In This Issue:

• Tips for the Holidays
• Profile
• Woman Talk
• Managing Diversity
• Management Tip of the Month
• Book Nook
• Ethics Dilemma

LEADING EDGE SEMINARS

For information on "Driving Results with Diversity" to be held January 10, 2008 in Santa Clara, CA click here.

PROFILE:
Michael J. “Mike” Blach

Each month we will profile someone in the business, non-profit or government sector who has shown superior leadership or management skills. If you know someone who should be profiled, please send the person's name, title, organization and contact information to edgeline.

NAME: Michael J. “Mike” Blach
TITLE: President and CEO
COMPANY: Blach Construction Company, Santa Clara, CA

Mike Blach took the leadership of Blach Construction at the age of 26, when his father, who founded the company in 1970, passed away after a brief illness. Blach has continued its reputation for excellent customer service throughout Northern California. A committed civic leader, Mike currently serves on the boards of the San Jose Rotary Club, the SJ Catholic Diocese Finance Council and the Blach family foundation. He also served as president at Sacred Heart Community Service, and board member of the Silicon Valley Children’s Fund.

What is most exciting about your current role?
Building a company where I am able to see my colleagues grow and succeed every day.

What is your biggest challenge?
We’ve recently opened two new offices in Stockton and Monterey. I want to make sure they take root for the long term and are true expressions of who we are at Blach.

Describe someone who is a hero to you, or mentor or role model?
Easy – my dad (Michael S. Blach). He was a great family man, instilled strong ethics and values in us, and led by example. From a business perspective, he liked to take calculated risks, many of which paid off. He passed away in 1989, and I still miss him dearly.

What two or three traits or qualities will leaders need to be successful in the future?
- Understand how to connect with and inspire a much more diverse and younger workforce in Silicon Valley. While much has been written on cultural and generational differences in the workplace, you need to experience it first-hand to truly grasp it.
- Leaders from top companies across our industry must collaborate better to attract new recruits, especially in the trades. We’re facing a projected workforce shortage in the trades that will reach crisis proportions in the next few years.

What personal strengths have led to your success?
I work hard and lead by example. I also try to not let the setbacks get me or my team down. In our hyper-competitive industry, I’ve learned that you have to maintain your positive attitude 100 percent of the time.

When faced with a thorny business dilemma, what are the key questions you ask?
“What’s the fair thing to do?” Protecting and extending our excellent reputation with our customers, architects, subcontractors and colleagues is always more important than the dollars involved.

What are three tips you would offer to aspiring managers and leaders?
- Become a student of your company, your industry and the larger business world. It will help you understand issues in a broader context.
- Seek out a highly regarded mentor within the organization.
- Ask for critical feedback from your direct supervisor and your peers. Most importantly, address the issues they identify for you.

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Michael J. "Mike" Blach

Born: November 14, 1962 in San Jose

Education: M.B.A., Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo; B.S. (Political Science/International Relations), Santa Clara University

Other companies where you've worked: Bank of America for two years after SCU in the management training program as a bank officer

Family members: Wife, Margie; daughters Katie (19), Megan (17), Sarah (15), and son Michael (12)

Favorite quote: Treat others as you would like to be treated.

Favorite book :“Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson and the Opening of the American West” by Stephen Ambrose

Movie you found inspirational on the topic of leadership: Ken Burns’ PBS documentary “The War.”

Management Tip: Follow Through

Are your people having trouble following through on tasks? It is likely not for lack of effort; they are simply busy, juggling a complex set of competing demands. Go back to basics by setting priorities in writing. For example, after each meeting, quickly send a short note to all participants – clear, constructive and professional – reminding them of the decisions made at the meeting and the tasks assigned to each individual. These notes will help focus your employees and provide a useful tool for the team to review its efforts.

—Larry Olmstead

 

Tips for the Holidays

By Larry Olmstead

With the holiday season upon us, I’ve updated my annual suggestions for managers looking to ring out the old year and move forward into the new. Here are the tips:

- Offer a few words of year-end appreciation to every staff member. Do this in the office, not at the holiday party, so they hear it in the context of work.

- Don’t forget holiday cards for each direct report. Address the card to the employee and their partner/spouse/family, and send it to their home address.

- If you provide a gift for one direct report, give to all. Think in the $15-45 range. Make sure your gifts are the kind that can be opened in the office without causing people to gasp and call Human Resources.

- Think inclusively about holiday displays and greetings. There are many spiritual celebrations during this season – Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and others. Consider appointing a small committee of your staff to plan holiday festivities, with a charge of ensuring that all employees feel a part of the celebration regardless of ethnic, national or religious background.

- Drop a wrapped box of chocolates on the desk of a few key administrative personnel —for example, the CEO’s secretary who always gets you in to see the boss, or the guy in finance who expedites your check requests.

- Let your employees leave early one or two days during the holiday season so they can shop, take care of errands or just relax with loved ones.

- Clean out your inbox before you leave on vacation, even if it means spending a few extra hours at work. Start 2008 with a clean desk.

- Welcome folks back in January. Express confidence about the coming year and remind people of your expectations for how they will communicate and work together. It is also a good time to re-distribute important policies, like those prohibiting discrimination and harassment.

- Also in January, make sure everyone is clear on the business goals for the year and their role in helping the company achieve the goals.

Happy Holidays!

Larry Olmstead is president and executive consultant of Leading Edge Associates.

