DIRECTOR'S CORNER

John Halikowski
….. from John Halikowski

Essential Meeting Etiquette
It is certainly true that our world is constantly changing and evolving. It is equally true that some ideas withstand the test of time and should remain top of mind. I want to take this time to remind you that proper business etiquette matters now as much as ever and I want to emphasize five essential manners central to successful meetings.

  1. Don't be late: Packed agendas consisting of presentations, decision making and dialogue require us to show up on time.
  2. Curb the online correspondence: When we do not control our impulses to constantly glance at or use our electronic devices, it causes a lack of engagement in the conversation. These actions decrease meeting effectiveness drastically.
  3. Do not monopolize the conversation (a.k.a. let others participate): If an individual is allowed to hijack the entire conversation, it is a huge challenge to integrate everyone's ideas and gain full participation. It also places a large burden and stress on the meeting's facilitator and fellow participants.
  4. Don't interrupt: Be courteous. Resist impatience and the urge to move the conversation along or in a different direction before the speaker has finished communicating. We all process our ideas in different and unique ways and allowing a speaker to finish can lead to all sorts of learning and new insights.
  5. Come prepared: Read all materials sent to you prior to the meeting. Reflect and formulate your thoughts and appropriate questions. Your input will only be as good as the groundwork you established.
Etiquette
These five behaviors align directly with our values of Accountability, Integrity, and Respect (A.I.R.). Our emphasis on upholding these behaviors establishes respect among participants, fosters cooperation and enhances productivity. Results oriented and efficient engagements are achievable when we prioritize suitable conduct and focus on proper manners. Etiquette remains as essential today as it has ever been.

As we make every effort to be innovative, improve our processes, and "think big", let's not forget the role that familiar, proven manners can play in our success. In doing so, we eliminate barriers to effective collaboration and we are freed to reach our full potential.

Own the history of transportation in Arizona – just $5 for ADOT employees

Division and Group Newsletters

"Underneath the steel, asphalt and route numbers lie the footsteps of the prehistoric Indians, explorers and pioneers." - From Arizona Journeys: How Transportation Shaped the Grand Canyon State
AZ Journey


Arizona Journeys (by Mark E. Pry and Fred Andersen; published by ADOT) explores the sometimes-controversial history of transportation in Arizona, from the pre-Columbian era to the present. Thorough and well researched, this engaging narrative is enhanced by detailed maps and more than 100 images, including scenic color shots and rare archival photographs. With 192 pages, the 10-inch-by-10-inch book has a soft cover with French fold flaps.

For your $5 copy, contact Carolyn Harmon, 602-712-4052, in the ADOT Research Center. For a limited time, the Research Center is awarding Arizona Highways products to select book buyers; a drawing ticket is given with each book purchased. Ask Carolyn for details.

what's coming up at ADOT

See what's coming up and contribute your important events.

Calendar

Congratulations

Promotions and achievements

Jesus A. Sandoval-Gil
Construction-Materials Group Concrete Engineer

Mark Poppe
Transportation Engineering Manager of the Electrical Operations Section in the Phoenix Maintenance District

Promotions

LEE

Leadership and Employee Engagement

From Bob Kelleher, an employee engagement expert: Ahoy! Did you know that 7 out of 10 employees nationwide are dis-engaged, and 2 out of 10 are actually trying to sink your boat? Watch and learn from employee engagement research, and see what engaged employers can do to keep their organizations afloat.

Growth

The Mentoring Program - sign up today!

"I have been blessed in my career to have been mentored by amazing leaders in ADOT. I feel it is my responsibility to them, and to ADOT to give back. Without those that helped me, I wouldn't be the Leader I strive to be today."

Scott Omer, PTP
Deputy Director for Operations

Select image for additional information
Mentoring Sign Up Flyer

How Mentoring Fits in with a Succession Planning Process

Succession planning helps prepare people to step into new roles when their colleagues leave, retire, or move on to other areas of the organization. This makes for a smoother transition for everyone.

But how does mentoring fit in? Should it even figure into the equation? The answer is YES. An effective mentoring program can enrich your succession planning process.

Here's how.

Mentoring promotes the transfer of knowledge. Your two most important assets are your people and their individual and collective knowledge. This knowledge shouldn't walk out the door, never to be seen again, simply because a person leaves the company or a certain department. By matching knowledgeable mentors with mentees, you can promote this sharing of knowledge.

