Leadership on Speed

when the office bully gets promoted

Let me set the scene:  You are in a business meeting with "Bill".  Bill is very good at his job and always offers great input BUT his social skills are a bit lacking (to put things mildly).  At this particular meeting, Bill was particularly abrasive, seemingly more concerned with demonstrating his display of knowledge rather than resolving the issue at hand.  It goes without saying that this display also came at the expense of one or two meeting participants (i.e. If there was a whole in the floor, they would have jumped in).  As Bill went into action, you could almost feel the energy shift from the tension in the room.  After the meeting concluded (and throughout the day), meeting participants continued to comment on Bill's behavior at the meeting and talk behind his back wasting valuable time in needless banter and gossip.

Have you ever encountered a "Bill" in your work environment?  Every organization has them - great contributors and generally viewed as good at what they do but tends to intimidate and demean anyone who gets in their way.  The challenge with the Bill's of the world has always been the balance between business contribution and their negative impact on those who cross their path.  The other challenge with the Bill's of the world is that when they are in positions of power there is rarely anyone who, for a variety of seemingly acceptable reasons, is willing to give them insight on their behavior.  Sandy Gluckman, author of Who's in the Driver's Seat: Using Spirit to Lead Successfully, explains it this way: "When (bosses) are mean, their teams do not deliver great results, so they become more fearful.  The more fearful they get, the more their ego takes control and the meaner they get.  The meaner they get, the more the team shuts down and the less they are able to perform."

So, here's the rest of the story.  Eventually, without ANY feedback, Bill will either continue to get promoted but whom everyone dislikes, avoids or fears OR he gets passed over without ever really understanding what really got in his way...

No skin off your teeth?

Maybe...but I would encourage you to think again.  If Bill becomes the lead dog, you're in trouble because those same people that wouldn't give Bill feedback on his way up are also not going to give him honest feedback now that he's in a lead position which means he won't have the information he needs to appropriately guide the team or organization.  Now, be honest.... How painful do you think THAT will be in the long run? 

The question leaders often struggle with is, "WHO should give Bill the feedback?"  My answer: Everyone.  Does this mean doing a Bill intervention?  No, but if your goal is to serve the best needs of the organization, finding an objective way to give Bill the feedback he needs now can only serve everyone best in the long-term and he may actually be grateful that you had the courage to speak up. 

Continue to be great!

self-awareness is not just for 'leaders'

Self-awareness is one of the few leadership competencies that can have a tremendous impact on career success or failure and yet, it is the competency that most leaders are uncomfortable with.  The idea of having a mirror held up that invites feedback (ie. criticism in most of our minds) is perhaps one of the most fearful components of growing in self-awareness. 

Remember that feedback is but one way to enhance one's self awareness.  Here are a few others:

• Know when strength might be played out
• Ask good questions
• Listen

Check out Chris Musselwhite's October 2007 Inc. article that provides further insight.  I both refer and provide copies of this article in my self-awareness workshops.

You were born to be great.

Continue to be great!

 

find motivating employees tough? this may help

It's an age old story of productivity - some employees are hard charging git 'er done types while others seemingly need a cattle prod. Yes, these examples are the extremes but finding ways to keep employees motivated even when you are the best type of leader can sometimes be challenging.  Wouldn't it be nice if we all had organizations full of high-achieving, initiative-taking, only-come-to-you-when-they-REALLY-hit-a-brick-wall employees?  Why is that so tough?

Well, the truth is that unless you have a crystal ball when hiring, you may be holding yourself (and worse, your associates) to an impossible standard. 

The fact of the matter is this: No matter how good a leader you are, ninety percent of the time your employees (depending on certain factors) are driven by motives that have NOTHING to do with work and trying to tap into those needs requires an understanding of human behavior beyond basic leadership skills.

If you'll think back to Psych 101, you may recall studying the work of Abraham Maslow who developed the theory that human needs are arranged in a hierarchical order ranging from basic needs such as food, water and shelter to more advanced needs such as justice, unity and goodness. He fit this theory onto a scale called Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (see graph).  The idea here is that human beings progress (most often non-linearly) through the scale ultimately working toward the pinnacle of self-actualization. 

I know. I know.  You never thought you would use that stuff again but here's why it should matter to you....

