The Pre-Work You Need to Manage Up (Manage Up Series 2/6)

Managing up is a required skill in every job.  Doing this well will allow you to advance your career and bring benefits to your team and the organization.   

Before jumping into best practices for managing up, it is helpful to think about the prework you want to complete so you are in the best position to succeed. 

Here are some critical aspects to uncover:

1. Know your leader’s communication style.  Executive Coach Julie Kantor says, “some bosses readily explain to subordinates how and when they want to communicate.  Others do better when offered multiple-choice questions.  If your boss has not willingly told you, seek agreements on methods and cadence for updates.  You can ask, how often do you want updates: daily, weekly, or only when I have something to report?  Do you prefer phone, instant messaging, email, or face-to-face?”  Getting this information clear will contribute to an excellent relationship, allowing for managing up to occur more easily.  Also, maybe your boss prizes unstructured chat time before diving into the work, whereas you prefer having work updates first and chat time at the end if there is time because it is how you operate with your direct reports.  It is better to adjust your style to fit your boss’ preference rather than impose your will.

1A. Understand their listener/reader style.  You can adjust your style in response to your boss’ preferred method of receiving information.  Peter Drucker, often described as the founder of modern management, divided bosses into “readers” and “listeners.”  If your boss is a reader, they like to get information in report form so they can read and study it.  In that case, you want to include important points in your memo and then discuss them.   Others are listeners, they work better with hearing information presented and being able to ask questions immediately in real time.  In this case, you may want to verbally share to have that back and forth and then follow up with notes of what has been discussed.  This contributes to creating fertile ground for managing up to occur.

1B. Understand their preference for updates.  Some bosses prefer to be involved in decisions and problems as they arise.  These are high-involvement managers who like to keep their hands on the pulse of the operation during critical moments, so it is best to be proactive in including them.  Other bosses prefer to delegate and be less involved.  They expect you to come to them with major problems and inform them about any significant changes.  When keeping these bosses in the loop, be clear on what you are doing and if there is anything you should be doing differently, let them know you welcome their input.  This critical information will allow you to move to the next stage and not waste weeks of work because you did not allow your boss an opportunity to weigh in earlier.  Managing up will be easier when these processes are established.

1C. Have the expectations discussion.  Many people assume the boss will magically know what information to give their subordinates.  Some are naturally good at this, and some are not.  Be proactive at the outset and ask.  What are your expectations from me?  What is a good way to exchange feedback?  Do not assume that just because you like to receive feedback in a particular way from your direct reports, it will be the same style as what your boss will want from you.  Be proactive in uncovering expectations that will set you up for managing up success. 

2. Understand their decision-making style.  Do they make decisions intuitively and change their mind a lot, or do they prefer a more fact-based approach and need lots of data and time to arrive at an action slowly, or any combination of the two?  When you are trying to influence, you can use their style to shape your approach.  Maybe they want to be in control, so you would give them information about what you are doing and offer choices about the next steps so they can make the ultimate decision.

3. Understand your manager's strengths, weaknesses, and motivations.  When you can go to them on a topic that utilizes one of their strengths, they can help more efficiently.  When you go to them in an area of weakness, you may be disappointed.  In that case, it can be a good opportunity for you to be proactive in taking more of a leadership role.  For example, maybe your boss is not strong at creating team bonding events, you can volunteer to take the lead on that.  Furthermore, knowing what they care about and advancing that interest can be helpful.  Dr. Julie Kantor, Executive Coach says, “It pays to figure out what motivates your boss, do they need to look important? Find ways to help them talk about their successes.”  If your boss’ boss cares about retention and building community, you can link the team bonding event to a larger and more critical initiative that would bode well for your leader.

4. Know your leader’s realities.  What numbers are your boss being measured on?  How is their boss defining success?  What are their goals and pressures?  How does your work fit into this bigger picture?  You can exhibit upward empathy and learn about what the specific work is like for your boss, what makes it hard, and what might you be unintentionally contributing to the difficulty level.  Without this information, you might be flying blind so your efforts to manage up would likely be fruitless.

5. Know the organization.  Some organizations are more hierarchical so it can feel threatening to have direct reports speak up.  Find out the informal rules so you can be more clued in on how to operate within the existing structures before you aim to make changes.

This kind of preparation can be used to develop and manage a healthy working relationship - one that is compatible with both work styles and strengths so you can do great work together.

Quote of the day: “Think twice before you speak because your words and influence will plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of another.”  -Napoleon Hill

Q:  What is one way to learn your boss’ key stated and unstated priorities?  Comment and share below, we would love to hear from you!

[The next blog in this series 3/6 will focus on managing up for project work]

As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with people to sharpen their managing up skills, contact me to explore this topic further.

What do you know about your leader’s style?

We All Need to Manage Up (Manage Up Series 1/6)

It is quite common to have a different perspective from our managers and want to find effective ways to speak up to alter outcomes.  Toeing the line between skillfully influencing regardless of your position and not overstepping in a way that disrespects your leader and damages your reputation can be tricky. When we can hone the skill of managing up, we can make a positive difference in our teams and in our organizations.

Harvard Business School Professor John Kotter defines managing up as the process of consciously working with your superior to obtain the best possible results for you, your boss, and the company.  It is a way of customizing your work style to best suit your managers for optimum collective success.  It can also refer to your tactics to build a strong relationship with your boss to make work easier.  Sue Shellenbarger in the Wall Street Journal writes, "Managing up, or building smooth, productive relationships with higher-ups, requires understanding and adapting to your boss’s communication and decision-making style.”  Clearly, the approach you take to manage up matters.

Mastering this skill has copious benefits.  You can effectively shape the agenda by better advocating for what you want, asking for resources, and promoting your team’s successes.  The organization benefits as well.  When you have a strong relationship with your manager and know a good method to be heard, you can achieve more win-wins.  Instead of contributing to a culture of silence where people do not voice their views, you can create a conduit for great ideas to see the light of day.  Organizations want people who can vigorously campaign on behalf of their team with excellent intentions to impact productivity, morale, and retention positively.

Choosing when to speak up is not always easy and straightforward.  Here are some situations that could be helpful to chime in:

1. When it is at the cost of the company’s mission and integrity.  If something is happening that is damaging the company’s reputation internally or externally, it can be essential to get involved.  If you know that corners are being cut and there is a negative impact on customers or other stakeholders, your manager will want to know this.

2. When your motives are genuine.  If you have already checked in with yourself and ruled out jealousy or other less envious motives, and it is really about the benefit to the team, organization, or stakeholders, it is a good time to manage up to share constructive concerns collaboratively.

3. When you have established trust and credibility.  When you have shown yourself to be a dependable person that delivers consistent, timely, and excellent quality work, you will be in a good position to manage up.  If you are not a model of what you seek, your message will be harder to convey and be heard. This reminds me of Jordan Peterson’s rule 6: set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world.  While I disagree with the word perfect, the underlining sentiment of being an example of what you are trying to change is powerful.   Nobody wants to listen to somebody who cannot do the thing they are advocating.

4. When there are massive communication gaps.  You may have assumptions that your boss has a view of you that is inaccurate.  You may want to check in, clear the air, and frame the perception that more precisely depicts who you are instead of them filling in the gaps so you can speak up and align on a shared reality. I had a client who was working on a massive project, culminating in a pivotal stakeholder meeting where a decision had to be made. When the boss viewed the invite list, she said the list looked random and did not understand why some attendees were present.  My client wanted to take a moment to zoom out and inform her leader of the broader picture, that she had been talking to all those stakeholders regularly and had an excellent explanation for each person’s attendance.  Having that conversation to loop her boss in was essential because while they may have initially thought my client was careless in their selection, they were, in fact, deliberate. 

5. When it is for the leader’s benefit.  Business management expert Patrick Lencioni advocates managing up to benefit the leader.  He said, “do not expect that the manager is leading exactly the way they want.”  He shared a story of when a direct report came to him as a great example of managing up.  Lencioni promoted somebody who was not team-oriented, which violated one of the company values.  So, the direct report went to Lencioni and said, I know you have a lot on your plate, but I noticed an inconsistency that I wanted to share and learn more about the reasoning behind the decision. You talk about teamwork being important but just promoted the least teamwork-focused person, so I think to address the disconnection, we either should change what we believe or move him to another place where he would be a better fit.  Lencioni shared that he was happy to have that blind spot bought to his attention and believed that if you only hear about frustrations when your team hands you a resignation letter, it is unfair because it does not give the leader a chance to course correct.  

Another client of mine had a similar situation speaking up regarding their boss’ blind spot.  The boss would think out loud at meetings and share fleeting comments to the team about possibly doing more research.  Some team members would interpret those passing thoughts as requests, and a couple of people would work on the same project and waste time and resources.  Others would view those thoughts as just verballing processing and would not do anything and the boss would wonder why no action was taken.  So, my client shared this observation with their boss, “I noticed this phenomenon happening where your verbal brainstorming is creating confusion and might be wasting time, I’m wondering what if, at the end of a meeting, we share one thing to investigate and one person to do that so there is clarity and no overlap?  How would that work for you, or what would you add to reduce the confusion?”  Before sharing your idea, you can even invite your boss to share possible solutions before you offer yours.  This is a great topic to manage up because you are proposing a process change to improve the business and inviting a co-creating experience.

When NOT to manage up:

1. Personality difference with no business benefit.  If you simply do not like your manager’s style and changing it would make your life easier but have no positive impact on the business or other team members, then it is misusing the spirit of managing up.  For example, if you want your manager to be more optimistic and less realistic because that is your preference, you may be unable to change that.  It is good to ask yourself, how is my request impacting the business other than it’s annoying me?  If their approach is leading to hours wasted, unnecessary confusion, and a lack of direction for you and the team, that’s different.  Tapping into the bigger reason we are here and how we can align to make the business successful is a good guide to managing up.

2. You think you can be leading better.  You may believe you can do the job better than your manager, many of us feel that way from time to time and that can be ok, but when you take action to undermine your boss or try to win or be right at your boss’s expense, that is crossing the line.  To be successful at your job, it is helpful to support your leader publicly and make them look good rather than asserting your will.  And if you believe you can do a better job, great, do your best to get promoted based on the quality of your work and your integrity and when you get that promotion, you will get a chance to lead in the way you want, and your direct reports will follow you based on your style and the benefits that you deliver.

When you can learn the skill of managing up, it will make you a more effective contributor.  The best indicator of managing up is when there is a triple win – you win, your manager/team wins, and the company wins. 

Quote of the day: “Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.” – Albert Schweitzer. 

Q:  When was the last time you had to manage up?  What worked that you would want to repeat?  Comment and share below; we would love to hear from you!

The next blog in this series 2/6 will focus on helpful prework to do to manage up.

As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with people to sharpen their managing up skills, contact me to explore this topic further.

How do you manage up?

Strategic Thinking Requires Time (Strategy Series 3/3)

How much of your time in your calendar is dedicated to strategy and long-term planning?  In one survey of 10,000 senior leaders, 97% said that being strategic was the most important leadership behavior to their organization’s success.  Yet, it is not being done. 

Common challenges leaders have in finding time for strategic planning:

1. Short-term focused.  Most leaders want to spend more time on strategy but one challenge that keeps them from the practice is being too enmeshed in the near term.   Rich Horwath, CEO of the Strategic Thinking Institute, found that 96% of leaders surveyed claimed they lacked time for strategic thinking because they were too busy putting out fires.  Some leaders do not know how to step away from the whirlwind.  For example, Lisa, an HR Vice President, explained how she approached her job in a transactional manner, simply aiming to get the next hire and not recognizing that she needed an entirely new approach to recruitment and retention for a fast-growing company.  To do the latter effectively, she needed to step away from her workload and short-term hiring goals to create the think time to rework defective processes and devise a more scalable system that will allow her to streamline the hiring process that will eventually save significant time in the long run.

2. Poor email management.  The volume of emails keeps leaders focused on immediate and sometimes low-priority concerns.  According to a Radicati Group analysis, we receive an average of 126 emails per day.  I have some executive clients who receive 400+ emails.  If you were to categorize your emails, which ones are truly valuable and which ones are time sucks?  How much time do you spend on emails?  How much time do you want to spend?  How is your time on emails serving your long-term goals?  What’s your plan to free yourself from this time-consuming activity? 

3. Failure to prioritize and delegate.  When you create a jam-packed schedule and are running from meeting to meeting, you cannot contribute strategically without adequate time to reflect on the issues and consider all the options.  What meetings do you need to deprioritize?  How can you delegate so you do not have to be at all places at all times?  Our routine can put a damper on strategy time, so how can you reallocate your time to prioritize the unfamiliar and non-routine activities to increase your capacity to act more strategically?  In a ten-year longitudinal study of over 2,700 newly appointed executives, 67% of them said they struggled with letting go of work from previous roles.  Trying to do everything yourself is a sure path to limiting your leadership and that of others because they do not have the chance to grow.

4. Falling into the competency trap.  This is when you continue to do a previous task related to execution because you do it well, enjoy it, and get a confidence boost because you are accumulating expertise in that one task. The problem is that while you are doing that work, you might be neglecting the other activities such as strategic planning and setting vision and direction, which are skills more needed by the business. What produced your past successes likely will be different than the future wins you will need to succeed. Indeed, you can deliver amazing work on the wrong things and it will go unnoticed.  If you are in stage 3 of your leadership but still doing stage 2 work, it is time to depart from your comfort zone and exercise new strategic muscles.

To avoid some of these challenges, create space in your schedule:

Strategic thinking does not necessarily mean numerous sabbaticals or extensive leadership retreats but is more about carving out consistent space.  As productivity expert David Allen shared in an interview with Dorie Clark for her book Stand Out, “You don’t need time to have a good idea, you need space…. It takes zero time to have an innovative idea or to make a decision, but if you don’t have psychic space, those things are not necessarily impossible, but they’re suboptimal.”

Once you find that calendar time, some executives may not know how to begin their strategic thinking time.  I find that some of my clients put too much pressure on themselves believing they must begin with states of enlightenment that yield novel insights, but it can start much smaller.

Here are some things you can do during your protected strategetic and think time sessions:

1. You can distinguish the urgent from the important.  Stephen Covey’s 2 x 2 matrix is helpful for this in separating more immediate needs from longer and more meaningful work.  Where do you want to have an impact?  What will it take to achieve success?  How will the organization evolve to meet challenges on the horizon?  These are the kinds of deep, foundational questions that are best addressed with long-term planning.

2. Think with others to get an outside perspective.  Reach out to other departments or build rapport with leaders, managers, front-line team members, and customers to listen and understand their roles, concerns, and ideas.  This will add to your knowledge bank of all parts of the organization to better utilize those insights in your projects to ensure alignment with the corporate strategy from the outstart.  You can also think about how to use other partners for new initiatives and create win-win experiences.  As you develop these relationships, you will learn more elements of the business and know which key individuals to call when you want to brainstorm or move past an obstacle.  It would help if you also were proactive about connecting with peers outside your organization and in your industry to understand their observations.  You can share your ideas across your network for greater meaning-making.

3. Expand your cross-functional learning.  When you understand more about all areas of the organization and know who all the key players are, each project you work on becomes a puzzle.  When you move pieces, you can see how it affects others either directly or indirectly.  When you consider the impacts of your decisions on all company domains, you see the big picture more clearly.  That is strategy.

4. Ask other strategic thinkers about their processes.  Turn to people who have skills you admire and find out what their process is as a prime learning opportunity.  You can start the conversation with, “I noticed you offer really valuable contributions in the meetings; I would love to know your process for strategic thinking?  Where do you get your insights from?”  You’ll be surprised how quickly others engage and what you can discover.