Mentoring fosters leadership. Up-and-coming talent can learn the leadership ropes under the watchful gaze of successful leaders serving as mentors. Your strongest leaders can impart their wisdom, their personal successes and failures, and their insights regarding the agency culture—important things for future leaders to learn.


Mentoring can be a great way for outgoing employees to wrap up their careers. If Marty plans to retire in the spring of 2016 and he starts mentoring his mentee now, it can be a wonderful, positive way for Marty to end his tenure with the organization.

Mentoring can provide peace of mind for other people within the organization. If your employees know you're committed to developing talent through an ongoing mentoring program, it helps mitigate concerns when inevitable changes come about. For example, if a key leader suddenly leaves, people can rest easy knowing that whoever steps in to take his or her place will be better prepared.

Mentoring can help reduce turnover.
While you'll always have people leaving due to life events like retirement and health issues, you'll likely have a lot fewer people leaving for so-called greener pastures with a strong mentoring program.

Here's Why?

Mentoring is an investment—an investment most employees acknowledge and appreciate, which helps foster loyalty. Yes, some of your people will make vertical or horizontal moves, but isn't that much better than losing the person to a competitor across town?

Mentoring continues to work long after the succession planning process is over. Let's say Monica assumes a new leadership position after Judy retires. Monica is fully prepared for her new role, thanks to the succession planning process with its heavy emphasis on mentoring.

In fact, Monica is so appreciative of what mentoring did for her and her career, she's eager to pay it forward by becoming a mentor herself.

Vision

WIN

The Women's Information Network, a Leadership, Networking & Education Brownbag Lunch program, meets bi-monthly in Phoenix and around the state.

All ADOT managers and supervisors are invited and encouraged to sponsor non-supervisory female staff members to attend the events.

Select image for additional information
Wear This Not That
April 22 Wear This, Not That
Sonya Herrera, Mj Vincent and a special guest emcee!
Human Resource Development Center (HRDC) GC 1,2,3
Even bigger and better this year!
A few seats still open!  Register today. This is a can’t miss day where you can customize your experience.
June 17 Employee Evaluations
Carrie McClure, Section Manager, Right of Way and
June McEntire ASO, Bridge Group
LEE Conference Room, 2739 E. Washington St.
August 19 Succession Planning
Jodi Rooney, Manager, ITD Project Office
LEE Conference Room, 2739 E. Washington St.
October 21 Is It What you Say or How You Say It?
Deborah Mayers, Finance Manager, Facilities
LEE Conference Room, 2739 E. Washington St.
December 16 WIN Open House and Mentoring Program
Moderator(s): TBD
LEE Conference Room, 2739 E. Washington St.
The 2015 Wear This Not That event is filling up fast, but seats are still available.

Select the image to the left for details.

Event elements include:

  • The Clothing Exchange - Shop for awesome gently used business wear! 3 items for a $5 donation that benefits Awards and Recognition and the SECC. Last year's Exchange was made possible by donations just from ADOT women and we need you help again this year. Clean out those closets ladies! Donation drop locations are listed on the flyer - don't delay, donate TODAY! Select the image to the left for details.
  • The Next Steps - improving your professional image is MORE than just looking the part - get personalized help with your resume, interviewing techniques and buffing up or creating your LinkedIn page.
  • Fashion show - Professional looks on a budget: our models put together outfits for $20 or less!
  • Expanded information and vendor tables - resources, resources, resources!
  • Jason's Deli Lunch Buffet - $6
  • This just in - Director Halikowski will join us to open the program at 10am!


The Education Encouragement Connection

Thinking about going back to school or struggling to balance classes, work and life? WIN has a resource that can help.

The topic for March 25, 2015 was ‘Time Management’, presented by Mary Currie. This is something everyone struggles with periodically, and it is especially true for those working and going to school. 20 participants got top notch tips and shared their experiences. Mary’s #1 tip is the Year at a Glance calendar. A simple spreadsheet with a column for each month; it provides a snapshot of your entire year, allowing you work ahead!

