Direction
- Championing Innovation
- Communicating effectively
- Building Relationships
- Executive decision making
- Promoting Ethics
- Teambuilding
- Performance Coaching
- Resolving Conflict
Because everyone’s leadership style is unique, it makes sense that one’s leadership development needs would be unique as well. Below are some resources that you might consider as you continue to development as a leader.
360 Leadership Assessment. This type of assessment gathers input from your peers, colleagues, direct reports and supervisor to give you a rounded, or 360 degree view, of your leadership style. Read about the benefits of this type of assessment here. Contact Workplace Learning and Development if you are interested in exploring using this type of assessment.
Focusing on your strengths. Interested in identifying and working with your strengths? Consider the following two resources:
- Discovering Your Clifton Strengths: Strengths Finders 2.0 – Tom Rath and Gallup
- Now, Discover Your Strengths – Marcus Buckingham and Donald Clifton
Focusing on improvement. Consider focusing on areas you’d like to improve. Consider these resources:
- Start with Why– Simon Sinek
- Leadership and Self Deception: Getting Out of the Box – The Arbinger Institute
Learn from others. Consider finding a mentor or a coach to help you develop your leadership skills. Read about The World’s 50 Greatest Leaders 2018 from Fortune magazine.
Additional Center for Creative Leadership resources:
The 5 Most Important Competencies for Function Leaders
On Leadership Interview Series – Center for Creative Leadership
Tired at Work: A Roadblock to Effective Leadership
As always, Workplace Learning and Development can assist you with developing your leadership skills. You can contact us via our website or by calling (413) 545-1787.
This blog post written by Paul Papierski, Employee and Organizational Development Specialist, Workplace Learning and Development University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Teambuilding
Team building is a collective term for various types of activities used to enhance social relations and define roles within teams, often involving collaborative tasks. It is different from team training, which is designed to improve the efficiency, rather than interpersonal relations.
When Workplace Learning and Development receives a request for Team Building from a supervisor, we engage in an exploratory conversation. In our preliminary discussion, we determine what might be driving the request.
The majority of requests we receive fall into 4 categories – Setting Goals, Role Clarification, Problem Solving and Interpersonal–relations. By far the two most common are Problem Solving and Interpersonal –Relations.
Problem solving requests entail working to identify (if not already) major working problems within the team, and working together to find solutions. Some examples might be running effective meetings, collaboration between sub-teams and work flow process.
Interpersonal requests entail working to increase teamworking skills such as giving and receiving feedback, communication among team members, creating and maintaining a respectful workplace, and building (or re-building) trust.
Below are some links to Tedx talks to get you thinking about building successful teams.
Stop Trying to Motivate Your Employees (16 minutes)
The Power of Collaboration (6 minutes)
Workplace Trust and Transparency (5 minutes)
First Why and then Trust (17 minutes)
The Secret to Building a Happy Workplace (12 minutes)
As always, Workplace Learning and Development is happy to assist you in developing your team. Please contact us for more information.
http://www.umass.edu/wld/services
Written by Paul Papierski, Employee and Organizational Development Specialist, Workplace Learning and Development, Human Resources University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Change is Tough – Managing Transition
Change is situational and is happening around us, all the time. If you stop to think about this, you’ll see that it is true. Consider television. The way we watch television has evolved – no more waiting until a set day and time of the week to watch your favorite show. Instead we’ll stream it or download it and binge watch it all at once. How are you managing this new way of watching television- this transition?
How we comes to term with change – how we manage the transition– from the old to the new – is the key to success. So what does managing this transition mean for the workplace and for managers and staff?
One model that resonates with Workplace Learning and Development is William Bridge’s Transition Model. This model focuses on people and the psychological changes that lie behind significant organization change. William Bridges maintains that the situational change is not as difficult as the psychological transitions that are required of the staff or team impacted by the change.
His process involves three phases:
- Ending, Losing and Letting Go – helping staff deal with tangible and intangible loses and mentally preparing them to move on
- Neutral zone – a space of time where critical psychological realignments and re-patterning takes place. This is about helping people move through the transition.
- The New Beginning – helping people develop a new identity, a new process, a new energy and discover a new sense of purpose to make the change begin to work.
So what does this mean for you as a supervisor?
In the image – you’ll see the level of management required in the beginning stages is high. During this time, something is changing – a process, a way of being at work, a work schedule, etc. – and causing a time of ending and letting go. And during this time – your staff are going through a transition – from old to new. Your role as supervisor is to guide your staff through this transition using skills such as active listening, communication and dialogue, as well as external resources such as Workplace Learning and Development.
Once your staff are in the Transition or Neutral zone, or the bridge between old and new, you’re role is to champion the change, provide them a sense of direction and provide performance feedback on how they are doing with the new change.
And lastly, a higher level of management is required as the new “beginning” is being implemented. Staff are beginning to embrace the change and incorporate in it into their workday. As a supervisor it’s essential you help sustain this this change. Using techniques such as goal setting, performance feedback and celebration.
When you implement a change it isn’t the changes themselves that people are resisting, but the transition and the losses and endings they will experience. Instead of focusing on the how good the change will be when it is complete, deal directly with the losses and endings. Consider doing the following:
- Identify who is losing what
- Don’t be surprised at “overreaction”
- Acknowledge the losses openly and sympathetically
- Compensate for losses ( if possible)
- Give people information, and do it again and again
- Mark the endings
“The single biggest reason organizational changes fail is that no one thought about endings or planned to manage the impact on people. Naturally concerned about the future, planners and implementers forget that people have to let go of the present first. They forget that while the first task of change management is to understand the destination and how to get there, the first task of transition management is to convince people to leave home. You’ll save yourself a lot of grief if you remember that.”