5. Learn.  Read books and articles, listen to podcasts and interviews, and watch instructive videos and webinars to expand your thinking and learn new approaches relevant to your specific situation.  There are many valuable conversations happening in your industry, especially among futurists who have spent much time thinking about these topics.  How do you receive regular doses of information that can spark your own?  Are there classes, industry conferences, professional gatherings, or associations that you can attend?  Can you form a book group with your coworkers to have dedicated space for this type of learning? It doesn’t need to be time-intensive, even just 10 minutes of reading and 30-minute discussions can yield significant returns.

6. Take a break.  It can be common to think that to accomplish your work, you must increase your hours.  In fact, research by Bob Sullivan reveals that productivity decreases for those who work more than 50 hours per week.  When you can let your mind wander, you can come up with great strategic ideas.  Lin Manuel Miranda came up with the idea for his award-winning play Hamilton when he was on vacation with his wife fishing.  You can check out my other blog on the importance of taking breaks for breakthroughs.

7. Reflect.  Do you regularly ask, what’s working and what’s not?  How can you chronicle your successes and failures to rethink your approach to make it even more strategic?  You can develop a reflective practice that can be as little as one or five minutes that will engender tremendous value because you will be more intentional about your actions and contributions.

8. Pick a small project to experiment.  Is there one project you can work on regularly to develop some of your strategic skills?  You can test a hypothesis and run an experiment and once you take action, reflect on your progress and learnings and then iterate to improve even more.  If you just stay in your head without taking action, you will rob yourself of the best learnings, which usually come when you try something and get immediate feedback.

9. Engage in meaning-making activities.  Developing great strategic thinking skills requires you to gain exposure to key roles, synthesize broad information, participate in a culture of curiosity, and gather experiences that allow you to identify patterns and connect the dots in novel ways. That’s why leadership development programs often include job rotations, cross-functional projects, and face time with senior leadership - they accelerate your critical thinking.  You can take that 30-foot view to better understand those issues that get raised over and over in different parts of the organization.  Why hasn’t anybody solved them yet?  What’s been the dominant approach? What’s a different approach to take?

Leaders know the value of spending time on strategic thinking, yet they are not doing it because of the challenges of short-term thinking and the urgency of trivial tasks. Start by fostering a practice for thinking and reflecting that will help you develop strategies that can bring significant benefits to you and your organization.

Quote of the day: “Get off of the dance floor and look at your operation from the balcony.” - Ron Heifetz, Harvard Professor

Q: What is your thinking and reflecting practice?  Comment and share with us, we would love to hear!

 As a Leadership Coach, I partner with leaders to engage in strategic thinking for them and their teams, contact me to learn more.

How do you create space to strategize?

Top 11 Ways to Think Strategically (Strategy series 2/3)

Have you ever been told that you need to be more strategic without giving any concrete guidance on how to do that?  If this is a top visible skill that helps you climb the organizational chart, it is worth the effort to grow the ability, regardless of your current position. 

Being a strategic thinker can involve the big-picture, where you are not making decisions in a vacuum.  You consider the future direction, how other departments might be affected, and how the outside world could respond to your choices.

Here are some specific approaches you can take to be a more strategic or a big picture thinker:

1. Take a stakeholder-centered approach.  Step outside of your silo and stand in the shoes of all those connected to and impacted by your company.  Consider these perspectives:

·      Go vertical (up and down).  Step back and survey the landscape to see the system.   You can think about the customer, direct reports, manager, skip manager, CEO, shareholders, and community – both locally and globally.  Ask the question – what do these people want and need?  Where are the common denominators?

·      Go horizontal (left and right).  How are you considering other departments in your strategy?  How is it aligned with the company’s domestic and international vision?  Look across to your direct competitors or beyond to other industries to collect some of the best ideas and trends to make sense of the data in terms of what it means for your team and your company.

·      Use an impact lens.  What will be the result of your strategy on your organization and these various stakeholders?  Do the outcomes support the broader goals of the organization?  What could negatively impact the results?  What do business partners need to understand to ensure its success?  Having some answers to these questions can help you be more thoughtful and strategic. 

2. Consider the timeframe.  What are you trying to do in the short-term v. long-term?  What does success look like in 6 months?  1 year?  3 years?  What are the early signs of success/failure?  What skills and talent will it take to succeed in the long term?  If you were to create a basic road map to navigate to success, what would that look like? How will you know when you have arrived? Whom do you need to support your journey?

3. Think about challenges and ask key questions.  Anticipating problems and trends within your organization and industry can be immensely powerful. You may want to ask: What are the three most important challenges today?  How about the most significant future challenges?  How does today’s work fit into future work?  This is how a commander approaches their work, they seek to understand how each battle plays a part in the larger war.   What challenge would be the hardest to tackle that you cannot see right now? What challenge would be the most important or lead domino that would knock over several other dominos?

4. To be a strategic thinker, develop problem-solving skills.  Most people want to offer a solution to the problem before adequately defining it.  Quick fixes may seem convenient, but they often solve only the surface issues and waste resources that could otherwise be used to tackle the real cause.  The 5 WHYs technique is great for getting at the root cause and preventing stubborn or recurrent problems as they are symptoms of deeper causes.  It was developed and fine-tuned within the Toyota Motor Corporation as a critical component of its problem-solving training.  Sakichi Toyoda, the Japanese Thomas Edison and architect of the Toyota Production System in the 1950s, describes the method in his book as “the basis of Toyota’s scientific approach . . . by repeating the word why five times, the nature of the problem as well as its solution becomes clear.”  Today, the method is used far beyond Toyota and is popular in lean development. 

Here is an example from Buffer:

1. Why did the system go down?  [Because the database became locked.]

2. Why did it become locked?   [Because there were too many database writes]

3. Why were we doing too many database writes?  [Because this was not foreseen, and it was not load tested]

4. Why wasn’t this change load tested? [Because we don’t have a development process set up for when we should load test changes]

5. Why don’t we have a development process for when to load test?  [We’ve never done too much load testing and are hitting new levels of scale.]

It is going beyond the presenting issue and symptoms to treat the root cause.

5. You can question basic assumptions.  If you are discussing a long-term company strategy upon which years of effort and expense will be based, you can ask basic questions about your beliefs.  How do you know that business will increase?  What does the research say about your expectations about the future of the market?  Have you taken the time to step into the figurative shoes of your customers as a “secret shopper?”  Another way to question your assumptions is to consider alternatives.  You might ask: what if our clients changed?  What if our suppliers went out of business?  These sorts of questions help you gain new and vital perspectives that help hone your thinking.

6. Use First principles thinking.   It is the best way to reverse-engineer complicated problems and reveal creative possibilities. The idea is to break down complex problems into fundamental elements and then reassemble them from the ground up.  It’s one of the best ways to learn to think for yourself, unlock your creative potential, and move from linear to non-linear results.  This approach was used by the philosopher Aristotle who defined it as the first basis from which a thing is known, and now by Elon Musk and Charlie Munger.  It is about thinking like a scientist and not assuming anything; What is true and what has been proven?

Musk gave an example of how Space X uses first principles to innovate at low prices.  People thought battery packs were expensive because that’s the way they have been in the past.  Musk responded,

“Well, no, that’s pretty dumb… Because if you applied that reasoning to anything new, then you wouldn’t be able to ever get to that new thing…. you can’t say, … oh, nobody wants a car because horses are great, and we’re used to them and they can eat grass and there’s lots of grass all over the place and … there’s no gasoline that people can buy.   Historically, battery packs cost $600 per kilowatt-hour… So the first principles would be, … what are the material constituents of the batteries?  What is the spot market value of the material constituents? … It’s got cobalt, nickel, aluminum, carbon, some polymers for separation, and a steel can.  So break that down on a material basis; if we bought that on a London Metal Exchange, what would each of these things cost?  Oh, jeez, it’s … $80 per kilowatt-hour.  So, clearly, you just need to think of clever ways to take those materials and combine them into the shape of a battery cell, and you can have batteries that are much, much cheaper than anyone realizes.”

First principles thinking allows you to see problems from multiple angles and interpret complex and conflicting information with curiosity and open-mindedness, and that’s what strategic thinking is all about.

7. See the rich interconnectivity.  Agents can sometimes interact in ways where they fundamentally change each other and something entirely different and unpredictable emerges from the contact.  Paul Cilliers used the following analogy: “a jumbo jet is complicated (it is equal to the sum of its parts), and if you had to take it apart or reverse actions, you could, mayonnaise is complex (once mixed, you can’t separate the parts again; the Interaction fundamentally changes them).”  In other words, complex systems are subject to co-evolution, and once it happens, it’s irreversible.  How can you factor this idea into your strategy or big-picture thinking?  Which steps you choose to take will be easily reversible, and which ones are permanent?  How will that impact your experiments? Knowing this information will help you thrive in a VUCA world.

8. Use Polarity Thinking.  In Adam Grant’s Think Again, he talks about polarity thinking.  For example, how can two great thought leaders have two different perspectives?  Daniel Goleman would argue that EQ matters more than IQ as it can determine 90% of a leader’s success.  In contrast, Jordan Peterson would maintain that EQ is a corporate marketing scheme; he downplays its importance.  How can these two PhD holders be right if they have opposite views?  Polarity thinking can allow both of them to be right, especially when thinking about context.  Instead of talking about why it is important, you want to talk about WHEN it is important.  EQ is beneficial with jobs that deal with perceiving and understanding emotions (customer service, counseling) but less relevant and even detrimental where emotions are less essential (mechanics, accountants).  How can you apply polarity thinking or both/and approach to your business as a creative exercise? 

9. Consider the 4 Cs analytical framework.  Adam Brandenburger writes about contrast, combination, constraint, and context to get creative with your strategy:

·      Contrast.  Challenge the assumptions undergirding the status quo.

·      Combination.  Steve Jobs famously said that creativity is “just connecting things”; what products or services seem independent from or even in tension with one another can you link?

·      Constraint.  A good strategist looks at an organization’s limitations and considers how they might become strengths.  A lack of resources can be a fertilizer for innovation.  Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley wrote Frankenstein when she was staying near Lake Geneva during an unusually cold and stormy summer and found herself trapped indoors with nothing to do but exercise her imagination.  Artists are pretty familiar with limitations, from setbacks to structural ones like writing a 14-line poem.  How can you take a no and turn it into a yes?  A client I was coaching was trying to get a budget for a new hire and when she was told no, she remained undeterred.  She came up with an internal rotation idea as a way of repurposing talent to help on other teams.  This solution helped with another goal of reducing burnout and attrition because it gave other people an option of doing different work, exercising their passion, and staying engaged.

·      Context.  If you reflect on how a problem which is similar to yours was solved in an entirely different context, surprising insights may emerge.

10. Scenario planning.  How can you lay out 3 likely scenarios, a least likely one, and a crazy one so you are prepared for as much as you can?  What redundancies can you put into place so that there is support in place if one path fails? How can you anticipate what other people want and are likely to do so you can craft your response? Art Kleiner, Editor-in-Chief of PwC Global promotes the habit of mentalizing - which is thinking about what other people are thinking and instead of sharing what they want or what you want, going a step beyond to articulate what they are likely to do next.

11. Toggle.  Move between the big-picture and day-to-day execution to broaden your view.  As you are completing the day-to-day work, can you easily connect the work to the mission and vision?  Do you know the why behind the small decisions?  Similarly, in those conceptual meetings, can you move from the 1,000 feet view to the 100 to understand the next steps and road map that will allow you to ascend?  Can you take a broad idea and create a plan with metrics and benchmarks while keeping the WHY top of mind?

Once you have engaged in strategic thinking, it is important to have time for reflection so you can consolidate the learnings, get clear on your point of view, and communicate your strategy so your boss knows you are a strategic thinker.   Here are two helpful steps for perception management:

1. Get clear on your point of view.  When you have considered and implemented the above approaches, bring a perspective to the table.  Do people know where you stand?  Your leaders want to know what you think, so when you show that you are considering the big-picture and can articulate your views, you can stand out for a promotion.  Beyond just coming up with ideas, it’s even more powerful when you can take the initiative and show you have thought a few steps ahead of how you would implement something and put your ideas into action.  Having good ideas and strategies are only the first step; you also must communicate them and bring people along.

2. Carve out prep time before your meetings.  It can be too easy for us to feel like we will wing the meeting, but it is more powerful when we are deliberate.  Block out 30 minutes on your calendar before essential meetings so you have time to collect your thoughts, and arrange and package your ideas into a coherent vision and direction.  That shows strategic thinking when you are capable of synthesizing information and articulating knowledge concisely and compellingly.  You can take the same approach in emails, when you are talking about completing work, you can offer the WHY behind the work and connect it to the mission and vision. 

Having strategic thinking skills is essential for all people in the organization to develop because you can better deal with uncertainty and complexity.   A common mistake for leaders as they rise through the ranks is that they stay in operational or execution mode and are not doing enough of the strategy work to get to the next phase of their careers.  Using any of these frameworks can not only help you advance but also strengthen your contributions to your team and organization. 

Quote of the day: “Always start at the end before you begin.” Author Robert Kiyosaki

Q: How do you develop your strategic thinking skills?  What are your best practices for being strategic? Comment and share with us; we would love to hear!

The next blog in this series (3 of 3) will focus on thinking and reflecting practices to strengthen your strategic thinking skills

 As a Leadership Coach, I partner with leaders to engage in strategic thinking for them and their teams, contact me to learn more.

How do you like to think strategically?

What is your company strategy? (Strategy series 1/3)

Having a solid strategy can mean the difference between winning and losing, failing and succeeding.  Knowing the stakes, how do you create a good strategy?  What does strategy even mean anyway?

At the company level, Harvard Business Professor Michael Porter defines strategy as a unique and valuable position involving a different set of activities than your competitors or the same activities done in different ways. The Management theorist Henry Mintzberg famously defined strategy as 5 Ps: plan, ploy, pattern, position, and perspective. He explains:

·      The plan helps you attain your objectives to achieve your intended position.

·      The ploy is a new offering that is usually a surprise tactic that competitors would not expect.

·      The pattern is understanding what was implemented before and pulling out useful aspects going forward.

·      The position is your market location and the role you play in relation to your main competitors.

·      The perspective is how your organization sees itself and how various target audiences perceive you.

Generally speaking, strategy is about your intention or the way you pursue the work to further the mission and creatively grow the business in various facets – employee health, customer satisfaction, and revenue growth.   Let’s break down some strategy components:

1. Strategy is about choices.  To do well, a company must choose to do some things great and not others.  So, how do you choose?  Many people like to begin broadly in these four categories to be industry leaders:

·      Product leader - Nike and Apple are product leaders.  They constantly change their designs or shoe technology to be the coolest and most innovative in the market.  It is hard to outdo them in this category.

·      Customer intimacy – This is about creating an incredible experience for the customers where they are entirely taken care of.  You are prepared to jump through hoops for them.  Most big companies can find this challenging, but Nordstrom is an example that offers excellence in this department.  It is easier for smaller companies to do this like coffee shops, where workers know your name and have your order ready for you upon arrival.  Zappos is known for exceptional customer service.  Tony Hsieh shared a story about taking clients out one evening and when they all returned to their rooms, one of them craved a pizza, but room service was closed. Tony suggested they call Zappos and they came through on the request! Although they didn’t deliver themselves, they found a nearby pizza parlor that would.

·      Operational excellence – This is about performing efficiently at scale.  Starbucks and Chipotle have standardized their processes and have a model that can be exported seamlessly.   

·      Low Prices – Cost-effectiveness can be a powerful strategy.  It is part of IKEA’s competitive advantage.  They target young furniture buyers who want style cheaply. 

