Coaching Tip: The Leadership Blog

Toxic Financial Institutions

Since the onset of the financial crisis ten months ago, the federal government has burrowed its way deep into the workings of American capitalism which has created many unintended consequences.  Tucked away on banks' books, a familiar problem remains: bad loans and the other toxic assets that plagued the markets for so long.  That's terrible news for the economy.

A House of Cards; Credit Cards, that is

The big fear, say analysts, is a repeat of last summer when Lehman Brothers failed and the bad assets tumbled in value as the banks burned through their newly raised capital.  With banks' capital depleted, the government had to come to the rescue.  That problem hasn't changed.

By the end of 2008, households were on the hook for $13.8 trillion in debt (they owed roughly 130% of disposable income)--nearly matching the $14.3 trillion output of the entire U.S. economy, not adjusted for inflation, that year.  Households are now shedding debt; they're just not doing it very quickly.  "Without stronger financial underpinnings, growth will likely be narrowly based and not dynamic, and deflationary undercurrents will persist," Citigroup economist Robert DiClemente recently wrote.

Breakthrough Moments

In today's innovation economy, engineers, economists and policy makers are eager to foster creative thinking among knowledge workers.

Of course, we've all had our "Aha" moments.  They materialize without warning, often through conversations with your personal coach or an unconscious shift in mental perspective that can abruptly alter how we perceive a problem.

Big 3 Blind Spot: Quality Builds Marketshare

R.L Polk tells us that the average length of car ownership in the U.S. is up 24% since 2002.  Some 64% of people plan to keep their current car longer because of the recession.

Big 3 Leadership Blind Spot Led to Marketshare Erosion

Motor vehicle production now makes up less than 2% of U.S. gross domestic product versus as much as 5% in the early 1970s when the Japanese began to assemble automobiles here in the U.S.  

When Honda began to assemble cars in North America their product quality was not very good...yet, Honda leadership focused on building a quality product.  Over time, Honda did just that. 

Today, the leadership at Ford Motor is now starting to focus on quality and plans to build market share as consumers perceive the improved styling, design and quality improvements of the Ford brand.  Specifically, Ford expects to claim 25% of the expected marketshare losses of GM and Chrysler.

From Worker Burnout to a Winning Team Attitude

A dysfunctional work environment, if left unchecked, can deteriorate to the point of employee burnout. Burnout is a familiar term these days: it's the physical or emotional exhaustion that results from long-term stress or frustration.  Chronic fatigue is a major symptom of burnout: one feels physically, emotionally and spiritually exhausted. Behaviorally, the burnout worker becomes cynical, indifferent and increasingly ineffective in the job.   

According to Herbert J. Freudenberger, the New York psychologist who coined the term in 1972, burnout describes a specific condition. It is an emotional state characterized by an overwhelming and enduring feeling of exhaustion or aggravation.  Burnout is a condition that develops gradually as the person's creativity and effectiveness erode into fatigue, skepticism and an inability to function productively. 

Traditionally, the worker is the one who gets the blame but research shows that the cause of burnout lies mainly in current economic trends, the use of technology and management philosophy within organizations.  As managers become de-energized and lose confidence in their abilities, these emotions are transferred to employees.  Employee engagement and long-term improvements in corporate performance can't be accomplished with a burned out, low energy and low confidence leadership team.

Leaders can turnaround a failing work environment by helping employees move from the language of "blame" to the language of "personal responsibility.”  The first step is to instill confidence in the employee’s ability to meet and overcome workplace challenges.  Experience tells us that confidence precedes competence.  A person must first believe they can succeed by developing a winning attitude reinforced by skill-building training.