We've Moved!

Dear readers,

We’re happy to announce that The Leading Edge blog has a new home! The Leading Edge blog is now part of our Interstates blog and all future Leading Edge posts can be found in the Leading Edge category. In addition to Leading Edge posts, you will find a variety of topics on the Interstates blog including technology, how-to’s, innovation, and exciting company updates.

Watch for upcoming Leading Edge blog posts from our new home: www.interstates.com/blog.

Subscribe to the Interstates blog and keep leading the Interstates way!

Sharz Neitge

Leading with Family

This week's post was written by Doug Post.

No core value has generated more discussion and a wider range of opinions at Interstates than family. So let's start by aligning around Interstates' definition:

"Family focuses on building a strong sense of community at work and at home. At work, our team is a family – we learn and grow together, building strong relationships and a support network with each other. At home, we encourage our employees to keep their families a priority – making time for them and strengthening these relationships."

When we recently surveyed a number of our employees on their definition of work family and nuclear family, it was striking to see the frequency of common terms showing up in both definitions. Terms like care, support, openness, trust, and respect for each other.

As servant leaders we are responsible to provide opportunities for our people. This includes building and maintaining a culture where we can thrive at work and thrive at home. A culture where work-life balance is a priority and where the family definitions just shared are held dear.

To lead with family, we need to forgo some of the rigid rules and structure of a typical work week. It is important to recognize traditional work-life balance assumptions do not apply to all. For example, to our traveling employees and to today's typical millennial (if there is such a person). So let's actively lead by asking ourselves questions like the following:

·        Jennie just committed to a personally demanding client requirement, how can I take something off of her plate?

·        Since I ask Bill to travel regularly, how do I ensure he has plenty of family time/personal flexibility when he's not travelling?

·        Am I leading assertively when I notice our family core value is not being lived out at work?

·        Am I helping others focus and say no in effective, productive ways?

·        Does my team embrace differing views on work-life balance?

·        Do my employees know their family time is a priority for me? Are they willing to share work-life balance concerns with me?

What other family related questions would you add to the list above?  

With differing business units, field and office employees, personal schedules and varied viewpoints, this isn't a cut and dried topic.  And work-life balance is not easy.  It isn't self-correcting.  You need to be aware of your imbalances and monitor to ensure you are keeping your work-life balanced in your own life and help ensure that for your team as well. 

Additionally, healthy home-lives support a healthy employee at work. Strained relationships distract and cause one to lose focus. I encourage you to nurture relationships both at home and work. Building relationships provides a good support network for the challenges as well as the celebrations and trials of life. Are you leading with the family core value in mind?

Keep leading the Interstates way!

Doug Post

Coaching Tree

This week's blog post was written by Daren Dieleman.

I am a big Iowa Hawkeyes fan and have been since I was young - I hope I haven’t lost any readers after that opening statement. If you’ve watched a Hawkeyes football game on TV, you’ve probably heard references to legendary Iowa football coach Hayden Fry. Hayden Fry came to Iowa in the late 1970’s, shortly after Iowa had struggled through seventeen straight losing seasons. With Fry’s help, Iowa made some significant changes to their football team. Iowa’s logo, uniforms, visitor locker room, and style of play were transformed. Ultimately, Fry re-energized the Hawkeyes culture and the entire Iowa football program.

Fry’s teams at Iowa went on to be successful and his Iowa career lasted twenty seasons. A tenure which is almost unheard of today in coaching at the collegiate level. The cornerstone of Fry’s revival of the Iowa football program in the 1980’s wasn’t the uniforms or the logo, but rather the coaches he surrounded himself with. Hayden Fry hired some of the best coaches in the business, both young and old. In his autobiography, he said he wanted his coaches to go on to do greater things in their careers. He didn’t want to hire a coach that didn’t strive for something better, even if that meant pursuing careers at other schools. Fry encouraged others to be their best and took pride in mentoring others and helping them reach new heights in their careers. Due to Fry’s philosophy, Fry likely did a lot of hiring, coaching, and mentoring of new and young coaches.

