Leaders Who Ask For Help

March 18, 2016

In my work as a leadership coach I regularly encounter senior managers and directors who desire to become leaders, but many fail to understand that the leap is much more than a title, salary and corner office.

Leadership isn’t so much appointed as it is earned through your management track record and, perhaps just as importantly, the soft skills you demonstrate.

Soft skills include the ability to communicate clearly and effectively, inspire people to deliver their best, organizational savvy, courage to make hard decisions, and the ability to admit you don’t have all the answers. This last one means demonstrating humility and often runs counter to what we expect in our leaders.

“In a culture of scarcity and perfectionism, asking for help can be shaming if we’re not raised to understand how seeking help is human and foundational to connection,” writes author and researcher Brené Brown in her book Rising Strong. “But the truth is that no amount of money, influence, resources, or determination will change our physical, emotional, and spiritual dependence on others.”

None of us have all the answers and the strongest leaders are those who not only acknowledge this to themselves, but demonstrate it to others. As much as we may be seeking a single person to have all the answers and take care of everything, the reality is no one person can do this.

However, we live in a culture that presents it that way. Think about sports and how despite the need for total team effort, the media presents Payton Manning and the Denver Broncos or Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers. NBA match-ups are promoted as LeBron James and the Cavaliers versus Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors.

Taking nothing away from the leadership these talented athletes demonstrate, we discount and denigrate the efforts of those around them who contribute to victories. We give too much credit to the individual athletes when they succeed and lay on too much blame when they fail.

In the more serious arena of politics, this lack of humility and the leader’s inability to rely upon others can be much more troubling. When a leader claims he or she has all the answers, beware because this can mean a lack of self-awareness, extreme egotism, narcissism and will likely lead to destructive and even catastrophic decisions.

When Republican presidential front-running candidate Donald Trump was recently asked by host Mika Brzezinski on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” who he would rely on for help with foreign policy, he said:

“I’m speaking with myself, number one, because I have a very good brain. I’ve said a lot of things … I speak to a lot of people, but my primary consultant is myself, and I have a good instinct for this stuff.”

Despite no experience in domestic or foreign policy, Trump is essentially saying we should take him on faith. He says he’s smart and he can figure it out. In this bizarre political season, vetting potential leaders of the free world should demand more than this.

In the corporate setting, those leading from a cool and professional distance are unable to make sound decisions because, like all of us, they have blind spots and areas where they are simply deficient. When these leaders refuse to ask for help they risk alienating their people and make bad decisions.

The difficulty with asking for help is because it is emotionally risky and may expose our uncertainty. This is, however, the exact vulnerability necessary for us to fully connect with others. Without the courage to risk opening up and being seen, there can be no connection.

Just the other day I spoke with a leader who described the most powerful and important day in his career. It was at an off-site where they were discussing the importance of trust. When it was brought up that there was a trust problem in the organization, he invited feedback as to whether he was someone who could be trusted. The answer came back negative.

Without becoming defensive, he asked for examples of why this was the case, and in front of the entire group he listened with an open mind and open heart. He invited follow up conversations with each of the individuals who spoke up in order to learn from them and to express his perspective. Later he came to find not only did these individual relationships improve, but so did trust, his satisfaction at work and his overall growth as a leader, culminating with a promotion.

The ability to courageously expose our vulnerability and ask for help is the very thing that builds our leadership capacity. Demonstrating humility that runs counter to the image we’re trying to live up to facilitates an important connection to those we want as followers.

Expecting leaders to be anything other than emotionally vulnerable and imperfect human beings is detrimental to our institutions and our very livelihood. Instead, let leaders risk exposing their ignorance in order to raise their competence and connection with those we want them to lead.

Employee Appreciation & Gratitude

March 3, 2016

Happy Employee Appreciation Day! It’s now the third month of the new year and if you have not yet recognized the impact and value of your employees, do something about it today.

This annual holiday—celebrated the first Friday in March—is meant to remind companies to thank employees for their hard work and effort throughout the year. It is also meant to strengthen the bond between employer and employee.

Perhaps we need Employee Appreciation Day now more than ever because a recent survey found that 40 percent of employees say they had not been recognized at all in the past year. Recognizing employees is probably the most important step in raising employee engagement because it makes them feel more proud and happy with their jobs.

This is according to a new survey conducted by Globoforce last November. The survey, composed of 828 randomly-selected fully employed persons in the United States (aged 18 or older), had a margin of error of +/- 3.9 percentage points at a 95 percent level of confidence.

They also found that two-thirds of workers who were recognized in the last month felt more than twice as engaged at work than those employees who had not been recognized.

This strong correlation between high engagement and recognition means employees who are well-recognized have more drive and determination, better working relationships, improved personal standing and stronger connections to their company.

As I wrote about previously, organizations should give thanks to their employees through a well designed, fully implemented and on-going social recognition program. It’s good for engagement, retention and the bottom-line.

And while cash or gift cards are easy and generally appreciated at least in the short term, they don’t deliver the more important long term results. You can show appreciation to employees in many ways, but be sure it is sincerely presented and meaningful to the individual.

Here are some suggestions:

Be Specific
Rather than simply “great job on that report,” you might say, for example, “I really appreciate that you included the metrics on XYZ in order to emphasize the impact our products will have on the client’s account.”  The more you can tie your praise directly to the individual’s specific contribution, the more impact your appreciation will have.

Consider Giving Time
Perhaps our most precious commodity today is time. When possible, give your employee the gift of taking off the afternoon, a day, or several days to pursue a hobby, spend time with loved ones, or simply to rest and recharge.

Encourage Employees to Appreciate Each Other
Don’t relegate showing appreciation only to the boss. With apps like YouEarnedIt, Bonusly or TINYpulse, you can enable all employees to regularly provide kudos to each other in real time. This will create a more positive and healthy workplace where everyone participates in providing and receiving appreciation.

Express Gratitude
Sometimes it is not the tangible reward that makes us feel appreciated, but the simple verbal or written expression of thanks. And if you tell someone how much you appreciate them, you will likely find that you feel better having done so. That’s because showing gratitude acts like a hug: in the same way you can’t hug someone without receiving a hug in return, expressing gratitude works similarly.

Feelings associated with gratitude impact the dopamine in your brain, which functions as a reward neurotransmitter. Like a drug, experiencing gratitude results in a dopamine hit that makes you feel better.

This gratitude creates positive feelings, good memories, higher self-esteem, and a more relaxed and optimistic mindset. When taken together, these emotions can then create a “pay it forward” and “we’re all in this together” mentality throughout the workplace.

Gratitude makes people feel appreciated, it doesn’t cost anything, and it doesn’t require any special training to implement. All it takes is sincerity and a willingness to show appreciation to others.

Showing appreciation and gratitude for employees creates a better working environment, promotes more engagement and delivers better bottom-line results.

 

Managing Millennials

February 17, 2016

The largest generation in the U.S. workforce today is composed of people born after 1980, and they represent Generation Y or Millennials. These 54 million workers are often called digital natives because they do not know of a world without computers and the Internet.

And while they may not fully appreciate that FAX machines and interoffice memos were once essential, it’s important to see the value of their unique perspectives and contributions.

Millennials were educated working in groups and therefore may be more accepting and effective in work teams than others. They are likely to be more technically savvy and connected. And while they may want regular feedback acknowledging their contribution, they also want to be challenged in the work they do.

Previously I wrote about Millennials as Managers with regard to how these younger workers show up as leaders and how they can best manage others. In this post, I’d like to address how those of older generations can best manage Millennials.

The generations are roughly sorted as: Traditionalists (1927-1945), Baby Boomers (1946-1963), Generation X (1964-1979) and Millennials (1980-1999). The values and work ethic of each can vary immensely, and this impacts how to best manage them.

One methodology for managing will not necessarily work for an entire generation of people, of course. Workers are individuals and a method that works for one person, won’t necessarily work for another—even if they happen to be born within a similar timeframe.

Nevertheless, there are some common characteristics Millennials may share due to the timeframe in which they were raised, and it is therefore useful to consider how this shared perspective may require managing them differently than those who were born earlier.

Millennial workers may be misunderstood by those of other generations. According to research discussed in their book Managing the Millennials, authors Chip Espinoza, Mick Ukleja and Craig Rusch found the perceptions managers have working with Millennial employees can also be viewed as the Millennial’s intrinsic values. For example:

Manager’s Perception Millennial’s Intrinsic Value
Autonomous Work-life fusion – It’s about getting work done; not punching a clock to satisfy office processes.
Entitled Reward – Being recognized and rewarded for their contribution; Millennials want more than just an opportunity. They want a guarantee their performance will count for something.
Imaginative Self-expression – Offering a fresh perspective that they want to be heard and their ideas taken into consideration.
Self-absorbed Attention – In search of trust, encouragement and praise for how they individually are contributing to the whole of the group.
Defensive Achievement – They are more interested in how to focus on building their strengths than having their weaknesses pointed out.
Abrasive Informality – Though their behavior may be interpreted as disrespectful, their casual communication style is simply how they grew up learning to express themselves.
Myopic Simplicity – They may see their own individual task as essential without fully appreciating other tasks around it.
Unfocused Multitasking – If they have always juggled several tasks at a time, they may find it difficult to really appreciate the benefit of full focused attention on one thing at a time.
Indifferent Meaning – They can’t care about their contribution unless they know the meaning behind it.

This difference between a manager’s perception and the Millennial worker’s intrinsic values can lead to a great deal of conflict unless the manager is aware of it. This doesn’t mean managers should abdicate all responsibility from workers because they hold these intrinsic values. Instead, they could seek to find mutual understanding in the difference.

