In This Issue:

• Overcoming Resistance to Change
• Profile
• Woman Talk
• Managing Diversity
• Management Tip of the Month
• Book Nook
• Ethics Dilemma

GOT DIVERSITY?

Click here for information on our "Strategic Diversity" seminar to be held September 25-26, 2007 at the Meeting Center, Silicon Valley's Techmart, Santa Clara, CA.

PROFILE:
Cyril Isnard

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: Cyril Isnard
TITLE: General Manager
COMPANY: Fairmont Hotel, San Jose, CA

Cyril Isnard took the helm of the San Jose Fairmont's helm in 2001 after an international career that moved him from North Africa to Europe to the United States. Isnard serves as a vocal civic booster intent on attracting conventions along with corporate and leisure guests to San Jose.

What is most exciting about your current role?
Overseeing the growth of our employees and of our business.

What is your biggest challenge?
There are only 24 hours in a day and so much to do.

Briefly describe an experience that taught you a lot about leadership or management.
I once witnessed the victim of a theft beat up the handcuffed thief. It taught me that everyone, whatever the circumstances, should be treated with dignity. I lost respect for the victim as a result of his self-degrading action.

Describe someone who is a hero to you, or mentor or role model?
My current role model is an 83-year old and very successful businessman. When once asked when he would retire, he answered “never. “ On all occasions, he goes beyond his obligations for recognition of a job well done.

What two or three traits or qualities will leaders need to be successful in the future?
Vision, perseverance and propriety.

What personal strengths have led to your success?
Patience, tolerance and determination.

When faced with a thorny business dilemma, what are the key questions you ask?
What importance will this dilemma have five years from now? What are the possible gains and losses of solving this dilemma? How promptly should it be resolved?

Tell us about your outside community interests, hobbies and activities.
Americana, music, funny movies, bicycle riding and cooking

What are three tips you would offer to aspiring managers and leaders?
- Always associate with quality organizations.
- Treat others as you would like to be treated.
- Do it right the first time

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Cyril Isnard

Born: November 19, 1942 in Morocco

Education: Strasbourg Hotel School, INSEAD Advanced Management

Other companies where you've worked: Disney, Le Meridien, All Nippon Airways

Family members and pets: Wife, Carole; Sons, Philippe, Julien and Nicolas; two cats, one dog and a parrot

Favorite quote: "Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a teamwork, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.” – Vince Lombardi

Favorite book: “Jefferson’s Great Gamble” by Charles A. Cerami

Movie you found inspirational on the topic of leadership: “The Great Commanders” (a PBS series)

Management Tip

What are healthy signs that your team is skilled at solving problems? At your next meeting, notice evidence of the following: 1) Is there structure and discipline to the thinking or discussion process? 2) How are conflicts dealt with— laughed off, or overly sharpened? 3) Are there shared assumptions regarding the diagnosis? Are you sure that you are solving the right problem.

—Rebecca Kuiken

 

 

Tips for Overcoming
Resistance to Change

By Larry Olmstead and Jerry Ceppos

Smart managers know that resistance is not only an inevitable response to change in an organization – it is a welcome one. A lack of resistance means either that the envisioned change is not seen as important or that dissent has been driven underground and will undercut the implementation of the change initiative.

Lack of resistance means loss of an opportunity to learn about potential weaknesses of the initiative. Shoring up those weaknesses before implementation can result in a better product or service, and improve impact on the bottom line.

Good managers learn to be firm in pushing a change initiative through the organization, but flexible in how it is implemented. They seek input, share knowledge, weigh ideas and respond forthrightly to concerns.

Leading Edge Associates recently prepared a paper on this topic for the Newspaper Association of America. We cited “backbone” as the critical leadership quality needed to successfully drive transformation initiatives. We offered the following tips for overcoming resistance:

Focus on the goal: You are pushing change for good reason. Ideally, that reason involves an important, strategic outcome for the company. Find ways to systematically remind yourself – and others – of the reason. Include the rationale in every speech, and in comments at every meeting.

Talk to employees face-to-face: You will want to employ every conceivable communications tool, but nothing works like face-to-face conversation. Consciously schedule time each day to work the room and interact with employees.

Work on your listening skill: When employees voice concerns, don’t react defensively. Simply listen; ask questions, and repeat the key concerns so employees know they’ve been heard and understood. Thank them for their input, and assure them you will consider their comments. Then do it.

Have strong implementation plans: Nothing undercuts an initiative more surely than sloppy execution, which emboldens the naysayers and diminishes your allies.

Expect problems: Things will go wrong. It’s an axiom of change. Anticipate the need for flexibility and keep the focus on learning and improving. Don’t play the blame game.

What’s In It For Me? Tell employees how the change will affect their jobs and their lives. Help them understand the new performance expectations. Show them how they might benefit from the change.

No free passes: Consider inviting the resisters into the process. Solicit their ideas and invite them to participate on the implementation task force. If the resister is an opinion leader, weigh the pros and cons of assigning him or her to a leadership role in the change initiative. Best, get resisters’ input before the change is announced. And send the message: There are no free passes; in your workplace, people can criticize the change only if they are willing to help work toward solutions.

Larry Olmstead and Jerry Ceppos are consultants with Leading Edge Associates.

WOMAN TALK: Supervising men requires directness and confidence

By Dinah Eng

If you are a woman manager in charge of a male employee, resist opening up about your personal life, and don’t expect a close friendship, because business is just... well, a game for men.