This month’s topic:
Peers That Did It!
Wednesday, April 29: 12:00PM to 1:00PM
ADOT Transportation Board Room 206 S. 17th Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85007


Guest speaker: Paul Patane, Yuma District Engineer

For more information about the WIN program or any of its initiatives, contact Mary Currie.

the Media

The real deal with Real ID

There's been a lot of coverage about Arizona driver licenses not complying with federal Real ID standards. As the issuing agency of driver licenses for Arizona, this topic is central to ADOT. If you are interested in how this situation came about, the Arizona Republic article, A look back at the real history if REAL ID is a good review. The Arizona Senate has approved a bill that would allow ADOT MVD to issue driver licenses that comply with the REAL ID act. After some hiccups, the bill has now passed the House, and must be signed by Gov. Ducey before being enacted into Arizona law. When that occurs, look for the official ADOT press release on the subject at ADOTnet/media.
AZ Journey

Collaboration: Color Works

Updates and information about facilitated programs

Colors Work

Are you interested in refreshing your knowledge of Colors Work? Do you want to know how to apply the tools to specific situations with co-workers and teams? Schedule a Colors Work Coaching Session!

We will work with individuals or teams to help you improve communication, address individual challenges and develop situation specific solutions using the Colors Work tools.

Here is what Dan Haskins, Senior Resident Engineer at the 48th St Construction Office, said about this service. "Working with Mj I used the Colors Work to reorganize my team's way of
working. Looking at the color styles of my staff, and using my knowledge of their skill sets, relationships and preferred tasks I was able to help our ORG become more efficient and productive. For example, I assigned a strong blue employee to run safety meetings – he is great at getting everyone's voice heard and getting people involved. Participation has increased, meetings are more productive but also light hearted so everyone actually enjoys attending – it has really improved morale. Two green employees have achieved amazing results by being paired together on tasks that they get to work independently on, but use one another to bounce ideas off and get into the weeds on the details when needed. Their appreciation of their gold co-workers strengths in organized detail work has increased as a result, and when paired with golds, they divide and conquer work really well. That said, I'm getting ready to shift some responsibilities again, as it's important for everyone to be good at doing all of the tasks we are responsible for. Understanding our colors helps everyone bring up their color strengths when needed for specific tasks."

Contact Mj to schedule a coaching session for yourself or your team.

You Said This, We Did That

Meet the ADOT Family

Mystery Headshot
The Ignite mailbox has received lots of requests to provide employee spotlights, features on outstanding employees, unique personal stories and a place to celebrate our staff. To serve this need, each month moving forward Ignite will feature an employee in this new Meet the ADOT Family section. This offers a great opportunity to share unique stories, accomplishments, hobbies or talents. Recognize the accomplishments of another staff member by nominating them for a feature. Nominate yourself, a co-worker or your staff to be featured in this section. All parties will be contacted prior to the feature running in Ignite. Some of you might get selected to be in a new ADOT Video project. The details of that project from Communications Creative Services office will be released at a later date, but this, my friends, is your chance to shine!
Nominate today at [email protected]

Bytes

What YOU want to know from ITG

PC REFRESH PROJECT

Did you know our last PC Refresh Project was conducted in 2006? It has been a long time since employees received new computers, so this refresh is well deserved and will resolve all of the following issues:
  • Over 70% of ADOT's desktop computers are 6 to 13 years old.
  • Nearly half of ADOT's computers are still running the Windows XP Operating System.
XP Chart
  • Almost 40% of ADOT's computers have versions of Microsoft Office installed older than 2010.
Older than 2010

Noteworthy Updates
  • Significant progress was made recently with negotiations between the Procurement Evaluation Committee and candidate vendors.
  • Divisions' hardware reevaluations and selection adjustments were finalized on April 6.
  • ITG's next step is to provide an adjusted cost estimate and savings report to ADOT leadership.

Celebrate Service

ADOT Service Standard Bearers

This month we celebrate two stand-out examples of ADOT employee's high performance in safety, quick thinking and concern for others. In the words of Director Halikowski, "whether in an office or along the highway, we all play a role in the safety of our co-workers and the public. Take an active role in safety – we'll all benefit."