Where your associates fit on the scale affects their motivations and hence, what they best respond to.

For example, a mid-level associate who is working toward self-esteem may be greatly honored by a certificate or some form of public recognition while an entry level associate or minimum wage earner may be working on safety or physiological needs and is better motivated by a monetary bonus. 

To complicate matters, understand that each of us can move back and forth between the levels depending on current life situations.  As an example, dealing with an unexpected death or a pay-cut may temporarily move that mid-level associate back to navigating safety issues.  It is also worth noting that all human beings do not actually aspire to self-actualization!

Despite some of the challenges to Maslow's original theories, his work was the spring board for other studies of human behavior within organizations and reminds us that when developing associates, our goal is to understand what motivates and to support consistent achievement (or passage) through the various levels.

The bottom-line:  Instead of driving yourself crazy trying to turn your associates into something they aren't today, invest your energy in understanding where they are, meeting them there and identifying the needs that will motivate them to be who they want to be tomorrow.  Therein lies the seeds of creating effective and motivated associates.

Continue to be great!

 

 

check out this list to see if your work environment supports your core values

In our work at Leadership on Speed LLC, we often get calls from career professionals when they begin a job transition process.  One of the first exercises we do is to explore our clients core values.  Why?  Clarity surrounding values supports their ability to find work within organizations that afford the best fit both technically and professionally.  Otherwise, individuals are at risk for potentially getting a great offer but being unfulfilled in the long term.  In a society that has often measured success based on one's income, understanding one's values may lead to different choices surrounding income but greatly increase the likelihood of both work and life satisfaction.

Are you clear about your values and drivers?  If not, I highly encourage you to take time to do so.  Not sure where to start?  Try the following list.  Utilize a process of elimination to identify your top 20 and then re-order them from one to twenty.  Your top five become your core career values and any job you take should definitely include them!

My work  must involve:

• compassion and caring – helping others and/or being helped
• a supervisor who is a strong role model and mentor
• consistent guidance and clear expectations from a supervisor
• increasing aesthetics, creating beauty
• creating or building objects or systems from scratch
• mental challenges and problem-solving
• physical challenges
• flexibility in commitments and schedule to allow for balance between work life and personal life
• being considered an expert in your field
• highly structured and defined work
• a high degree of competition
• the consistent practice of integrity and ethics
• an opportunity for spiritual growth
• a reward for loyalty and dependability
• having self-respect and pride in work
• stability and security
• above average financial compensation and financial rewards
• being recognized for quality of work
• contributing to societal good
• using creativity and imagination to be innovative
• variety and change – a dynamic, progressive approach
• professional development and continuous learning and growth
• friendships and social activities
• working in teams or groups
• prestige, notoriety, social status
• routine, predictable work projects
• deadlines and time demand/pressure challenges
• clear advancement paths/opportunities for advancement
• tranquility, comfort, and avoidance of pressure
• day-to-day contact with the public or people
• using cutting edge or pioneering technologies or techniques
• opportunities for supervision, power, leadership, influence
• responsibility and accountability around making decisions
• autonomy, independence, freedom (little or no supervision)
• precision work with little tolerance for error
• adventure, excitement and risk taking

You were born to be great.

YES, you can!

what an Undercover Boss can teach us

Admittedly, I'm not much for reality TV but if you missed last night's premier episode of Undercover Boss following the Super Bowl, you missed some great 'undercover' leadership lessons from the Chief Operating Officer (C.O.O.) of a $13 billion company.  The opportunity to watch a senior executive at such a large company was really too cool to miss.

If you didn't have a chance to watch, Lawrence (Larry) O'Donnell, III, President and C.O.O. of Waste Management goes underground to experience his company from the ground up.  Over the course of the show, he took on such glamorous tasks as cleaning port-a-johns, picking up trash during wind gusts, and sorting recyclables while a conveyor belt whizzed by at who-knows-how-many miles per hour.  During his adventures, Larry got to meet the folks who truly make the company run and see first hand the impact of corporate policies on the lay-workers.

CBS did a GREAT job on the debut.  First of all, they picked a guy that clearly GOT IT (well before CBS ever came up with the concept) - definitely a Level 5 Leader and clearly highly functioning on the EI scale... Secondly, he was just a really likable guy and it was clear that he wasn't there to play "gotcha" but rather to really examine corporate policies and their impact.  Along the way, he had a number of eye-opening experiences and came away with a new appreciation of and connection to the work and the workers of Waste Management.