Ideally, this would take place in the normal course of working together and not held off until that dreaded and often detrimental annual performance review. By then, it is often too late.

Authors Espinoza, Ukleja and Rusch further outlined nine managerial competencies that can be essential to managing Millennials effectively. These competencies may both reduce tension and create an environment in which both the manager and the employee can thrive.

  1. Be Flexible – to enable the autonomous, work-life fusion
  2. Create the Right Rewards – to engage them; often simply through verbal recognition
  3. Put Their Imagination to Work – allow for their self-expression to be incorporated
  4. Build a Relationship – listen to what they have to say and encourage their development
  5. Be Positive When Correcting – focus on strengths to build up their confidence
  6. Don’t Take Things Personally – don’t mistake their informality as an affront to you
  7. Show the Big Picture – help them see how their contribution connects to others
  8. Include the Details – spell out expectations until you are certain they are clear
  9. Make it Matter to Them – connect their aspirations to the organization’s objectives

None of these are necessarily revolutionary nor would they be less useful when managing Gen Xers or Boomers. However, it is important to consider that the Millennial worker may be especially predisposed to function at a higher level when working in an environment where these competencies are demonstrated by those who manage them.

And managers who seek to fully appreciate their workers’ unique perspectives will find a way to engage them and bring out their best.

Millennials as Managers

February 4, 2016

Millennials now represent the largest generation in the U.S. workforce. These digital natives are often described as confident and tolerant as well as entitled and narcissistic. What does this mean in terms of their effectiveness as managers in the workplace?

Stereotypes of the 54 million working Millennials include: lack of experience, immaturity, no long-term vision, too focused on their next career step, and they struggle with people skills. These were no doubt similar to the stereotypes associated with Generation X, Baby Boomers and even Traditionalists when they first entered the workforce.

People born into each generation are roughly sorted as: Traditionalists or Silent Generation (1927-1945), Baby Boomers (1946-1963), Generation X (1964-1979) and Millennials or Generation Y (1980-1999). The values and work ethic of each can vary immensely.

Every generation seems to have an opinion about those who follow or preceded them. Baby Boomers were born at a time when the economy was booming after World War II. No surprise then that those of Generation X often describe Baby Boomers as optimistic and workaholics. And Boomers describe Gen Xers as skeptical and self-reliant.

Typically, the previous generation believes the up and coming generation has it so much easier than they did, though it could be argued just the opposite.

The reality is that the members of each generation continue to evolve both as individuals and as a group. And all the generations need to learn to coexist—rather than discount each others’ differences, find ways to complement these unique perspectives.

Like the generations that preceded them, Millennials face challenges in being seen as competent managers of other people. In their book Millennials Who Manage, Chip Espinoza and Joel Schwarzbart conducted research to determine the biggest challenges Millennials face in the workplace. These challenges are listed from most to least frequently mentioned.

  • Lack of experience
  • Not being taken seriously
  • Not getting respect
  • Being perceived as “entitled”
  • Lack of patience
  • Getting helpful feedback
  • Understanding expectations
  • Miscommunication with older workers
  • Rigid processes
  • Proving value
  • Understanding corporate culture

Though this is a long list, it hasn’t prohibited Millennials from becoming competent workers and effective managers. In fact, as the Traditionalist and Baby Boomer generations move further into retirement, Millennials will be taking on more and more management opportunities.

So what can Millennials do to further overcome these challenges and become better at managing people older and more experienced than themselves?

Espinoza and Schwarzbart provide a number of recommendations. Though I can see all of these being useful in any management scenario, they may be especially suitable for Millennials managing workers who are older and more experienced. When managing workers older than themselves, Millennials should:

  • Know What They Don’t Like
    Demotivating factors are not necessarily the opposite of motivating factors. For example, a demotivating factor could be a manager who micromanages others, which may very well trump a number of motivating factors meant to encourage engagement.
  • Understand What Does Motivate Them
    Though it’s dangerous to link everyone within a certain generational category, keep in mind that what motivates one employee is not true for all others. For instance, a Gen X employee may more likely have an independent streak and be not nearly as interested in team building events as Baby Boomers or Millennials.
  • Seek Their Input, Learn from Them, and Encourage Mentoring
    The lack of experience in Millennial managers can be offset somewhat by showing reverence to the wisdom of other generations. This doesn’t mean capitulating authority as the boss, but simply encouraging a dialogue for you to learn and others to feel respected and valued in their respective roles.
  • Communicate
    An open channel for communication is essential in any successful business. Though Millennials may seek more frequent feedback than other generations, it is important to maintain a regular practice of give and take rather than await the dreaded and oftentimes detrimental annual performance review.
  • Be a Leader, but Don’t Overdo the “Boss” Thing
    Just because you have the job title, doesn’t mean you can bully others or force your employees to do their work effectively. True leadership is your ability to inspire and influence others so people you manage choose to follow your direction.

A multigenerational workplace has many challenges, and yet every generation seems to be especially challenged by both effectively listening and sharing information. Perhaps these two areas are where the focus for growth and learning can be best accomplished.

And when you think about listening and sharing information, it’s clear that trust is inherent in both. Perhaps building trust among the generations will see the widest and most effective intervention for helping them all to work together better.

As a Millennial manager, you have the opportunity to effectively lead your team by making a concerted effort to foster trusting relationships where listening and sharing information is both modeled and rewarded. Appeal to all the generations and be the change agent to lead us in the 21st Century.

Narcissism in Leadership

January 22, 2016

Can a narcissist be a good leader? This is the question that comes up for me when I contemplate the possibility of a President Trump.

The Mayo Clinic defines narcissistic personality disorder as “a mental disorder in which people have an inflated sense of their own importance, a deep need for admiration and a lack of empathy for others.” Characteristics include arrogance, dominance and hostility.

According to psychologist and Harvard professor Howard Gardener, Donald Trump is a “textbook” narcissist. And while healthy narcissism can be valuable in leaders, unhealthy narcissism can be extremely destructive.

Though many famous productive and healthy narcissists come to mind in the corporate world (e.g., Bill Gates, Jack Welch, Larry Ellison), it’s a bit more difficult to think of narcissistic world leaders that aren’t viewed as dictators (e.g., Muammar Qaddafi, Joseph Stalin, Pol Pot.)

However, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, John F. Kennedy and Bill Clinton all displayed many healthy narcissistic qualities while in power. These healthy narcissistic qualities include: self confidence that is in line with reality, a genuine concern for others and their ideas, and the ability to follow through on plans based on their values.

Conversely, unhealthy narcissistic qualities include: self-confidence that is grandiose, devaluing and exploiting others without remorse, and an inability to follow a consistent path because it is not grounded in values.

Healthy and productive narcissists can be visionaries with creative strategies, who are able to find meaning in the challenges of a changing world. Narcissists are not only risk takers, but also charmers who can convert the masses with their rhetoric.

Sigmund Freud named narcissism after the mythical figure Narcissus, who died because of his pathological preoccupation with himself. Freud said that narcissists are emotionally isolated and highly distrustful. They are typically overly sensitive to criticism, poor listeners and—though emotionally clever—they tend towards exploitation rather than empathy.

“Companies need leaders who do not try to anticipate the future so much as create it,” wrote Michael Maccoby in a 2004 Harvard Business Review article titled Narcissistic Leaders: The Incredible Pros, the Inevitable Cons. “But narcissistic leaders—even the most productive of them—can self-destruct and lead their organizations terribly astray. For companies whose narcissistic leaders recognize their limitations, these will be the best of times. For other companies, these could turn out to be the worst.”

Narcissists can turn unproductive when, due to their lack of self-awareness and restraint, they become unrealistic dreamers, says Maccoby. They nurture grand schemes and harbor the illusion where only circumstances or enemies are blocking their success.

They listen only for the kind of information they are seeking. They don’t learn from others, nor do they like to teach. Instead, they indoctrinate others and make speeches. Rather than search for the best solutions among others, they dominate meetings with their own agenda.

Paradoxically, they are extraordinarily sensitive yet they avoid emotions. And in this age of teamwork and collaboration, the narcissistic leader is emotionally isolated.

Many narcissistic leaders become more confident as they increase the number of followers, and very often this leads to flagrant risk-taking, which inevitably results in their downfall. See Bill Clinton with Monica Lewinsky.

For the narcissistic CEO, Maccoby recommends three ways to avoid the traps of their own personality. Let’s look at these and how they might apply to Trump in a governing setting.

  1. Find a trusted sidekick. This is someone who can keep the narcissist grounded. Don Quixote had Sancho Panza just as Bill Gates had Steve Ballmer. Would Donald Trump choose a Vice President or Chief of Staff who could provide adequate counsel to avoid disaster? I have not yet heard or read that he has such a person at his side now.
  2. Indoctrinate the organization. The narcissistic leader wants all subordinates to think the way he or she thinks. Jack Welch had a personal ideology he indoctrinated into GE managers through speeches, memos and confrontations. Rather than create a dialogue, he made pronouncements. Donald Trump may have great difficulty doing this given the divisiveness of a divided congress, not to mention the need for diplomacy on the world stage.
  3. Get into analysis. Though a narcissistic leader is more interested in controlling others than in knowing and disciplining him or herself, this could prove especially useful to uncover and correct vital character flaws. The best narcissistic corporate leaders will do this to become more self-aware and learn humility. Donald Trump, like any politician, would likely hide this even if he were courageous enough to take it on.