Transportation is Personal

Larry Long
Larry Long
From the Kingman District Spring newsletter - While Larry Long was working on fence on Hwy 68, a group of teachers yelled across the highway asking him to stop a child who was running away from them. The child was running along the ditches on the west bound side and was headed towards the highway. Mr. Long was able to stop the traffic and catch the child after he had run across all the west bound lanes and the median, jumped the guardrail and crossed the east bound lanes toward the barbed wire right-of -way fence. Mr. Long corralled the child in a bear hug to prevent him from escaping and placing him, the teachers chasing him or the traveling public in further danger. The child was returned safely to the teachers. Larry won the Kingman District Employee of the Quarter for 2015 for his above and beyond service.

Caution in the face of the unknown

Eyvone Lewis and Scott Lance
Scott Lance, Eyvone Lewis and Director Halikowski
Many of you will remember the Director's email on March 5 after an ADOT employee opened an envelope containing an unknown substance. Eyvone Lewis and Scott Lance took quick, appropriate action in the face of potential danger. The fast response and ensuing discovery that the substance was not harmful makes this harmless scare a good reminder that we have to take every situation seriously. Eyvone said she did what came natural to her as any mother would do. The staff became her kids in that moment and she wanted them out of harm's way. Scott said he feels very fortunate to work for an agency that takes employee concerns seriously. Eyvone's actions show how much she values her employees and their safety. Scott and Eyvone were presented with Certificates of Appreciation from the Director. Keep up the great work ADOT!

Celebration

Awards and Recognition

ADOT Awards and Recognition
The State Employee Charitable Campaign (SECC) provides state employees the opportunity to give support to local nonprofit organizations.  The SECC is conducted under Executive Order in partnership with the state fiscal agent Valley of the Sun United Way, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. SECC events and projects are coordinated through the ADOT agency chairperson, who serves a two year term. A big thanks to outgoing Chair June McEntire with the ITD Bridge Group for her hard work and dedication. Cassandra Hollins with ADOT MVD will be taking on this role as of May 1st.

When we talk about raising funds for a good cause, it is sometimes confusing as to who is doing what and what funds go where. The ADOT Awards and Recognition Program works closely with the SECC, but the two are distinct. The Awards and recognition program provides recognition and appreciation directly to employees who work for ADOT. The program can raise funds specifically for employee appreciation through guidelines set by state regulations. Employee recognition is coordinated with the Employee Engagement Administrator Kim Phillips.

Monthly Service Award

Each month this section features the 20+ year awards. This issue features April 2015 Service Awards. Are you interested in seeing all the Service Award information? Awards beginning with 5 years of service are located on the ADOT Intranet at ADOT Awards and Recognitions. Congratulations and thank you for your service!

APRIL Service Awards

20 Years

Employee

Org Name

Anthony L. Lopez Flagstaff Reg Sign/Stripe
Eustacio C. Marquez Tucson Natural Resources
Hugh L. Case Safford Shop
Jerry Farias Willcox Maintenance
Reza Karimvand Technology Group - TTG
Rogelio G. Martinez Communications

25 Years

Employee

Org Name

Bruce H. Cooper Prescott District
Kenneth W. Morris Office of Environmental Services
Lillian M. Marks Engineering Consultant Section
Paul O. Duran Construction Group
Reyna Zaragoza Yuma Port of Entry
Sherly Paul Bridge Group Direct

30 Years

Employee

Org Name

Delia E. Hill MPD Admin
William B. Talley Safford District

35 Years

Employee

Org Name

Frank J. Cabello Casa Grande Maintenance
Sharon E. Khalid Driver Improvement

40 Years

Employee

Org Name

Robert D. White Phoenix Construction District

ADOT

BREAZ Update

Does BREAZ Affect You?

BREAZ is a statewide initiative. All ADOT employees that rely on Advantage need to be aware of the BREAZ Project. The BREAZ Project is implementing the State’s NEW central accounting system called New AFIS and the State’s procurement/purchasing system called ProcureAZ. These systems will be replacing ADOT Advantage on July 1, 2015.

As an ADOT employee, the way you perform your daily job could be affected directly or indirectly as a result of the project.

IF staff perform one or more of these functions, they will be impacted directly by the new system:
  • Purchase materials or supplies
  • Issue invoices and collect money
  • Track and manage budgets
  • Prepare financial reports
  • Analyze financial performance
  • Procure and manage grants
  • Asset inventory
  • Manage leases held by ADOT
  • Retain consultants
  • Manage contracts and/or vendors
IF staff rely on accounting information for either Financial or Program reporting needs, the new systems WILL impact them indirectly.