Powerful stuff.

At the end of the day, there were any number of take-aways that I wanted to share but these are my top 10 (plus one ;-)) in no particular order:

1. Listen objectively to feedback.
2. Reward hard work.
3. Invite good talent to create effective programs for other associates.
4. Know what motivates. Rewards are not always measured in dollars and cents.
5. Invite your associates to hold you accountable.
6. If you make a promise, keep it. 
7. Take immediate action.
8. Remember - the leaders and managers are rarely the face of your company, THE ASSOCIATES ARE.  Does this fact make you comfortable or uncomfortable? 
9. When employees authentically get that leaders care, performance and morale can soar!
10. Your associates are human beings with families, goals, desires and challenges.  Do you know who they REALLY are?
11. Don't be afraid to admit when you've made a mistake and be willing to change or revamp policies that simply don't work or that create different results than you intended.

Continue to be great!

managers as leaders and leaders as managers

Although leaders and managers have very distinct roles, there is little doubt that in today's business environment leaders must be willing to wear a management hat and managers would do well to incorporate leadership skills.  They are flip sides of a very complimentary coin.

If you are often confused on the distinctions between leaders managers, here are a few brought to you courtesy of Warren Bennis:

• The manager asks how and when; the leaders asks what and why
• The manager has an eye on the bottom line; the leader has an eye on he horizon
• The manager accepts the status quo; the leaders challenges it
• The manager is a classic good soldier; the leader is his/her own person

For a more comprehensive list, check out this Wall Street Journal adaptation or better yet, pick up a copy of On Becoming a Leader by Warren Bennis.

What are you finding in your organization?  Are there still very distinct roles between managers and leaders or have the roles merged as times have changed? 

Continue to be great!

how many of these leadership mistakes are you making?

As a leader, you do the best job you can.  If you are like most, you have an ideal leadership style and an actual one.  Unfortunately, our quest to get the mission accomplished combined with numerous daily fires often have us often falling short of the ideal and what's left behind - the actual, lends itself to committing some of the most basic (and non-basic) of leadership errors.  For example, how often do you knowingly overload a star performer?  We expect star performers to cry "uncle" but all too often, the only time we tend to listen is when the star performer begins to fail or (as is often the case), they get tired of getting dumped on and they depart for greener pastures.

Here are four other mistakes detailed in Susan Cramm's article over at the Harvard Business Review:

• Sponsoring a project that isn't ready for prime time
• Managing jobs rather than careers
• Negatively labeling others
• Refusing to address performance issues

What do you think?  Do these sound like some of your company's leadership challenges?  How are you addressing them?

You were born to be great.

YES, you can!

  

acknowledging fallability as a strength

"Self-awareness means having a deep understanding of one's emotions, strengths, weaknesses, needs and drives."

Self-awareness is the foundation of emotional intelligence.  Without it, all other learning becomes purely superficial.  We must understand that our success in business is predicated on others perceptions of who we are and how they experience what we say or do combined with our ability to assess our environment, our performance, our drivers and our emotions in order to accurately engage with and increase effectiveness with those around us.

To quote the Emotional Intelligence guru Daniel Goleman, "People with strong self-awareness are neither overly critical nor unrealistically hopeful.  Rather, they are honest - with themselves and others."  Someone who is self-aware has a candor and an ability to assess oneself realistically.  Have you ever met a leader who has the ability to lightly acknowledge and laugh off their weaknesses?  You may even admire such a quality.  It shows us that leaders are not infallible and there is something endearing when they reveal that vulnerability in a light-hearted way (or otherwise, when called for).  Conversely, we can all probably remember a leader or an associate who never wanted to admit a mistake or accept responsibility.  We are all sometimes trapped in an ideal of perfectionism perhaps thinking that if we reveal our weaknesses, we may be deemed incompetent or in over our heads. 

I'll let you in on a little secret:  Our weaknesses always reveal themselves.  There is no such thing as perfection so to deny the existence of fallibility only demonstrates ones utter lack of self-awareness and this is often not a pretty picture. 