As leaders, we should challenge ourselves to lead and develop our own people who may become future leaders themselves. We should also challenge our people to be and do their very best. Whether at work, home, in the community, as part of an organization, or in places of worship. As we move forward, we must ask ourselves: are we walking along side our people, coaching, mentoring, and providing them with opportunities? Or are we holding them back because they’re too valuable? Great leaders, like Hayden Fry, take pride in seeing someone they’ve coached and mentored go on to do great things. Consider your own development; can you think of someone who believed in you, coached and mentored you, and ultimately helped propel you to where you are today? I know I can, and if you’re like me, you view that person in very high regard. Someone who cared enough about you as an individual and about your personal development to ensure you succeeded, even if that meant more work for him/her in the end. Those types of leaders are rare and we should all strive to lead in that way.

Eight of legendary coach, Hayden Fry’s former assistant coaches went on to become major college football head coaches. His leadership is truly inspiring! If you look at a photo of his coaching staff from the 1980’s there are several other coaches around him who went on to do great things. We may not all have the success that Hayden Fry received. However, if we take the time to invest in our people and lead by helping others find success, we will create strong companies, families, and communities.

Hayden Fry surrounded himself with a strong network of good people who became great leaders. What will your “leadership tree” look like in ten, twenty, or even thirty years? Who will you have helped mentor and develop, either personally or professionally, to do great things?

Continue leading the Interstates way!

Daren Dieleman

Cubbies Win, Cubbies Win!

This week's post was written by Scott Peterson.

In the 1989 film, Back to the Future II, the main character, Marty McFly, saw the Cubs winning the World Series in the year 2015. As it turns out, the film was only off by one year! Now, what does the Cubs winning a few baseball games have to do with leadership? Well, more than you might think.

The Journey - 108 Years

In the United States, the average attention span of an individual on a phone is six seconds. Think on this for a moment: one, two, three, four, five six - swipe and move on. The Cubs and their fans waited over 100 years for a World Series title; that's a lot of attention and patience.

The following statistics on the ye1908 may provide additional perspective:

• Theodore Roosevelt was president and we have had less than 20 presidents since;

• Five generations (e.g. parents of the Baby Boomers generation were just born);

• The population of Las Vegas, NV was roughly 30 people;

• New Mexico, Arizona, Alaska and Hawaii were not official states;

• The speed limit in most cities was around 10 mph; and

• The average wage was $0.22 per hour.

We think a long time is days or weeks, when really long time might be a few years. This was more than a century and I still have a hard time contemplating the timeframe.

Leader Moments

Winning the World Series was not an event, it was a quest. Here is the story line:

• In 2009, J. Joseph bought the Cubs and hired Theo Epstein to lead the team as President.  Epstein was the President of the Red Sox when they ended their World Series drought. Epstein, along with several other leaders, set a vision of how the Cubs would win it all. This vision included the culture they wanted, from the front office to the players to the managers to the scouts to their relationship with their minor league teams. This vision was their target and their game plan!

• Between 2009 and 2014, the team made many changes from the manager to players. All of the changes were made with the backdrop of their vision. The entire Cubs organization started to believe in the vision; at least a little.

• Then in 2015 the Cubs had success and made the playoffs. However, they did not make it to the World Series and their vision was truly tested. Would the vision pass the test or would it fail?

• "W" in 2016. The Cubs embraced their destiny and win it all. From the very beginning of the season, they believed 2016 would be the year - their year - the Cubs' year. They had a great start to the season, stayed humble, stayed focused, and embraced their vision.

• Game 7 - what a game! The Cubs had the lead and then lost it; they did not have momentum on their side. Then, a rain delay. During this 17 minute period, the leaders seized the moment.  They could have hung their heads, but instead they leaned on their faith in the vision. After the rain delay, they came back out and did the unimaginable. The Cubs won the World Series. The vision was tested during Game 7 and during the rain delay, just like it was tested in 2015. The team embraced the test. It was their mental toughness, leadership, and passion for the vision that made winning the World Series a reality.