Roger Martin, named #1 by Thinkers 50 says to know if you have picked a good strategy, follow this rule – “If the opposite of your choice is stupid on its face, you have not chosen.  For example, if you say, our strategy is to be customer-centric or operationally effective or to value our talent, you can perform this test by stating the opposite - Our strategy is to ignore customers entirely.”  If it does not make sense, it cannot work as a strategy because it would be hard to do that and succeed, let alone stay in business.  Maybe regulated monopolies like the DMV can get away with this, but they do not engender much love.  If the opposite of operational effectiveness is inefficiency, then that’s not a choice because it is not a profitable route.

2. Strategy is about trade-offs.  Michael Porter says, “the essence of strategy is choosing what not to do” because you do not have the bandwidth to do it all.  Focusing on 1-2 things per quarter and adding the rest to your future list. Leaders need to know how to say no often.  As Peter Drucker says, “strategy is saying no to the things that you would like to say yes to.”  We can have many good ideas but only so much capacity to execute.  The key is to choose a couple of priorities because when you have too many, your team spins their wheels, and there is no organizing framework since they all need your attention.  Southwest Airlines is an example of a company that makes these strategic tradeoffs.  They offer short-haul, low-cost, point-to-point service between midsize cities and secondary airports in large cities.  They avoid large airports and do not fly great distances. Their frequent departures and low fares attract price-sensitive customers who otherwise travel by bus or car and convenience-oriented travelers who would choose a full-service airline.  They empower their employees at the front desk to make decisions aligned with their priorities (e.g., planes landing on time, cheap prices, and treating customers well).  It’s the reason they do not have milk on their flights because they do not have refrigerators since they have to be repaired when there are breakdowns, and that can lead to late departures. 

3. Strategy is about problem-solving.  What’s the space between the outcomes you're currently achieving and your aspirations?  If you think about the biggest challenge in reducing client churn from 35-15%, what are the fewest battles necessary to win that war?  How do you go about getting to the root of the problem to make sure you are solving the right one?  How do you frame the question for the best solution?

4. Strategy is about simplicity.  There is a myth that strategy needs to be complicated but to be most effective, you want to make it simple - understandable, memorable, and actionable.  Research by Roger Martin supports this point.  He says, “43 percent of managers cannot state their strategy.  When executives are not clear on their strategy, they have to work harder to see their impact on the organization’s direction.”  Moreover, execution does not like complexity.  Leaders who talk about strategy in concepts and cannot make it simple to move it to a specific goal with the fewest number of executable targets will struggle.  As Einstein said, “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.” You can start with these simple questions - where are you?  Where do you need to go?  What resources do you need?  What are your options?  Which one is best to prioritize?  What is the easiest workflow process? What’s your timeframe?  What’s your process to reflect and reevaluate?

5. Strategy is about flexibility. You can be clear on your vision and flexible in your strategy. You do not want a strategy that will handcuff you when a pivot is in order so it is important to check in on your strategy. Pay attention to the context and as variables and circumstances require you to update your strategy, be ready. You also may not have gotten it right the first time and that’s ok, you can alter it after your strategy has been tested.

Strategy is an important part of any business and while some people try to make it complicated, it does not have to be.  As Jack Welch said, “In reality, strategy is actually very straightforward.  You pick a general direction and implement like hell.” 

Quote of the day: “A vision without a strategy remains an illusion.” -Author Lee Bolman

Q: What’s your favorite strategy?  What’s your process for formulating your strategy? Comment and share with us, we would love to hear!

The next blog in this series (2/3) will focus on how to develop strategic thinking skills.

 As a Leadership Coach, I partner with leaders to engage in strategic thinking for them and their teams, contact me to learn more.

What does strategy mean to you?

What stage is your team in? ( Team Composition Series 3/3)

Teams go through different phases and stages.  Dr. Bruce Tuckman published his 4-stage model in 1965 – Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing and added a fifth stage, Adjourning in the 1970s. The theory explains the predictable and evolving formative periods most teams experience.  As a leader, your job is to recognize what stage your team is at and think about the right interventions to move them along the team development continuum to reach peak performance and achieve more than they thought possible.  

Let’s jump into Tuckman’s five stages:

Stage 1: Forming.  When a team first assembles, there can be excitement, they may not be sure how things will turn out but some know it can be a great experience.  People spend time getting to know each other and understanding each other’s best attributes.  Respect is granted where you listen to others and share your thoughts, some may offer some goodwill and trust.

There should be a high dependence on the leader for guidance and direction during this phase.  Instead of being reactive to problems that come your way, the leader has the responsibility to be proactive and help their team think about what systems and processes are needed to build a foundation for their best performance.   

Here are some crucial questions the leader should reflect on and be able to answer to some degree before getting input from the team and co-creating the collective culture and structure:

·      What is the team’s purpose?  Why are we here and what are we meant to do? What is the vision that inspires people to jump out of bed every day to partake? What have our stakeholders commissioned us to do? What value are we depositing into the world?

·      What are the team goals, objectives, and KPIs? How can we turn the purpose and vision into a quarterly roadmap?

·      What are everybody’s roles and responsibilities, and how can we best contribute?  How can we share that information so everybody knows other people’s job descriptions and so they know who to turn to for assistance?

·      What are the expectations and agreements that will govern our best work?  What are the ways to weigh in and offer best practices and processes to enhance communication and coordination? How do we want to create psychological safety so we can take risks and reach peak innovation? You can lay out the best way to handle conflict and the process for decision-making get feedback and collectively agree on what would be best for the team.

·      What are the style differences?   How can we improve our understanding of individual preferences, strengths, and weaknesses, and increase our knowledge of working with different types of people?  This one does not need to be fully developed and can unfold as the team moves through the stages.

Stage 2: Storming.  In this phase, team members begin to show their entire colors, and conflict typically arises as there are clashes between work styles, beliefs, values, relationships, and personalities.  Decision-making is more complicated as people become more comfortable challenging each other and the leader.  As team members vie for positions to establish themselves in relation to other team members, they second guess coworkers and wonder, "I thought I trusted you, but now I'm not so sure."  If progress is not being made, they have more questions and concerns, assert their opinions and compete for power and attention.  If the team is too big, subgroups and cliques form, and there may be power struggles and blaming of others.   If not handled well, many teams do not move beyond this stage; they stay underperforming, and it turns out to be a relatively disappointing experience.

Leaders can play an essential role in pushing the team forward.  They can normalize conflict and seek to resolve it productively instead of shying away from it.   For example, when a co-worker says or does something that's not aligned with the team culture, step in and ask them to explain their approach and how it matches with the team’s purpose or culture.  You can revisit the original agreements about having an open and safe forum to exchange and pressure test ideas, even if not in alignment with others. Leaders can then allow team members the space to express different opinions and “clear the air.”  If you do not put ideas on the table, you cannot do anything about them.  They can establish and reinforce processes for effective communication, efficient meetings, solving team issues, and building trust to get teams to see that solving these interpersonal challenges is worth the investment.  Leaders can coach members to take ownership of the success of the team and help them design the changes they want to see. Leaders can ask how each member wants to be a resource for others’ development.  They can reconfirm the vision and get people excited to focus on critical collective goals where the intensity of the emotional and relationship issues is overshadowed by something way more meaningful that will have a substantial impact.

Stage 3: Norming.  When you understand that conflicts can arise and resolve issues amicably, you get rewarded with a genuinely healthy working relationship in the norming stage.  Roles and responsibilities are clear, accepted, and appreciated.  The team builds on processes and understands effective working styles.  Big decisions are made by group consensus or another more effective method agreed upon by the group. More minor decisions may be delegated to individuals or small, self-organizing teams within the larger group as responsibility and ownership are distributed.  There is a rhythm of addressing issues and appreciating differences and strengths as people work toward a common goal.  The impact is that morale and productivity increase, trust builds, commitment and unity strengthen and care for each other, and the work grows.  There is general respect for each other and the leader.  The team may engage in fun social activities and people are generally set up to do the work that everybody agreed upon.

Leaders can create success in this stage by empowering behaviors that allow people to be on the same page, giving and receiving feedback for development, sharing leadership responsibilities, and managing change collaboratively.  At this stage, groupthink can seep in; there could be the temptation that members could feel that they need to get along to go along because there is the fear of going back to the conflict stage when things were not fabulous.  The leader can be on the lookout for this unhelpful development and invoke processes to draw out multiple perspectives and normalize productive disagreement, leverage the strengths of each, take quick action, settle conflicts, and maintain a positive, productive climate.

Stage 4: Performing.  This is an incredible work experience where you are thriving on multiple levels producing excellent results, and having great relationships; it is a 1 + 1 = 3 type of equation; it's an intoxicating feeling.  The team is more strategically aware; knows clearly why it is doing what it is doing.  They have a high degree of autonomy as they go after the shared vision; they tend to overachieve and collaboratively make decisions with the leader.  Even with a high degree of freedom, they know they can depend on each other at any point.  Disagreements are resolved within the team positively, and necessary changes to processes and structures are made by the team regularly to serve the evolving needs best. They are comfortable asking for help and offering it because it is about the team-first approach, and there is a level of safety where people can bring their authentic selves, both their successes and struggles.

A leader can foster this successful stage by allowing even more flexibility in team roles, so people feel like they are being challenged. Leaders can create future leadership opportunities, offer development and support to help people achieve their career aspirations.  Leaders can leverage the learning and spark additional team creativity to attain new heights as they collectively advance. Leaders can also pay attention to momentum building and stalling moments. Daniel Pink also offers some interesting research about midpoints, which is the phenomenon of how teams tend to lose steam mid-project.  With this knowledge, leaders can offer galvanizing interventions to work with this dynamic to keep the momentum unbroken.

Stage 5: Adjourning.  This was added by Tuckman two years after his initial research.  Adjourning is the team’s break-up, hopefully when the task is completed successfully, its purpose fulfilled; everyone can move on to new things, feeling good about what's been achieved and ready to contribute elevated skills to their next body of work.  From an organizational perspective, recognition of and sensitivity to people's vulnerabilities is helpful, particularly if members have been closely bonded and feel a sense of insecurity or threat from this change.

Leaders can mark the occasion and adequately reflect on all the excellent work capturing each person’s contributions and making them feel proud for being a part of a memorable experience.  They can create hope for the future that they have skills and abilities and effective work practices that they can transfer to their next project.

 As a leader joining a new team, it is useful to find out what stage your team is in because if you enter their high-performing stage and treat them like they are in the forming or storming stage, they will be unhappy. It’s helpful to begin with a lot of listening and observation so you can spot where they are.  You can ask questions such as - what’s happening on the team, where is everybody, what are the best aspects of this team that you want to leverage going forward, what tweaks would you like to make, if any, to do even better work, how can I be most helpful to advance the team?  Instead of thinking you have the right diagnosis, they can tell you what they want without knowing the details and history.  Once having a deeper understanding, you can co-create the work together so all parties have a stake.

These five stages can progress and regress depending on team makeup, leadership, and client work changes.  When that happens, it is helpful to revisit the forming stage, even briefly, so you can put together a clear roadmap that will add eventual speed to the process. Knowing where your team is and how to support them will allow them to do their best work.

Quotes of the day:  Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is a success." – Henry Ford

Q: What stage is your team in?  As a leader, how would you like to support your team?  As a team member, how would you like to contribute? Comment and share with us; we would love to hear!

 As a Leadership and Team Coach, I partner with leaders and teams to cultivate a flourishing team culture, contact me to learn more.

Bruce Tuckman’s Team Model

What Is A Team? (Team Composition Series 1/3)

The word team is frequently used to describe any group of people loosely working together. The term is often evoked even when there are divergent agendas and little reliance on each other.  There are leadership teams, management teams, work teams, cross-functional teams, and more. Depending on the kind of team you are, you can make decisions to determine how to run it for maximum success and to meet the complex business demands in the modern workplace.

A team is not a bunch – a group of people who coexist.  If we find ourselves on the subway with a bunch of people, we are merely occupying the same space; each person is independent of everybody else, some traveling in the same direction and some not, but there is no kind of coordination.  We may not have much in common and are just in the same place at the same time using the same resource.  Of course, if the subway broke down in between platforms for an extensive period, there could be the potential for a team to form as more coordination would have to occur for all people to reach the same goal of getting out safely. 

A team is not a group – a collection of people who can have some common interests but are not aligned toward the same goal.  For example, maybe a leadership coach is working with a group of lawyers in different industries or companies, which can have many overlaps in their practice such as in their experiences, skills, and challenges.  Still, they are not working together to achieve an outcome so there is no need to align.

A team is not a pseudo team, described by Michael West and Joanne Lyubovnikova as “A group of people working in an organization who call themselves or are called by others a team; who have differing accounts of team objectives; whose typical tasks require team members to work alone or in separate dyads towards disparate goals.” There is usually an inability to collaborate effectively and the sum of the team is less than the parts; they could be performing even better independently.

A team, defined by Jon Katzenback, a recognized expert on teams is “A small number of people with complementary skills, who are committed to a common purpose, set of performance goals and shared approach for which they hold each other mutually accountable.” Peter Hawkins, author and expert on teams adds “and which has ways of effectively meeting and communicating that raise morale and alignment, effectively engaging with all the team’s key stakeholder groups and ways that individuals and the team can continually learn and develop.” In other words, real teams consist of a group of people working toward a common purpose and have a degree of interdependence in a shared context.  There is defined membership where they combine resources, competencies, and bandwidth as they carry out their collective mission and achieve outcomes.  They accomplish tasks that are too large or complex to be done by anyone.  A team only forms in response to a purpose and to stakeholder needs and usually operates within a system.

The best teams synergize; they know that the output of a team will be greater than the sum of individual contributions.  They complement each other, collaborate, coordinate, communicate effectively, have team spirit, and subordinate their personal goals to the larger objectives if they are at odds.  There are clear roles, well-defined outcomes, and norms or working agreements for peak performance.  They know why the team exists and have aligned that purpose with the organization, and to a degree, their own.  Ideally, they can connect that mission with having a meaningful and positive impact on others.  Author David Burkus argues that the definition of a great team has three qualities – intellectual diversity (diverse thinkers), psychological safety (the comfort in expressing your ideas), and a purpose or noble cause.  While each team includes different ingredients that make up their success, there are underlining commonalities.  To read more about successful team ingredients, feel free to read my blog on the topic.

Leaders play a tremendous part in the success of a team.  While they have their vision, they know how to collect meaningful input from the members to shape it collectively.  Great teams do not just happen; there has to be a degree of intentionality and thought in the design, purpose, values, and contribution of individual strengths.  Doc Rivers, NBA championship-winning coach and recipient of the NBA Coach of the Year award uses the South African concept Ubuntu to drive and define his team, which means “I am because we are.”   It is the idea that there are no solitary humans because a person is who they are as a result of their interactions with others.  He says, “the better you are, the better I am.”   The best leaders strike a balance in coaching teams for who they are today and who they will be someday and extracting the best from each to advance the team unit as a whole.

When you are building a team, there are many considerations to design the best kinds of teams, which look very different than groups and bunches.  What type of team do you intend to build?  What will be the philosophy that governs your team?  How will you learn the stakeholders’ needs for you to be successful? How will you incentivize your team to collaborate?  These are the kinds of questions that pop up in the formative stages of a team.

Quote of the day: "None of us is as smart as all of us." -Ken Blanchard

Q: What does a team mean to you?  Comment and share with us; we would love to hear!

[The next blog in this series 2/3 will focus on the types of teams]

 As a Leadership and Team Coach, I partner with leaders and teams to cultivate a flourishing team culture, contact me to learn more.

What’s distinct about your team?