WOMAN TALK: Tips on Office Romance

By Dinah Eng

Dating someone at the office may not be the smartest career move, but as the hours spent at work increase, so do the chances of a budding relationship with a co-worker, or even a boss.

Paul Abramson, a psychology professor at the University of California Los Angeles, has written a new book, “Romance in the Ivory Tower,” that examines the issue of dating in the workplace. He expresses the conviction that every person has the right to choose whom to love.

The key to whether an office romance should be officially dealt with lies in its affect on workplace productivity. Managers must distinguish between whether a relationship is truly disruptive to the work at hand, or if it is simply personally offensive to those who are complaining about it, he says.

Abramson offers these tips for dealing with potential office dating conflicts:

- If a couple is arguing over personal issues at work, bring the couple into your office and explain that behavior that’s disruptive to the workplace will not be tolerated. It is OK to intervene when you’re not making a moral judgment, and are trying to facilitate effective workplace relationships.

- If someone complains about a co-workers’ office romance, be sensitive to that person’s concerns. Explain that you cannot fire someone because they are pregnant, married, or dating. Separate work issues from personal issues in assessing complaints.

- If an employee is dating a supervisor, the appearance of favoritism looms large. Offer the option of a transfer so that another person supervises and evaluates the employee’s work.

Common sense dictates one last thought—if you are involved in an office romance, realize that if things don’t work out, you’ll still have to face your former love at work every day. So be discreet, stay focused on your work, and pursue other interests with your partner outside the office.

MANAGING DIVERSITY: Dos and Don’ts of Receiving Feedback

By Jacqui Love Marshall

We all like to view ourselves as the “enlightened” ones. We think: “Others harbor racist, sexist, or age-ist biases, but not me.” However, there may come a time when you are the recipient of critical feedback — from a boss, colleague or subordinate — about your diversity attitudes or actions. What is a seemingly enlightened person to do?

First, recognize that the person giving the feedback is not simply being mean – the individual believes there is a legitimate reason for thinking so. When people feel mistreated or discriminated against, their desire for righting that wrong is strong. Sometimes their reaction may be genuinely felt but is unwarranted; they have interpreted your spoken words or actions out of context, or they have formed an unsubstantiated opinion and “found” examples of further behavior to reinforce that opinion.

On the other hand, admit it or not, we all have diversity “blind spots” based on our life experience, as well as unconscious and unexplored attitudes about other groups of people. We can reveal our biases overtly or unconsciously without realizing it. Most diversity experts agree that about 90 percent of Americans have or have had insensitive or offensive thoughts about people in other groups but only a few actually verbalize these thoughts out loud.  Most of us know how to keep our conscious biases in check. It is our unconscious attitudes that often take us by surprise, and cause harm.

Receiving feedback may be embarrassing—particularly if you know it is true. It may also make you angry if you feel it is unjustified. It need not harm your career, however, if you learn to listen well, manage the discussion and heed relevant criticism. Even if the perceptions are unwarranted, you can learn something about yourself and others through the exchange.

Here are five “Dos and Don’ts” for managing diversity feedback:

Don’t:

- React or respond until the person has completed giving their feedback.
- Ignore, reject or deny the feedback – or withdraw from, placate or express anger/hostility towards the person.
- Get defensive or try to give an immediate explanation for your behavior.
- Attack the feedback-giver with accusations of your own.
- Pretend you agree with the feedback if, in fact, you disagree.

Do:

- Remain attentive to the person and open to their views.
- Actively listen to the feedback and ask questions to get clarity and details; if necessary, take notes.
- Show appreciation to the person for addressing the issues directly with you.
- Be honest with yourself and clear with others about what parts of the feedback you accept and what seems unclear or questionable.
- Express genuine concern and intent to respond to the feedback; then, take tangible action to address the issues.

Consider feedback as an opportunity for personal and professional growth. Think of it as a chance to expand your diversity awareness and capacity for dealing with a wider range of differences. Think of it as a challenging opportunity in an essential skill for career success. Most of all, think of it as a chance to show that you can use constructive feedback to become the enlightened person you truly want to be.

BOOK NOOK

ETHICS DILEMMA: Gift-giving at Work

Jerry Ceppos will answer questions about ethical issues every month. Along with two others, he received the first Ethics in Journalism Award of the Society of Professional Journalists. Write Jerry at jerryc@leadingedgeassociates.net .Tell him if you don't want your name used.

Q.The world is so complicated today. I feel like I even need a guide to holiday gift-giving at work. Do you have one?

A. Mine is pretty simple. For gifts to the boss, I’ve adapted the guideline for gift-giving to public officials developed by Judy Nadler, senior fellow at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University. She says, “The public perception (of gifts to officials) is that it is a thank-you for a favor done or something offered in exchange for an upcoming favor.” The same thought applies to that box of expensive chocolates for the boss, which could make fellow workers and your boss uncomfortable. Simple rule: Don’t give the boss presents.

If you want to exchange gifts with your peers, that’s fine. Make sure that everyone understands the rules, such as a price limit.

Of course, don’t accept gifts from suppliers or others who do business with your company. You don’t need a thank you for the past—or for the future—any more than government officials do.

Edgeline is published the second Tuesday of each month by Leading Edge Associates, a consulting firm engaged in leadership and management training, organizational change, executive coaching, and strategic diversity. Rebecca Kuiken, managing editor of Edgeline, can be reached at (408) 960-9472 or rebeccak@leadingedgeassociates.net..