What can you do? Stay informed, ask questions, and check the ADOT BREAZ Intranet Site regularly: http://adotnet/breaz/

BREAZ TRAINING UPDATE

New Chart of Accounts Training Course is NOW available on the ADOT Learning Center. Look for GEN1205 and join the ADOT BREAZ team to learn about the new accounting structure.

We welcome all questions, thoughts, and concerns. Please contact the ADOT BREAZ team.

News Resources:

Division and Group Newsletters

Each Month we will list links to new issues!

Does your Division or Work Group publish a newsletter that we can provide a link to or info on where to find it? Send the details to the IGNITE mail box.

Learning


ADOT Corporate Training


Know your Learning Style

There comes a point in every employee’s life when they ask, “Where do I go from here?”  “Do I have the skills needed to be considered for a new position?” To answer these questions accurately, we must have the courage to take an honest look at our skills and motivation. Choosing a new position solely for a salary increase, without considering current talents and interests can prove disastrous. If you enjoy the technical side of your job; however, avoid conflict, dislike going to meetings, and dealing with employee issues, a manager position may not be the best choice.

It is important to invest your time and energy in activities that will strengthen your organizational interest and meet your own personal goals. This requires us to be mindful of our motivations and to ask, “Am I willing to invest in myself to meet the requirements of the prospective position?” “Will the changes I make bring me closer to my end goal?”

If you are ready to begin a journey of personal development, it could be helpful to identify your Preferred Learning Style. Using your favored style will help to master a new skill set and retain the skills long after the training is completed. Remember, without practice, newly acquired skills are apt to fade away.

Preferred Learning Style

Just as workplaces have a range of diverse employees, employees have diverse learning styles. Learning comes in different forms.  Some employees learn well by reviewing a technical manual, some by listening to a lecture series, while others learn by watching or participating in a demonstration.

Most workplaces provide some form of training either individual or group participation.  Common learning environments include traditional classroom, online instruction, and on-the-job training. Establishing a strong workplace requires understanding the employees’ learning styles and facilitating their development. Our learning style relies upon how we best intake/retain/recall/use information.
This may seem quite simple; however, it is necessary for one to take responsibility for determining what they need, and applying available resources necessary to obtain their set goals. A personal commitment to one’s career is an inside job. No organization can determine your passion and motivation to success.
When employees take responsibility for their own professional development, and apply it to the workplace, they not only improve themselves, they help to improve the organization’s success in reaching its goals. This is a WIN-WIN situation for both employee and the organization.
There are three distinctive learning styles: visual (V), auditory (A), and kinesthetic (K).

 

Learning Style Model















Visual

Visual learners use eyesight as a primary way to gather information. They rely upon observing, reading, and viewing charts and graphs. In fact, they rarely get lost because they have memorized the map. They easily give their viewpoint and expect you to connect with what they are saying. Visual learners prefer to get the point early and avoid long speeches.   

Auditory

Auditory learners use listening as the primary means to gather information. Learners enjoy participating in conversations where they rely upon listening skills rather than taking notes. They take in information easily and enjoy telling their side of the story – often before you have finished talking. Feedback is very important to auditory learners. If they believe their audience does not understand, they are more likely to tell the story again from a different perspective. 

Kinesthetic

Kinesthetic learners use a hands-on or physical activity to gather information. In doing so, they apply past experiences to the current situation. They find learning is done best through showing others what they know.  Encourage the kinesthetic learner to scan the manual or diagram before working on the project. If time is limited, provide a step-by-step process one can follow.

Learning Style Visual







Remember, just as one has a dominant communication style, one also has a dominant learning style. Depending upon the situation one can change or rely upon a combination of V, A, K, VA, VK, AV, AK, KV, and KA. Consider the following ways to improve your personal development, relying upon your
Preferred Learning Style.

Above all, invest in yourself. Take the time to identify and nurture your passion and career aspirations. Use your dominant learning style to develop the personal and professional results you want in your life. Commit to being the best.