Adapted from: Managing Transitions, William Bridges, Addison-Wesley, 1991
Additional Resources:
- To hear William Bridges talk about this theory, change and transition – follow this link to a series of short videos.
- Bridge’s Transition Model
- Managing Transitions book via Amazon
- Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change book via Amazon
Additional Change Management Models
Written and complied by Paul Papierski, Employee and Organizational Development Specialist, Workplace Learning and Development, University of Massachusetts, Amhert
It’s Always Been Done This Way….
“It’s always been done this way” – not a statement you want to hear from your employees as you try to implement new policies and procedures. So what do you do now that you’re in charge?
You’ve made your decision and decided this change is needed. Where do you even start? A number skills come into play. Here are a few:
• Strategic Planning – Ask yourself does this proposed change fit into your strategic plan/long term vision for your department and team? What is the business reason for this change? Don’t have a strategic plan? Check out these videos on creating one >> Strategic Planning and Strategic Planning Process
• Active Listening – Using your active listening skills from the SLDP program ask your employees what the objection is to this change. Asking open ended and genuine questions, you’ll be able to gather information about their resistance. Ultimately, you’d like them on actively onboard with the proposed change. Mindtools has a few resources >> Active Listening Mindtools
• Change Management – This is a bit more complicated. No one really likes change, but change in the workplace is inevitable – even within slow moving bureaucratic organizations – and your role as a manager is to help employees embrace that change insuring a smooth transition and success. Having a solid understanding of the change management cycle is key. A good model is Kotter’s 8 Step Change Model. More information via his book “Leading Change”and Mindtools has some great information>> Change Management Mindtools
• Leadership Skills – Management theorist Simon Sinek suggest that good leaders make their employees feel safe by building trust and safety. Not an easy task – hear what he has to say about this here Good Leaders . He has a number of great books – “ Leaders Eat Last” and “Start with Why” .
• Performance Management – This is your tool to create goals and success measures regarding your employee’s role in the change, as well as document their performance. Using the performance management cycle will allow you as a manager to help your team to stay focused on the change by providing feedback and positive reinforcement during your regular check-in conversations.
It’s never easy to implement change, but with some advanced planning as well as drawing on the skills you learned in the Supervisor Leadership Development Program, there is no doubt you’ll be successful. And as always, Workplace Learning and Development is available to assist you.
Written by Paul Papierski, Employee and Organizational Development Specialist, Workplace Learning and Development, UMass Amherst.
Team Development
As individuals go through development stages (think the “terrible twos”), so do teams. The most commonly used framework for a team’s stages of development was developed in the mid-1960s by Bruce W. Tuckman. Although many professionals have written variations and enhancements to his work, his descriptions of Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing provide a solid framework for you to look at your own team.
Each stage has its own recognizable feelings and behaviors. By understanding why certain actions and behaviors are happening on your team, you’re able to get a clearer picture of the functionality of your team.
Stage 1: Forming
In this stage team members are excited to be part of the team, eager about the work ahead and have high positive expectations for the team experience. During this stage, there are lots of questions about individual expectations, the team norms have not been established, no trust has been established between team members and there is a high learning curve.
As a manager and leader, some actions you might take are setting a mission and goals to help define the team, establishing team member responsibilities and roles, and determining ways to build trust among team members.
Stage 2: Storming
In this stage the team begins to move towards its goals as the members discover the team doesn’t live up to their earlier expectations. Their focus might move from tasks at hand to feelings of frustration regarding the team’s lack of progress. Cliques could form, members are less polite than during the Forming stage about their frustrations and disagreements. Anxiety rises and problem solving doesn’t work well.
As a manager during this stage, you can actively support and reinforce team behavior, facilitate group wins, create a positive environment, and ask for and expect results.
Stage 3: Norming
During this stage of team development, the members begin to resolve the discrepancy they felt between expectations and team reality. As the team sees some repeated successes, the members should experience an increased sense of comfort in expressing their “real” ideas and feelings as well as an increasing acceptance of others on the team. Team members are self-reinforcing the team norms, hidden agendas are becoming more open and team confidence is high.
As a manager some of your responsibilities are to maintain traditions, communicating positive feedback and reinforcement of team behaviors, and evaluate team processes.
Stage 4: Performing
In this stage, members are feeling satisfaction of the team’s progress. They share insights into personal and group process and have become aware of their own (and each other’s) strengths and weaknesses. A “can do” attitude is visible as are offers to assist one another. The team is making significant progress towards its goals.
As the manager of the team, continue with positive feedback and reinforcement of the team’s behavior and processes. You might consider raising the bar with newer, higher goals.
While working on a high-performing team may be a truly pleasurable and fulfilling experience, it is not the end of team development. There is still a need for the team to focus on both process and product, setting new goals as appropriate. Changes, such as members coming or going or large-scale changes in the external environment, can lead a team to cycle back to an earlier stage. If these changes – and their resulting behaviors – are recognized and addressed directly, teams may successfully remain in the Performing stage indefinitely.
In thinking about your team – what stage might it be at? Is this a new team – just formed – or an existing team? Have they been successful in achieving their goals or stuck in the “Storming” stage? Taking this high level look at your team can help you determine what they need to move forward to the next stage.
Over the course of the summer, a number of managers reached out to Workplace Learning & Development resulting in the WL&D team leading a number of retreats, customized workshops, one-on-one coaching sessions as well as meeting with individual managers to develop long term team development plans.
Is your team performing at its highest level?
Some additional resources:
Moving a Workgroup to High Performance
Understanding the Stages of Team Formation
Want more information? Contact your Workplace Learning and Development Team. We’re available to provide information, discuss options, and facilitate a variety of team buildings sessions.
Written by Paul Papierski, Employee and Organizational Development Specialist, Workplace Learning and Development, University of Massachusetts Amherst, September 2017.