Perhaps what at least partially explains Donald Trump’s current lead in the polls is that he has convinced many Republican voters that they should be very afraid because these are chaotic times. Fearful chaotic times are when narcissists most often thrive.

Whether in a corporate or government setting, healthy productive narcissistic leaders can go a long way towards rallying support needed in order to bring about sustainable change and progress. It typically requires gaining some self-awareness and becoming more grounded.

However, unhealthy unproductive narcissistic leaders in either setting can bring about greater divisiveness, reckless planning and execution, and a total lack of concern for others. This type of narcissistic leader would prove detrimental to any company or country.

Reward Evidence-based Decision-Making

December 10, 2015

“Good judgment comes from experience; experience comes from bad judgment.”
                                                        –Mulla Nasruddin, 13th Century Sufi sage/fool

Success in business today requires many things. Perhaps most importantly, organizations need to embrace learning. And both the employer and the employee have responsibilities in this learning.

Employers should do what they can to engage employees and keep them intrinsically motivated to learn. And this learning must include the ability to be implemented otherwise it undermines the employee’s motivation as well as limits organizational improvement.

At the same time, employees should adopt a growth mindset so they continually achieve and learn as they navigate their careers. This means taking on new challenges, expanding their skills, and broadening their area of expertise. It also means challenging the status quo.

Here are two scenarios:

Bob discovers the new product his company is launching has a fatal flaw that may undermine its success in the marketplace. He double-checks his research and concludes it is correct. His company however discourages naysayers and, despite his certainty, Bob is concerned that speaking up will be detrimental to his career. He stays silent, the product flops, yet Bob’s career growth is preserved.

Nancy discovers the new project her company is rolling out will miss its target completion date. She double-checks her research and concludes it is correct. Because she works for a learning organization that encourages direct feedback, Nancy presents her findings, the project is given additional resources to complete on time, and it is a resounding success. Nancy is rewarded with a promotion and celebrated throughout the company.

Which company do you work for? Are you Bob or are you Nancy?

Organizations should encourage employees to challenge assumptions, speak directly about the “elephant in the room,” and take calculated risks when it’s right for the business. This theory must go beyond mere words in an employee handbook and extend into actual practice for how things get done inside the organization.

On his way to inventing the light bulb, Thomas Edison reportedly said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” That is a healthy perspective on reaching success and how learning is paramount.

The best companies perform a post-mortem on projects and products with the purpose of pointing out and learning from what went well and not so well. Too often, however, the lessons of what went wrong are not adequately documented and communicated, so the missteps are likely repeated.

Economists too often see people as highly rational in their decision-making and don’t take into account the irrationality of human beings, says Richard Thaler, professor of behavioral science and economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business in his book Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics.

“It is time for everyone—from bureaucrats to teachers to corporate leaders—to recognize that they live in world of Humans and to adopt the same data-driven approach to their jobs and lives that good scientists use.”

Here are some basic lessons in behavioral science Thaler suggests can make this possible in the corporate world. Observe, collect data and speak up.

Observe – This means seeing the world not as you wish it be, but as it really is. The first step to overturning conventional wisdom, when conventional wisdom is wrong, is to look at the world around you as it is.

Collect Data – People become overconfident because they never bother to document their past track record of wrong predictions, and then make things worse by falling victim to confirmation bias—they look only for evidence that confirms their preconceived hypotheses. The only protection against overconfidence is to systematically collect data, especially data that can prove you wrong. This is what proves especially difficult because we are so devoted to our hypothesis.

Speak Up – Many organizational errors could be prevented if someone is willing to tell the boss something is wrong. Thaler cites the tragic 1977 runway crash of a KLM flight because the second officer was too timid to speak up to the pilot, his boss. Culture, professional courtesy, and most of all fear keep people from challenging the boss, even when they know the boss is wrong.

“But we cannot expect people to take risks, by speaking up or in other ways, if by so doing they will get fired,” says Thaler. “Good leaders must create environments in which employees feel that making evidence-based decisions will always be rewarded, no matter what outcome occurs.”

In Thaler’s ideal organizational environment, everyone is encouraged to observe, collect data, and speak up. And the bosses who create such environments risk only a few bruises to their egos, which is a small price to pay for increasing the flow of new ideas and decreasing the risk of disasters.

It comes down to more humility in leaders and more courage in employees. When both are present, organizations can learn from their experiences and become more successful. And organizations should encourage more Nancys and fewer Bobs.

Leadership, Grit & Russell Wilson

January 22, 2015

In my work as a leadership coach I regularly reference popular figures who demonstrate great leadership. These leaders are often found in business or politics, but lately I’ve been referring to those in my local sports team: the Seattle Seahawks.

Witness the recent NFC Championship game where by the middle of the fourth quarter mere mortals would have admitted defeat and accepted that a repeat trip to the Super Bowl was no longer possible. But quarterback Russell Wilson and his teammates demonstrate incredible grit that enables them to withstand any setback and persevere.

“Grit is passion and perseverance for very long term goals,” says psychologist Angela Lee Duckworth. It is about living life like it’s a marathon and not a sprint. You can view her discussion on the importance of grit in a TED talk. Grit is a positive, non-cognitive trait based on an individual’s passion for a particular long-term goal or endstate, coupled with a powerful motivation to achieve their respective objective, according to Wikipedia.

Though some may claim the result of that football game was due more to a collapse by the Green Bay Packers, it’s hard to argue that the Seahawks could have won without remaining positive and focused to the very end. Sure they needed luck on their side, which the Packers had plenty of in the first half, but they also needed to execute plays and persevere.

Despite winning last year’s Super Bowl, many outside of the Pacific Northwest may not fully appreciate this football team due to the national media’s tendency to marginalize many of its players and their tendency to focus on a stereotypical tall, white, pocket-passing quarterback who fits their promotion profile. Wilson doesn’t look, sound or move like Payton Manning, Tom Brady, Drew Brees or Aaron Rodgers. But he’s beaten them all. In fact, he’s 10-0 against Super Bowl winning quarterbacks.

Russell Wilson wasn’t selected until the third round (75th overall) of the 2012 draft because most teams considered him too small to be an effective NFL quarterback. However, general manager John Schneider and coach Pete Carroll saw something special in the 5’11” Wilson beyond his stature and resume. It’s the kind of “special” they specialize in finding as 40% of their current roster were undrafted. And that special quality is best summed up as grit.

In this age of offensive-minded, pass-heavy and high scoring football, few appreciate Wilson’s skill-set. He’s been repeatedly knocked as simply a “game manager” rather than one of the elite quarterbacks in the league. Some argue it is because of Seattle’s dominating defense and strong rushing game that requires so little from him.

From my standpoint, a great leader is someone who is measured by his overall effectiveness and outcomes rather than how well he fits a narrowly defined role. Defining a great quarterback should not be with regard to pass completions, overall passing yards, touchdowns or even QB rating, but in team wins and championships.

Recognizing grit in people is difficult and it is often inversely related to talent. Many of the grittiest players that make up the current Seahawks were obviously not viewed as talented because so many teams passed on them. See All-Pro cornerback Richard Sherman, who was drafted in the fifth round, and undrafted clutch wide receivers Doug Baldwin and Jermaine Kearse.

Strong leadership is not a quality one can attain single-handedly either. It can only be judged based on how well the team, company or organization ultimately performs—whether that is measured in wins, championships or long-term profitability.

Russell Wilson and many players on the Seahawks demonstrate strong leadership due to their athletic ability, work ethic, and mostly in the grit they possess. It is what separated the Seahawks from other teams over the past couple of years and like all advantages, it is one other teams will try to emulate.

Grit is a quality that translates outside the sports world and into every aspect of life, including business. When you are looking for talent to add to your human capital, keep an eye out for grit. Though it may be more difficult to immediately identify, you will be rewarded greatly when you see it in action.

Go Hawks!

The Value of Working in a Restaurant

December 19, 2014

Back when I was a kid, my spending money didn’t come from my parents. I needed to earn it on my own. And these jobs provided me valuable lessons that served me well throughout my career.

Beginning as a 10-year-old, I had two paper routes and delivered newspapers after school. I also had to collect for them and send checks to my employer. I didn’t earn much money, but I learned about the value of work and I enjoyed having this cash.

My father was a carpenter and on Saturday mornings he would take my brothers and me to his construction jobs, where we would pick up scrap lumber, sweep floors, do small carpentry work and even nail asphalt shingles on house roofs. The real treat was a hamburger and Coke for lunch. For this work we were paid a total of $4 . . . for the day! This was the early 1970s and it was actually a lot of money to us at the time.

When I turned 15 I lied to a restaurant manager and told him I was actually 16. This enabled me to work as a busboy and make the big money. Before long, I took part in many aspects of the business, including washing dishes, waiting tables, cooking, managing a small team of others to clean and stock the bar, and, when I reached the age of 17, bartending. This was not typical for kids my age, but that’s what happened with me.

Looking back on that time now, I see I learned some important lessons in each of these environments, but it was in the restaurant—where I worked throughout my high school years—that I learned the most valuable lessons of all. These lessons include a sense of urgency, maximum efficiency, relationship management, teamwork, motivation, perseverance, and doing things right the first time.