Consistency is the secret to changing habits (Habit Series 6/7)

The best way for your habit change to take root is to be consistent with your behaviors.  Even when you cannot see the benefits, big dividends will be eventually paid when you put a system in place to follow. 

When you make the slightest adjustments to your daily routine, it can alter your life.  Let’s say you want to exercise more, and you start with 10 minutes a day, it does not sound like a lot, but it adds up.  Jerry Seinfeld, one of the most successful comedians of all time, brought a level of consistency to his daily work that most of us would envy. He said the way to be a better comic was to create better jokes, and the way to create better jokes was to write every day.  He used a wall calendar that had a whole year on one page hung in a prominent spot.  For each day he writes, he puts a big red X over the day.  After a few days, he would have a chain that would keep growing, the goal is not to break the chain. This method of daily tracking is hugely beneficial for many, but it doesn’t work for all because if you find yourself staring at blank spots that you missed, you can begin to feel bad about your inability to follow a plan and start to get demoralized and give up. Decide if tracking works for you.

Consistency is a competitive advantage.  None of us get where we want to overnight, it is a disciplined process, over time of small intentional steps.  Jim Rohn says, “what simple to do is also simple not to do.”  Successful people are willing to do what others are not.  They schedule time in their calendar every day for their habits.  Practice allows you to rewire your brain and create new mental maps on how to think and behave.  As Tony Robbins says, “Knowledge is not power… it’s potential power.  Execution will trump knowledge any day.”  It is like a light switch, we have to turn it on to enjoy the effects.

Here are two tips to help with consistency:

1. Control your mornings and evenings.  An excellent way to have more control over your day is to have a non-negotiable morning and evening routine so your most important habits are done at the beginning or end of the day, depending on the time that matches your best energy.  A million things can spring up during the day that you may have to react to, but designing the beginning or the end of your day will allow for that protected habit time and fewer if any interruptions.

2. Log your progress. The most effective form of motivation for habit change is progress.  Each small win feeds your desire, and even if the results take longer to see, you can visualize the work you put in. At age 20, Ben Franklin carried a small booklet and used it to track 13 personal virtues and goals such as avoiding wasting time and trifling conversation and would open his book and record his progress.  Following the habit creates a satisfying feeling and a desire to repeat the behavior.  Research shows that those who kept a daily food log were twice as likely to lose weight. It keeps us honest because sometimes we have a distorted view of what we do until we see the paper that puts things into a more realistic light.  The key is to focus on the process and the progress of whom you are becoming as you move toward your destination.  Measurement is useful when it guides you and adds context to a larger picture, not when it consumes you and stresses you out.

Progress leads to momentum,  one of the most influential and enigmatic forces of success.  Newton’s first law states that objects at rest tend to stay at rest unless impacted by an outside force and objects in motion stay in motion unless something stops the momentum.  It’s why couch potatoes can feel like they are in a rut for a while and why the rich get richer, and the happy people get happier.

These steps will lead to the compound effect.  When you are consistent, control your time, and log your progress, you ignite the miracle of the compound effect.  In the book by the same title, Darren Hardy defines the compound effect as “Changes that seem small and unimportant at first, but will compound into remarkable results if you are willing to stick with them for years.”

Even when you do not see the changes, the benefits are delayed.  James Clear offers a striking ice cube metaphor.  He says, “Imagine an ice cube as a room heats up in 1-degree increments. 26... 27...28... to 31 and still nothing has happened. Then at 32, the ice begins to melt.  A 1-degree shift, seemingly no different from the previous ones, but this one unlocked a huge shift.”  The hard work you do is never being wasted, just stored. It’s natural to get frustrated with running for a month and not seeing results, but like all things, you need to give it time and the amount of time can vary from one person to the next.

Habits can compound for or against you.  When you are consistently doing your disciplines and tracking your progress, you will be on a growth path, even if it is not noticeable at first, it will yield massive long-term results.  If you choose the status quo or feed negative behaviors, you will accrue a deficit.  It’s a multiplying effect in whichever direction - and, you get to choose.

Quotes of the day: “ I will win, not immediately but definitely.” -Anonymous 

“The secret to success is found in your daily routine.” -Author John Maxwell

Q:  How do you support your best habits?  How do you log your progress?   Comment and share below, we would love to hear from you! 

[The next blog 7/7 will focus on maintaining systems for habit change]

As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with people to cultivate habits that serve them, contact me to explore this topic further.

How do you track your progress on habit change?

What’s The Best Way To Address Accountability? (Accountability Series 3/3)

Having an accountability conversation to let somebody know where they stand is essential for an excellent culture.  It should not just happen in one conversation where all your stored information comes out at once, but it should be communicated through multiple interactions. And, as the recipient, while it may not feel good at the time, it is a gift to have that valuable information to know exactly where your performance stands.

Here are some steps to consider when thinking about an accountability conversation:

1. Check in with yourself.  When a work issue is causing you stress, a typical first instinct is to point outward and blame others.  But if you want to have a productive conversation with someone who appears not to get it, first consider if you may be contributing to the problem (even unintentionally).  Instead of asking, “Why aren’t they doing your part,” you can ask a series of questions to look internally first, such as “Is there anything I can do differently to help? Have I been clear about my expectations?  Have I asked what I can do to help?  Have I taken time to brainstorm and review processes?  Have I built an accountability plan with them?”  Self-awareness is a leadership superpower and reflecting on this may help you recognize any unhelpful patterns. 

2. Use the Accountability Dial.  Author Jonathan Raymond offers the accountability dial as a helpful framework to keep others accountable.  There are five steps: mention, invitation, conversation, boundary, and limit.

A. Mention. A brief comment or piece of feedback that you noticed that you want to check in and get more information.  It can be something that might be counterproductive.  For example, “I noticed that the proposal that went out today had aspects that were a little unclear.  If I was the customer, I think they would have had a hard time figuring out what we meant based on our previous meeting.”  The mention can also be empowering – I loved how you kept that meeting on track; I know how distracting it was to keep pace with the conversation going on in the chatbox or off to the side.  It is best to mention right after the event and not wait for the quarterly or yearly meeting.  The mention is about offering a piece of data you notice that is either helpful or hurtful to the person to have timely feedback so they know what to do more of or what to do less of. 

B. Invitation.  This is about asking the person to connect a few mentions and get their take to put things into context and learn about that fuller picture.  Three different isolated mentions on the same topic can help them see a pattern.  For example, if your team member is constantly missing deadlines, you could begin by saying, “I’ve noticed that you seem to need a little more time to get the work done lately (or insert another behavior).   What’s the pattern here?”  They may not have been aware that they have been late in different aspects of the project; let them make that connection and give any additional context that can get at the root challenge.  To test to see if there is alignment on expectations, you can have them provide a self-assessment of what quality of work would look like and what standards would need to be met.

C. Conversation.  It is a one-on-one discussion to learn even more about what’s going on.  You brought information to their attention in your mentions, and in the invitation, you welcomed them to think about their behavior in the big picture.  The goal of a conversation is to listen, remain genuinely open to their take on things, and restore the work instead of casting blame.  It helps to assume positive intent and come from a place of curiosity and support and not a mindset of hostility where there are unhelpful and untrue assumptions being tossed around.  You can start with any of the following:

· The expectation was X and Y was delivered, what is behind this misalignment?  

·  There is a conclusion I have drawn based on your behavior, but I know I only have a snapshot and that there is crucial information I may be missing, so would love to learn more from you.

· Your performance fell short of the goals we set together. I would love to know the barriers that got in the way and what we can do differently going forward.

· Help me understand the disconnect of where we set the goals and where we fell short so we can do things better next time.

You may discover that they are not “lazy,” “incapable,” or “unreliable,” but rather, that they are unclear on organizational goals, and therefore, are not properly prioritizing projects.  You may discover that they need more feedback to do their best or that other obstacles hold them back.  In Crucial Accountability, Kerry Patterson et al note that 70% of project managers admitted that they would be late because deadlines were initially unrealistic.  While none of these factors entirely excuse a broken commitment, lack of initiative, or follow-through, acknowledging what they have said, understanding the underlying issues, and noting where they are coming from can give you a clear idea about how to move forward, even if it means you disagree.  This is an excellent opportunity for you to be supportive and offer positive reinforcement.

If you do not learn anything valuable and they are just slacking for some reason, you need to deliver the truth.  Talk about how their behavior is impacting the company.  You may say, “I know you do not intend to take the team sideways, but when you do not return emails on time that have action items in them, it makes life harder for the rest of the team and more difficult for the customers and stakeholders.” Pointing out their specific behavior always works best when you have built trust and demonstrated that you care.  Maybe they did not have any idea of their impact or did not think it was a big deal, but now understand, and do not want to be the person everybody chases, so they are ready to make some adjustments.  You can also use the contrasting approach, which shares what you are not intending before the feedback.  For example, “I’m not saying it was wrong for you to disagree with me in the meeting, we need to hear everyone’s view to make the best choice, but I think the team listened to your tone as attacking, and it would be better to address your concerns with me privately or in the meeting with a curious and positive manner, how do you see it?”

It’s essential to leave the conversation where you both understand what the underlying issue is, how to address it, what success looks like, what needs to be done, by who, and by which date to achieve it.  Having that type of clarity and mutual agreement on how to move forward can be a game-changer.  You can also have them suggest that they are planning to make changes and even ask them if they are open to trying some new strategies.  You can reassure them that you want them to be set up for success and get one last confirmation – “does this all seem doable given other things on your plate?”

D. The Boundary.  If the conversation and feedback did not change their behavior, you need to have another conversation, and talk about the boundary or the limit.  The boundary is the idea that even though they have been working on something and made some change, it is not enough or not to the desired standard.  I know this can be uncomfortable, but you are providing feedback in the spirit of helping them grow.  Not addressing the behavior would send a message that you approve of their behavior which can continue to harm the team.  The outcome could be that you monitor a specific behavior change you want them to show in a reasonable time frame.   

E. The limit.  A clear consequence and the last step before the person is dismissed. In the conversation, you tell the person you have tried everything you could – coaching, mentoring, feedback, and other supports.  Where we go from here is on them.  They can take the weekend and tell you if they want to stay and present their plan of what they are prepared to do that has not been tried or if they want to go because it is not the right fit for them now and they want to move on.  Two things can likely happen – they can reflect or talk to others to have that wake-up call to realize they can be better and move into another gear and come back and show this newfound initiative, or they will select out.  When you have determined that the person cannot meet the expectations, don’t delay, let them find another place where they can thrive.  As a leader, it is not about keeping everybody happy, it is about keeping the organization humming along where people can achieve their best, and a crucial part of that is emphasizing accountability and maintaining standards of excellence; that’s part of what keeps morale high. 

Raymond stresses that the Dial is not a linear process – it can be turned up and down depending on the situation.  For serious issues, you may jump immediately to the conversation or even the limit.

You can also use a more simplified 3-step framework for accountability which would be to communicate the expectations and observations, follow-up to make sure the expectations are communicated right and are being met, and make the consequences clear. The consequence can be positive or negative, if they are exceeding an expectation, they could get certain recognitions. A common pitfall is that most managers do not do step 1 or 2 well but then go heavy on the consequential in an annual review because they have 6-12 months of stored feedback.

When one team member’s behavior and work performance negatively impacts another, you need to hold the person accountable.  An excellent tool to use is the Accountability Dial, which starts with mentioning the behavior, inviting them to see patterns, having a conversation to learn more, showing the boundary, and utilizing the limit.  Keeping people accountable is the kind thing to do because not addressing their unacceptable behavior would be perpetuating the cycle of failure and wreak havoc on all those involved. 

Q: How do you initiate your accountability conversation for maximum results?  Comment and share below; we would love to hear from you!

Quote of the day: "When we fail to set boundaries and hold people accountable, we feel used and mistreated. This is why we sometimes attack who they are, which is far more hurtful than addressing a behavior or a choice." ― Brené Brown

"When it comes to privacy and accountability, people always demand the former for themselves and the latter for everyone else." David Brin, Author 

As a Leadership and Executive Coach, I partner with others to help with all kinds of accountability, contact me to learn more.

The best cultures embrace accountability conversations

What’s Your Accountability System? (Accountability Series 2/3)

Now that we talked about the importance of accountability and why it is not happening, let’s jump into creating a process that fosters excellent accountability.

When leaders can put some of these structures in place, they can nurture an accountable culture.  Here are some steps to consider:

1. Clear Expectations.  The first step is to have a meeting to be crystal clear about your expectations — the desired results you’re seeking, the capabilities needed for the job, how you’ll measure success, and what standard you seek.  It does not all have to come from you. The more skilled your people are, the more ideas and strategies they can contribute.  They should have the autonomy to determine the HOW in achieving their objectives. When you have a genuine two-way conversation about ways to contribute and tactics that they are considering, you will create the necessary buy-in and build confidence in tackling the project.   Before the meeting’s end, you can learn if you are on the same page by asking the other person to summarize the critical pieces - results, capabilities to be successful, metrics, and approaches to reinforce that alignment.

A. Clear outcomes.  What are the outcomes to be produced?  While the employee has the autonomy to figure out how they will achieve results, it is vital to specify a general destination and set the standard of excellence so they have the example.  If I tell you to put together a presentation and do not explain some requirements such as length of time and critical aspects, your understanding of a presentation can be vastly different from the other mine. Let’s talk about the parameters to mitigate any confusion.

B. Clear capability.  Be sure that the person you are holding accountable has the skills and resources they will need otherwise they might be set up for failure.   You can ask yourself, what do they need to meet the expectations?  If the person does not have what’s necessary, can they acquire what’s missing?  If so, what’s the plan?  If not, how can they delegate parts of the work?

Here are some helpful questions to ask to create active effort (certainty on how to move forward) rather than anxious effort (uncertainty which morphs into procrastination).

·       What do you see yourself needing to do to be able to achieve the result?

·       What could get in the way?  Excuses can be helpful signs; once surfaced, they can now be included in the roadmap.  You can offer a follow-up – “Given what's in the way, what’s possible or what else can be done?”

·       Where are the first 1-3 places to begin?

C. Clear measurement.  During the expectation conversation, you should agree on weekly (or whatever cadence works best) milestones with clear, measurable, objective targets.  If any of these targets slip, jump on it immediately, brainstorm a solution, identify a fix, redesign the timeline, or respond in other productive ways that get the person back on track.  Nothing frustrates leaders more than being surprised by failure to meet expectations in the 11th hour.  Sometimes this failure is due to premature optimism on both sides, or the direct report is reluctant to ask for help. Either way, it can be avoided or mitigated with clear and transparent communication.

2. Clear feedback.  In one of your first feedback meetings, you can ask them how they like to receive feedback and consider their preferences.  Honest, open, ongoing feedback is critical to their development, and just because you have said something once, does not mean you are done; good feedback should be continuous and reinforced.   People should know where they stand.  You can ask yourself, is the person delivering on their commitments?  Are they working well with other stakeholders?  If they need to increase their capability, are they on track? When you have clear expectations, capabilities, and measurements, your input will most likely be fact-based and easier to deliver. The feedback can also go both ways — is there something you can be doing to be more helpful?  

Co-Founder of Pixar Ed Catmull said feedback should always leave an employee inspired.  Ask questions that start with what or how, such as:

·      What will you have to do to have this done on time (rather than, do you expect to have this done on time)?

·      What ideas do you have (rather than do you have any ideas)?  

·      What do you want to do next regarding your objective? 

·      When this happens, what do you want to happen next?

·      How will you keep yourself and the project accountable for what you want?

·      How will we accomplish X by this date with only Z resources available to us? (instead of jumping in and helping, let them take a first crack at solving the problem).