2015 Study Group Schedule

Management for Non-Managers study group

Open to attendees of the M4NM Class – contact Mary Currie or 602.712.4358.
May 7 Win Holden
Publisher, Arizona Highways magazine
Topic: Motivate & Engage Employees
Location: Research Conference Room, 206 Bldg.
Time: 12 P - 1P
June 11 Lonnie Hendrix
Asst. State Engineer, Maintenance Group
Topic: Building Trust at Work
Location: Research Conference Room, 206 Bldg.
Time: 12 P - 1P
July 23 Dr. Tom DeCoster
Topic: TBD
Location: HRDC
Time: 7A - 8A
August 6 Scott Omer
Deputy Director for Operations
Location: ADOT Auditorium, 206 Bldg.
Time: 12 P - 1P

Don't miss the April Leaders Study Group!

Open to graduates of the Dr. Tom Leadership Retreats – contact Mary Currie or 602.712.4358
April 16, 11:30 – 1:00 LEE Conference Room, 3729 E. Washington
Win Holden, Publisher, Arizona Highways Magazine
Topic: A Fish Tale – Keeping Employees Motivated and Engaged

Communication

Initiative Overload

Aubrey C. Daniels is a thought leader and an internationally recognized expert on management, leadership and workplace issues who is an authority on human behavior in the workplace.

Technology can be a distraction in the workplace. Take proactive steps to make sure that it helps, not hinders performance.


I've been talking a lot lately about how technology advances are affecting the workplace. Organizations unprepared for the rate of these changes, or how these new technologies are changing the way we manage performance, no doubt will be left behind. But there is another issue at stake: how can we possibly cope with new technology when we have trouble getting work done now. Surely new technology can help if you only had the time to learn it.

In today's 24/7, rapid-change world, we are bombarded with more work on our to-do lists than we can possibly handle. There's just not enough time to do it all. You know the drill. Suddenly you're confronted with three new projects – all of them high-priority. And meanwhile, you need to finish the report that's been sitting on your desk for two days.

Overload








For employees on the front line, it can feel like batting flies all day as they are inundated with high- priority messages from multiple departments. People at the top don't necessarily have it any easier. In fact, a Bain & Company study
showed that more than 80 percent of a leader's time is spent on only 20 percent of what is most valuable to an organization. In my experience, many leaders are facing the same dilemma: too much distracting them from what truly matters.

Meanwhile, technology that is supposed to simplify our lives is only adding to the overload. Now, in addition to everything else, we need to be tweeting, blogging, texting, emailing, updating databases, staying current on technology, and on and on. It's exhausting!
But, what can be done?

It begins with identifying and reducing the behaviors that lack business impact while emphasizing those that make a difference. For more than 100 years, the science of behavior has taught us that you get what you reinforce. Here are some things you can do to make the workplace more productive and less chaotic:
  • Ensure your infrastructure is innovation-friendly. Make it easy to obtain space and time for innovation. Eliminate red tape for getting approvals. Try many things.
  • Schedule time for thinking. Creative problem solving, uninterrupted project work and coaching direct reports can increase when people are not pressured by high workloads and productivity.
  • Spend more time listening and less time telling. An engaged workforce will always produce more than a disengaged one. Listening and acting quickly on what you hear is one of the keys to building a culture of engagement. How quickly you act is as important as the idea acceptance rate. Don't dally. Make decisions quickly even if the decision is to reject the idea.
  • Keep the focus on ideas that are valuable. Keep asking how the idea will help increase the bottom line. Ideas that can't demonstrate this link do not need to be rejected but may get a "not now" priority.
In the face of rapid change, the company that embraces these ideas will not flounder among the shoals of busywork. In a culture where leadership helps employees to be engaged and productive, employees, in turn, will produce beyond their set goals.

Research

What's Your Development Level?

Ken Blanchard, author and Situational Leadership guru

Ken Blanchard
Much has changed since my book "Leadership and the One Minute Manager" was published nearly 30 years ago. Workforces are more diverse, workplaces are less centralized and technology has revolutionized business communications.

Surprisingly, much has remained the same when it comes to managing people. We still need leaders to help people set clear goals, diagnose people's development level on each task and match their leadership style to the development level of the person they're leading.

Notice I said "diagnose people's development level on each task." Even experienced managers can fall into a trap of seeing people as beginners, moderately competent or highly experienced. Assuming that because people are experts in one aspect of their job, they're experts in all aspects can lead to poor performance. Most of us have areas where we're still learning and need leadership.