  • Sense of Urgency – In a restaurant, this means dealing effectively with the uncertainty of a busy night. No matter what business you are in today, the ability to speed up when necessary is especially important. This means you are able to separate the critical from the trivial and get stuff done. It means you are able to rise to the occasion and respond to your customer’s immediate needs.
  • Maximum Efficiency – Restaurant work requires that you don’t waste steps. This means whenever you bring out dishes or beverages, you also pick up empty plates or glasses when returning to the kitchen—either from the same table or another one nearby. Every organization has similar operational efficiencies that need to be observed and adhered to. They can ultimately influence your overall profitability.
  • Relationship Management – Restaurants are all about repeat business and the best way to ensure this is to serve great food at reasonable prices, and provide exceptional service. Great service is vital for every business and perhaps one the most important advantages given the competition on price and availability. Relationships with fellow employees are just as important as those with customers. Invest in all your relationships and your business will thrive both internally and externally.
  • Teamwork – If a waiter and cook are not on the same page, there is no way the customer is going to receive the food they ordered in a reasonable length of time. The same is true for any organization. More can be accomplished when all employees are working together towards the same goal. This means ensuring that goals are clear and everyone understands their roles and responsibilities in the process.
  • Motivation – In a restaurant, especially on the front line where you interact most with customers, your attitude can greatly impact your income. This behavior impacts how you are perceived as well as treated by others. As a waiter this can influence how much you receive in tips. In every workplace your motivation can determine to what level others rely on you, trust you and want to work with or follow your direction.
  • Perseverance – The ability to continue in spite of an unruly customer or unfair scheduling means you will succeed when the going gets tough. This is an important lesson in every workplace because you will face adversity no matter what business you are in. And how you deal with it determines how long you will last and how well you will succeed.
  • Doing Things Right the First Time – Making a good impression on a restaurant customer is essential if you want to see them again. This means providing a warm and welcoming environment, providing impeccable service with a smile and delivering a great meal. No matter what business you are in today, it is essential that you seek to do things correctly from the beginning. This ensures you meet your customer’s expectations and maintain your costs.

Restaurant jobs may not pay especially well, but they do offer opportunities to learn valuable lessons and hone skills for whatever you do in your career. Much of this may be understood only in retrospect, but don’t underestimate how you can benefit from your current position no matter where you are in your career.

Leadership Out of Balance

December 11, 2014

Leadership is often described as the act of leading a group of people or an organization. Leading well requires knowledge, skill, and an ability to balance the immediate gratification of the near term with the security of the long term.

According to author and organizational consultant Warren Bennis, leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality. He also said the difference between a manager and a leader is that a manager does things right, while a leader does the right things.

Today, great leadership is rare and all too often personified in the media as famous wealthy men running big companies that return strong shareholder value. But are huge financial returns the ultimate sign of great leadership?

The corporate world generously compensates CEOs focused on quarterly earnings and meeting Wall Street expectations often at the expense of doing what’s right for the customer, the employees and ensuring the company is around in the long term. Though these CEOs may spout “customer focus” and “concern for our employees” in speeches, annual reports and corporate websites, these words seem incongruent with their actions.

In politics, our elected officials should be concerned with governing, but they currently spend about half their workday raising money in order to ensure they are re-elected. The U.S. congress currently has a 14% approval rating, which means we now trust used car salesmen more than our so-called representatives.

Today’s imbalance in leadership seems to stem from too much focus on what’s in it for me rather than what’s in it for us. Leaders who focus primarily on their own self-interest cannot possibly instill the confidence and loyalty necessary to lead others most effectively.

In Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t, author Simon Sinek suggests that the best organizations foster trust and cooperation because their leaders build what he calls a Circle of Safety. This separates the security inside the team from the challenges outside.

This Circle of Safety enables teams to be stable, adaptive and confident where every member feels they belong and are focused on the right things.

Part of the challenge in creating such a circle requires leaders at every level to maintain balance of four chemicals found in our bodies. These chemicals control our feelings, which are the primary drivers for all our decision-making whether we are aware of it or not.

Chemicals such as endorphins and dopamine function to get us where we need to go as individuals. Endorphins provide the “runner’s high,” which are able to mask pain and enable us to complete a marathon or complete a work project well into the night. Dopamine provides a feeling of satisfaction once we complete an important task on our to-do list. It provides incentive for progress toward reaching our goals.

These two are what Sinek refers to as the selfish chemicals and they provide us with short-term rewards, which can motivate us to accomplish great things and, under the right conditions, can also become addictive.

On the other hand, serotonin and oxytocin work to help strengthen our social bonds so we are more likely to work together and cooperate well. Serotonin and oxytocin are what Sinek describes as the selfless chemicals and they are sorely missing in leadership today.

Serotonin is responsible for the pride we feel when those we care for achieve great things. As the boss, serotonin works to encourage us to serve the employees we are responsible for. And as the employee, serotonin encourages us to work hard to make the boss proud.

Serotonin more than any of the others is seen as the leadership chemical.

Oxytocin is the chemical that helps us direct how vulnerable we can afford to make ourselves. This social compass helps determine when it’s safe to open up and trust or when we should hold back. This might be the drug most closely aligned with emotional intelligence.

Oxytocin makes us better problem solvers and enables us to accomplish more in groups than we can alone. It has also been found to contribute to us living longer.

The goal of any leader should be to find balance. If you remain addicted primarily to endorphins and dopamine, no matter how rich and powerful you become, you will likely feel lonely and unfulfilled. On the other hand, if you are focused too much on serotonin and oxytocin, you may lack the measurable goals or ambition necessary to reach important feelings of accomplishment.

Leadership in balance requires focusing on the present and the future. It means serving customers and employees as well as shareholders. And it is a balance of short-term growth and long-term viability.

Higher Engagement by Meeting Employee Needs

July 23, 2014

Employee engagement is a vital component of successful organizations. Nothing helps spur innovation and raise productivity like a highly engaged group of people who are passionately involved in what they are doing.

“Because they [employees] care more, they are more productive, give better service, and even stay in their jobs longer,” writes Kevin Kruse, author of Employee Engagement 2.0. “All of that leads to happier customers, who buy more and refer more often, which drives sales and profits higher, finally resulting in an increase in stock price.”

Kruse sites 28 research studies showing a correlation between employee engagement and sales, service, quality, safety, retention and total shareholder return.

Employee engagement is about a person’s emotional commitment to the organization and its goals. Raising this emotional commitment cannot be done through some generic training course or corporate mandate.

Instead, the organization must appeal to the employees’ needs and meet these needs with specific leadership skill development.

Every employee has basic human needs that must be met in order for them to feel passionate about the work they do. When this need is met with specific leadership skills, the organization will benefit from more engaged employees.

The Passion Pyramid identifies five human needs that help ignite passion and the accompanying leadership skills required to create conditions to satisfy each need. It also describes the outcome or payoff to the organization for satisfying each need.

These human needs are:

  1. Be respected
  2. Learn and grow
  3. Be an “insider”
  4. Do meaningful work
  5. Be on a winning team

As I described in an earlier post, what employees say they want can vary a great deal from what managers think employees want. Many of these same human needs for increasing employee engagement were among the top ten things employees say they want. Specifically: 

  1. Full appreciation for work done (Be respected)
  2. Feeling “part” of things (Be an “insider”)
  3. Interesting work (Do meaningful work)
  4. Promotion/growth opportunities (Learn and grow)

Tying these human needs with specific leadership skill development can then help ignite the passion necessary to raise engagement. With intentional and orderly intervention, these leadership skills can meet the employees’ needs.

The leadership skills are also in a specific order as no team can be effective without building upon a foundation of trust. Coaching, counseling and mentoring can help with each individual’s specific growth opportunities and blind spots. And no organization can expect employees to be engaged without inclusiveness.

Aligning teams with the organization’s purpose, values and vision ties intrinsic motivation with extrinsic rewards. Finally, building a high performance team requires the foundation of all the preceding skills as well as a shared purpose and bond to succeed together.

These leadership skills help meet employees’ needs, which can help ignite the passion necessary to raise employee engagement in your organization. Isn’t it worth the investment to bring out the best in your employees so they can bring out the best in your organization?

Prepare to Demonstrate Expertise in Job Interviews

January 11, 2014

Securing a job in today’s economy requires more than a solid resume and stellar references. You also need the ability to show your expertise during job interviews.

As reported in a recent Wall Street Journal article, Amazon is especially picky about the employees they choose to hire. And yet they hired some 80,000 since 2010! Most of those, however, are working in lower paying warehouse jobs where starting wages are around $11 per hour.

Those candidates seeking higher paying technical and management positions at Amazon must first pass many intense interviews where they are asked to demonstrate their skills and aptitude in real time. This may include writing code on a white board or solving complex business problems in the moment.

I interviewed with Amazon back in their book selling days of the late 1990s and remember being asked whether I thought they should expand into selling music and movies or go international. While I stated I thought it made most sense to choose the former at least initially, they took the path of expanding in both directions at the same time. Obviously, that turned out to be a pretty good plan.

According to Amazon spokespeople, challenging interview questions are not necessarily meant to arrive at the correct answer, but rather to demonstrate the path a person uses to solve a problem. Showing how one thinks helps Amazon discover whether the candidate has the potential to succeed at their company.

And this tactic isn’t new as high tech companies such as Microsoft, Apple and Google have been testing the prowess of their job applicants for a long time.

Applications, resumes, college transcripts and other data can all serve to help identify a good candidate, but it is the phone or in-person interview where a person can be screened most effectively as to be really viable or not.

This is where potential employees can demonstrate their ability to think on their feet, reveal technical knowledge and problem solving abilities, and show off their personality and soft skills. All of these can continue or halt the interviewing process.

