GL Ford Consulting

“If you put a gun to his head, could he do it?”  This was the startling question I learned to ask when I was first introduced to Human Performance Technology (HPT) in the early 90s.  HPT is concerned with improving employee performance, and it considers a larger system context of people’s performance.  A very simplistic (and rather disturbing) way of looking at the larger context is to ask, “Could he meet performance expectations if his life depended on it?”  If the answer is “yes,” then the current performance issue is likely not a question of the employee’s ability but perhaps a question of motivation or confidence.   If the answer is “no,” then  it may be a matter of ability or the employee may not have the right tools or technology at her disposal to perform as expected.  The gun to the head question uncovers whether a low performing employee needs training and follow up coaching (ability) OR  a discussion about the consequences of continued poor performance and potential corrective action (willingness). Read Full Post

For 8 years I served as a Human Resources Manager for a marquee video-game manufacturer.  Every week, employees came to my office and told me with 100% certainty who in the organization wasn’t pulling his or her weight, wasn’t up to the job, wasn’t managing as he or she should have been. Now an independent external trainer, I hear weekly from one or more participants that “my boss (my colleague, my staff member) is the one who needs to be learning this—not me!” Recently, I was facilitating a leadership series for a corporate client, and the group was so focused on their frustration with the next level of management that we weren’t making progress in the session.  Finally I said, “Look, your organization has made an investment in this learning for you.  You have a choice.  You can bemoan the fact that you’re frustrated with your managers and wish they were here learning with you, or you can focus on the only thing you actually have influence over: YOUR behaviors, YOUR actions, YOUR decisions.  You can be open to engaging in this process, focus on learning something that will make you more effective, and actively look for what you can do to make your organization better—or you can continue to complain among yourselves about people who aren’t in this room.  What is your decision?” Read Full Post

Successful people tent to believe they are successful because of 100% of what they do.  What’s closer to the truth is that the are successful due to 90% of what the do and in spite of 10% of what they do.  For personal growth, we sometimes need an objective mirror.  My public workshop on October 1st will help you with the following: Read Full Post

The American Management Association estimates that managers spend 25% of their time dealing with employee conflict.  Want some of that time back?  My public workshop on September 23rd will help you with the following: Read Full Post

Want to learn how keep co-workers from pushing your buttons?  Have an employee whose effectivess gets short-circuited at the first sign of conflict?  My public workshop on August 28th will help you with the following: Read Full Post

In June, Gary is working up and down the I5 Corridor.  He’s facilitating a public workshop on Building High Performance Teams in the Portland/Vancouver area.  A government agency has asked him to provide a keynote speech on holding Powerful Conversations in Difficult Situations in Olympia.  He’s teaching a class at Bellevue Community College on teambuilding.  He’s consulting with a marquis Seattle company on improving team dynamics with a VP and his four directors.  A month filled with interesting work for great clients.  :)

The phone rang and a manager I had previously worked with was on the line with a familiar dilemma.  “Hi Gary,” she said, “I’ve got a situation that I need your help with.  I have a brand new employee who is technically strong, but she’s not fitting in here.  Here’s what’s happening.  She dresses far too casually for this organization’s culture, and she frequently listens to her iPod so loud that she doesn’t hear her own phone ringing.  My director has noticed and he has instructed me to send an e-mail to the whole team reminding them of the importance of demonstrating professional behavior at all times.  He doesn’t want me to talk to her directly for fear of demotivating a new employee with expertise that we need.  What do you think I should do?” Read Full Post

Gary is spending April 24th at the top of Grouse Mountain north of Vancouver, British Columbia.  He’s a guest speaker at a leadership summit for Telus, the Canadian telecommunications giant. 

The first week in May, I’m the featured speaker for a best practices series targeted at small businesses in the Portland, OR/Vancouver, WA region. The title of the public workshop is Building High Performance Teams. Read Full Post

As an internal HR Manager, I mediated conflicts for 8 years, and as an employee, I witnessed workplace conflicts for 20 years.  I’ve been intrigued by the idea of how we trade power for sympathy when we’re mired in unresolved conflict.  Here’s an example of what I mean.  If I’m in conflict with a colleague, and I’m a human being, I’m more likely to talk to a third party before I address the conflict with my "adversary".  Why would I go to a third party?  Here are the four primary reasons I’ve found for this typical human response: To recruit the third party to "save" me from my workplace adversary. To recruit the third party to join my side against my adversary. To receive sympathy from the third party. Read Full Post