Corporate trainer encourages crisis resolution

EDMOND, Okla. (AP) _ Marty Kavanaugh's home is so quiet you can hear yourself think. There has always been room for soul searching in her life. <br/><br/>After her husband Dan Kavanaugh died of cancer

Saturday, June 11th 2005, 12:18 pm

By: News On 6

EDMOND, Okla. (AP) _ Marty Kavanaugh's home is so quiet you can hear yourself think. There has always been room for soul searching in her life.

After her husband Dan Kavanaugh died of cancer 13 years ago, Kavanaugh channeled her energy into forming Kavanaugh Consulting, a business endeavor that helps people achieve their goals.

Kavanaugh serves as a keynote speaker and corporate trainer working in organizational development. Among her clients as a management consultant are the Edmond Area Chamber of Commerce, University of Oklahoma Women's Basketball, Integrity Systems and the Federal Aviation Administration.

An in-depth needs assessment of an organization brings businesses to identify goals to attain within five years and beyond. ``What are you going to do to get there? What are the consequences if you don't make the changes necessary to get there?'' are questions she asks when performing strategic growth analysis.

Human nature can bring people to ignore and deny problems. But a negative business culture can fester in a company. Some companies appear to be doing an exemplary job of taking care of their clients. But internally, those in the workplace will be tearing one another down in creating a hornet's nest, Kavanaugh said.

``A lot of times that's when I get called in,'' Kavanaugh continued. ``So what I get to do is help people look at themselves.''

Self assessment examines problem solving, listening skills and one's ability to communicate directly. Personal accountability helps to identify three saboteurs _ blame, victim thinking and procrastination.

``When something isn't going right, I am blaming somebody else,'' she said is a common negative reaction. ``And so that's how a lot of that breakdown and dysfunction starts to happen in work environments or home environments.''

Blaming and victim thinking is a misguided tool many people use in problem solving. Instead of somebody holding themselves accountable for their part of a problem, he or she projects the problem on somebody else, thinking, ``If he (or she) only did this then I would be different,'' Kavanaugh said.

Instead of blame, a healthy office culture is one where people envision being part of a solution. But concrete steps need to be taken.

First state the problem by writing about it on a piece of paper, Kavanaugh said. Whining becomes very apparent when read on a piece of paper.

``Gossip is one of the No. 1 sources of toxicity in companies, in homes, in any environment you want to look at,'' she continued.

Gossip can act in a number of ways. It can serve to sway attention away from employees' or business managers' responsibilities by shifting focus. Gossip can be as sticky as tar because it entertains. But gossip is often used to elevate themselves.

``Gossip usually comes from me feeling I'm not good enough,'' Kavanaugh added. ``So in order to elevate myself by the attention I can get by telling great stories about somebody, or put the focus on somebody else, it keeps me from needing to look at me and my feeling ineffective.''

Twenty-five years ago, management cracked-whipped, rolled heads, shouted orders from the bridge and got the job done _ until they turned their backs.

``And then you had people who couldn't wait until you walked out of the room because there was no loyalty,'' Kavanaugh said. ``That was totally fear-based management.''

People are motivated by love or fear, she explained. And loyalty diminishes when management drives people by fear, thus resulting in a dysfunctional environment.

Ultimatums are ineffective tools in motivating employees to improve weak performance areas, she said. A leadership team knows how to build employee strength by coaching, counseling and mentoring.

``Look for people doing something right and point it out to them _ preferably in front of others,'' she said.

A productive leadership technique in motivating employees to reach for their personal best can be as simple as asking a few questions. ``How can I help you? Do you need more skills? Do you need more education? Do you need a mentor?''

Management and the employee agree upon a solution and decide when to meet for further evaluation.

Managers focus on end-result financial productivity and management leaders focus on sensitivity to building people. So Kavanaugh suggests that managers learn what motivates each of their employees to come to work.

``It's not a stack of dirty green paper,'' she said.

It could be sending a child to college, home improvement, vacation, landscaping project, paying off credit cards - among other reasons. Managers have considered the personal lives of employees to be off limits. But there are exceptions, Kavanaugh said. Perhaps the manager doesn't realize that methamphetamines has made an employee's child a stranger to his family. It's important to understand each employee's goals in life.

The next step of management is to openly discuss with staff members the pluses and minuses of gossip, blaming and victim thinking.

``We start to learn communication skills with one another and how to be direct instead of triangulating it with 'I'm not happy with you but I go to my buddy over here and tell her what a jerk you are.'''

Conflict resolution involves learning new language skills, Kavanaugh said.

``I felt belittled, put down, angry, violated,'' she said as an example. ``Can we talk about how we can change that? I need your help.''

One of her clients was a bank president who had a vice president overseeing loan officers. The vice president was business savvy but the turnover in his office was enormous.

``And it was because he tore people down,'' Kavanaugh said. ``He ruled like a tyrant and he belittled.''

The bank president spent two months coaching him to be a more sensitive leader.

But the VP never changed and Kavanaugh coached the president on how to let the VP go while maintaining both of their dignities.