Amazon goes so far as to include what they call “bar raisers” during the interviewing process. These individuals, who come from throughout the company, can veto a candidate even though they may possess no specific technical expertise or business acumen to properly evaluate the person being considered.

Bar raisers may simply provide a gut-check on whether a candidate is a good cultural fit or perhaps offer an out-of-the-box perspective. I have no idea how many candidates have been dropped from consideration due to vetoes by bar raisers, but I’m certain Amazon keeps track of this and perhaps even follows the careers of these individuals to see how they’ve faired after being dropped from consideration.

I can see how a potential candidate might feel this is an unfair way to gauge a person’s suitability for a position. However, I also recognize the importance of Amazon and every employer in obtaining the right person for the right job.

The more a company understands the traits necessary to succeed in a position as well as the organization itself, the more they should invest in thoroughly evaluating their applicants to ensure they hold those traits.

More and more companies are likely to adopt this strategy of scrutinizing their applicants more thoroughly because it is so expensive to hire the wrong person.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the average cost of a bad hiring decision can equal 30% of the individual’s first-year potential earnings. This means a single bad hire with an annual income of $80,000 can equal a $24,000 loss for the employer.

If you’re looking to get hired you need to be prepared to think on your feet and demonstrate your expertise during the interview. This means selling yourself successfully not based on what your resume says about you, but on what you can convincingly show in the moment.

You can prepare yourself for general interview questions, but it’s really not possible to anticipate these other questions. Instead, you need to rely on your instincts and innate critical thinking abilities. You need to remain calm even though this will likely be a stressful environment to do your best.

Keep in mind that it is in the best interest for you and the hiring company’s to find the right fit. As scarce as good paying jobs may be, securing one that fits both you and the company you’re seeking to work for is the best solution. Be prepared to be authentic and to show all that you have to offer. Anything less and you’ll sell yourself short. And that’s a bad idea for everyone.

Listening Into Others to Gain Influence

January 30, 2013

No matter what line of work you are in, you are likely seeking ways to be more productive and successful. And, regardless of the profession, how effective you interact with and influence other people can greatly determine your fate.

That’s because it is all about relationship, and relationships should always be about the long term.

We now live in a world that no longer tolerates disconnected forms of influence. Spam filters help block emails that are unrelated to our wants and needs. The stereotypical used car salesman is seen as merely comical and not taken seriously by anyone. Shotgun approaches to marketing are considered a waste of money.

Social networking, among other things, seeks ways to connect people and then influence them based on their connectedness. This connectedness means having your virtual friends’ influence what you do, where and when you do it, and especially how you spend your money.

Whether this is good or bad is not my concern. What I am interested in is how important this connectedness is with regard to our ability to influence others.

In a new book titled, “Real Influence: Persuade Without Pushing and Gain Without Giving In,” authors Mark Goulston and John Ullmen discuss how, in this post-pushing and post-selling world, influence should no longer be seen as something you do to someone else to get what you want.

Real influence isn’t even about what you want. Instead it’s about forging strong connections by focusing on other people’s viewpoints and giving something away before asking for anything in return. And always seeking win-win outcomes.

This seems to be a new paradigm that’s sustainable and good for everyone.

Goulston and Ullmen offer many tactics to learn how to do this, but the one I think most important—regardless of whether you’re trying to influence someone or not—is by improving your ability to listen to others. Easier said than done.

According to the authors, there are four levels of listening:

  1. Avoidance Listening – Listening Over
    This type of listening is when you may be nodding or even saying “Uh huh,” but you’re not really paying attention. Your mind is elsewhere and the other person is feeling ignored despite your best efforts at appearing to be listening.
  2. Defensive Listening – Listening At
    When you listen defensively you are taking things personally and are too quick to react. You listen at others by taking issue with everything they say without taking the time to consider what is being said.
  3. Problem Solving Listening – Listening To
    Listening in this way is about getting something accomplished, which is a perfectly valid way to listen when the situation demands it. However, when the subject is especially complex or emotionally charged, this can leave far too much room for misunderstanding. You are separating the subject from the speaker and losing that perspective, which is so important to consider.
  4. Connective Listening – Listening Into
    This is the type of listening all speakers crave. It is about listening with the intention to fully understand the speaker and also strengthen the connection. Connective listening is listening from their there instead of your here. It means listening without an agenda focused entirely on responding or helping.

I can think of many examples when I engage in the first three levels of listening. The first two I am not proud of and still struggle to avoid. Problem solving listening I do perhaps most often because I am so anxious to be productive and get something done.

But I know that when I listen in a connective manner is when I truly understand what is being said. I am giving my full attention and listening not only with my ears, but with my eyes, my heart and my body. I am also strengthening the relationship because I can feel the connection being forged.

To gain influence requires a continual focus on the long term, on the relationship, and on giving away something first. More often than not, this begins with your ability to engage in connective listening so you can truly understand their perspective and needs.

Influence should no longer begin with a self-centered perspective focusing only on the immediate opportunity. Instead, look at gaining influence in a positive and authentic manner that strengthens your connections with others for the long term.

What will you do for an Encore?

December 22, 2012

“I won’t retire, but I might retread.” – Neil Young

Just as the baby boom generation is entering retirement age, Americans are living much longer lives. For many, the idea of no longer working and retiring from a career simply does not make sense—philosophically or monetarily.

Back when a typical life span reached only into the early 70s, it made sense to stop working at 65 and take time to relax, travel, play golf or Bridge, spend time with the grandkids, and retire from the stress of a long career.

But with lifespans for many expected to reach into the early 90s, many are reconsidering how they will spend these golden years. Part of this decision is necessitated by the need to earn more money in order to pay for these additional years, but another part is the opportunity to perhaps change careers and pursue something beyond what you did for the bulk of your life.

It’s been reported that we often discover our true passion between the ages of 8 and 12, and then many of us try to rediscover what these passions are in career counseling when we find dissatisfaction in our careers. That’s because we chose a career that made economic sense rather than fed our soul.

So what if during these senior years, when the economic need for raising a family, sending the kids to college and building a retirement nest egg no longer outweigh what we are passionate about? What if we decided to pursue doing what we love, giving back, or working for social good rather than individual goods?

In Marc Freedman’s The Big Shift: Navigating the New Stage Beyond Midlife, he says we need to accept the decades opening up between midlife and old age for what they really are: a new stage of life, an encore phase. His organization encore.org wants to help make it easier for millions of people to pursue second acts for the greater good, and provide information so people can transition to jobs in the nonprofit world and the public sector.

“Millions are already in the midst of inventing a new stage of life and work—the encore years—between the end of midlife and anything resembling old-fashioned retirement,” writes Freedman. “We’re envisioning this chapter as a time when we make some of our most important contributions, for ourselves, for our world, for the well-being of future generations.”

A philanthropic organization called Social Venture Partners is built around the venture capital model to provide non-profit organizations with both funding and expertise. In addition to strengthening non-profits, SVP connects and engages individuals to provide greater philanthropic impact and collaborative solutions. Their partners are in various stages of their careers and life, but all are seeking to make a difference in their lives.

Founded in Seattle 15 years ago, SVP has more than 2,000 professionals in 29 cities around the world working to make the world a better place.

Sometimes staying in your chosen career a little longer can also be satisfying, but this may require a different role. Perhaps moving into more of a mentoring or consulting position will enable you to extend your working years. Maybe there could be more flexibility with regard to when and where you do the work. Or maybe it means moving to part-time, so you can pursue other interests and yet still keep involved in the work.

Encore.org’s Freedman has proposed some pretty radical ideas such as enabling those in midlife to quit their jobs and take a year of social security payments in order to go back to school or begin a new and possibly lower paying, but more satisfying, career. You would then delay the time when you begin taking social security payments, and thereby reduce the government’s overall cost.

The idea is to begin thinking about what you’ll want to do in these later years long before you reach them. Retirement planning should take into account that not working at all may no longer be an option or even desirable to you.

Rather than a firm end point to the work life, you may want to consider a transition time when you are free to follow what feeds your soul and eases you into non-working retirement. Your encore years could very well be the crowning achievement to your life.

Do the Work to be Lucky in Your Career

June 25, 2012

“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”  — Seneca

I often encounter people I admire who seem extremely lucky in getting a great job, regular promotions, and seemingly unlimited professional success.

For the most part, I believe these people earned this fate through taking responsibility for their luck. What I mean by taking responsibility is that they are doing the work necessary to be lucky in their careers.

In psychologist Richard Wiseman’s book “The Luck Factor,” he studied thousands of exceptionally “lucky” and “unlucky” people. What he found was that those who considered themselves lucky tended to exhibit similar attitudes and behaviors. And those identifying themselves as unlucky tended to exhibit the opposite traits.

His 10-year study revealed that good fortune is not primarily due to talent, hard work or intelligence. It is the attitudes and behaviors you have that can help determine how lucky you are in your career.

Wiseman identified four principles that characterize lucky people. They:

  1. Maximize chance opportunities and are especially adept at creating, noticing and acting upon these opportunities when they arise.
  2. Are very effective at listening to their intuition and do work—like meditation—that is designed to boost their intuitive abilities.
  3. Expect to be lucky by creating a series of self-fulfilling prophesies because they go into the world anticipating a positive outcome.
  4. Have an attitude that allows them to turn bad luck into good. They don’t allow ill fortune to overwhelm them, and they move quickly to take control of the situation when it isn’t going well for them.

Wiseman recommends listening to your gut, being open to new experiences, remembering the positive in situations and simply visualizing yourself as being lucky. By actively practicing these principles, he says you too can find more luck in your professional growth and development.

