By now you have all seen the headline, or even watched the jarring video of a male passenger being dragged off of an aircraft, screaming and bloodied.  The United Airlines flight 3411 incident that took place in Chicago was very interesting to me.  I spent 12 years in the airline industry so I tend to view aviation related events through a few different lenses.

When the story first broke, it seemed like the usual overly sensational news about another unruly passenger being removed from an aircraft.  This does not sway me as this happens if not hundreds, but thousands of times a day around the world.  I watched the main video that was all over social media and aside from the chaos that took place in the cabin of that aircraft I was floored to see the explosive way that this story spread not only on traditional media, but the wildfire it created on Facebook, Twitter etc.  The comment threads that I reviewed were angry, judgmental, and very opinionated.  The whole sphere of social media was out for blood and the mass online condemnation caused United Airlines stock to plummet in value by one billion dollars in the first 24 hours.  

United tried in vain to turn the tide, releasing several statements that were not received by the public well, the first was supportive of the employees and their actions and this caused mass anger again towards the airline.  The public hatred towards United Airlines did not begin to turn around until the CEO came out and took full blame for the event, announced major procedural promises and changes and offered compensation to every passenger onboard flight 3411, the airline had dug themselves into a hole with no way out and had to make unrealistic promises that it cannot keep.  What surprised me most by this point, was that although the poor finesse of how this situation was handled, United Airlines was actually in the right.  I am not defending the injuries sustained by the gentleman involved, the fact is, based on federal law and established policy United had every right to take all the steps that they did, and yet because of the prevalence of smart phones and social media, being right or wrong did not matter, the public made up their mind and wanted to punish United for it. 

But why did the public turn so negatively toward United? Because of the social media firestorm.  People were posting and re-posting articles and videos with highly sensational, angry, opinionated statements.  People like to be heard and with social media, everyone has their own soapbox,  truth, facts, and objectivity ceased to matter.  This issue is not going to go away, since the United 3411 incident there have been several other airline related incidents that have also played out on social media.  Recently JetBlue was the subject of this amazing hyped up headline “Family kicked off flight to Vegas for stowing birthday cake in overhead bin”.  This could have gone poorly for JetBlue but it didn’t, there are several factors.  JetBlue has clearly established policies, procedures and training in place that are good for both the company AND the customer.  JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes was even interviewed on a morning news programme and was eloquently able to defend his employees and the decisions they made, he backed this up with facts related to the case, the training provided to the employees and the applicable laws and regulations.  

In todays world we are literally surrounded by smart phone technology where anyone can film or photograph whatever is happening around them.  So, how do we prepare for this new world where social media can take one incident and ruin a person or a companies reputation?  We will explore strategies for this in Part II of this topic. 

#TweetWell​

Jeff

I have written many blog posts about how to be an effective leader largely based on leading your team or those that you are responsible for. What happens when you are doing everything you can for your team, yet struggle under someone above you?

In the industry we call this managing or leading up.  Yes, believe it or not you can manage your manager.  Some may call this finding a way to “win-win” or finding a way to yes.


           Executive Coach - Kyle Kalloo 

When might you have to lead up?  There are several instances that come to mind;

 - A new manger to the organization unfamiliar with the corporate culture or processes; 
 - An experienced manager that is comfortable (stuck) in their usual (old) ways;
 - A manager that lacks big picture thinking; 
 - A manager fearful and protective of their “turf”

I pondered this idea for a while and in order to share the best possible practices with you I realized I needed to reach out to a subject matter expert, Kyle Kalloo is an executive with many years of experience and was the first person I know to bring up the concept of leading up.  I invited Kyle to do an interview with me and here is what we learned. 

Jeff - Kyle, tell us a little bit about you first.  Your career history and experience. 

Kyle – It has been a while I have been asked that question, because most people now tend to google me before meeting (laughing). I have been in leadership for just over 20 years now. It wasn’t something I planned on, I’d like to think I am an accidental leader. Most times I find companies tend to put me in that role. McDonald’s Canada was my first job and first leadership position. After 8 years with McDonald’s, I continued my leadership at Famous Players in Toronto, before moving on to WestJet based out of Calgary, for just over 10 years. And now the CFO, COO, Executive and Business Coach with Change My Life Coaching. Just recently, I was speaking with my younger brother about some of my elementary school report cards he and my mother found.  Apparently one of those report cards identified a teacher that wrote, something to the effect, they wished I was focus more on my school work instead of trying to run a business. Naturally, that made me pause. Those that know me well, aren’t surprised by that, yet I was. 

Jeff - What does “leading up” mean to you, how would you define that for others?

Kyle – I believe they are two concepts to this; I think people are still confused about the difference between managers and leaders. I support the notion that managers know how to plan, budget, organize, staff, control, and problem solve. Pretty tactful and hands on. Where as leaders tend to create and communicate visions and strategies. They think big and allow the managers to focus on the details. With that said, managing up would be specific and tactful, while leading up is more about being strategic. 