·      I need your help, when you miss meetings frequently [insert behavior], I feel/think/wonder that you are not committed to the position.  Could I have some clarity on this?  What would it take for you to be at the meetings?  In the future, I expect you to be at the meetings because your input is essential.  What do you see getting in the way of this expectation? What’s needed to meet it?

Undergirding all these questions is genuine care, trust, and support. You should let the person know that feedback is about providing supportive accountability, not in remediating problematic behaviors or surveillance.  It is meant to accelerate their behavior through continued conversations so they can do hard work, think, learn, grow, and contribute.  When employees believe their bosses are interested in their success, they feel less guarded and less inclined to hide their underperformance.  If you have not built that trust or if the feedback is not sincere, it will not work. When the trust is there, people will be open to sharing failures that can be addressed at the moment because they are learning opportunities and not mistakes to be covered up.  When people feel criticized or attack or when there is fear, they will shut down and it will be a culture of psychological danger.

When the job is done, you can ask them to walk you through how they did their work to engender pride.  You can learn about the parts they struggled with and the parts in which they were incredibly satisfied.  Other good questions to ask:

·       What did you learn? 

·       What are you most proud of?  

·       What aspect do you want to carry forward to your next project?

3. Clear consequences.  How would they like to be held accountable so you can cater to their style within limits?  This is important because you can use the same approach with different people, and one person could be embarrassed while the other empowered.  When you know your people’s preferences, you can better support them.

4. Model accountability by going first.  A great way to create a culture of accountability and enhance psychological safety is to share that accountability travels both ways.  While you will hold your direct report accountable for their work, you expect that they will hold you to it as well.  If we want to be the best we can be, we have to have high standards and when they are not reached, we want to address them, so we know what to do better and differently next time.  You can share the standards you have for yourself and when they notice you have not met them, your expectation is that they are going to tell you where you have fallen short so you can learn and grow together.  It is not about criticizing in public, but constructively addressing the issue in private.  When the leader goes first it emphasizes the importance of promoting a culture of ownership. 

5.  Address challenges that could surface at the beginning.  You can share that when a promise of delivery is made, there is an expectation that it will be done.  If something comes up that compromises the timeline, it is essential to bring it up.  I’d rather know about a situation days or weeks before the big meeting so there is enough time to come up with creative solutions or workarounds or bring in support than to learn 5 minutes before the meeting with no opportunity to remedy the situation.   The damage to the relationship is most severe when people wait too long to bring up an issue because they do not want to disappoint the person or they have a hard time with tough conversations. Delays do happen, Author Kim Scott shared that when writing her book Radical Candor, she thought it would take 3 months, but it ended up taking 4 years but she was able to keep the trust in line because she was always upfront about shifting timelines.

If you are reasonably sure that you were clear with expectations and did what was necessary to support their performance, and they still have not proven to be accountable, in that case, they may not be a good fit for the role and could lead to a change (in position, teams, or in the company) that would create more of a win-win.

Setting up a process of accountability, including clear expectations, feedback, and consequences can empower others to take responsibility.

Q: What is your system for holding others accountable?  Comment and share below; we would love to hear from you!

Quotes of the day: "Leaders inspire accountability through their ability to accept responsibility before they place blame." ― Courtney Lynch

"Responsibility equals accountability equals ownership.  And a sense of ownership is the most powerful weapon a team or organization can have." -Pat Summitt

[The next blog in this series 3/3 will focus on having an effective accountability conversation]

As a Leadership and Executive Coach, I partner with others to help with all kinds of accountability, contact me to learn more.

It all begins with clear expectations

Why Accountability Matters And Why It Fails (Accountability Series 1/3)

We all want to work in an environment where people deliver on their commitments.  In fact, the presence of accountability is a key reason why companies have a high belonging score.  When an organization stands for a noble purpose, has a compelling mission and vision, and noteworthy values, it is important for leaders to create a culture of accountability where people hold themselves and each other responsible for delivering on these promises.

Accountability can often get a bad rap.  Traditional accountability might have been viewed as more punitive; when people did not hit their targets, there were consequences.   This often conjures up feelings of blame, shame, and guilt which triggered them to shut down and feel discouraged.  While accountability can be a little bit of an uncomfortable process at times, when it is done right, it looks more like a supportive rather than a disciplinary process and can be a morale booster.  Founder & CEO Peter Bregman says, “Accountability is not simply taking the blame when something goes wrong.  It’s not a confession; it is about delivering on a commitment.  It’s a responsibility to an outcome, not just a set of tasks.  It’s taking the initiative with thoughtful, strategic follow-through.”  People can learn to love accountability when it is about helping to achieve better results, improve their performance, and get recognition for their tremendous efforts.

Accountability is necessary at all levels of the organization.  Executives at the top of the org chart cannot be accountable unless the people who report to them also follow through on their commitments.  Leaders play an essential role in inspiring others to advance the organizational goals without micromanaging or using a pure command-and-control approach since it is an ineffective relic that does not promote people’s greatest work.  The best accountability can address the WHAT and WHY of the work by providing a framework with expectations, boundaries, and consequences. It can also handle the HOW by granting autonomy to people to pursue what they think is best to achieve the agreed-upon results. For example, a person should know what exactly they are building and why they are building it through co-creating the broad strokes with their leaders but can make numerous mini decisions in executing the work.

Some of the best managers support, mentor, and coach people for self-accountability; they are interested in providing maximum effort and engagement to achieve desired results, are receptive to feedback and improvement, and remain resourceful as they aim to achieve solutions.  Even more than keeping commitments, self-accountability is a considerable driver of happiness and engagement.  In Dan Harris’s 10% Happier, he explains how well-being and happiness are correlated to the level of accountability people take for their lives; it is a prime motivator for their evolution.

Why Accountability Fails:

Research shows that many managers, even senior ones, are surprisingly weak in this area.  According to one study in the Harvard Business Review, 46% of high-level managers were rated poorly on the measure "holds people accountable for when they don't deliver."  Data offered by Tom Starner in HR Dive shows that 82% of managers acknowledge they have limited to no ability to hold others accountable successfully and 91% of employees would say that effectively holding others accountable is one of their company’s top leadership-development needs. 

It’s not working from an employee perspective either.  Gallup found that only 14% of employees feel their performance is managed in a way that motivates them, 26% get feedback less than once per year, 21% feel their performance metrics are within their control, and 40% feel as if their manager holds them accountable for goals they set.  

Let’s explore the top reasons for the lack of accountability:

1. Organizational challenges.  A lack of accountability can sometimes be unintentional if it results from underlying issues, such as unclear roles and responsibilities, limited resources, poor strategy, or unrealistic goals.  This is why some leaders report not knowing exactly how to get people to be more accountable for results if they have a lack of organizational clarity or if the goalpost is constantly shifting.

2. Leadership challenges.  Before pointing fingers elsewhere, you want to check in with yourself to ensure you are not part of the problem.  Have you set the person up for success?  Have you defined clear goals and provided an accountability plan from the beginning of who will do what by when?  Have you given feedback along the way and monitored metrics?  Have you addressed issues and not let them balloon by ignoring them?  If the answer is no to these questions, it will be hard to hold people accountable when some of the responsibility may lie with you.

3. System Changes.  Leaders sometimes find system changes impacting accountability.  Maybe the norm was to grant leniency and look the other way on small things.  Now, if the message is to impose stricter standards, your direct reports could be dismayed if you do not communicate the recalibrated expectations.  How could they be rated a 3 / 5 when their whole career, they have been a 4 or at the top?  They may wonder if they are suddenly a 3 because only a certain amount of 4s can be granted.   These are painful conclusions that the person can draw about themselves and their boss, so a manager may be nervous about turning the dial up on accountability if they do not have good reasoning behind the system changes and how they will improve the culture.

Most companies would admit that they have an accountability problem.  Leaders in particular struggle with it because there are underlying organizational issues or a lack of confidence and experience in their leadership.  Accountability does not have to be complicated; it can be a positive and productive experience that builds morale and excitement and contributes to an incredible culture when it is done right.

Quotes of the day: "Understanding the true meaning of accountability makes us strong and enables us to learn" -Sameh Elsayed

"On good teams, coaches hold players accountable, on great teams players hold players accountable." ― Joe Dumars

Q: What is your biggest challenge when it comes to accountability?  Comment and share below; we would love to hear from you!

[The next blog in this series 2/3 will focus on setting up a system for accountability] 

As a Leadership and Executive Coach, I partner with others to help with all kinds of accountability systems, contact me to learn more.

How do you maintain a culture of accountability that inspires people’s best?

How Is Your Executive Presence?

The term executive presence can be vague and mean different things to different people, like the concept of leadership.  Is it about how you show up by what you wear, how concise and convincing you are in meetings, how great you present, how much credibility you have, or how strong your decision-making and strategic thinking skills are?

When you ask a group of managers who aspire to the C-suite what it takes to get there, they invariably mention executive presence, even if they may not be clear on what it means.  In a survey conducted by Coach Source, Dr. Brian Underhill shares that from a manager’s perspective, 42% of people who seek a coach want to develop their executive presence.

So, what are these “make or break” factors in considering whether to promote somebody into the upper leadership rank?  Executive presence is not just about one or two factors, such as how you look or dress, but about the whole person.  It may seem like some people either have it or not, but they likely worked hard to achieve it, and it can be developed with intention.  Executive presence, or I would extend the concept to also include leadership presence is about inspiring confidence in others because of character, capabilities, and reliability.  These leaders can handle complex and unpredictable situations, make tough decisions quickly, and hold their own with talented and strong-willed team members.

The Bates Executive Presence Index, a research-based, scientifically validated assessment measures executive presence according to 3 big categories: character, substance, and style.  I’m going to borrow aspects of that framework and include my categories based on commonalities from clients I’ve coached on this topic.

Components of Executive/Leadership Presence:

1. Character.  Arguably one of the most important is about the personal traits and values that define you.  Two key components include:

·      Integrity - Acting authentically, transparently, sincerely, and in accordance with your actions and beliefs.  You live up to ethical standards because you care about doing the right thing for yourself and others, even when it is unpopular.  You are credible, trustworthy, professional, dependable, and know how to keep your promises.

·      Humility - Part of being humble is being self-aware – you have a good sense of your strengths, weaknesses, and the impact that you want to make.  At the same time, you know you do not know it all, so you seek out diverse perspectives and feedback, you listen inclusively to others, and you believe that all people have worth regardless of title or position.

2. Substance.  This relates to depth and overall maturity and can be split into practical wisdom and emotional intelligence.

·      Practical Wisdom – Having those hard skills and competencies in getting the job done.  You also exercise good insight, judgment, vision, strategic thinking, and collaborative skills in bringing teams and stakeholders aligned and along with you as you achieve results.   

·      Emotional Intelligence – You show calm and balance when under pressure because you know how to manage your own emotions.  You do not have erratic and unpredictable outbursts or become emotionally unhinged when you clash with others or receive pushback on your ideas; instead, you use your emotional strength to understand the situation better.  You are also attuned to others’ emotions because you listen, ask questions, factor in other perspectives.   You show care and build great relationships because you can read the room, receive data, and make pivots to fit the moment better.

3. Style – This is about how you present yourself and how others see and experience you quickly, if not immediately.  It is the first impression.  Two critical aspects include presence and effective communication.

·      Presence – This is more than the right clothes, firm handshake, eye contact, or voice projection; it is about exuding confidence, being calm in hectic times, and adapting your demeanor to serve the situation better.

·      Effective Communication – Relates to talking with intentionality.  You are clear, brief, direct, and speak with authority.  You do not bog others down with the details or open the floodgates and blast them with information; you know how to get to the bottom line swiftly.  You use your communication to empower, inspire, and bring out your best.  That may entail providing a forum where others feel safe, expressing themselves, asking questions, and feeling stretched in their growth because of your high expectations in their development and support. 

Like many intangible leadership traits, these skills can be grown, especially if you have a baseline level of self-confidence and a willingness to deal with unpredictable situations that come with the territory at the executive level.

Let’s jump into some things you can do to develop executive presence:

1. Skill build.  Understand where you want to go, assess your starting point with your current skill set, determine the new proficiencies you will need, and pick one capability to grow.  You can raise your awareness by reading about it and then practicing the skill.  Perhaps, you want to begin with style and specifically your public speaking.  You want to stand and deliver confidently, clearly, and concisely to large groups, answer questions effectively by maintaining curiosity and not becoming defensives, and handle pressure calmly.  You can start with the headline, provide some more details, and hold space for others to jump in with questions, then go deeper on topics that interest them.  Being comfortable with releasing some control means that they can drive the conversation, and you can handle whatever comes your way.  Speaking in shorter bursts is helpful because it is more of an exchange and not a lecture.

2. Get support from others. You can work with a coach to get clear on who you are, what you want to work on, what it will take to work on it, and be held accountable along the way.  You can also work with advocates, managers, peers, colleagues, mentors to let them know that you are actively focusing on this one thing.  If they have tips or suggestions and can be mindful of sharing feedback when they see you doing the behavior, you can gain their support for your growth.  Receiving helpful feedback from them can allow you to adjust along the way.

Expressing your executive presence is unique to each person.  You make an impression through the values you bring to the organization, the results you deliver, the way you connect, and how you communicate your points.  It is a worthy skill to invest in because it can lead to more career advancements and opportunities.  When you lead with character, substance, and style, you can positively influence and inspire greatness in others. 

Quote of the day: “How you act (gravitas), how you speak (communication), and how you look (appearance) count for a lot in determining your leadership presence.” -CEO Sylvia Ann Hewlett

Q: How do you define executive presence?  What’s one essential feature of it?  Comment and share below; we would love to hear from you!

As a leadership development and executive coach, I work with leaders to help develop their executive and leadership presence, contact me to explore this topic further.

How do you show up? Is it the way you want to?

How to Fire the Humane Way (Firing Series 3/3)

The prospect of firing someone you’ve worked with for years can be daunting, but you have decided that it is the last step in what was a fair and transparent process where all other options failed.  You are left with the best choice to elevate your team’s needs over any one individual.

How do you have the termination talk?  Here are some steps to consider: 

1. Check with Human Resources.  Before you schedule the conversation, Management Consultant Dick Grote suggests sharing your plans with human resources to see if there are any additional considerations.  They can offer a fuller picture of the employee’s extenuating circumstances.  Maybe their pension vests on Wednesday, so firing on Tuesday can be suspect, or you find out that their wife is starting cancer treatments, so firing on the same day can especially sting.  HR should tell you if you have all the proper documentation and if there are other things you need to do to go about the process fairly and professionally.  They can answer any questions you might have.  Since you know the situation best, if you think it would be helpful for an HR rep to attend the meeting to help with questions or unusual reactions, you can make that call, but it should be done in the spirit of support and not a show of force.

2. Don’t delay.  This is one of the hardest things you might have to do as a manager, but you must not let your agony delay the conversation.  Prolonging their employment when they do not gel properly with the core values and culture is unfair to them and can be very expensive and damaging to the company.  When you choose not to fire someone, it ruins the integrity of the organization.  “Managers rarely regret acting too quickly on a termination, but they have regretted waiting too long,” says Grote.  If you’re still having trouble mustering the courage to act, think about your team, which may be picking up that extra slack and working longer hours to cover the poor performance.  Once the decision has been made to pull the plug, do not wallow in the misguided hope that somehow things may still work out. They hardly do. Grote says, “Remember: It’s not the people you fire who make your life miserable. It’s the ones you don’t.”

3. Choose your timing.  Doing it early in the day and week may encourage them to find another job and reduce the chances that they will spend the weekend moping in a black hole.  Choosing Friday after­noon, on the other hand, often creates the minimum amount of disruption to the rest of the staff.    Whatever you decide, make it logical and compassionate for those involved.