According to a survey from the professional networking site LinkedIn, 84% of professionals believe in career luck. And 48% consider themselves to have better career luck when compared to other professionals.

These LinkedIn professionals attribute their luck to having strong communication skills, being flexible, acting on opportunities, compiling a strong network, and having a strong work ethic.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says 70% of all jobs are now found through networking. It seems obvious that the more you pursue the sort of people who can help you in your career, the higher the probability that you’ll meet them.

So what exactly is the work necessary to bring more luck into your career? I believe you can position yourself to be lucky in advancing your career by the following:

  • Become more aware of what’s going on around you. The first step in any change begins with awareness. Not only of where you are, but who you are, and what you want to be. Practice mindfulness to be more conscious of the abundance all around you.
  • Follow your passion and pursue those who fascinate you. Just because you’re doing one type of job, doesn’t mean you can’t talk to people outside of this niche. Don’t limit yourself just because you don’t have any experience or education in a certain field. If you’re passionate about something and have some talent in it, then find those who can help you nurture this.
  • Open yourself to serendipity. A chance encounter is how so many great innovations and breakthroughs occur. Serendipity is the ability to take a chance occurrence—a surprising idea, person or event—and make creative use of it. Connecting the dots and seeing patterns can lead to novel ways of doing things and enterprising opportunities.
  • Always be on the lookout and be ready to pounce. This is all about the preparation necessary to seize opportunities. It means having your elevator pitch always at the ready. And it means being able to pursue your interest when the right connections appear before you.
  • Don’t count anyone out: see every encounter as potentially fruitful. You never know who you may meet who can help you take your career to the next level. Keep an open mind with everyone you meet to let them know what you’re looking for. Most people will want to help you if only given the opportunity.
  • Seek out and listen to advice. Keep an open mind to others’ ideas and suggestions so you can expand your thinking. Learning should be a lifelong pursuit no matter where you are in your career. Ask questions and really listen in order to learn.
  • Be nice even when others don’t seem receptive. Maintaining a positive attitude and showing appreciation is vital to attracting people and opportunities. People want to hire and work with people who are nice to be around. Make sure to demonstrate you are nice be around even when it may be difficult to do so.
  • Reframe the situation. Your perspective can influence events. Crisis can mean opportunity. Getting fired from a job that is not aligned with who you are can lead to your finding the job that is. I’ve always believed that if you raise any glass high enough, it will look half full rather than half empty.

While acquiring knowledge, skills and experience are important to any career, luck also plays a significant role. And though many people think of luck as something passive that either happens or not, the lucky ones know it is much more active and requires work.

So do what’s necessary to adequately prepare and remain open to see the opportunities in front of you. Then you’ll have luck on the side of your own career development.

Would You Hire a Remarkable Employee?

March 2, 2012

At a time when employers can be especially choosy about hiring, should they now pass on great employees and hold out for those who are truly remarkable?

While great employees may be reliable, dependable, proactive, diligent, and demonstrate the ability to both lead and follow, remarkable employees are all these and can also make a major impact on performance.

In Jeff Haden’s recent Inc. Magazine article “Eight Qualities of Remarkable Employees,” he defines these as follows:

1.      They ignore job descriptions – Think on your feet, adapt quickly to shifting priorities, do whatever it takes, regardless of role, to get things done.

2.      They are eccentric . . . – Think out of the box, question the status quo, unafraid to stretch existing boundaries. 

3.      But they know when to dial it back – They know when to play and when to be serious; when to be irreverent and when to conform; when to challenge and when to back off.

4.      They publicly praise . . . – A compliment from a peer in group settings can be especially powerful when this is someone others look up to.

5.      And they privately complain – They bring up sensitive issues or concerns in a private setting to avoid disrupting the larger group. 

6.      They speak when others won’t – Remarkable employees have an ability to understand what concerns fellow employees and speak up for those who may be intimidated to speak up publicly or privately.

7.      They like to prove others wrong – This is the intrinsic drive to exceed other’s expectations because it’s deeper and personal.

8.      They’re always fiddling – These people are rarely satisfied (in a good way) and are constantly tinkering with information and processes.

Haden writes that while great employees follow processes, remarkable employees find ways to make those processes even better because they can’t help it.

I suspect many of these same qualities may actually inhibit employees from getting hired in the first place. When you think of the traits beyond skills and experience necessary for a job in your organization, how do these eight stack up?

Finding a job candidate who appears eccentric, challenges existing processes, and complains about anything may raise red flags during an interview. If the person gives examples of how he or she constantly fiddled with information, wouldn’t this raise the question as to what more important things might not have been getting done?

While all these traits of remarkable employees might fit in some organizations in some positions and at a particular point in time, I suspect they might be ill-suited for many. Perhaps only the start-up company is where they are best suited.

Not only that, but it may ultimately take a remarkable boss and a remarkable company to enable these remarkable employees to get hired and to thrive in the work environment.

Instead, for most organizations, I believe settling for these great employees who demonstrate reliability, dependability, pro-activity, diligence and the ability to both lead and follow is the best course of action. Finding and hiring more great employees would benefit every organization.

If remarkable traits surface from among the great employees you’ve hired, perhaps they could then be encouraged and nurtured. Your organization will be better served in the near term and, over time, it may benefit from greater performance simply due to having so many great employees.

Effective Leading Means Continually Growing

February 9, 2012

A plant, an animal, a human being all continue to grow or they begin to die. The same is true for leaders and entire organizations.

More than 20 years ago, Peter Senge wrote “The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of The Learning Organization,” and he defines a learning organizations as “…organizations where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning to see the whole together.”

In “Great Leaders Grow: Becoming a Leader for Life,” a new book by Ken Blanchard and Mark Miller, the authors explain how leaders who stop growing can no longer be effective. As they write in the introduction “. . . the path to increased influence, impact, and leadership effectiveness is paved with personal growth.… Our capacity to grow determines our capacity to lead. It’s really that simple.”

Continual growth and lifelong learning are what separate those leaders who sustain their effectiveness from those who do not. Great leaders grow as naturally as they breathe. They don’t get caught up in ego-boosting accolades or the current high stock price. Instead, they remain humble to the ignorance of what they still do not know.

Perhaps no other skill is more vital in the 21st century than the ability to continually learn and grow. And this is true not only for leaders at the top of organizations, but for all who seize leadership opportunities no matter where they reside on the organizational chart.

Individual employees need to continually learn and grow in their business and technical skills as well as their interpersonal skills; team members need to learn and grow so they can overcome conflict and dysfunction to be more effective as a group than they are as individuals; and entire organizations need to learn and grow so they can continually innovate and quickly respond to customers and market conditions.

This growth for the individual can be accomplished in many ways. Blanchard and Miller break it down into the following:

Gain Knowledge – know your strengths and weakness, know the people around you on a deep level, know your industry extremely well, etc.

Reach Out to Others – look for ways to invest in the growth of others, seek mentoring relationships with emerging leaders, frequently use teachable moments, share what you are learning with others, etc.

Open Your World – be on the lookout for ways to grow at work, seek new experiences outside of work, look for additional opportunities to lead everywhere, etc.

Walk Toward Wisdom – be honest with yourself regarding your leadership, actively seek feedback from other truth tellers, seek the counsel of others for important issues, master the art and discipline of asking profound questions, etc.

Each of us is capable of determining our own deficiencies and growing edges. Regardless, seek out feedback opportunities not only with your immediate supervisor, but with co-workers, customers, suppliers, friends, and anyone who can give you an honest appraisal of your strengths and weaknesses.

And don’t rely exclusively on standard, corporate-mandated training. Seek out the books, presentations, training, mentors, experiences, and opportunities that will serve you in your quest to continually learn and grow.

Take charge of your personal growth and take charge of your leadership potential. This is good for your career and it is good for the organization where that “collective aspiration is set free” and it can thrive in the new economy.

Working for the Best Companies

January 25, 2012

Fortune magazine’s recent “100 Best Companies to Work For” list made me curious as to how they determine such a list. I also wanted to know what traits these companies look for in potential employees.

The 100 Best Companies list was compiled through a partnership with the Great Places to Work institute, and they determine ranking based on the results from survey questions sent to a random sample of 260,000 employees from the 280 companies that participated.

To be eligible for the list, a company had to be at least seven years old and have more than 1,000 U.S. employees.

Two-thirds of the questions from the institute’s Trust Index Asseessment & Employee Survey were related to attitudes about management credibility, job satisfaction and camaraderie. The other third were based on responses to the institute’s Culture Audit, which includes detailed questions about pay and benefit programs and a series of open-ended questions about hiring practices, methods of internal communication, training, recognition programs and diversity efforts.

This is obviously not a list compiled based on popularity, exceptional salaries or who has the most celebrated CEO at a given time.

The goal of the list is to help “tie Trust Index metrics to your organization’s Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) so that you can understand the relationship between your organization’s business goals and your employees’ workplace experiences.”

This sounds like a worthy goal, especially in light of recent news about the deplorable working conditions in the Foxconn factory in China.

Companies are are broken down into groups such as the number of employees and include sub-groups such as job growth, low turnover, no layoffs, percentage of women, percentage of minorities, and all stars—companies that have been on the list every year since its inception in 1998. This includes 13 companies like SAS Institute (3), Wegman’s Food Markets (4), REI (8), Goldman Sachs (33), Microsoft (76) and Nordstroms (61).

Best perks can include things like health care (14 of the companies pay 100% of their employee health-care premiums), child care, work-life balance, telecommuting, sabbaticals, and unusual perks (Google has nap pods and in-house eyebrow shaping).