For any task, people can be at one of four development levels, depending on their experience and commitment. Your job is to identify and understand those levels and adjust the support you give or receive accordingly. Here's a brief overview:

Level 1: Enthusiastic beginner. Appropriate leadership style: Directing
Enthusiastic beginners are eager to get started on a task, even though they have not demonstrated expertise. For this task, regardless of the status or tenure of the person being led, the leader needs to provide specific direction about goals, show and tell how, and closely monitor performance so they can provide frequent feedback on the individual's results. For example, you may have been an enthusiastic beginner if you started a new fitness program at the beginning of the year. Maybe a trainer helped you set goals and provided direction and feedback.

Level 2: Disillusioned learner. Appropriate leadership style: Coaching
This level usually sets in after an individual has been unsuccessful at a new task. Enthusiasm turns to discouragement and insecurity, and the leader needs to provide direction on how to attain the goal or finish the task. The leader should explain why, solicit suggestions, and begin to encourage involvement in decision-making. For new year exercisers, the disillusioned learner stage sets in around the end of February. It gets harder to make time for exercise, and changing eating habits is more difficult than expected. You need a coach to direct you to stay on task.

I spent years as a disillusioned learner when it came to fitness. I had been teaching business leaders to provide coaching support to their disillusioned learners for decades. Finally a light bulb went off, and I realized I needed a coach to help me keep my fitness on track.

Level 3: Capable but cautious performer. Appropriate leadership style: Supporting
Once a person has demonstrated skill with a task, the leader and the individual make decisions together. At this stage people may be competent but still need the leader to bolster their confidence and motivation. The leader's role is to listen, draw out, encourage and support. Working with my co-author and coach, Tim Kearin, I dropped more than 40 pounds and have achieved my strength, balance and flexibility goals. For the most part, I'm now a capable but cautious performer, and occasionally a self-reliant achiever (see below) when it comes to my fitness routine. However, I still need support so I don't get bored and lose commitment.

Level 4: Self-reliant achiever. Appropriate leadership style: Delegating
Once an individual becomes an expert at a task, the leader allows the individual to make most of the decisions about what, how and when. Because the individual can achieve goals with little direction, the leader's role shifts to valuing the individual's contributions and supporting his or her growth.

Understanding a person's development level and providing the appropriate leadership can help people reach goals they've never achieved before. So take an extra minute with your people to diagnose their development level on each goal-related task, and give them the leadership style they need. You'll both be glad you did.

Ken Blanchard is chief spiritual officer of The Ken Blanchard Cos. and co-author of "The One Minute Manager." He can be reached at [email protected].

INQUIRING MINDS: notes from the library

When I tell people that I work as ADOT’s librarian, they assume I work in the records department. I actually work in the ADOT Research Center. The Research Center conducts studies on topics that cover a range of ADOT activities. Their purpose is to improve ADOT processes and products. We recently did studies on pavement design, the effects of de-icing chemicals on rubberized asphalt, and the impact of Arizona Highways Magazine’s Facebook page. Other studies have helped create ways to help wildlife safely cross highways, a benefit to both the animals and drivers.

The other states have similar transportation research programs. Many universities and the Transportation Research Board publish related research. The administrations of the U.S. Department of Transportation – the Federal Highway Administration, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration – also conduct transportation research. There is a tremendous amount of research published each year on transportation!

TRID logo
Our ADOT library cannot house all of this research, but everyone in ADOT has access to all of this information. You can search for this information using TRID, the Transportation Research International Database. TRID includes journal articles, research reports, and ongoing projects from the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. TRID usually has a link to the item's URL if it is available on the Internet. If it isn't online, I can probably obtain a hard copy for you


Each month I prepare a list by subject area of about 200 new books and reports added to TRID. You can subscribe to the list by selecting “Media” from the banner menu on ADOT’s Internet home page (azdot.gov) or going directly to http://azdot.gov/media/news. Select the “subscribe for updates” link in the upper right corner and follow the directions. My TRID update is titled Recent Research Reports under Transportation Planning and Research.

If you would like more help with TRID, please contact me, Dale Steele, at 602.712.3138. I am glad to help fellow ADOTians learn to use this valuable tool.