Jeff - How does one know when they may need to start leading up? what are the signs?

Kyle – In simple terms, lack of clarity. When leaders are not clear with their ask or what finish looks like, are great opportunities to start the process of leading up. Often times you hear phrases such as, “Could you take care of this,” and “I need this ASAP,” When they are not clear with the expectations, they believe they are empowering the employee, but they are not. Without being clear, a lot of time is wasted with going back and forth - unproductive. This is not about being spoon fed by the manager/leader, on the contrary, it is more about spoon feeding the manager/leader. And sometimes that is necessary for a few reasons; gaining clarity and leading their expectations. 

Jeff - What would you say are your hands down best practices for leading up?

Kyle – Get specifics. When this is around a project, assignment, or task, it is necessary to seek clarity by asking the right questions. By what time and what day. Do you want me to stop doing what I am already working on to make this a priority. What does finish look like. The manager/leader might not know, and this is a great opportunity for you to suggest. Often times as leaders we don’t live in the details as someone working the front line, in the trenches, so to speak. This is a great opportunity to lead up. Be clear with your priorities. You are responsible for your workload, learning, and development. Don’t get frustrated with additional tasks being put on your plate, often times the manager/leader is not aware and their ask doesn’t’ come from a place to frustrate you.  Keep them informed that something else will have to stop to prioritize another item they need. This will start outlining expectations, so when you go back asking for an extension there will be no surprises. My mother often says, “before it’s a reason, after it’s an excuse”, so if you say you are going to get it done on said date, make sure it’s done or ask for an extension prior to said date.  

Jeff - What if I am trying to lead up, but my boss is resistant? 

Kyle – This is a common question. I think it is for a few reasons; in my experience I find people try to do this right away without first understanding the company’s mission, vision, and values. There is something to be said for doing your time and truly understanding the business first. Regardless of your years of experience in a field or expertise, it is necessary to invest time (conditioning) and understanding in your organization or department. Do not expect to start leading up off the bat. Get to know your team, your leader, and your industry. Foster effective relationships first! Often times, when someone doesn’t agree with me – which is often, I am reminded of two things, 1) because I am not always in the details, they might not have access to all the information.  And that is my opportunity as a leader to involve them and provide said details. Or 2) I don’t have access to all the information and it’s my responsibility to ask the right questions. In my experience, if the above is properly executed and there is still resistance, then the leader is leading from a fear base anxiety, scarcity. 

Jeff - What are your additional thoughts?

Kyle – When I speak with other leaders, I am told I am pretty hard on them.  I think rightfully so, because it is their responsibility to inspire and tap into the natural resources of people that want to do meaningful work.  Our best years of our lives are spent at work, mostly working for someone else. And in the absence of a process people will create their own. Leaders have an opportunity to create and influence an environment that provides meaningful work and a safe environment for their employees. Employees’s responsibilities are pretty simple, do the work you were hired to do first, participate in your own learning and development, ask for what you need, and help others.  

As you can see, Kyle has great insight for the concept of leading up.  As a professional coach Kyle can be contacted at:
​
Kyle Kalloo,
CFO, COO, Executive and Business Coach,
Changemylifecoaching.ca 844-910-7111

Lead up, down and all around.  Most importantly, lead always,

Jeff

Usually I end up writing my posts based on various inspirations, sometimes I see a quote that grabs my attention. Other times I have an interesting work or personal life experience and find inspiration in writing about it.  This time I would like to ask you!  Let me know by voting on various topics below and I will blog about it for next week!

Also, my website host has changed the subscription service so if you want to receive updates on new posts please add your e-mail address to the update subscription to the lower right. 

Thank you for your input!

Jeff 

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I have many leaders out there that inspire me, one leader Simon Sinek; himself a speaker on leadership topics is very inspirational.  He wrote the bestselling book “Start With Why”, many of you have heard me speak about the concept of starting with why and how the question “why do you do what you do” is in many cases impossible for us to answer… More on this in a future blog post.

Today, a quote from Simon Sinek caught my attention:

“We react to emails.
We talk to people.”
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​The past two weeks I have facilitated several leadership development programs and coaching a lot of leaders on their development.  I would say the focus these past two weeks has been on “leadership presence” and “relationship building”.  I have a scenario for you to consider, put yourself into this situation;

You walk into your manager’s office; you ask “May I have a few minutes of your time?”
Your manager, “Yes of course! Please, come in, have a seat”
Your manager turns to you, looks you in the eyes and says “What is going on? How can I help you?”

Off to a great start right? 