In this economy perhaps most important is the category of who is hiring and most of these companies are now looking for talent. In fact, there are more than 56,000 openings currently available in these 100 companies.

Human resource and recruiting personnel at these companies say they are looking for candidates with traits like passion, attitude, communication skills, collaboration, an interest in learning and values that align with our organization.

Here are some examples:

At Google (1)“. . . in addition to looking for strong cognitive ability and meaningful work experience,” says Yolanda Mangolini, director, global diversity, talent & inclusion. “We also want people with interesting and unique accomplishments—sports, music, starting a business, or writing a book, for example. Cultural fit and diversity are very important to us.”

Whole Foods Market (32) say they hire for attitude and train for skill. “If we can find applicants who have strong customer service skills and high energy, and are enthusiastic about the organic and natural foods industry (and who love food), then they are a fit for us,” according to Janet Lapaire, CHRP team member service coordinator.

Adobe’s (41) VP of global talent acquisition Jeff Vijungco says, “We want candidates to share some of the biggest failures that have shaped who they are as a leader because we celebrate failures as defining moments in an employee’s professional development.”

Intel’s (46) greater Americas staffing manager Cindi Harper, says they look for candidates “with behavioral characteristics that extend beyond their specific educational training.”

Brent Bultema, director of recruitment strategies at Mayo Clinic (71) says “strong candidates are people whose personal values align with those of Mayo Clinic. Individuals who are collaborative, collegial, professional, respectful and passionate will be a good fit.”

“Cisco (90) looks for people who are strong collaborators and communicators,” says Bronwyn White, director of human resources. “We look for people with a track record of continuous learning and who are prepared to question the status quo within their discipline. We value flexibility and promote work-life integration while making sure that we focus on results.”

“I have the great fortune to work with people everyday that love what they do and where they work” says Jack McCarthy, a recruiter at CarMax (91). “We want to see that same passion from candidates throughout our entire interview process. My advice to candidates is along the same lines; figure out what you do really well and enjoy, and find a company that has the right culture fit.”

In addition to general technical competency for the specified job, all of these Top 100 Companies are looking for candidates who have behavioral competencies also known as emotional intelligence or EQ.

The EQ traits they look for can include things like interpersonal communication, collaboration, empathy, creative problem solving, and conflict negotiation and resolution. And these companies want people who fit in with their organization’s values and culture because that is what keeps them on this best companies list.

EQ traits are not easily conveyed via a resume and therefore it is vital that they be demonstrated throughout the interviewing process. If you are serious about joining one of these companies, keep this in mind as you navigate the opportunity.

10 Tips to Improve Workplace Communication

December 30, 2011

In the spirit of year-end top ten lists, here are my top ten tips to improve communication in the workplace—for this and every year. Better communication is important because it can provide more engaged employees, higher workplace morale, and greater efficiency and productivity.

As I wrote in a previous post on how to improve listening, communication skills include reading, writing, speaking and listening. All of these skills are important in most workplaces and each of them should be considered.

My top ten tips to improve workplace communication are as follows.

1.  Clear & Direct. Be certain the information you need to convey—whether it is spoken or written—is clear and directly communicated. Use language that is specific and unambiguous. Check that the receiver understands the message as you intended. Avoid acronyms when there’s a chance they will be unclear.

2.  Actively Listen. Becoming an active listener means you make a conscious effort to truly hear what the other person is saying—in their words as well as their body language. Practice holding off thinking about how to respond or interrupting until you have thoroughly heard what they are saying. It should come as no surprise that the best communicators are also the best listeners.  

3.  Paraphrase. The goal of paraphrasing is to ensure you are clear about what has been said and let the speaker know that you care about what he or she is communicating. Both are equally important in effective communication. Use a variation on “What I hear you saying is . . .” to accomplish this.

4.  Face-to-Face. Whenever you have difficult information to convey or sometihing that could result in many questions, choose to have a direct face-to-face conversation. You will also have the huge benefit of non-verbal communication cues including tone of voice, facial expressions and other body language.

5.  Be Respectful. This means using the other person’s name, looking them in the eye, and nodding to aid in demonstrating you understand what they are saying. If you are communicating in writing, reread before sending your message to ensure that it could not be misinterpreted or taken as disrespectful. When on the phone, don’t multitask even if you think the person on the other end of the line does not know that you are.

6.  Message & Medium. Some of us are better communicating in writing and some are better at speaking. Some of us are better reading information and some at listening to information. In most cases, it depends on the message being delivered and received. When you need to deliver a message, consider whether it should be spoken or written depending on the content as well as the preference of your receiver.

7.  Tailor Conversation to Audience. Communicating with your boss, co-worker, customer or supplier may require a slightly different style. With your boss, be careful to pick the right time, and ask for what you need and what you expect they can reasonably deliver. For a co-worker, be direct, transparent, and open-minded. And if a customer or supplier calls with a problem, listen carefully, apologize if necessary even if it wasn’t your fault, and offer a solution.

8.  Effective Texting. More and more of our workplace communication is done via email, voice mail and text messaging. There are advantages and disadvantages to each of these, depending on the message and the audience. Texting can be especially effective when a quick question or answer is required without further explanation or repeated follow up, e.g., “What time is the budget meeting?” But don’t text when it cannot effectively communicate your message.

9.  Make the Most of Meetings. Way too many of us spend time in meetings that are unproductive and often unnecessary. Demand that those calling a meeting provide an agenda, hold to the appointed start and end time, and have only the right people in attendance. Ensure that the work done in the meeting warrants the time and resources taken away from those working independently.

10. Stay Positive. Regardless of the conversation, try to keep it positive. Even the harshest feedback can and should be delivered in a positive, supportive, team-centric manner. Stay focused on behavior or performance and not character. When you are on the receiving end, avoid getting triggered by difficult messages. Keep in mind the bigger picture and the long term implications.

These ten tips for improving workplace communication can be implemented and perfected by anyone. Take an honest look at your own communication skills then choose one of the above to improve upon. 

The work you put into improving your communication skills will pay dividends both at work and at home.

What CEOs Look for When Hiring

April 18, 2011

Earlier in my career I was fortunate to work for a CEO who I admired and respected. When he first interviewed me, he said he was looking for two qualities in the people he hired. These were integrity and a sense of urgency. Since that time, I worked for many companies with employees who demonstrated one but not the other, and I discovered how important these both were to me.

Legendary investor and philanthropist Warren Buffett says he looks for three things when hiring people: 1) integrity, 2) intelligence, and 3) a high energy level. But, he says, if you don’t have the first, the other two will kill you.

In a new book by New York Times columnist Adam Bryant titled “The Corner Office: Indispensable and Unexpected Lessons From CEOs on How to Lead and Succeed,” Bryant interviewed more than 70 CEOs and other leaders to uncover what he calls five essentials for success, qualities that most leaders share and look for in people they hire.

These five qualities are 1) passionate curiosity, 2) battled-hardened confidence, 3) team smarts, 4) a simple mind-set, and 5) fearlessness.

What Bryant discovered is that these traits are not something we’re born with, but they can be developed through the right attitude, habit and discipline. He contends that these qualities will make you stand out and make you a better manager or leader; they will also help you move your career forward like nothing else.

Passionate Curiosity

All CEOs are expected to have the right answers and be decisive in how they execute their strategy. However, asking the right questions may be more important than anything else. This curiosity may not show up in the usual public forums for the boss, but behind the scenes, this can be a natural way of being. It is about showing a genuine interest in the people around you as well as questioning the way and the why things are done. CEOs look for this quality when considering leadership positions.

Battle-Hardened Confidence

Failure is too often hidden in job interviews. Top CEOs are not looking for those who avoided failure throughout their careers, but those who have overcome adversity and learned from it. It demonstrates that you are capable of owning a problem rather than passing the buck. Many of the stories in Bryant’s book bring to life the concept of a “locus of control,” which refers to people’s outlook and belief about what leads to success and failure in their life. These are the folks who take on any assignment without question and get it done. They can be relied upon when the going gets tough.

Team Smarts

Team smarts refers to the ability to recognize the players a team needs and how to bring them together toward a common goal. “I need people who are going to be able to build a team, manage a team, recruit well and work well with their peers,” says Susan Lyne, chairman of the Gilt Groupe. “The people who truly succeed in business are the ones who actually have figured out how to mobilize people who are not their direct reports.”

A Simple Mind-Set

Senior executives want people who can present concisely, get to the point, and make things simple. Yet few people can deliver the simplicity that CEOs are looking for. All too often, unfocused thinking leads to lengthy and exhausting details. Demonstrating how much you know about a particular topic is not nearly as important to an executive as conveying the critical information and a clear strategy for moving forward. In the Internet age, with the ability to easily gather information, there is now a premium on the ability to synthesize, connect the dots in new ways, and ask smart questions that lead to answers and opportunities.

Fearlessness

CEOs are looking for people to do things, but not only what they’re told to do. Calculated and informed risk-taking is also important. “One of the things that I characterize as fearlessness is seeing an opportunity, even though things are not broken,” said Ursula M. Burns, C.E.O. of Xerox. It is risky to shake up the status quo, of course. But if you operate with the best interests of the organization in mind, you can open up new opportunities for yourself and your company. This is what separates those who follow directions and do things right from those who lead and do the right things.

These five qualities help determine who may be chosen for more responsibility and promotions, which then requires more learning through trial and error. And that continual learning, I believe, is another essential element of leadership.

