Updating Leadership Development & Training - Download PDF ** (42 KB) | Download PowerPoint slides (557 KB)
Downloadable Materials from Alex Hiam's presentation for the
Training Officers' Conference, Williamsburg, VA
April 2005

Spotlight on Conflict- Download PDF ** (34 KB)
A Commentary on the Recent Harvard Business Review Article

Trainers, consultants and mediators who work in the conflict management arena were surprised to find their subject featured in a lead article in the March 2005 Harvard Business Review ("Want Collaboration? Accept—and Actively Manage—Conflict").

Getting Organized! - Download PDF ** (27 KB)
Survey Results and Tips from Alex Hiam
The New Office Depot survey (conducted by Harris Interactive)

A new Office Depot survey of more than 1,500 workplace respondents reveals that the number one concern this year is to “get more organized.” In fact, this was the most popular business resolution for 2005 (51% of respondents chose it).

Retaining the Anxious and Timid - Download PDF ** (280 KB)
A Position Paper for HR and Training Executives
Alexander Hiam, INSIGHTS for Training & Development, for ASTD 2004.

Whenever I ask managers to describe their ideal employee, I get descriptions like creative, takes initiative, responsible, motivated, open to change, and a good problem solver.

I get these same words and others like them in high-tech firms, hospitals, manufacturers, banks, and government agencies. Everyone agrees, that’s who we need to help our organizations succeed. But who do we have? Usually the description is quite different from the ideal. My firm is often asked to help managers change the performance climate so as to convert timid, risk-averse, inflexible, pessimistic, or low-motivation employees into the superstars our clients need.

To download this presentation,
please click here.

Group Meeting Planner - Download PDF ** (280 KB)
Here's a worksheet you can give to participants in a breakout group activity, or to take back to work and use in a future staff or team meeting.

The Creatercize Activity - Download PDF ** (838 KB)
"IF IT AIN'T BROKE, BREAK IT!" That's the motto of this activity, which is a perfect creativity-boosting replacement for the many irrelevant or silly warm-up activities normally used in training sessions. Creatercize has four easy-to-follow steps:

1. Think of one or more "solved" problems
2. Brainstorm wild and crazy ideas for solving a "solved" problem in a non-obvious way.
3. Identify the dumbest of your solutions and brainstorm ways to make it work.
4. Brainstorm ways to "sell" any useful insights that are generated.

Dear Mr. Hiam,
I am in a bit of a bind and am looking for a solid figure head to offer me some conscience - and possibly to become a good source for objective criteria should we have to take this any further. Here is the situation. I work for a large company and we are, because of the economy, forced to run quite lean and mean. During a very busy month, I asked my team to prioritize, or to start prioritizing, their work for the 2004 capital plan - on top of what they are already doing. They did this and am very proud of the effort. 2 weeks before this, my boss had ripped a strip off of me for something that he thought my team had done - in front of a number of the employees that were complaining about my team - as not knowing the process etc. A mandatory emergency meeting was held the next day between my team and the complaining team. The complaining team was not following the process and, as it turns out, were directly responsible for the issues before us. They, the complaining team, took away all of the action items but my team was down - in morale. 2 weeks later, my team got together and as a team we developed the initial draft of the 2004 capital plan. As a reward for all of their good work and the to acknowledge their commitment (and the stress I had put them under) I hired a shiatsu masseuse to give the 10 team members a 10 minute massage while we went through the planning session. This cost $120 and the team appeared to be impressed with the gesture. The massage was a shoulder massage - nothing erotic or anything like that. One of my peers escalated this to my boss as inappropriate while we were in the meeting. As I was heading out on vacation, my team called me and told me that I am in trouble and that my peers had put me and my reward effort in a negative frame. I called my boss and left a message saying that I would like to talk about this and he returned my call 2 days later tell me that he was very angry, pissed and that we need to talk because should this ever be found out by his peers, that he would be in a lot of trouble. So - did I screw up? I think that I could have run this creative reward by him, but I did not - oversight on my part. I did this planning session in the boardroom but maybe should have held it elsewhere? Is this reward inappropriate. I need some clear headed thinking and would appreciate your words.

However, to my eye your actions were 100% appropriate (and of course, I am sure that if someone did not like massages, they did not have to have one, just as someone who doesn't like T-shirts wouldn't have to wear one if they got one with the company logo on it, right?).

One of the most well-respected and well-researched principles in management, going back to studies at Ohio State in the mid-fifties and consistently supported in studies since then, is that people sometimes need high-structure, task-focused management, and other times need considerate, supportive management. (This model forms the basis of my firm's Strategic Leadership training program, btw.)

When people have been under the stress of deadlines, criticisms, problems and the like, then they definitely will benefit from some considerate, supportive treatment. By benefit, I mean that they will be in a better frame of mind (more enthusiastic, motivated, and eager; less stressed, tired, or depressed/pessimistic) to PERFORM WELL IN THE FUTURE. Providing supportive management at these times is in fact essential to maintaining your high-performing team. And plenty of evidence shows that shoulder massages are one of the most simple and effective ways to meet this need and help people "reset" and get back to their hard work.

Now, it is possible that massage is not customary in your particular corporate culture or location, and if so, if it hasn't been offered to employees very much in the past, then you can expect that some people might resist this idea that will seem new and perhaps even strange to them. Such is the progress of the human species. When I run into disagreement with my own work, I remind myself what politicians know--nobody ever has 100% of the vote! Yet we can't let that cripple us from doing the right thing, as best we can see it. Anyway, I bet that if the person who complained about this tried it him or her self, the view would change. It's a great idea and an appropriate time and place in my opinion.

I notice that people are often angry in your workplace. I think this is a serious issue. Angry, upset attitudes, when they are common, lead to more mistakes, less cooperation/teamwork, higher rates of health problems, faster turnover/loss of good employees, and I could go on. We've developed numerous programs to help turn such workplaces around since I do feel strongly that such attitudes and behaviors should not be allowed to persist (see our assessments/courses on Negative Talk and also on Conflict Management for instance).

I don't know if you are in a position to work on this problem right now, since you seem to have to be "on the defensive" often to protect your team's performance environment, but if you are even in a position to help put items on the bigger-picture agenda, I'd say that yours is a classic case of an unhealthy performance environment in which a lot of opportunity for improved performance is "on the table" owing to these negative attitudes and conflict-based styles of communication.

Please let me know if you have further questions, or feel free to refer others with questions to me. I'm concerned about you as I believe you are an excellent manager in a tough situation and I wouldn't want your team to lose you. Don't give up, you're doing the right thing and your willingness to be a bit innovative and to manage from the "heart" as well as the head is very good for your group and your employer--whether they know it or not!

Best,
Alex Hiam