Then it happens… the sound of an e-mail arriving on your manager’s computer “beeeeuuuuu”… You watch as your well intentioned manager turns from you to their computer screen, “click” opens the e-mail that at its worst, is nowhere close to an emergency (who sends an email “fire, fire, fire!”).  Then the “clickty clack” sounds of hands on a keyboard fill the room… “It’s ok! Keep talking! I am listening!” your manager says to you with a warm smile.   Has this ever happened to you?

Like Sineks quote, the email is merely a reaction, the same happens with text messages and phone calls.  When we accept distraction in these situations we are severing the relationship with the human being sitting in front of us.  Put yourself in the shoes of the person that came to speak with their manager, how would it feel to know that they are choosing an inanimate object over you?

Talking to people means being present, and being present does not mean just “showing up”.  The excuses I often hear about these situations are “I can multi task”.  The question I ask is “how many conversations are you repeating because you were not present in them the first time?” 

I have some tips to enhance your leadership presence:

As the manager:

When someone sits down to have a conversation with you (building the relationship) turn off the power to your computer monitor.  Turn your mobile phone to vibrate or silent and turn it over so the screen is facing down.  DO NOT allow yourself to wander back to whichever task you were doing before and think very hard about the types of calls you may have to accept in exceptional circumstances.

As the person meeting with the manager:

Very simple.  If at any time they get distracted and start typing on the computer, texting or taking a phone call.  Stop talking and wait.  Your leader is likely going to encourage you keep talking, don’t.  Just politely say you will wait until they are finished, stick to what you said and just wait. 

As another of my favourite inspirational leaders Susan Scott says “the conversation is the relationship”.  For me that means the conversations we have or do not have directly equal the quality of the relationships with those people in our lives.  Remember, a person talking at you while you type away is someone talking to themselves and you working beside them.
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Enjoy the conversations,

Jeff 
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“Can you update your Pisano?” “Meet me by the shell gate, deck 2 midship” “tell me”.

Aviation is full of acronyms and made up words. Shiplife? times that by about 100.

I was fortunate having grown up on the water as part of my parents business that I learned the difference between a boat and ship, port, starboard, aft, fwd, bow and stern.  What I didn't know was the alternate language that crew use to name or describe something.  For example, when I joined the ship I heard many crew members use the word “Pisano”.  They would use it in reference to confirming information, “please take this form to your Pisano” a crew member would say to another.

For my first 30 days on the ship I thought and believed that “Pisano” was a supervisor of some sort on the ship, I in fact believed that it was a position or rank onboard.  When I found out that “Pisano” meant “person from the same country as you” I felt, well, out of touch.  I was so confused… I now happily share this story with new hires as an example of what it is like to adjust to ship-life.  Although it is an Italian word, every nationality on the ship uses it.  

What are some other words/terms have I learned?

• “Tell me” - It is universal amongst crew when you call them that the start of the conversation almost always goes like the below.  The conversations are all so fast and efficient, “tell me” is the common way of saying “whats up?” or “what can I do for you?”.  
  

• ME - “Hi, it’s T&D Jeffrey”
• THEM “Hi! Tell me”

• I-95 - Down in the belly of the vessel, in the crew areas there is a massive corridor that on most ships runs straight from the bow of the vessel to the stern.  It is the “crew highway” that allow crew, supplies and equipment to move from one end of the ship to the next.  Most ships also have an I-94, a smaller corridor running in parallel.  When the ship is turning around between voyages the I-95 is very very busy and crew are asked to transit via I-94 to avoid congestion.

• Turn Around Day - This is the day between voyages, it is like a symphony, brain surgery and magic all rolled up together.  In one day (usually 8-12 hours) the ship arrives, disembarks thousands of guests, turns over all the state rooms, cleaning, sanitizing.  The ships garbage and recycling is offloaded and new provisions including food, beverages, glassware, and a number of other supplies are brought onboard.  This day is very busy for the ships HR team, it is all hands on deck as we prepare to receive the “sign-ons” and disembark the “sign-offs”.  Each turn around day there will be an influx of crew leaving and coming the number differs from ship to ship the largest ships in the fleet there can be up to 250 sign-ons, on my ship the average is closer to 40.  In this group up to 25% are new-hires whereas the rest are returning crew coming off vacation.  The HR team splits up to manage the process, I head out to the crew bus with the Crew Relations Specialist and we start to receive the sign-ons, verifying their documents, passports etc.  Clearing them through security, bringing them onto the ship and then running each person through their contract and sign-on paperwork.  Then we hand then to the medical team who verify their medicals and fitness for duty.  The day is not done there… We have to explain the training and process and then we greet them later in the day at the HR Centre to take their pictures and issue their crew ID’s. 

The dictionary is growing, I wonder how many words, terms that I will bring home with me…

• RING! RING!, RING! RING!! “Hello”
• “Hi! It’s Mom!”
• “Hi Mom! tell me…” 

Speak well, 

Jeff