Integrity and a sense of urgency are very important qualities for employees throughout most organizations. But to become a successful leader, the five essential qualities above can often be the difference between who the CEO sees as a leader versus another good manager.

First Why: Then How and What

February 1, 2011

In Simon Sinek’s book “Start with Why,” he writes that great leaders inspire people to take action by starting with an answer to the question of “why” as opposed to “what” and “how.” A simple idea, but one that is rarely implemented.

According to Sinek, all too often leaders and organizations focus on what and how: the strategy, product or service, distribution plan, goals and objectives. However, not starting with why leads organizations to rely on manipulations in the form of price, promotions, fear, and peer pressure to find customers.

And these manipulations are popular because they work. They can lead to sales and repeat business. They won’t, however, lead to loyalty. That’s because loyalty happens when your customers come back to you even when manipulations are offered by your competitors.

“Loyalty, real emotional value, exists in the brain of the buyer, not the seller,” writes Sinek.

Organizations who clearly articulate a why that resonates with others have the potential to inspire employees to come to work, customers to purchase, and shareholders to invest.

Making money is not an answer to why, but only a result. The answer to why is much more profound and inspiring. When that why resonates with customers, they flock to and remain loyal because it becomes part of their own beliefs.

Think of Apple, Harley-Davidson and Southwest Airlines as examples of companies with a clear sense of why. All of them are able to inspire their customers because they feel an emotional connection.

I was inspired by Sinek’s book so I decided to elaborate on my own why. This why is centered on the services I offer in workplace communication, organization development and leadership. What I do in my work is based on the following beliefs I hold to be true.

This I believe . .

  • The role of a great leader is not to come up with great ideas. Instead, a great leader should create an environment where great ideas can happen.
  • Everyone has the capacity for leadership no matter the position within the organization.
  • Leadership development should not be restricted to executives, but implemented throughout every level of the organization.
  • Most people want to do their very best at work.
  • More autonomy for how the work gets done leads to greater employee satisfaction and higher productivity.
  • A high level of trust in the workplace is directly related to greater productivity, higher profitability and more engaged employees.
  • Getting the right people focused on the right task is the most important objective for any organization to reach its goals.
  • Focusing on employees first is what will make customers happy and this leads to satisfied shareholders.
  • Great companies don’t hire skilled people and motivate them. They hire motivated people with skills and inspire them.
  • The biggest challenges in organizations are not business issues or technical problems, but interpersonal relationships.
  • Loyalty between employees and employers is not an outdated twentieth century notion. Loyalty exists when there is mutual trust and respect.
  • Organizations that focus on internal collaboration rather than competition have greater communication, innovation and trust.
  • New technology breakthroughs for communicating do not eliminate the need for the basic requirements for real communication to take place.

Identifying the answer to your own why can help you navigate your personal and professional journey. This clarity around your own raison d’etre means you have a clear sense of purpose that inspires you to reach your goals and attract others to follow you.

For organizations, a compelling answer to why has the potential to build a brand that inspires and breeds loyalty among employees, customers and shareholders. And that makes good business sense.

What about you? Does your organization have a clear sense of why it is in business? If not, does it have loyal employees, customers and shareholders anyway?

 

 

A Resolution for Wellness

December 28, 2010

“When the body is weak, it takes over command. When strong, it obeys.” Jean Jacques-Rousseau

We are told of two certainties in life: death and taxes. I’m beginning to think it is the first over which we have greater control. We can not avoid our own demise, but we can certainly choose how to best spend the time before it arrives.

My resolution for 2011 is therefore beyond a new diet, exercise plan or even prosperity. This year I choose wellness and all that it encompasses. For me, wellness is about a healthy mind, healthy body and healthy spirit.

Healthy Mind
Reducing stress is a great way to calm the mind. Though you probably can’t get rid of all your stress, you can certainly choose whether and how to manage it. This is true both at home and in the workplace.

Maintaining a healthy mind means fighting back negative thoughts and choosing to see the proverbial glass as half-full. You can choose to see the good in others and provide genuine praise for what your co-workers are doing. Celebrate their achievements and promotions. You lose nothing by cheering on others, and do the same for yourself.

And if you stop viewing yourself as a victim you will no longer be one. Take responsibility for your situation and make changes to move on.

The easiest way to calm your mind and keep it healthy is to simply breathe deeply when you feel yourself getting upset. Drink a full glass of water. Take a quick walk around the office or the parking lot.

A healthy mind requires that we continually nourish it so it remains on our side. This nourishment is not expensive or time-consuming. It only takes discipline and focus.

Healthy Body
For most of us, a worthwhile goal for our physical health is losing a few pounds and working out regularly at the gym. I’ve always found that there is direct relationship between higher stress when I am eating poorly or not getting enough exercise, so for me a healthy mind and body are intricately connected.

But why not choose to lose these pounds by eating more of the right foods and eliminating more of the bad ones? And don’t suffer by starving yourself. Instead choose to eat right 80% of the time and then cut yourself some slack 20% of the time. You may not see results as quickly, but you’re more likely to stick with this approach by making it a lifestyle you can live with.

If you don’t enjoy working out, why not find a physical activity you really like and put more of yourself into it? You can keep your body limber and healthy many different ways, including by swimming, bicycle riding, kayaking, skiing, yoga, dancing, martial arts, or simply by taking brisk walks around the neighborhood. Again, the results may not show up as quickly, but you are more likely to make this a lifestyle change you can sustain.

Healthy Spirit
Though I am not a religious person, I believe there is more to this life than our own individual existence. This outer focus helps keep me humble, feel more connected to others, and enables me to appreciate the wonder in each moment.

Meditation has certainly been helpful in keeping me mindful and this is something I need to incorporate into my life again. With meditation I am able to still my mind and open myself to the spirit. For me, this results in greater awareness and inner peace.

I am certain other people are able to find similar benefits from prayer or attending religious ceremonies.

Like yoga, the benefits of meditation are in the practice so the more you look for some immediate reward from having done it, the more disappointed you may be. Again, try to focus on this as a lifestyle change that you can live with rather than a quick fix.

Wellness requires my constant focus and discipline so that it remains a way of life. It can’t be found simply in a new diet regimen or membership at my local health club. And if you are looking for a quick fix to your own wellness, you will be disappointed with this approach.

My resolution for 2011 is a wellness program in body, mind and spirit that can be sustained not only for the first few months of the new year, but for the rest of my life. I hope you too succeed in your own resolutions. Happy New Year!

Performance Management Process as a Model for Better Employee Management

November 9, 2010

[Guest Columnist: Today’s post is written by Sean Conrad, a senior product analyst at Halogen Software.]

As managers, we sometimes get caught up in the formality of our performance management process. We focus on the questions in the forms, the ratings, the meetings, the approvals. We forget that performance management is really just about good employee management.

If you peel back all the trappings, you realize that performance management is really about communicating expectations, giving clear direction and context for work, and supporting employee development. Ideally, these are things a manager should be doing every day, not just at performance appraisal time. They are the basics of good employee management, and the performance management process should really just be a way to periodically formalize and document these activities.

Communicating Expectations
To succeed, our employees need to know what we expect of them. This should also include how we expect them to do it. Assessing performance of competencies as part of your performance appraisal process is one way to do this.

You should also have an ongoing discussion with each employee about the competencies that are important to the company and those that are important to their specific role. You should talk about how each competency applies to the employee’s role and talk about when, where, and how they can practice the specific behaviors. Instead of leaving it to annual performance appraisal time, weave discussions about competencies into your day to day dialogue about performance.

Coach your employees to further develop key competencies. Where warranted, assign employees development activities to help cultivate specific competencies. And don’t forget the importance of modeling. Lead by example.

Giving Clear Direction and Context for Work
Performance management processes typically focus on the evaluation of performance on past goals, and the establishment of new goals. As a manager, you should also clearly link each of your employees’ goals to the organization’s high level goals. This helps them understand how their daily work contributes to the organization’s success, and gives them a sense of their value and importance.

But a once a year “set and forget” approach rarely works to direct employees and encourage high performance. As a manager, you should check in with employees on a regular basis to see how they’re progressing.

  • Make sure their goals are still relevant and adjust them if necessary.
  • Discuss challenges and offer help.
  • Review priorities.
  • Answer questions.
  • Explain how their work is contributing to larger organizational initiatives or priorities and update them on organizational progress.

This regular dialogue communicates the importance and value of goals to your employees. It also communicates your commitment to your employees and to their success.

Support Employee Development
As you work with your employees and dialogue about competencies and goals, stay alert to “teachable moments” and “learning opportunities”. Your ultimate goal should be to help your employees improve and succeed.

While your annual performance appraisal meeting is a great time to discuss learning needs and put formal development plans in place, you should really keep the focus on learning all year long.

Look for opportunities to coach your employees or teach them more about the larger organization, its mission, purpose, challenges, industry, etc. Model the skills or behaviors they need to further develop and give them tangible — in the moment feedback — on their performance. Offer a variety of learning opportunities, including books, articles, seminars/webinars, job shadowing, workplace buddying, post-mortems, etc. Make it okay to make mistakes as long as they’re leveraged as learning opportunities. And coach, coach, coach…

Leverage the Power of Performance Management by Making it a Year-Round Activity
Performance management shouldn’t be a once a year formality. The activities it encompasses really form the foundation of good employee management, and should therefore be year-round activities. By communicating expectations, giving clear direction and context, and supporting development, you foster strong performance and ultimately organizational success.

Sean Conrad is a senior product analyst at Halogen Software, one of the leading providers of performance appraisal software.