The Cubs winning the World Series is an incredible journey and a fun story to discuss. Just remember that you and your team have that same opportunity to create a vision and achieve great things. That vision will be tested and when it is, make the most of it. Lean in to that test, have patience, be persistent, and encourage your team to let their passion shine. When you succeed, it's time to let the champagne flow and celebrate. That is winning and leading the Interstates (and Cubs) way!

Continue leading the Interstates way!
Scott Peterson

Talent

This week's post was written by Jack Woelber.

I recently had an opportunity to attend a conference that focused on talent. Recruiting, hiring, and retaining good talent can be a challenge. Thirty years ago, companies chose the talent. Today, it appears the talent chooses the company. At the conference, I reflected on some ideas that serve as good reminders when thinking about talent.

Encourage Feedback

Allow constructive and honest feedback from direct reports by allowing that type of dialogue in a safe environment. Encourage others to share feedback and then be an active listener. I remember a quote that has stayed with me: “Listening is different than waiting to speak.” In addition to encouraging feedback, how we respond to that feedback is equally important. Responding negatively or in a way that discourages conversation will likely result in a decrease in constructive feedback.

Accept Feedback

There is great value in having critics around to give feedback. The best critics provide honest feedback and an opportunity to learn. However, a critic is different than a saboteur. Saboteurs are focused on themselves and it is unlikely they will be a good cultural fit. In addition to saboteurs, passive individuals can cause problems. Passive individuals are difficult to understand. When it is unclear if a passive individual is helping or hurting, it can be more challenging than actually knowing. For example, a gas gauge that works intermittently is often worse than a gas gauge that doesn’t work in any capacity.

Mentor

Mentoring has become a big part of assimilating new talent into an organization. A good mentor will encourage others to become engaged and provide an in-depth understanding of the culture. However, if the foundation of the mentor relationship is not strong, it may not be as successful. The conferenced claimed that on a scale of 1 – 10, the relationship score must be higher (stronger) than the issue score on the scale. Typically, if a relationship is weak then the issues and value of the relationship will also be weak. Spending time building relationships is very important. Additionally, it is important to accept that not all relationships will work successfully. Rather than spending time on a relationship that is not working, focus efforts on strengthening relationships that are working well.

The Right Fit

Today, the amount of technical talent a person has is key, but not sufficient. The right fit and attitude are also important. A strong candidate must have as much EQ as IQ. This becomes even more crucial the higher you go in an organization. Keep in mind, EQ does not mean leadership style. There are many different types of leadership styles and many styles can be effective.

For many companies, finding, developing, and retaining talent has become a major key to success. For some, it has evolved from a task strictly dedicated for HR to a strategy for the entire organization. In either case, strong leadership is crucial to success.

Continue leading the Interstates way!

Jack Woelber 

The Tension

This week's post was written by Dave Crumrine.

I recently had the opportunity to work with the current EIL class and travel to my electrical peer group. The primary topic of discussion within this group was 'making change'. During EIL, we discussed the tension between Setting Direction, Aligning and Motivating (SAM) and Planning, Organizing and Controlling (POC). Different initiatives and activities require leaders to utilize different levels of skill. The more SAM is needed, the less POC is effective and vice versa; there is always tension between these ideas.

In my peer group, we talked about the changes we are making and how much we can accomplish at once. Again we discussed the idea of tension between operating well on a daily basis and the need to improve through change and adaptation. Many viewed this idea from the perspective of a team's time. For instance, if operating at 120% of plan, then there is not much capacity to change or improve. A member of my peer group added some valuable and memorable insight arguing that this isn't about time, but rather mind share and priority. Managing time is a fool's errand as we all have the same amount of time; it is a matter of managing individual and corporate priorities. To do so, we must understand our team's commitments, priorities, and mindset.