4. Do it in person.  It should come from the manager, a familiar face who had previous conversations about the potential ramifications if things did not change so there is no surprise.  It should go without saying, but do not send an email or text.  If the person is in a different city or working remotely and cannot do it in person, a video call can suffice.

5. Be clear and concise. The words you use to terminate a team member should be simple and to the point.  There is no reason to sugarcoat a termination; take the rip-the-band-aid off approach by skipping the excessive small talk and leading with the headline.  Consultant Jodi Glickman suggests beginning by saying, “I have some bad news.  Today is your last day here.” Then be transparent and state the reason for termination in one or two simple sentences.  “We’ve let you go because you didn’t meet your sales targets” or “You’ve not been a good cultural fit, e.g., missing deadlines in a fast-moving culture.” Then, tell them directly they are terminated.  It’s essential to use the past tense because it “precludes arguments about second chances,” says Grote. “The plug has been pulled.”  You can also say, “Last month’s report indicated that your department still has the lowest quality index. We have decided that a change must be made, and as of today, your employment has been terminated.”  It is important not to waffle or be ambiguous because being clear is kind.  While both examples point to termination happening immediately, I think it is always helpful to give the person enough notice to transition.

6. Be compassionate.  When you have decided the right thing to do is dismiss a team member, you want to make the dreaded process go as smoothly as possible, both for you and the person you are letting go.  

Dick Grote says, “Even when the business justification is clear, you’re sitting down and telling someone that [they] are no longer getting a paycheck and that when [they] wake up in the morning, [they] have no place to go. That’s tough.”  Very few people are eager to put themselves in situations of discomfort as keeping somebody accountable does not feel good, but it is an eventual gift.  If you feel guilty, you should know that you are keeping them from another job where they can be happier and thrive.  Thinking about how uncomfortable you are in having the conversation is selfish, you must keep in mind what’s best for the company, the teammates moving forward, and the ones being terminated.

Be sure to have the conversation in a humane and dignified way by doing it behind closed doors.   It is essential always to be respectful and compassionate not only because it is the right thing to do but also because it helps with morale.  John Stieger, CMO of Wilke Global “Anyone with empathy can at least understand how losing a job will impact a spouse, children, and others who are blameless,” he says.  How you treat people on their way out the door does not go unnoticed by the rest of the organization.”  When terminations are well justified and professionally executed, the rest of the workgroup realizes that this is an excellent place to work.   

7. Stay in the room and be prepared to answer questions.  While some experts contend that you do not need to say anything more or even remain in the room after the initial pronouncement, Grote vehemently disagrees. “Leadership demands compassion,” he says. “You were the agent of a terrible thing that has just happened in this person’s life.  Don’t run away, and don’t force HR to pick up the pieces.  You should be prepared to speak as needed and answer questions as they come up.”

 Before the meeting, you need to be well versed on practical matters or allow HR to handle questions relating to the last day of work, the last paycheck, the details of the severance agreement, the process of collecting unemployment benefits and health insurance, and what happens to their benefits and unused vacation time.  Of course, there may be issues you and HR have not considered.  In that case, you can let them know that you will get back to them shortly once you have the answer.  They should know the next steps.

8. Be prepared for emotion but keep yours in check.  Some people take the news in stride, while others might go through various emotions such as shock, grief, and anger.  Be prepared to listen and support in the best way you can.

9. Offer additional support if you would like.  If you genuinely believe the person has talent that could be useful elsewhere and are being let go for non-ethical or performance issues, offer to help with their transition so it is as seamless as possible.  Can you give them a long lead time to find a new job?  Can you assign them a Career/Transition Coach to support their next steps of polishing their resume and getting clarity on their next position?  Would you be willing to serve as a reference or write a testimonial?  How about making a LinkedIn introduction to a team where you think they would be valued?  Can you reassure them that the lines of communication will be open and that they can contact you for support?

10. Conduct an exit interview.  Exit interviews are a way for employees to be heard and state their case for why they are leaving.  They can offer valuable feedback on improvements since they may not hold back with their candid remarks, and you can use that information to plug any holes for improvement.  When possible, you should share their contributions and how they positively impacted the organization to feel proud of the time they spent.  Not all firings will be as amicable, but no need to burn bridges, ending on a high note is always the way to go.  Be sure to thank the person for their service and wish them well.

11. Talk to your team & focus on the future.  Gathering the colleagues affected by the termination to address the matter and offer a straightforward message, no need to reveal the reasons behind the decision due to confidentiality, but if it is probable that your team already knows.  The firing likely presents short-term challenges for your team so ensure them how it will be much better in the long run.  Share your strategy on managing the workload while you look for a replacement and are open to their suggestions to minimize the impact on them and the business.   

Deciding to fire is never an easy option but you should not delay just because it is uncomfortable for you.  That would be selfish and unfair to the person who is not a right fit because you keep them from moving on to better things.  It is also not fair to the other team members who may be overworking to compensate or to the organization if the business needs are being overlooked.  There is a way to fire with compassion, choose it and you will sleep better.

Quote of the day: “The day that firing becomes easy is the day to fire yourself.” -Tom Peters

Q:  What’s your best tip for successfully firing somebody with compassion?  Comment and share below; we would love to hear from you!

As a Leadership Coach, I partner with leaders to think through compassionate plans to dismiss their employees when they must, contact me to learn more.

Using compassion in saying goodbye

Choose to Double Down on Support (Firing Series 2/3)

Deciding to fire can be a tough choice.  In the last blog, we explored the reasons to let an employee go, this blog will focus on another option, which is to support your teammate rather than letting them go. 

Reasons to support:

If an employee is not working out, instead of rushing to release that individual, you may want to closely examine the reasons.  Choosing to support somebody by providing guidance for improvement, switching roles to better match their skillset with the work requirements, or changing teams could be the better decision.

Here are some common reasons why you would choose to support:

1. You were unclear in the hiring process.  If you did not articulate the job requirements and if you did not train the person adequately in the onboarding process where they are set up for success and feel safe to contribute fully, you should not let them go because you are responsible for the mismatch.  You should give the person adequate training so they can win at their job.  This happens often because we are usually rushed to fill a position and choose to throw them into the fire with insufficient training. 

2. Realignments and changing business needs.  If the business has changed and you need people to do other jobs than what they were doing or if you had a realignment and created a skillset redundancy, you may want to move them to another team where they would be able to contribute and thrive.  Quality employees with a fierce skillset and a learning mindset can be versatile enough to be plugged in elsewhere to positively impact; they are people you want around.   

3. You haven’t managed them well.  Part of the success of an employee can be attributed to how well they were supported.  Have you had regular meetings with your direct reports to learn what the person needs to succeed?  Did you set clear goals and expectations measurable with benchmarks, deadlines, and a general timeline for completion?  Have you had 1:1 performance discussions where they are aware of their gaps, and you have created an opportunity to invite their feedback to co-create an improvement plan with outcomes you are both comfortable with?  Have you had career development conversations where you understand their short and long-term motivations and dreams and how they fit into their daily tasks while offering opportunities for support, growth, and development?  Generally, have you be a present thought partner enabling their best efforts and clearing the path for their great work?

If you had a conversation about their struggles, do they know exactly what to do to improve and how their progress will be measured?  Are they aware of the timeframe and consequences if they break the mutual agreement and no improvement is made?  Making sure you have done everything possible to support the person matters.  If they still have not responded well to your assistance, it could be time to let the person go.

4. You have not kept them engaged or focused on their wellbeing.  If an employee is underperforming, it could be because they are burned out.  They were given more work than exceeded any normal human’s capacity, so they shut down, and so did their productivity.  They could also be dissatisfied with their job if they have been in the same role for a long time and they have not been offered growth opportunities, they could be showing signs of dissatisfaction and frustration by not being challenged by the work.  They can also feel resentful that all their time will work and they do not feel supported in having time off.  Before Thanksgiving of 2014, President Joe Biden sent a memo to his staff reminding them that he did not expect nor want anyone to “miss or sacrifice important family obligations for work.”  That includes celebrations, such as birthdays, anniversaries, or weddings, and time needed to step away from work due to an illness or death in the family.  For Biden, it was an unwritten rule for staff to take time off for family responsibilities or wellbeing.  Workplace cultures where there are no boundaries between professional and personal and being on call 24 hours a day is not conducive to bringing out people’s best, even if it may seem so in the short term.  Rewarding overwork can be detrimental.

If you have determined that you did not offer the proper support in the hiring and managing stage or if the business needs have changed, there are still things you can do to support your people.  You can move them laterally to another team or another department to thrive and be happier somewhere else in the company.  Perhaps, they have been in sales for many years, and an opportunity in marketing would be a breath of fresh air.  Or maybe they're in tech or operations and would enjoy a career pivot to manage people because that is what gives them joy.  Separate the person from the job; if they are great, where else can they go?  Around 2010, Salesforce wondered how it can be just as easy to transfer within the company as it was to leave so they created their Opportunity Open Market initiative.  After each quarterly release, software developers could transfer teams.  There would be internal job fairs to facilitate that transfer.  It allowed people to find what motivated them and work on things that challenged and excited them.  It was so successful it was integrated into the broader company. 

5. Your company decided to downsize.  If the company is going through a tough time and you must make layoffs, what are all your options?  The worst thing about layoffs is not only what you do to the people who leave but what you do to the people who stay because if they are expected to double their work, they end up losing trust and getting frustrated.  Is it possible to do furloughs instead?  Would anybody on the team volunteer for some time off because they are in a more comfortable position and wish to spend more time with their family?  Can you agree on a temporary promotion freeze if it means your people can stay?  Every team and culture are different; choose what works best for the group.  In 2008, Barry-Wehmiller got hit hard with the recession, so the board put pressure on the CEO Bob Chapman to make layoffs, but he believed in committing to people like family.  Instead of firing, he had each person take a four-week furlough of unpaid vacation whenever they wanted because he thought it was better for all to hurt a little than some to suffer a lot with a job loss.  As a result, morale went up because people saw leaders sacrificing the numbers for them, so they started to care for each other even more.  They would give their days to those who could not afford furlough.

Deciding to let a team member go is a big choice.  Before pulling the trigger, you want to understand the reasons for doing it and whether they are valid.  If the fault lies with you, you should give your people another chance.  If you have genuinely done everything you can, but they still show no improvement, do not waste one more minute.

Quote of the day: “On what high-performing companies should be striving to create: A great place for great people to do great work.” - Marilyn Carlson, former CEO of Carlson Companies

[The next blog in this firing series 3/3 will focus on the best ways to go about firing]

As a Leadership Coach, I partner with leaders to support their teams to do their best work, contact me to learn more.

How can you partner with your direct report for success?

Is it Time to Fire? (Firing Series 1/3)

One of the most difficult and least favorite parts of a leader’s job is deciding to let their employee go and then carrying out the process with humanity and fairness while also keeping the ship sailing smoothly.  Before making this decision to either fire or continue to support, it can be helpful to understand the turnover trends at your organization to put the issue in perspective. 

What is the turnover like on your team and at your company?

Low turnover is a sign of great company culture.  It shows that employees enjoy the environment and that the company has been thoughtful in its hiring processes and has gotten the right people matched to their positions.  On the other hand, high turnover is not only costly but could be emblematic of deeper and more systematic issues.  Perhaps, mistakes are being made in the hiring, training, or role placement process.  It could also be due to poor leadership if the common denominator is that you’re the one team that fires the most.  Or, maybe the company is growing so fast that leaders are not paying attention to the big picture such as to the phase shifts, which is where everything breaks as the company triples. Leaders may not be preparing for that different environment and getting their team adequately braced for the transition.  They may not be able to use the same processes for a team of 50 as they would 150.

Another reason to examine trends is to get a grip on the costs. According to Gallup data, the cost of turnover can be extensive; it can equal one-half to two times the person’s annual salary, including the expense of finding a replacement, onboarding, training, and the loss in productivity, morale, and institutional knowledge.

While low turnover is a great sign, you are not aiming for 0% within teams or in the company because some shakeup is healthy and necessary.  According to Adam Grant, a body of research shows that teams do the best when they have 4-4.5 years as a nucleus as it takes a few years to create effective routines and know each other’s strengths and weaknesses and ways to complement them further.  It’s challenging to build alignment when teams are only together for a brief period.  Similarly, when teams stay together for too long, success drops because it lacks the diversity of thought and the pouring of fresh ideas which leads to innovation.

Reasons to Fire

While noting every organization is different and making these decisions are specific to the culture and needs of the company, here are some common reasons to dismiss an employee:

1. Ethnical violation.  If your employees lie, steal, or betray you, your team, or your clients, that is grounds for dismissal.  If they intentionally hurt, harass, or offend another person, there should be a zero-tolerance policy for this behavior because it can be quite corrosive to the culture. Nobody has the right to deliberately belittle others. When the trust is appallingly low because of frequent deceptions and misdeeds, a productive and genuine relationship cannot be built and productivity will be compromised.

2. Poor cultural fit.  If the employee is causing more problems than solving and the bad outweighs the good, it is time to go.  For example, if they do not operate with a growth mindset or a “what’s possible” mentality, and their default is seeing only the obstacles and getting easily deterred, that behavior can be counterproductive to the objectives.  Suppose they have an apathetic attitude in not caring about their work or their teammates or a negative disposition and exhibit toxic behavior where they are bringing everybody else down.  In that case, it is time to make a change.  Recent research from Harvard Business shows that one bad employee can corrupt a whole team.  The study looked at how employees act when they are around someone who misbehaves.  It found that 37% of those studied were more likely to do something dishonest if they worked with someone with a history of bad behavior. 

3. They are consistently underperforming and have not responded to your support.  If you have managed them well by giving them timely and specific feedback and have been a supportive partner in their performance reviews and career advancement plans, but they are regularly performing poorly, not capitalizing on any of the opportunities for improvement, or have ignored your repeated efforts to support them, it’s time.  In any of these cases, it should never be a surprise to them when they are let go, they should be well aware of what they need to do and the ramifications of not delivering on realistic expectations.  In most organizations, performance improvement plans are in process to address these issues. If you have a high standard of excellence and offer a supportive culture, keeping a low performer can be more costly to the team than the disruption of letting them go.  A good check-in question to ask yourself is, if you were starting this company today, would you rehire this person?  If the answer is no, follow your gut.  Netflix uses the “keeper test,” which is when managers ask themselves - “Which of my people if they told me they were leaving for a similar job at a competitor or peer company would I fight hard to keep?”

When it comes to the tough decision of letting an employee go, certain reasons make this decision an easier one.  If the person committed any ethical violations, is a net negative on the culture because their attitude diminishes the team instead of accelerating it, or if they are consistently underperforming and do not care to get better, then do not delay, make the call, as tough as it may be.

Quote of the day: “Firing is not something you do to someone: firing is something you do for someone.” Author Larry Winget

Q:  When do you know it is time to let somebody go?  What’s your process for firing?  Comment and share below; we would love to hear from you!

[The next blog in this firing series 2/3 will focus on choosing to support your team instead of dismissing them] 

As a Leadership Coach, I partner with leaders to best navigate performance management challenges and build flourishing cultures, contact me to learn more.

When is the right time to let your employee go?

When Hiring, End Strong (Hiring Series 5/5)

The last few blogs in this series dealt with the beginning and middle phases of the hiring process, this article will focus on the latter stages.  Once the candidate has made it past the initial interview rounds, you may want to consider the following steps to decide among your potential matches to find the best fit.

