Jensen Consulting Blog

September 30, 2011
Written By: Russell Jensen

This blog was originally a guest opinion in the Des Moines Business Record on September 30.

Paralysis is rarely a winning strategy. And with all of the economic and political uncertainty of the past summer, it’s hard to be decisive right now, isn’t it? Businesses had just found their footing in this new business climate dictated by the 2008 recession when the one-two punch landed, and it is tempting to take a defensive stance of “let’s wait and see.”

But really, it’s mostly just noise. As loud and relentless as this noise is, it is largely market-driven, outside our control. The good news? The businesses we work with are performing better, and the leaders are less fearful than in 2008. The bad news? It’s hard to be bold and have confidence in this environment.

How do I know this? We’ve been trusted advisers to senior executives from across Central Iowa for more than 17 years, and we’re not hearing the same concerns we did three years ago. Of course, the 24/7 “the world is ending” news cycle does often give us pause, but the business leaders in our executive roundtables see opportunity ahead, because this time around they are ready.

Your business can move ahead with confidence by adopting these three strategies.

1. Commit to core business focus and execution. Now is the time to be really good at your core business. Sloppy, inconsistent execution brings a harsh penalty. If your natural gifts as a leader don’t lend themselves to operational excellence, put the right person in that critical role and set him or her up to succeed.

2. Pour your energy into the one change initiative that will have the greatest impact on bottom-line success and competitive positioning. The leaders we work with rely on an outside-in perspective gained from their boards of directors, a non-industry-specific peer group or trusted mentors to help them identify these critical leverage points. For a number of our clients, this has meant reinventing their sales/growth model, understanding their customers’ changing needs or reconfiguring their senior talent mix.

3. Invest in your own growth. Savvy, successful business leaders realize they must step up their game as leader and coach to lead change and improve organization performance in an environment more challenging and complex than ever before. If you were to pick out the one person in the company who, with a noticeable improvement in effectiveness, would have the biggest impact on organizational performance, who would it be? Leadership assessment, coaching, peer groups, mentors and executive education all provide an outside perspective and challenge an executive’s thinking.

Now is the time to be confident, focused and bold; are you ready? Run a quick system diagnostic. Spend some time with a trusted peer or a blank notepad thinking about these strategies and see if that gets you moving forward.

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September 19, 2011
Written By: Michelle Clark, Ph.D.

Imagine you are jogging through the park and in front of you a stranger crashes his bike. You instinctively and instantaneously flinch in sympathy because at a gut level you understand what that person is experiencing.

Have you ever worked with someone who was so negative that it took tremendous energy to maintain your own calmness when in the same room with him or her, even if you weren’t directly interacting?

We all know that emotions can be contagious. Here is one explanation for why that might be the case. In the early 1990s, neuroscientists discovered a brain function that revolutionized thinking about learning, empathy and reading other people’s intentions. This new discovery was that there are certain neurons, called mirror neurons that go into action both when a person performs and action, and fire in the exact same manner when a person observes someone else perform that action.

Before this discovery, the common wisdom was that our understanding of other’s intentions and feelings was a conscious process of logic and generalization. The discovery of mirror neurons suggests that our understanding of others’ actions, thoughts, and feelings happens on a much more biological and obligatory level than we’d believed. Mirror neurons appear to let us “simulate” not just other people’s actions, but the intentions and emotions behind those actions.

In a New York Times article on mirror neurons, an Italian neuroscientist, Dr. Rizzolatti, said, "We are exquisitely social creatures. Our survival depends on understanding the actions, intentions and emotions of others. Mirror neurons allow us to grasp the minds of others not through conceptual reasoning but through direct simulation. By feeling, not by thinking."

Others have articulated the function of mirror neurons very thoroughly, and I’d encourage you to watch this PBS video: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/mirror-neurons.html, or read this article: http://www.sfn.org/index.aspx?pagename=brainBriefings_MirrorNeurons.

 So why write about this on a business blog?  There are clear workplace applications.

Accounting for mirror neurons, the feelings you bring to work set the tone for other’s emotions even more than you know. With every action, you are consistently broadcasting your feelings and intentions to those around you. Others take in all the nuances offered by your behavior, and in many instances, automatically mirror your feelings

Mirror neurons act automatically and without our conscious control. This means that we respond internally to other people’s actions and emotions whether we want to or not. Alternatively, insight comes only with intentional focus and motivation. Thus, it is highly likely that:

1) we impact others more than we are aware of; and,

2) others impact us without knowing it.

 Here is an exercise I sometimes use when coaching leaders. Quickly read the next sentence and fill in the blank:

“Why are people always so _________________________?”

Now take that thought and insert it in this sentence: “Why am I always so ____________________?”

Surprised?  This simple exercise demonstrates the emotions you may be conscious of, but think about the thoughts and feelings that you are NOT consciously aware of.  What are others perceiving about your thoughts and feelings that you aren’t aware of?  What is the typical reaction you elicit from others? If it isn’t what you expected, what is going on in you that others are mirroring back?

In the end, the idea behind mirror neurons isn’t all that far off from mom’s advice of treat others as you’d want to be treated.  If your attitude is positive and forward-thinking, you will likely see that reflected in the people around you.  Likewise, if it is the opposite that’s what you’ll see. 

So what are you seeing?  If it’s not what you expected, the good news is that you can work to change it.

 

References

Blakeslee, Sandra. (2006, January 10)  Cells that Read Minds.  The New York Times.

Lametti, Daniel. (2009, June 6) How Mirror Neurons Let Us Interact with Others.  Scientific American.

 

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August 12, 2011
Written By: Pete Petersen

Once again we are back to market inflicted economic uncertainty.

It is distracting and unnerving. Voices run through business leader, employee and customer heads asking: “What’s next? What happens to our businesses if this continues?”

The facts are few of us have any control of the market, but leaders can control how they run their business and where they put their energy. Based on our experience business leaders who win in uncertain times stay the course and focus on execution. Specifically, they:

1. Limit their consumption of news … it may or may not be true and limit their discussion of the economy to people who offer perspective and insight not more uncertainty.
2. Communicate clearly to their leadership team that performance expectations and accountabilities have not changed … no excuses accepted.
3. Absolutely ensure that the customer sales and service experience is better than ever … customers are getting their own dose of deflating news elsewhere.
4. Reassure employees and owners that the market is cyclical, we’ve been through this before, we are smarter than before and we will get through this again.
5. Keep their marketplace surveillance at high levels watching for any disruptions with customers or the supply chain.
6. Make prudent business adjustments based on facts and not emotion.

As a leader you have a choice.  You can stay the course and focus on execution, or you can let the market and the media control your focus, performance and direction.  Making the choice to stay the course is easy; having the discipline to stick with it is not. 

But when has winning ever been easy?

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