Susan Murphy, a business and organizational consultant, says one of the biggest mistakes women managers make with men they supervise is not understanding how men are wired and motivated. Men often perceive the world as a laddered hierarchy with differentiated power. What motivates a man to work harder isn’t your respect or friendship, but career advancement.

“Men have been competing since they were boys involved in sport,” says Murphy, who has worked with more than 200 corporations, as well as the U.S. Army and Navy. “It's me against you, it's us against them. Relationships are central in the female culture. Men want to work for people who are confident and competent.”

So Murphy advises women managers to:

- Speak with confidence around male employees. Cut out self-deprecating remarks and be direct when giving assignments.

- Show men how new assignments offer visibility, new knowledge and greater power—advancement opportunities to help develop their careers.

Women have “legitimate power” that comes with their titles, but men won’t respect that unless you exercise that power, Murphy says. When conflicts occur, they should be dealt with immediately.

“Get to the bottom of what's driving any conflict, problem-solve, develop an action plan, and let them know you will not tolerate behavior that negatively affects the culture and productivity of the department.” Murphy says. “If necessary, begin a disciplinary process. Letting them know that you're serious is usually all that needs to happen.”

Being the boss, however, doesn’t mean that women should assert their authority in overbearing ways. Being able to joke “with the guys” is a skill that women managers want to develop, Murphy says.

Accepting you ‘as one of the guys’ means that men see you as competent, yet will joke around and tease you —and each other —in verbal bantering,” Murphy says. “Guys are comfortable teasing each other. Women don’t learn how to tease their best friends without taking it personally. A guy might say, ‘I think you look like a Tyrannosaurus rex,’ to his best friend, but a woman would never do that.”

With more women gaining positions of power, men are learning what it takes to succeed under a female’s direction. “It can be a terrific liaison because she can help him see the world differently,” Murphy says. “It’s great to have men and women on the same team, as long as they’re clear on what their roles are.”

MANAGING DIVERSITY: Is Diversity Dead? Focus on the Realities.

By Jacqui Love Marshall

Wall Street Journal editor Daniel Henninger’s “Diversity is Dead” article created a firestorm last month. Henninger used a study by Harvard professor Dr. Robert Putnam to conclude that “diversity as an ideology may be dead, or not worth saving.”

So, what did Putnam find? After surveying 30,000 participants in 41 U.S. communities, Putnam’s 2000 study found that people in racially diverse neighborhoods were more likely to “hunker-down” and isolate themselves. They were less active in volunteering, donating to charity, voting, and engaging in civic events. People in the most mixed neighborhoods trusted their neighbors less. They were distrustful of people within their own race as well as those of other races.

In response to Putnam’s data, Henninger pointed to diversity’s failings; the inability of diversity “ideologues” to make a strong case for diversity’s merits.

When Putnam published his paper, “E Pluribus Unum: Diversity and Community in the Twenty-first Century,” the professor reached a much different conclusion. He cited “powerful advantages” of immigration and diversity – increasing national income, more creativity and faster, better problem solving.

Putnam emphasized three points:

•Immigration and diversity are not only inevitable but also desirable. “Ethnic diversity is, on balance, an important social asset.”

•In the short run, immigration and ethnic diversity do pose challenges for creating social bonds and neighborhood ties.

• In the long run, however, “successful immigrant societies create new forms of social solidarity and dampen the negative effects of diversity by constructing new, more encompassing identities. Thus, the central challenge for modern, diversifying societies is to create a new, broader sense of 'we'.”

How should you and I act differently in our work/personal arenas as a result of this data and debate? Here are a few thoughts:

Focus on realities and inevitabilities. Diversity and immigration are realities that are not going to disappear. Global data, from vital statistics to immigration patterns, affirm that worldwide diversity is a present and future reality. Focus on becoming better prepared to live in a world of expanding differences.

Reflect on your own thoughts and behaviors. Where do you stand with Putnam’s data? Does it resonate in your own experience? Do you sympathize with pro- or anti-diversity voices? Do you avoid the issues or aim to be a part of the solution?

Be a catalyst for change. History shows that immigrants enter our country with great resistance from incumbent Americans until “foreigners” become the mainstream. To what degree do you support new attitudes and behaviors within your social networks?

Act locally. Diverse situations may not be easy to deal with. Discomfort and tension are a natural part of the process but, with effort, lead to genuine interactions that get easier over time. Are you modeling the non-involved, non-trusting survey participant or are you a role model for engaging these challenges? What have done to build relationships with people different from you?

Diversity is alive and well in our community and your organization. It is time for all of us to not merely hunker down and survive, but to discover how to creatively

 

BOOK NOOK

ETHICS DILEMMA: Job Search Issues

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.Two jobs in my fairly narrow career field are opening up. Is it ethical to apply for both of them?

A. Applying is no problem. Ask any newly minted Ph.D., who’s probably applying for dozens or even hundreds of teaching jobs at the same time. The tough part is deciding—if you’re lucky enough to get nibbles from both employers—when and whether to admit that you’re considering both jobs.
I see nothing wrong with accepting expense-paid trips to both locations for interviews without mentioning the other position—but only if you’re serious about both jobs. If luck again is with you and both employers tell you that they want to check references, I’d ‘fess up. After all, you don’t want a reference to say, “That’s funny. I just heard from another employer who wanted to know about the same person.” But ‘fess up in a way that comes across as, “Let me tell you something just for the sake of being candid.” Don’t let either employer think you’re playing one against the other—a good way to end up without either offer.

 

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