Here are some helpful steps:

1. Written sample. Many companies collect writing samples from candidates before or after an initial interview to gain insight into their thinking and written communication skills.  It is an excellent way to know how they can convey messages.  This criterion may be more critical than others depending on the job.  Amazon, for example, has a practice where people share their written updates before meetings, and others silently read, review, make comments, and ask questions so having that ability is essential. 

2. Demo/job audition.  Ron Friedman recommends designing a job-relevant assignment that reflects the type of work the applicant will do if they are hired.  For example, if it is a software development position, maybe you want them to write sample code to see how clean their style is or build a feature to see how they conceptualize a project, and then have them explain it so you can understand their thinking process.  If you are deciding on salespeople, have them sell you the product after providing the contextual details and time to prepare. If you're hiring web designers, have them mock up a landing page. If the position is for a professional coach, have them do a brief coaching session. This way, your assessment is based on actual performance, not simply how charismatic they might be during the interview or about trusting your gut.  One of the best predictors of how somebody would perform at a job is to see a work sample.

3. Final Round Interviews:  There will be a few people you will want to see again.  The goal here is to ensure the right skill-culture-job fit. Southwest’s model is to hire for attitude and train for skill because it is hard to teach somebody to have a positive disposition and growth mindset. In this stage, Lencioni says, “do not be afraid to interrogate your applicants! If they skirt around a question, ask it again, and keep asking it until you get an answer. If you have a nagging doubt that the candidate is hiding something, there is a good chance they are, so don’t let it go—just change the wording slightly each time. For example, if the candidate keeps giving a vague answer to a question about coping with conflict, you can ask, ‘would your best friend tell you that you hold grudges?’ If a candidate eventually snaps at your pushy technique, that gives you valuable information.”  Get to the heart of what really matters.

4. Observe them in their environment [optional for top-level hires].   This is to get more of a sense of how they treat others for the cultural fit.  Bill Gates would introduce potential hires to others and see how they interact and observe if they could keep the conversation going.  Lencioni suggests conducting nontraditional interviews over soccer practice or even taking candidates out shopping so you can get to know them in a different context.  Charles Schwab’s CEO Walt Bettinger takes candidates out to a restaurant and deliberately ensures the waiter messes up their order to gauge how well they react to mistakes. A person who will be unforgiving toward waitstaff is not someone you want on your team.  If it is a small enough company, the CEO should be involved in hiring, especially with the early ones to be intentional about fostering a culture of excellence and humanity.

5. Check their references. Usually, references that people provide do not speak negatively, but if they confirm dates of employment, that's a problem because the absence of enthusiasm is a bad sign.  People who like you will go above and beyond.  You can ask on a scale 1-10, how great is this person?  You can ask a leading question: what is the one task the candidate would be most proud of that they experimented with and did well?  Luis Von Ahn, CEO and Cofounder of Duolingo, offers this advice.  When you contact their reference, you can ask, “Did he/she work well with others?”  You are looking for a more definitive and enthusiastic response like “absolutely” over a more wishy-washy one – “yeah, with most people.”  Maybe you detect the reference is being coy, you can frame your questions to elicit specific choices.  For example, “what’s more likely - that this person will be a total pushover or a little manipulative?”  “Work more by themselves or inclined to work with others?”  Listen closely to these responses because they can contain the exact answers you are seeking. 

6. Making a decision.  Part of what goes into a great company is hiring great people.  The way to know if the person is an A player is to answer the question – “Will this person raise the performance and cultural quality?”  If the answer is a yes on both fronts, you may have yourself a winner.  It may be tempting to let somebody in who is exceptional on their technical proficiencies, but if they are culturally challenging, it should be a hard pass because you send a message to the others that sub-par behavior is acceptable, and great culture is not prioritized.  Steve Jobs was rumored to have said, it is better to have a hole on the team than an A-hole. You should be dying to hire the person because of their competencies and cultural fit. David Ogilvy, known as the Father of Advertising, said, “If each of us hires people who are smaller than we are, we shall become a company of dwarfs.  But if each of us hires people who are bigger than we are, we shall become a company of giants.”  The quality of the people you bring in will directly lead to the satisfaction of the quality of the team members.  Indeed, cultivating unbelievable talent starts with one good hire after the next.

7. Send the non-hires feedback.  For the people who did not get the job, take the time to send them feedback, it will mean a lot to them, and it is the human way to operate, especially after they invested all that time.  Adam Grant offers this advice, “It's disappointing that so few interviewers give feedback to job applicants after rejecting them.  When turning candidates away, the least we can do is make it a learning experience.  Ghosting is selfish.  People are hurting.  A bit of guidance might help them get hired elsewhere.” A few thoughtful comments can have a massive positive impact on the candidate, do not squander the opportunity, build it into your process.

Finding the right candidate takes time and while there is an initial upfront cost, when you get the right person in the proper position, you will be glad that you took the extra time and thought to make a meaningful hire.

Quote of the Day: “Time spent on hiring is time well spent.” - Robert Half, Founder of Global Human Resource Consulting Firm 

Q: What methods work for you in asking for a job sample or checking a candidate’s reference?  Comment and share with us, we would love to hear!

As a Leadership Coach, I partner with leaders to get clarity on the hiring process to secure the best candidate, contact me to learn more.

What do you look for when you hire?

The Art of Asking The Right Interview Questions (Hiring Series 4/5)

As your candidates move through the hiring process, it can be helpful for the committee to create a series of questions that will cut through the applicants’ buzzwords and bullet points to get a more accurate gauge on how they will perform on your team.  According to a study by Leadership IQ, 46% of new hires do not last longer than 18 months primarily due to poor interpersonal skills even though candidates may be qualified.  Asking questions that get at this issue can make a big difference. 

When thinking about the questions, you can choose ones that invite both scripted and unscripted responses.  Common questions allow them to share their prepared and practiced responses, such as tell me about yourself and why would you be an asset to this company, but it is only going to reveal so much.  You want to ask some questions that yield impromptu responses to engage in real-time self-reflection. This can show the best clues to whether the person would be a good fit. 

  1. Here are some attitudinal, career, and background-focused questions that can tap into both their scripted and unscripted responses: 

·      Tell me about yourself and highlight two turning points that led you to apply to this position.

·      What are your superpowers?  Give me examples of your strengths and put them in the context of your previous jobs.

·      Tell me about your track record of success.  What did you do to create your success and whom did you have to partner with to make that happen? [Research shows one of the best indicators that somebody will be successful in the future is if they have a winning past track record].

·      What are you not good at or do not like?  How have you addressed these weaknesses or found workarounds?

·      What are your pet peeves when it comes to collaboration? What types of people do you find the most challenging to work with? What is your strategy if you find yourself on a team with some of these people?

·      What do you look for in an ideal teammate?  What do you have to offer to the team?

·      Whom do you admire as a leader and why? How would your teammates describe you as a leader?

·      What are the ingredients of good company culture?  How would you contribute to an incredible culture?

2. Behavior Questions:  Asking behavioral and future-focused, realistic questions related to how they would approach their job can give you a lot of data on their potential performance.  Knowing what they would do can yield more robust responses than attitudinal questions that are more theoretical and philosophical.  For example, what is your philosophy on leadership versus how you would handle this issue?  

Here is a sample set:

·      If two colleagues are not getting along, how would you handle it?  Name 2-3 specific things you would do. Other variations include: Tell us about when your team had disagreements.  How were these differences resolved, and what was your role?

·      What are the steps you would take to manage an underperforming employee?

·      Can you tell us about a time when you disagreed with your manager’s directions or priorities? How did you respond?

·      Tell us a time when you made a mistake or were asked to go back and make corrections. How did you handle it? An alternative can be, what was your biggest failure? What did you learn from it and how have you avoided repeating it?

·      Have you had to work with someone whose personality was particularly different from yours? How did you make it work?  Another variation: Tell me a time when you had difficulty working with someone, what made them difficult to work with? What steps did you take to resolve the problem, what was the outcome? What could you have done differently?

·      Tell me about a time you faced a challenging situation?  What did you do to improve your situation?

·      If you are trying to get a new initiative implemented, walk me through how you would do this.

·      Tell me about a situation in your last job where you volunteered to help somebody outside your area or an important project where you volunteered even though you did not have anything to do with the core assignment.  Tell me why you did it, what was the result, and what was your role?   [A question like this helps you assess their track record of collaborating or teaming up with others to succeed.]

3. Questions to assess their preparation and career aspirations:

·       Can you tell us what you know about our company and what stands out the most?

·       Please tell us what you understand this position to be?  What excites you, and what concerns you?

·       How do your values and mission align with the company’s values and mission?  You can follow up on their response and provide some of the company information if you are trying to figure out alignment.

·      What are your career goals? What would need to happen for you to achieve your professional aspirations?

4. Questions to help understand their listening, communication, and curiosity skills:  This could involve formatting some questions as directions. 

·       Teach us about one of your passions, something that you know a lot about or consider yourself to be an expert in, and as if we do not know anything about it.

·       What have you been learning about lately or what is a recent topic that has captured your curiosity?

5. Questions that help reveal their level of self-awareness:

·      What have you been doing to work on your non-strengths?

·      What conditions can you do your best work in?

·      What is the biggest misperception people have about you?   

The misperception question is about whether they know how they come across to others, even in ways that may not be a true reflection of who they are.  Tony Hsieh, the former Chief Executive of Zappos, uses this question often. He said, “I think it’s a combination of how self-aware people are and how honest they are. I think if someone is self-aware, then they can always continue to grow. If they’re not self-aware, I think it’s harder for them to evolve or adapt beyond who they already are.”

Tony Robbins said, “successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers.” To truly understand if the candidate is going to be a right fit, you want to inquiry well.  Specifically, behavior questions can be the best indicator of how the person will perform on the job. 

Quote of the day: “People are not your most important asset. The right people are.” -Jim Collins

Q:  What are your favorite interview questions to ask? Comment and share with us, we would love to hear!

[The next blog in this series 5/5 will focus on the concluding parts of the interview process]

As a Leadership Coach, I partner with leaders to get clarity on the hiring process to secure the best candidate, contact me to learn more.

Which questions do you ask to get the best candidate?

When Interviewing, Beware of Your Biases (Hiring series 3/5)

Organizing a successful hiring process can determine if you secure the right person for the job.  A crucial component to success is the interview stage as it is a great way to get to know your prospective employees, both the hard skills and intangibles such as passion, initiative, goal-orientation, and cultural fit.

Below are some steps to consider when you are designing the interview process. Be sure to filter any of these tips based on the culture and mission of your organization.

1. First-round individual interviews.  If you have many applicants, you can have a brief 30-minute group interview meant to cull the list further and separate the A from the B and C players.  As you move to the preliminary one-on-one interviews, the goal is to get to know your candidates a little deeper.  You can open your interview by letting them know you would like to spend 25 or so minutes getting to know them and then leaving some time to answer any questions they may have. Give the candidate the first words instead of telling them about the company as they can parrot what you would like to hear.

2. Beware of biases. While the interview is going to give you some essential data, there are inherent problems of deception.  Psychologist Ron Friedman argues, “The interview is dreadful in predicting if somebody’s going to be successful because they're measuring their ability to think on the spot. 80% of people lie and it seems like it’s almost advantageous for them to lie if they want to get the job.”  Another problem is that people have biases in hiring.  As humans, we are hardwired to make quick decisions, to go with our intuitions. The way we think is largely shaped by various unconscious biases which ultimately influence the way we perceive reality.  In fact, according to Quartz publication, 60% of interviewers will decide about a candidate’s suitability within 15 minutes of meeting them.  Some will even have made that determination within seconds of the interview.  When we have formed our intuition, we are no longer considering new information, we are just rationalizing it.

 Here are some common biases in which to be mindful:

·      Confirmation Bias.  Is the tendency to search for information that confirms some preliminary assumptions you may have.  For example, suppose you see a tall person, you may think they are a good leader and then ask questions that can evoke favorable answers such as – tell me a time when you led a group successfully versus a more neutral question - how much experience do you have leading a team?

·      Halo Effect.  We assume that just because somebody has achieved success in one area, they are likely to excel in another area. They were incredible coders so they are likely to lead a technical team, but they are two different skill sets that need to be individually assessed. 

·      Overconfidence Bias.  Is the tendency to hold an over-bloated assessment of our skills and abilities.  Some hiring managers believe they have a special talent to choose a candidate based on their gut, but our personal experiences can be limited.  To have an accurate read, we need to have more objective measures in addition to our instincts, however strong they may be.

There are steps we can take to interrupt our biases and have a fairer process:

A. Have a standardized set of questions.  Ask all candidates the same questions, write them down in advance and execute. The reason is that if we think somebody is extroverted, we are going to ask for examples of when they led a group, whereas if we think somebody is introverted, we may not ask them about speaking in front of an audience because we assume they may not have.  The way we frame the question influences the information we get, and when we ask the same questions, we level the playing field.

B. Have a scorecard. This is an idea mentioned by Geoff Smart and Randy Street in their book, Who: The A Method for Hiring.  Their card has three parts: mission, outcome, and competencies so you are clear what you are looking for and so the candidate is clear on what to expect.

·  Mission: 1-5 lines of why the role exists. For example, the customer service representative is to help customers resolve problems with the highest level of courtesy.  You can ask candidates how their mission aligns with the company’s mission.

·  Outcomes: 3-8 specific outcomes to achieve an A performance.  For example, improve the customer performance score from a 7-12 measured by x, y, and z by 12/1.  Another example could be to work with a team to generate copious ideas and then choose the most innovative one, gain consensus and galvanize the team to execute by a specific date.  You can ask how they feel about achieving the outcomes.

·  Competencies: - Choose the capabilities that most matter to the work. At Google, Kim Scott talked about hiring for general cognitive abilities, leadership, role-related responsibilities and expertise, and googliness (the culture piece).

·      Technical Competencies or hard skills: These are the skills and behaviors that people need to do the job (coding, product management, creating the strategic vision and executing, designing, etc.). You can ask them how they have exhibited those competencies and provide an example from a previous job or how they would complete a realistic project they would have to do for this position.

·      Interpersonal or soft skills: These are all the intangible that allows the work to get done and the business results to be achieved. It can involve being self-aware and understanding how they are being perceived, managing their time and being dependable, being an effective communicator and clearly spelling out expectations with respect and openness, as well as being a listener and excellent team player.

·    Leadership skills: Do they know how to develop others to advance in their role, do they know how to motivate, inspire, care, and appreciate others, can they run high performing teams, manage conflict, and promote DEIB (diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging) initiatives? Managing and leading a team is different than being an individual contributor.

·      Cultural Competencies:  Do your values and mission align? You can share the values of the company (e.g., hungry, humble, and smart) and ask how they exhibit those values, and provide an example from a previous job.

·      You can use the what/how/tell-me-more framework for follow-up questions. What do you mean? What happened? What does that look like? What is a good example of that?  What is your role?  What did you do?  What did your boss say?  What were the results?  What else?  How did you do that? Please walk me through the steps and how you overcame any obstacles.

Based on the responses, you should provide a score from A-E or 1-5 to each of their questions.  When you are done, you can review the scorecards with the hiring committee and advance the candidates with the highest scores.  If there are none, you may need to re-source potential candidates.

 C. Have a committee.  Eliminate siloed interviews in favor of at least 3 people on a panel because each person can be attuned to different aspects and see different things.  You can assign roles, such as a hiring manager to organize and then others that are looking for specific competencies. The panel should be made up of not only the hiring manager but peers and if there is a heavy cross-functional component, that person should be there as well. The committee should also be diverse in different areas such as experience, gender, race, etc. Before the interview, members should know the competencies, take notes, fill out a rubric independently, keep a tally, and then debrief their observations and compare impressions and scores.  If one person gave a score of a 5 in consciousness and the other gave a score of a 2, the idea is not to agree but expose the different perspectives and increase understanding, vote, and move on.  If there are any aspects that you are unsure about, you can drill down on those specific things in the next interview. Southwest conducts a lot of peer and team interviews. These processes help delay and test our intuitions so our decisions are more grounded in more data sources.

