Canadian HR Reporter - Sample Issue

STRATEGIC CAPABILITY NETWORK'S PANEL of thought leaders brings decades of experience from the senior ranks of Canada's business community. eir commentary puts HR management issues into context and looks at the practical implications of proposals and policies. CANADIAN HR REPORTER EXECUTIVE SERIES 15 www.scnetwork.ca OCTOBER 2018 is Empowered by: is Empowered by: A Great Leader A Great Leader www.scnetwork.ca Networking, Mentoring, Peer-Peer Feedback Formal Online & Of ine Learning On the job experiences & challenges 20% 10% 70% Join SCNetwork, for a monthly dose of thought leadership and grow your community of peers in a collaborative space. We welcome all HR professionals who support business success through people. Cultivating the Power of Human Capital for 35+ Years! Looking for a way to achieve the 30% you need to become a great leader? Implementing a thought framework to out-think the competition ree SCNetwork members discuss Julian Chapman's presentation Paul Pittman: I liked this. Julian Chapman came up with a neat framework for essentially a men- tal process for dealing with inter- action with colleagues and pro- cessing opportunities for change. Many of us fl ash through this systematic approach in a nanosec- ond and do not always get it right. Emotion, impatience or misreads distort the outcome or the process steps along the way. e takeaway is to spend a little more time and to think through how you are reacting, and at what stage the people you are respond- ing to are at with their ideas or proposals. We have seen elements of this before with advice around putting yourself in the other's shoes, and getting to yes and so on — trying to interpret the other's motives and confi dence in her idea, put- ting yourself in a position to re- ceive and interpret, and mindful thinking. Chapman's presentation took these ideas full circle and off ered a total solution. I learned from someone years ago that when I feel an objection coming along, I should stop that from developing and ask myself why I'm having that reaction — not be driven by the gut emotion. Now, I know what I'm doing. Accountants and engineers will love this; in fact, anyone comfort- able with Requisite Organization methodology will engage with the logic behind the seemingly illogi- cal. It represents a systematic way of analyzing collaborative prob- lem-solving, change manage- ment and progress leadership to help arrive at a more informed ap- proach to reaching a conclusion. Yes, it was a little like a solu- tion looking for a problem, but Chapman's colour coding makes it simple enough to convey to any doubting omas. He maybe got a little carried away with colour shading and the "Boys Own De- tective Kit" of having an applica- tion for every problem, but there was logic and it made sense. I could see how this discipline (Chapman called it a framework) would change the way someone considers an idea or proposition. What we didn't get to see enough of (I know, time doesn't always permit) was practical ap- plication — how to use it in the moment, interpret and act. I can't see someone buying Shell asking for a time out to co- lour code their opposite numbers on the negotiating team. None- theless, it's a powerful technique. Sandi Channing: I liked it, too. " inking is the ultimate diver- sity" resonated and so did Chap- man's presentation. at everyone has a diff erent thinking style helped to clarify those "earth to Mars" situations — where you seem to be on a dif- ferent planet than everyone else and don't understand why they aren't grasping the merits of your great idea. Chapman then took it one step further by providing a resource to help with getting people on board — the Persuasion Map. In today's business environ- ment, where things change quickly, organizations have to be ready to out-think the competi- tion. Increasing communication, understanding and co-operation among workers is a great way to achieve this. Many organizations have bought into employee profi ling such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator or DISC (a behaviour assessment tool that centres on four diff erent traits: dominance, inducement, submission and compliance), so why not thinking styles? Employees' understanding of other's thinking styles, as well as their own, facilitates the sharing and receptiveness of ideas, result- ing in faster and better decisions overall. To quote Chapman: "Eff ective thinking is eff ective action." He provided practical, hands- on tools that were easily under- stood and implemented. He led us through a journey that required us to use both hard and soft thinking while moving between the colours of thinking without us realizing it. If this was an example of the Per- suasion Map in action, I'm sold. Jan van der Hoop: I agree completely, Sandi. e only place where "autopilot" belongs is in the cockpit. For better or worse (worse), most of us are on autopi- lot most of the time, simply show- ing up as a refl ection of whatever inner dialogue is running in the background of our mind and re- acting unthinkingly to external stimulus. As is the case with any of the assessments or models you de- scribe, the one true source of effectiveness is self-awareness (what's going on for you), situ- ational awareness (what's going on around you, and what does the situation require you to bring to it), and the willingness to be inten- tionally versatile. at's the case with interper- sonal styles, in all our communi- cation, and now also in terms of how we actually think. I love the Rhodes inking-In- tensive Model Chapman shared, and (as a guy who spends most of my life in green thinking, re-imag- ining the future) look forward to practising an awareness of my own thinking focus and that of folks around me. PANELLISTS: • Jan G. van der Hoop, president of Fit First Technologies in Toronto • Paul Pittman, founder and president of the Human Well in Toronto • Sandi Channing, senior director of total rewards at Compass Group Canada Jan van der Hoop Paul Pittman Sandi Channing He provided practical, hands-on tools that could be easily understood. Hard thought is management, while soft thought is leadership, he said. "It has to be a combina- tion of both to be truly eff ective." Applying the framework By understanding the styles of thinking, workers can aim to shift their profi le over time, said Chapman. "It's important to understand how we (come across) when we're thinking and communicating." In general, blue thinkers per- suade and evaluate; reds explain, listen and sense; while greens explore and welcome insight, he said. Green thinking is prone to run into a "wall" of judgment — an issue for companies pursuing innovation. " e true issue of innovation is the ability to describe the new, un- familiar thing — in other words, to make the unfamiliar familiar," said Chapman. "You have to sell your thinking continually." "Each of us looks at the same things every day. And we process it very diff erently. inking is the ultimate diversity. It is what makes us very diff erent." To sell eff ectively, research is needed to ensure people are in- terested before the convincing process begins, he said. "People lose sight of that. Be- cause if I'm selling you something that you don't need and you don't want, then I shouldn't be selling it to you, because selling is get- ting someone to want what they need." Understanding what type of thinking is needed for specific tasks is another critical part of the equation, said Chapman. at is best completed by fol- lowing a process to determine what is important (blue), discover possible options (green), evaluate (red), and then decide (blue). " e critical part is that fi rst step of 'What is important?'" he said. "It is not about the facts." That first step can often be forgotten in the workplace, said Chapman. "We send our employees off to go and do things, but we don't tell them what's important… and when organizations don't have a strategy, the employees can't go and exercise their full thinking by generating the options, analyzing the options and showing how this will deliver the strategy." " e point of eff ective intelli- gence is it's a language for think- ing to get everybody on the same page." Trust the thought process THINKING < pg. 14

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