Ultimately, we concluded that tension will always be present and in a way it serves as a scorecard for leadership. Are we balancing the needs of serving our clients with the needs to get better for our clients? Are we acknowledging that if we don't do something, there is a consequence in the future that we must be aware of? If we wish to impact the priorities of our people and help align their efforts, then we must lead! We must talk about the trade-offs and the consequences. We must help our people make trade-offs and equip them to make the right trade-offs. 

In summary, there is no perfect mix of change and daily execution, there is only a tension. One that will always exist and require us to lead. It is in place specifically to make us choose and to challenge us to be our best each day and as we continue to adapt.

Where does your team need help working through the tension? 

Continue leading the Interstates way!

Dave Crumrine

Leading with Quality

This week's post was written by Doug Post.

We are continuing our focus on the Interstates Core Values.  To date, we have considered:

• Integrity – doing what you say you will do – every time.
• Dependability – ability to be relied upon and trusted.
• Trust - having confidence in another’s character, expertise, abilities, and integrity.

Today we will be focusing on the 4^th core value: Quality. What does quality work look like at Interstates? Good drawings, detailed project plans, superior craftsmanship, great startups? Yes, and much more.

What do you think of when you hear quality?  Maybe some of the words listed in the word picture above?  Interstates defines quality as “providing lasting value in the eyes of our clients.” The client sets the standard for quality! It’s our job to understand the needs of the client and provide results that meet their budget, schedule and performance needs.  What's more, we need to do all this in a way that provides a positive and memorable experience for the client.

In The Fifth Discipline, Peter M. Senge refers to quality as “all things that matter to a customer, such as product quality, service quality, and delivery reliability.”

Product Quality

Product quality is tailoring what we do to meet the client's goals. As professionals and craftsmen, it's important to remember our clients usually care little about our drawing details or the craftsmanship of our electrical gear installation. What they do expect is that their interaction with us will result in a plant that operates per their project and business goals. For us, this means that at times a "napkin sketch" and a functioning MCC on-time is higher quality to our client than waiting for a well-ordered 1-line and a picturesque electric room. Remember, quality to the customer is staying in budget, being on-time, understanding and meeting his needs.

Delivery Reliability

Delivery reliability is getting the right deliverables (Level of Detail) to the right client at the right time, all of the time. Dave Crumrine notes, "93% might be an A in school, but it's a horrible quality record on a design or construction project. Would you be happy if 93% of your vehicle's engine was installed properly?"

Service Quality

Service quality is a topic in itself. We can discuss elements of service such as responsiveness, accessibility, attention, follow-thru,  and recovery.  We might consider great ways to collect client feedback. But let's focus on a servant's heart with the story of two mechanics:

There are two equally busy auto repair shops. The Jones family is anticipating leaving on their summer vacation next Thursday when an unfortunate thing happens… the transmission on their Tahoe breaks down. It’s a week until they head out on vacation. In a panic, Mr. Jones calls mechanic #1 and asks if he can get his Tahoe in for repair because they are heading on vacation. The mechanic says he’s sorry, but he is swamped and can’t take on one more thing. So, Mr. Jones contacts mechanic #2. This mechanic indicates he'd love to do the job even though he feels just as busy. He asks Mr. Jones when he needs the repair done by.  Mr. Jones says next Wed – the day before his vacation. The mechanic says it won't be a problem, while he can’t fix it today, he can get it done before Wednesday. 

Mechanic #1 missed out on serving Mr. Jones simply because he didn’t t ask the customer when he needed the work completed.  Either service shop could have fit the Tahoe in for repair, but only one shop went beyond today to figure out the customer’s time frame and need.

  

Leading with quality does require effort, discipline, planning, and commitment. It is never an accident; it's never simply the result of quality people; it is always the result of intelligent effort. It's an opportunity to lead the Interstates way. I challenge you to be intentional as you work with our clients going forward.  Understand from their point of view what a quality deliverable is and provide that high-level of lasting value to them.

Continue leading the Interstates way!

Doug Post

*The Fifth Discipline, Peter Senge, pp. 65-66, 325-335

___________________________