Recent Activities

Perhaps ironically or perhaps predictably, as the recession took its toll on the country and on its workplaces, many organizations found they needed more help in communication and conflict resolution. Organizations found that their workplaces were more prone to conflict and communication issues as employees faced the stresses of the recession at home and brought them to work. Private companies found that the economy challenged them to respond to an unpredictable and changed market place and to reassess approaches and existing plans in response. Non-profit organizations have been forced to scramble as their donor bases dried up and grant opportunities diminished. Like all workplaces, government organizations faced heightened potential for conflict and faced the added challenge of coping with radical cuts in public financing.

Not all of the added communication challenges were reactive in nature, however. The huge response by the federal government through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 – often referred to as the “Stimulus Bill,” imposed new obligations for transparency and proactive communication on public entities receiving stimulus money. This set government scrambling to look for cost-effective ways to communicate with their constituents.

In this context, our consortium of consulting experts has been called upon to help meet the needs of the various working communities. Our work over the last several months has been very diverse and for those of us doing the work, it has provided a sense of fulfillment as we help individuals and organizations through the tough times.

Examples of our recent work in this context include:

• ARRA Facilitation: Facilitating community meetings for Los Alamos National Laboratory to enable the Lab to share the results of its stimulus-funded projects to conduct environmental cleanup and to decommission 1940’s-era Manhattan Project facilities.
• Employee Development: Designing and implementing a six-month employee development program, called the Administrative University, for cadre of administrators working within the core physics organizations at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
• Mediation: Conducting mediations to resolve title disputes in Northern New Mexico and employee disputes within a large branch of the federal government.
• Organizational Development and Conflict Resolution: Working with a higher education research entity to identify sources of conflict and lack of collaboration within several key functions and then, in collaboration with executive management, designing custom resolution approaches.
• Independent Employee Relations Investigation: Serving as an independent investigator to review the facts around employee allegations of misconduct for an organization so that appropriate personnel decisions can be made.
• Facilitating Strategic and Near Term Planning for Non-Profits: Providing retreat facilitation for several non-profit organizations in the Northern New Mexico. Our services to these organizations are provided at a greatly reduced fee.

No one can know exactly what the future holds, but it seems certain that even as the economy improves, changing regional and global circumstances will indicate the need for continued planning and adaptation. Then successful post-recession organization is likely to emerge as one that devoted the energy and attention necessary to have a clear sense of direction, clearly defined roles within, and systems and training in place to enable effective communication and collaboration with the minimal potential for conflict.

Deep Listening, by David Markwardt

HEARING THEIR VOICE: 

THE DISCIPLINE OF DEEP LISTENING

By David Markwardt

September 1, 2009

Everyone wants to be heard.  From CEOs to small business owners, to youth to politicians, every person wants to be taken seriously, to be respected, and to be listened to by others.  Unfortunately the default mode of listening with most people tends to be critical and judgmental—listening to fix, advise, and solve. 

Many leaders are taught that it is their job to hear the problem, discern the issue, and then offer solutions that will resolve the problem, and if they don’t do this, they are not leading.  An assumption of this approach is that the listener knows what is best for the other person.  However, we all know that no two people walk the same path in life and what works for one person may not work for another person.  It is also true that the best and most well-intentioned advice often doesn’t lead to solutions and may lead to unintended consequences.  For example, the speaker may not develop his capacity for solving his own problems and the leader may create dependence.

It takes intense discipline to be present, receptive, and listen well.  Frequently great ideas do not come from leaders and the most vocal but from the everyman and everywoman who may be quietly doing their jobs.

So how does a leader ferret out those ideas since listening well is good, but isn’t enough?  Leaders need skill at asking powerful questions.  Examples of powerful questions are “Why does that matter to you?”  or “What about that is important to you?”  These questions will lead to more honest, revealing, and intimate answers and create connection between the two parties.  Good questions are often personal, ambiguous, and may even produce anxiety.  Part of the anxiety is related to accountability.  A powerful question demands that the person asking it is accountable for claiming his freedom and is accountable for his life.  A powerful question gives the speaker space to find his own way to the answer and in many cases, the answer isn’t as important as the asking is. 

Since leaders are expected to take action and get results, the challenge then is to balance the need to get things done with listening well and being present amid the frenetic demands of the workplace and the disorienting and blurred boundaries between personal and professional lives.  If leaders are to do their best work, they must develop habits of attending to who they are and how they want to be with others.   

All leaders can benefit from strengthening their “listening muscles” and learning how to ask powerful questions.   Deep listening requires practice, discipline, habits, and routines.

Launching a new series of short articles and topics

I am pleased to announce that Business Excellence Solutions is launching  a new series of short discussions and articles in our blog site.  Our first article is authored by David Markwardt.  Recently, I had the opportunity to work with David when we co-facilitated a retreat for a local non-profit organization. David's gift for designing programming that focuses on deep listening and on activities that enable participants to feel, see, and sense the power of the spoken word when someone is allowed a voice, clearly distinguishes him as a leader in the field of organizational development and facilitation.  I am delighted that David is a part of our team!