This isn't to say that we should suddenly become self-deprecating apostles but rather to enlighten you to the fact that is important that each of us understand our strengths and weaknesses and at appropriate times, acknowledge that awareness to others.  If you are assigned a project that is a bit "stretchy", is it better to acknowledge your shortcomings so that you can shore up those areas with the appropriate talent and expertise or try to fake your way through hoping that others don't notice?  I don't have to tell you that answer to that.  What matters is that you successfully complete the project.  THAT is what will be remembered and what you will gain credit for. 

As we continue to further understand the importance of emotional intelligence, we will go deeper into the area of self-awareness, how you can recognize self-awareness in others and how you can grow in your own level of self-awareness.  In the meantime, if you want to gain a better understanding of emotional intelligence, I highly recommend you read Primal Leadership by Daniel Goleman.

You were born to be great.

YES, you can!

is emotional intelligence hype or reality?

At Leadership on Speed LLC, our "raison d'etre" is to support business success at all levels through a core understanding of how individuals "show up" and are experienced in the work place - in other words, one's level of self-awareness.  From a place of self-awareness, we can then work and train on communication, leadership, integrity, interpersonal skills and a host of commonly called "soft skills" that are not simply important, but critical to long-term success, in business and in life.

Interestingly enough, even with Daniel Goleman's groundbreaking work in Emotional Intelligence (EI) and the criticality of these skills in business success, organizations (as a general rule) still give little time or attention to supporting, training and developing these aspects of current and future leaders.

First of all, in our work at Leadership on Speed, we train leaders at every level but we define leadership not as positional or authoritative but rather we train for all associates to "lead where you stand".  In other words, every human being has the capability to lead from any position within an organization - to exert positive influence across the organization in order to accomplish the mission. 

Goleman's extensive research clearly demonstrates that while IQ and technical skills are important, they are not the driving factor in success. Rather they are considered "threshold capabilities" - meaning that one clearly must be technically competent in order to have some degree of success but many of us have been in environments where simply "average" individuals have successfully moved up the ranks while someone who was considered quite brilliant, incisive and "high potential" has failed to live up to the hype. 

The difference?  While intellect and cognitive skills such as big-picture thinking and long-term vision are particularly important to success, emotional intelligence proves to be TWICE as important as the other skills for jobs at all levels. 

THE GOOD NEWS:  Research shows that people can, if they take the right approach, develop their emotional intelligence.

On this critical learning area, we will commit more time on our blog in 2010 to support you, our readers, in better understanding what these skills are and how you can improve them for your own success.  We would also love to get your thoughts and feedback. Do you agree that emotional intelligence can or does distinguish those who are most successful?  What is your personal and business experience with EI?  Do you consider yourself to have a high emotional quotient already?  Has it made a difference in your success?

Here's to an amazing 2010!

You were born to be great.

YES, you can!

modeling character and competence

The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity.  Without it, no real success is possible no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army or in an office.  
-Dwight David Eisenhower

Several weeks back, I wrote a post on integrity (The Integrity Test).  I wanted to follow it up with some observations taken from Stephen Covey's The 8th Habit which gave me additional perspective that I wanted to share with you.

I think it's safe to say that we all desire to work with people of integrity.  It is also safe to say that 60-70% of the workforce who has been employed for at least five years can identify at least one situation they have witnessed in the workplace in which someone (probably a manager or leader) has not demonstrated integrity and for which there was no repercussion.  It is worth noting that in a survey of over 54,000 people asked to identify the essential qualities of a leader, integrity was by far, the number one response. 

I realized in reading The 8th Habit that this issue of integrity (or lack of it) really boils down to a failure of character.  And, according to Stephen Covey, 90 percent of all leadership failures are character failures.

Where leaders lack character, trust cannot grow and trust is the key ingredient to all relationships be they business or personal.  So if you want to make a difference as a leader in your organization and in your life, practice integrity.  Keep your word.  Only make promises you can keep.  Don't do anything in private that you wouldn't want made public.  If you make a mistake, come clean. 

One man cannot do right in one department of
life whilst he is occupied in doing wrong in any
other department.  Life is one indivisible whole.
- Mahatma Gandhi

We are all human beings and sometimes life gets in the way of who we want to be.  Begin with yourself and notice the domino affect it has on those around you.  It isn't about being perfect, it's about being the best you can be. 

You were born to be great.

YES, you can!