Many people complain just how hard it is to get the right hire.  The process can be lengthy and there is no guarantee that you are going to bring on great people.  Thinking about interrupting biases, having uniform questions, a scorecard for evaluation, and a committee to thoughtfully review the candidates can increase your chances of securing the right candidate.

Quote of the day: “Hiring is the most important people function you have, and most of us aren’t as good at it as we think. Refocusing your resources on hiring better will have a higher return than almost any training program you can develop.” - Laszlo Bock, Former SVP of People Operations at Google

 Q:  What’s your process for conducting group or one-on-one interviews?  How do you choose among the candidates you interview, which criteria do you use to assess a candidate’s performance?  Comment and share with us, we would love to hear!

[The next blog in this series 4/5 will focus on asking the best interview questions]

 As a Leadership Coach, I partner with leaders to get clarity on the hiring process to secure the best candidate, contact me to learn more.

How do you disrupt your biases when hiring?

Your Hiring Process Determines Your Talent (Hiring Series 2/5)

Finding excellent employees can sometimes feel like finding your soulmate – you have to meet a lot of people to find that great fit.   A top concern for CEOs and other executives relates to attracting and retaining talent, according to the 2020 Conference Board Annual Survey.  Not only is it time-consuming, but it can be expensive. Gallup shows that “The cost of replacing an individual employee can range from one-half to two times the employee’s annual salary.”  Given the challenges around hiring and the high stakes of recruiting, we often rush to fill the vacancy, but bringing the wrong person aboard can have lingering repercussions.  Beyond the direct costs associated with orientation and training and eventual termination, the greater cost may not be as easily measured, which is the negative impact it has on current employees. The price of a poor cultural fit can be devastating to top performers, both in terms of their morale and productivity.   

Finding the right candidate takes time, and having an effective process increases your chances of procuring a great match.  Southwest Airlines has a comprehensive and competitive approach to sift through its many applications.  According to SVP Ginger Hardage of Culture and Communications, there is about a 2% chance of getting the job. This is because they take their time to hire right so they can manage easily.  Author Jim Collins supports this method; he famously endorses getting the right people on the bus and in the right seats, which is a metaphor for hiring well and putting people in positions where they can thrive.

 Here are some steps to consider in the early stages of the hiring process: 

1. Plan.  Make it a team effort, form a committee to do the following:

A. Define Your Team & Company Values. This is to share the most important drivers of your company and the values you are seeking and the behaviors that would support those values.  For more on values, check out the previous blog.  You do not need to attain homogeneity in work style and preferences, but on those core aspects you care about.  Making a deliberate effort to hire for diversity and inclusion will only improve your company.

B. Specify the Role.  Make a list of the specific tasks to be done and define them.  You can even try and do some of the work yourself or consult a teammate who has done the work before so they can clearly explain the specifics involved.  Sure, there can be flexibility in HOW the person hits the outcomes, but you want to be clear on the WHY and WHAT. When you write clear descriptions and results, you give the person a sharp sense of what they have to do to be set up for success.  This also allows them to select out if they feel they cannot do the job.

Generalist v. Specialist.  If you are clear on what the role demands, then you can create detailed requirements.  When I have worked with technical managers and software engineer leaders, they are usually looking for a specialist to do a tough job fraught with wicked problems or somebody who can crank out the work quickly, efficiently, and reliably.  In some cases, they may not need the highest standard of communication skills because they may only deal with the one direct report who hired them.  If they do not have to interact with the other teams, such as sales, marketing, and product development, you may be safe in being more lenient with this expectation since you need to overvalue technical chops.  If you are the leader working with that direct report and are satisfied with that level of chemistry, that’s fine.  If the role requires analytical and fast pace thinking, you need somebody that could work in a pressured environment with quick turnarounds; if it is a customer service job, you need somebody with incredible people skills.  Adjust your category weights based on the nature of the job.

Hiring is a two-way street, so while you will benefit from getting a talented person, you should be clear on their value proposition.  What are the benefits that the candidate will receive from the job?  Talented people can be weighing their options in a competitive environment.   The clearer you are, the better the chance you will have to secure the position. In the book, WHO: The A Method for Hiring, Geoff Smart talks about five criteria in which candidates seek:

1. Fit.  There is an alignment between what the candidate cares about, their goals, strengths, values, and mission with the purpose and vision of the company.  People yearn to do good work and have an impact.

2. Family.  There is enough balance in the position for the person to spend time with their family, friends, or on other important commitments.  There is an acknowledgment of the whole person and what they need to be set up for success, not just in the job, and that means not allowing work to be all-consuming.

3. Freedom.  There is autonomy in the role to make independent decisions and have creative expression and not be micromanaged.

4. Fortune.  People want to be paid a competitive wage.  Money is rarely the key motivator, but it is one important piece that allows for more freedom in your life.

5. Fun.  There are opportunities for enjoyment and the development of strong personal relationships.  Studies show that having a best friend at work plays a prominent role in job satisfaction.  How is the culture set up to foster connections among coworkers and have those enjoyable moments?

6. Mastery & Belonging.  Daniel Pink, Author of Drive talks about mastery (along with autonomy and purpose) being the trifecta of motivation.  It is essential for people to feel like they are doing good work.  Gallup also maintains that people seek opportunities to grow and work with managers who can support their development.  I would also add feeling a sense of belonging.  According to recent research released by Coqual (formerly Center for Talent Innovation), people are currently searching for belonging (a place where they can be seen for their contributions, connected to their coworkers, supported in their daily work and career development, and proud of their organization’s purpose and values).  This sentiment leads to an uptick in engagement, loyalty, and productivity.

C. Seek referrals.  A common approach to hiring is to tap into your professional and personal networks as talented people usually know other talented people and are happy to pass along names.  Ask people you work with and know the culture well if they can recommend any good candidates but be specific – if you are looking for sales associates in NY who can create content and make the sale, share that information.  You can make it a practice to occasionally ask about whom they know even when you are not hiring so you can form a queue of talent and can expedite the process when the time comes.  It is vital to have a pipeline and always be recruiting.

D. Consider insiders v. outsiders.  Hiring outsider executives can be typical because people imagine this extraordinary potential that unknown people can have, even if they are more expensive.  Despite the common trends of favoring outsiders, Organizational Psychologist Adam Grant prefers insiders because you already know what you are going to get, and they have the advantage of mastering the culture and skills of the organization. There are also prevailing perspectives about the value of hiring outsiders for a team that can bring in new views.

E. Look for diversity.  Diversity matters for a lot of reasons. A crucial benefit is that diversity provides different perspectives for innovation, problem-solving, and creativity.  There should be energy devoted to getting diverse candidates in the sourcing stage, where you have a larger pool to initially pick.  Many talented candidates are not even putting their hat in the ring because they may not know about the position. Take that time to find those people so you can set your team up for great success.

2. Resume & Video. Your first introduction to a potential candidate can review their resume to see if they have the general qualifications.  While a resume offers a brief view of their record of accomplishments, usually embellishments, it says nothing about failures, so that is why you must dig beyond the resume.  You can have them send in a 5-minute video explaining how their background would allow them to be an excellent fit for the job and what they have to offer.   Alternatively, you can request a cover letter so you can get a sense of how they present themselves in writing. That will be more labor-intensive to review so you can make it optional.

3. Group Interview.  If you have many good candidates, you can do a 30-minute group interview where you ask the candidates the same 4 questions to get a read of their conversation skills, how they answer the questions, and how they interact with each other in a group setting.  For example, do they dominate the conversation and cut others off or do they build off others and allow space for multiple contributions?  This can give you a lot of data on their personality dispositions.

Setting up your hiring process can make the difference between hiring the right candidate.  By first getting clear on exactly who you want, you can begin constructing a job position that will attract the right candidates for the proper position.  Once you have these processes established, hiring can occur in a more expedited fashion.  When you go slow and get the systems down, you will be able to get better at hiring quality talent to compliment your team.

Quotes of the day: “Bet on people, not on strategies.” -Lawrence Bossidy, retired CEO of AlliedSignal

“The employer generally gets the employees he deserves” -J Paul Getty

Q: How do you plan to put together a job offer to attract the best candidate for your team? Comment and share with us; we would love to hear!

[The next blog in this series 3/5 will focus on interviewing practices]

As a Leadership Coach, I partner with leaders to get clarity on the hiring process to secure the best candidate, contact me to learn more.

Finding the best fit for your company leads to success

Hire First For Values (Hiring Series 1/5)

What goes into selecting the right candidate to join your team?  While there are many aspects to consider, few are more important than the values of others and how they will align with your team and organization for the best synergy and results.

In Patrick Lencioni’s “The Ideal Team Player,” he argues for the importance of hiring for values and offers his humble, hungry, and smart model.  That is, exhibiting humility to think of yourself less, having the drive to pursue your goal aggressively, and the capabilities to be astute in how you interact with others.  When recruiters test for these values, they are more likely to get a great teammate.  Some would argue that these types of values and traits, such as having a positive mindset and a learning disposition, can be more important than having the technical skills to complete certain jobs because the latter can be more easily taught than the former.  This is how Southwest Airlines and many other entities organize their culture.  Hiring begins with bringing the right employees with the right values who can identify with the company’s purpose.

 Let’s take a deeper look at each value:

 1. Hungry. This value relates to an inner drive for excellence; you push until the job is done and are not satisfied with giving anything less than 100%; you have superb execution abilities.  You often think about the work outside of regular hours because you care beyond your job description.  The role may not just be a job for you, but a feeling of ownership and enduring impact.  You think more in terms of when a job is done and not dedicated hours of work.  You do not just care about your contributions, but the team outcomes.  This disposition can be inspiring to other team members and motivate them to do better.   Lencioni believes this is the hardest value to teach because it is all about the level of passion that you possess.  If you have it in abundance, you will move mountains to get the job done, if you do not, it will be hard to discover any incentive to get you to care and be hungry for positive impact.  It’s about the intrinsic motivation (you do it because you want to) over the extrinsic (you do it because you have to or simply to attain some reward).  This also does not mean you have no personal life because it is not about the number of hours but the quality of work – when you are on, you are driven by care and want to see things to the end, and when you are off, you can disconnect to get that much-needed renewal that will make you more effective overall.

A dimension of the hungry characteristic relates to having a growth mindset or eagerness to learn, you approach tasks knowing you can learn and get better at how you do them. Adam Grant mentions this as one of the most important criteria to look for in hiring.  If you have the ability and passion for learning and acquiring new knowledge and skills, there is nothing that you cannot master.  As the proverb goes, “where there is a will, there is a way.” For some generalist jobs, it is ok if you do not have the complete skillset because you will find ways to get the job done regardless, whether that means pulling in resources or developing the skills yourself. Ray Dalio’s Principles echoes a similar sentiment.  He talks about not hiring people to fit their first job but providing the ability to evolve and contribute in unforeseen ways, and that’s what learners and achievement-oriented people do, they are motivated to jump in, problem-solve, and figure things out aligned with the shared mission.  Three out of the five traits specified in the book Who: The A Method for Hiring would fall under this one category of hungry - motivation (a drive for achievement), initiation (taking action and inspiring others), and problem-solving (having the ability and interest to assimilate new information to get the best results). 

 2. Humble.  Author Rick Warren says that “humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.”  When you are humble, you know what you are great at, you know how to use your talents well, and do not think you are more important than others.  Humility means jumping in and doing any work needed by the team because you are not above any task or any person.  You are comfortable using “we” language instead of “me” and can quickly apologize when you err because having that harmony is more important than your need to be right.  Lencioni said humility is the single greatest attribute to being a great team player because the root of all sin is being too proud; when you are arrogant, you think you are better and deserve better and put your interests over that of the collective.

 3. Smart.  This one has two dimensions – being capable of doing the job and being emotionally intelligent.

The first one is being proficient enough to do the job and knowing that you can be trained to learn the skill or task for whatever you do not know.  When you hire smart people, they are eager to figure things out, and even though they do not know everything, they can solve problems and grow in unfamiliar territories.  Some influencers endorse the strategy of hiring people smarter than you because you want to surround yourself with capable individuals who can challenge you.  As a leader, your job is to listen to your team, filter recommendations, and make the best decisions. 

The second dimension is having emotional intelligence, a good awareness of themselves and others, and can regulate their emotions and be sensitive to others.  They understand their strengths and weaknesses and can receive constructive criticism to make adjustments.  They have tremendous people skills; they know how to emphasize and connect with others through compassion and have common sense in group situations; they know how to “read the room” and respond to other’s concerns.  Lencioni notes that smart candidates “understand the dynamics of a group of people and how to say and do things to have a positive outcome on those around them.”  They are good listeners, collaborators, and team players. 

Lencioni says that if you hire for only one of these values, it can be dangerous because somebody who is just hungry will be a bulldozer, somebody who is just humble can be a pawn, and somebody who is just smart can be a charmer.  Aiming to get all three would increase your chances of getting an excellent team player.

4. Integrity and Character.  I added these components to Lencioni’s model.  When you hire good people, you know they will operate in ethical ways for the best interest of others.   They are honest and do not cut corners.  They are friendly and enjoyable to be around.  Management expert Tom Peters stresses the importance of hiring nice, empathetic people whose natural sensibilities would be to do the right thing.  In contrast, if you hire a jerk, they can bring down the morale and productivity of the entire team.  It does not matter how smart they are or how good they are at completing a task if it reduces the collective performance and happiness.  People yearn to connect with good people doing good work and it makes the work that much more enjoyable.

While this is the model mainly used by Lencioni, which fits his organization’s culture, you want to be sure to pick the values that align with your culture.  Before interviewing candidates, you can gather your team to ask how they would define the culture and the three most important values.  Your team can even help you determine the behaviors that exhibit those values.  For example, if you care about being a team player, you need to measure this in the interview.  You can ask about the projects they were a part of and how their contributions made the overall group better.  How did they put in processes to thrive and avoid or minimize conflicts that can derail projects?  Tell me when you had to partner with two other stakeholders and what you did to get their buy-in?  They can give an example of when this value was practiced and when it was challenged. This will help you determine if the person has lone wolf tendencies, which will not be valuable for your objective.  Pay attention to how they answer the question and if they are using words like “I” and “me” v. “we” and “the team.”

Once you are clear on the traits you are looking for, you need to let the candidates know just how much you take these values seriously, how they play out in your company, and how people are held accountable.  At the end of the interview, you can reiterate how serious you are about the values and how uncomfortable it will be to work at the company if they do not feel the same way. In fact, how much they are going to dislike the experience because the behaviors are so abundant that they would not be able to dodge them.  Sending a strong message will allow them to select out if they are not a good fit because they do not genuinely possess these values.  After all, finding the perfect candidate is not just what is best for the organization, but what is best for the candidate and the clearer the expectations are, the more they can make choices that will allow them to be in a position where they can do their best work in an environment that speaks to their values.

 Quote of the day: “I think the most important thing is just if you hire people whose personal values match the corporate core values – and not just the stated ones.”  -Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos

 Q: What are the most important values that define your team and your organization?  How can you assess this in potential candidates? Comment and share with us; we would love to hear!

 [The next blog in this series 2/5 will focus on creating a successful hiring process]

 As a Leadership Coach, I partner with leaders to get clarity on the hiring process to secure the best candidate, contact me to learn more.

Which values do you look for when hiring?